WASHINGTON – Democrats plan to use Senate consideration of the Keystone XL oil pipeline to get Republicans on the record about climate change and to resurrect parts of a bipartisan energy efficiency bill doomed by pipeline politics last year. But Republicans readied additions such as lifting a ban on crude oil exports.
Other possible tweaks could attempt to ban exports of oil sent through the pipeline or force the pipeline’s builders use American-made steel.
Full-blown debate on the bill was expected later Tuesday after the Senate agreed 63-32 Monday to begin deliberating the measure.
The 1,179-mile pipeline would carry an estimated 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Canada to Nebraska. An amendment previewed last week would say climate change is real and the U.S. should move away from fossil fuels.
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