The U.S. Senate rejected a bill to speed approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, proposed to run from Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast, in a Tuesday evening vote. But Republicans are already promising to reintroduce the bill when they take two-house control of Congress in January.
The motion needed 60 votes in favour to pass. The bill failed after 59 senators voted in favour and 41 were against.
All 45 Senate Republicans voted in favour of the legislation. They were joined by only 14 Democrats and allied Independents.
As the vote total was announced, protesters disrupted the Senate session with First Nations-style singing and chants. Earlier, protesters crashed the offices of senators who were set to vote on the issue.
Bill 2280 would have authorized Calgary-based TransCanada Corp., ?the company behind the project, "to construct, connect, operate, and maintain the pipeline and cross-border facilities" as specified in an application the company filed in 2012.
Prior to the vote, 59 senators had publicly voiced support and the hunt was on for the 60th vote needed to advance the measure.
Even if passed, the bill was not expected to pass muster with U.S. President Barack Obama, who had hinted strongly he would veto the bill, which is designed to short-circuit the White House's own environmental review process.?
Keystone XL, a political football almost since its inception six years ago, would transport bitumen from Alberta's oilsands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The question of its approval is now expected to resurface in the new year.
The pipeline was approved last week for the ninth time by the Republican-dominated House of Representatives, but faced a tougher test in the Senate, which is still controlled by Democrats until a new session begins next year.
That's when the pro-Keystone Republicans will take over control of the Senate, wrested from the Democrats in midterm elections earlier this month.
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