Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) said on Sunday that it’s time for Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to bring legislation that would authorize the Keystone XL oil pipeline to a vote.
Last spring, the House of Representatives approved the Northern Route Approval Act, which would allow construction of the pipeline’s northern portion to move forward.
The southern portion of the project is functional. The northern portion, however, has not cleared the presidential permitting process required for projects that cross international borders.
The Department of State recently announced that it would indefinitely delay its review of the project.
“I think it’s time for Harry Reid to bring a vote up in the Senate on this issue so we know where our senators sit on this issue for the American people,” Ellmers, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said.
Keystone XL would help the country become more energy independent and secure, Ellmers said.
Approval of the project would create as many as 20,000 jobs. The private sector invested more than $2.3 billion to complete the southern portion of the pipeline, the Gulf Coast Project, which provided more than 11 million hours of work to more than 5,000 American employees, according to TransCanada.