US House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) speaks during a Keystone XL Pipeline rally February 11, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Agence France-Presse)
Washington:
The US Congress gave its final approval Wednesday to the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would transmit Canadian crude to US refineries, defying President Barack Obama's veto threat.
The House of Representatives voted 270 to 152 to pass the measure authorizing builder TransCanada to immediately begin construction on a long-delayed project Republicans say is a job-generator that boosts US energy independence, but which critics oppose on environmental grounds.
"The facts are in, the case is closed. Keystone is good for jobs. It's good for the environment. It is safe. It makes us more energy secure," House Energy Committee chairman Fred Upton said after the vote.
Permits for the multibillion-dollar pipeline, which would transport crude from oil sands in Alberta, Canada to refineries along the US Gulf Coast, were first sought by TransCanada six years ago.
The Obama administration has spent years reviewing the project, to the point that Republicans mockingly hailed it as the most studied pipeline in US history.
"The only reason we are still having this debate after six years of review is because the president won't simply make a decision," Upton said.
House Republican Cynthia Lummis described Obama's veto threat as "beyond rational explanation" and urged the president to reconsider.
Some 29 Democrats joined all Republicans but one in supporting the measure, which passed the Senate last month.
But the votes in both chambers were short of the two-thirds necessary to override a presidential veto.
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