WASHINGTON, November 19 (Sputnik) — The US Senate has disapproved the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline construction by the majority of votes, the US Senate presiding officer announced after the vote.
"The bill is not passed, the threshold of 60 votes has not been achieved," the presiding officer said Tuesday.
Fifty nine senators voted in the affirmative, while 41 senators voted against the bill.
Keystone XL Pipeline construction bill was passed in the US House of Representatives last Friday.
Senator Mary Landrieu, who chairs Energy and Natural Resources Committee, proposed the latest version of the bill. She said the construction would create thousands of jobs for US citizens and pointed out the fact that Keystone XL Pipeline would produce 0.015 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to 300,000 passenger vehicles in the United States.
However, Democrats argue that Keystone XL Pipeline project will substantially affect the environment since the "filthiest" oil from Canadian tar sands will pollute air and water in the region and contribute considerably to global warming.
Last week the White House spokesperson Josh Earnest pointed to a possible veto by Obama, saying that presidential advisers have suggested vetoing similar bills.
The Canadian energy and infrastructure company TransCanada Corporation submitted an application to build the Keystone XL pipeline in 2008. After that the proposal was voted on several times in US Congress but never received a final presidential approval.
The Keystone Pipeline System is currently stretching from Canada's Alberta to US refineries in Nebraska, Illinois, Texas and Oklahoma. The Keystone XL is its expansion, which is planned to carry heavy crude oil through America's heartland from Canada's tar sands.
Thousands of environmentalists have been protesting in the United States against this 1,179 mile construction that will cost $8 billion, according to the recent TransCanada Corporation estimate.
