Keystone XL Pipeline Decision Back in Obama’s Lap

WASHINGTON (AP/STAFF) � Republicans in Congress and a state supreme court have thrown the political hot potato known as Keystone XL straight back onto President Barack Obama’s lap. Obama is so averse to making a decision about the proposed oil pipeline that deliberations have entered their sixth year. He’s blamed the seemingly endless delays on bureaucratic formalities and parochial issues in Nebraska, even when skeptics claimed that the politics of the next election were giving Obama cold feet. Now the election is over, the Nebraska issue is resolved, and a bipartisan bill forcing the pipeline’s approval may soon be heading to Obama’s desk. The House approved the bill on Friday in one of its first acts of 2015. And the Senate plans a test vote on an identical bill next week. The southern leg of the pipeline has been running through East Texas for about a year.