A TransCanada pipeline
The Senate voted on
15 amendments to its fast-track Keystone XL pipeline bill—S. 1—Thursday night, passing two, shooting down six and, to Democratic complaints, tabling seven, including one by independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont who tried once again to get senators to agree that the climate is changing and humans are causing it. All amendments required 60 votes to pass and several failed with more than 50 yes votes.
Liberty Equality Fraternity and Trees has posted an excellent, detailed accounting of all of them.
All 10 amendments presented by Democrats were nixed, including five that were tabled without debate, something which irked Democrats, now in the Senate minority as a consequence of the November elections, because they had been told by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that there would be an open-amendment process. There are six more amendments on the docket that the Senate is expected to vote on Monday.
The two Republican amendments that passed were weaker versions of Democratic amendments that did not. One by John Cornyn of Texas would "ensure private property is protected as guaranteed by the United States Constitution." That contrasted with the failed amendment of New Jersey's Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez, which would have ensured that "private property cannot be seized through condemnation or eminent domain for the private gain of a foreign-owned business entity."
Despite plunging oil prices that some observers say will make the pipeline uneconomic, TransCanada, the builder of Keystone XL sees things differently. It has filed papers to force landowners to grant the easements across private land that it needs to build the pipeline. Last Friday, seven Nebraska landowners filed suit claiming that the law that clears the way for eminent domain by TransCanada violates the state's constitution.
The Senate shot down Democratic Sen. Ed Markey's amendment that would have required also all forms of unprocessed petroleum be subject to the eight cent per barrel excise tax that goes into the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. While conventional crude oil is covered by the clean-up fund, bitumen from tar sands deposits is not. In its place, the Senate passed Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski's weak-tea amendment expressing "the sense of the Senate" that all forms of petroleum be included in the tax.
Emily Atkin reports:
The fact that McConnell tabled so many Democratic amendments was what made the night rather tense. Many chided the Majority Leader for not holding up to his promise of an “open amendment process” on the bill. Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) told the Hill that the process wasn’t “in the best interest of what we are trying to achieve here,” while others accused the Majority leaders of trying to quicken the amendment process so that a few Republican Senators could attend a conference in California this weekend sponsored by the Freedom Partners, a conservative group tied to billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.
“Senator McConnell’s rush to vote on amendments without providing time to read or debate them could have something to do with this Koch retreat tomorrow, which a number of Republican senators are reportedly attending…” Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) spokesman Adam Jentleson told The Hill in an e-mail. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are expected to attend.
When all is said and done, however, the amended bill that would transfer authority for approving Keystone XL from the executive branch to Congress will be for naught as President Obama's advisers will recommend that he veto it, which he is almost certain to do. The administration's decision on the pipeline will be announced after the State Department completes its review of the project's environmental impact statement. The earliest that can be expected is late February, but will more likely happen in March.