White House Confirms Keystone Veto Threat

White House finally issues formal veto threat on Keystone bill

Today, the White House made it explicit:

The Administration strongly opposes H.R. 3, which would immediately authorize the construction, connection, operation, and maintenance of the Keystone XL pipeline and related cross-border facilities and declare that the Secretary of State’s January 2014 Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement satisfies the National Environmental Policy Act and any other provisions of law requiring Federal consultation or review with respect to the Keystone XL pipeline or its related facilities.
H.R. 3 seeks to circumvent longstanding and proven processes for determining whether cross-border pipelines serve the national interest by authorizing the Keystone XL pipeline project prior to the completion of the Presidential Permitting process. In doing so, it would cut short consideration of important issues relevant to the national interest. The bill also would authorize the project despite uncertainty due to ongoing litigation in Nebraska.
Because H.R. 3 conflicts with longstanding Executive branch procedures regarding the authority of the President and prevents the thorough consideration of complex issues that could bear on U.S. national interests (including serious security, safety, environmental, and other ramifications), if presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto this bill.

. . .On Keystone, though, the White House has more problems, not the least of which is dishonesty. The State Department has had six years to consider Keystone, which makes the claim that Congress would “cut short consideration of important issues” a laughable lie. The US fought the second world war in less than four years in comparison, and put a man on the Moon in almost the same amount of time that the Obama administration has stalled out on a pipeline. Citing the legal challenge is more nonsense; an approval would have no impact on the court. These applications do not sit around waiting around for the resolution of all possible legal challenges.

The State Department keeps giving the administration go ahead reports on the Keystone Pipeline, and Tom Steyer President Obama keeps sending in back with them to orders to get it right.