In a Thursday conference call with Ohio reporters, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said he was “very disappointed” that Senate Democrats “once again blocked the Keystone XL Pipeline from moving forward.”
“I just think this is one that would help so much in terms of job creation; it would help lower energy prices for my constituents in Ohio,” said Portman. “It actually adds a bunch of manufacturing jobs in Ohio because there would be a lot of Ohio companies involved in this infrastructure project — which is probably the biggest infrastructure project in the country over the next couple of years.”
The project would add to the current Keystone Pipeline. The XL project would provide a shortcut for the pipeline and allow it to run hundreds of thousands of barrels of petroleum a day from Western Canada to refineries and ports on the Gulf Coast in Texas. It would run through Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. The shortcut connects with the Keystone’s’s Cushing extension that is connected to the Gulf Coast pipeline. The pipeline brings oil to two Illinois cities, Wood River and Patoka.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, voted against the project because “professionals rather than politicians should decide on a safe route for the pipeline.”
“A ‘no’ vote was the right vote,” he said. “(Let’s see) what the professionals come up with down the road and we’ll go from there.”
If the project does go forward, which is likely after the new Republican majority Congress convenes in January, Brown said the pipeline should be built with American steel, and the oil should supply the American energy market.
While Portman said this project would guide North America “toward a path of energy independence,” Brown said there are experts that say this would impact gas prices.
“A number of economists are saying … the price of gasoline at the pump would go up in Ohio and in states in this region because for all intents and purposes, the pipeline would send to the Gulf of Mexico the glut (of) the oil that’s now used in part to keep prices down in our part of the country,” Brown said.
Portman said the oil that is transported from the existing Keystone Pipeline is being moved by truck and rail, “which is more environmentally dangerous and much less efficient.”
Close, but no recount
While the phrase “every vote counts” may be somewhat cliche, it was nonetheless true in deciding the outcome of the Lemon Twp. police levy on Election Day.
Lemon Twp. requested that voters there approve police and fire levies. While they overwhelmingly supported a five-year, 3-mill police levy, they did not support a five-year, 3.8-mill renewal of the township’s fire levy.
After the Butler County Board of Elections conducted the official run of the Nov. 4 election earlier this week, the fire levy failed by 2 votes. But because of the low number of total votes on the issue, it does not warrant an automatic recount despite the 2-vote difference.
An automatic recount is ordered if an election result falls within 0.5 percent. The Lemon Twp. police levy failed by 0.92 percent — 110 voted “no” and 108 voted “yes.”
The fire levy passed by a vote of 150 to 68.
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