Senate pushing for Keystone XL

Just days after promising tough action on climate change at his inauguration, President Obama is facing pressure from the U.S. Senate to move forward with the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.

More than half the Senate is urging quick approval of the $7 billion project, which would carry tar-sands oil from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf Coast, according to SFGate.com. A letter signed by 53 senators—44 Republicans and nine Democrats—said the proposal has “gone through the most exhaustive environmental scrutiny of any pipeline” in U.S. history and “there is no reason to deny or further delay this long-studied project.”

The Obama administration has twice blocked development of the pipeline—once in 2011 to address concerns regarding the proposed route through environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska and again in January 2012, as Obama said the concerns had not been properly addressed.