On Friday the Republican-controlled U.S. House approved a bill for the Keystone XL Pipeline. The vote was 252 in favor, 161 opposed. The pipeline has been stalled by environmental reviews, objections to its route and politics for six years. Oregon's 4th District Democratic Congressman Peter DeFazio spoke on the house floor in opposition to the pipeline. DeFazio said exporting Canadian tar sands oil through the pipeline will not reduce U.S. gas prices and raises a number of environmental concerns.
DeFazio: "There were 2.5 million comments, apparently the Republicans don't care much about the public comments, 2.5 million comments that are still being meaningfully evaluated raising concerns about various aspects of this project."
The bill now moves to the Senate, where supporters say they are confident they'll have the 60 votes needed for passage Tuesday.
The White House has threatened to veto similar attempts to move the pipeline forward.
