XL Pipeline Facing Obama Veto

With a public hearing coming up for man camps in the county, the Keystone Pipeline project is still in the shadow of a presidential veto.

The House passed the bill after approval in the Senate last week on Wednesday. The votes, 270-152, were still not quite enough to overcome a veto. A total of 281 votes would have been enough to overcome the threatened veto. With the Obama administration fairly vocal about a veto, lawmakers decided to wait after a short recess before placing the bill on Obama’s desk.

President Obama has stated that the State Department’s ongoing review of the application would be circumvented by congressional approval of the project.

If the bill is vetoed, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s back to the drawing board. It could go back to Congress where it could be reconsidered and go up for votes again, or it could go back to committee where adjustments would be made to attract more votes.