Former US Official Says Keystone to Turn Into Compromise Omnibus Bill

WASHINGTON, January 22 (Sputnik), Anastasia Sheveleva — The Keystone XL Pipeline project will be incorporated into broader bipartisan legislation that will make both US Democrats and Republicans feel victorious, former US Assistant Secretary of Energy and head of Rice University's Energy and Environment Initiative Chuck McConnell told Sputnik.

“The issue is now, if a bill could be put together that would include a number of other politically acceptable options and include the Keystone pipeline, then it can be seen as something where both sides win and nobody loses,” McConnell told Sputnik on Wednesday.

During his State of the Union address on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama urged US Congress to pass a “bipartisan infrastructure plan” that could create more jobs than the current Keystone XL Pipeline bill.

“Recently it has become more and more than an issue that he [Obama] is unable to just simply stand his ground and not give anything. This allows him to artfully craft an option around just declaring victory and allowing the pipeline to go through,” McConnell said.

The former US Assistant Secretary of Energy went on by saying that Keystone XL Pipeline talks have been political from their onset.

“This is typical political negotiations on a matter that has been a lightning rod in our country for some time, and for either party to declare defeat right now would be almost impossible,” McConnell explained.

Now Democrats are trying to find a way to devise an omnibus bill that will incorporate the Keystone XL Pipeline project, as well as a number of infrastructure, renewable energy, tax treatment proposals, “for both parties to be able to declare some type of victory,” the former assistant secretary of energy said.

Typically, McConnell clarified, what happens is that both parties propose issues of their party particular interests to be included in the legislation, and “then that is the art of compromise.”

“It is the ability for both parties to get something in it that they can declare victory and also allow the other party some success as well,” McConnell said.

The US House of Representatives has recently passed a new version of the Keystone XL Pipeline bill, claiming that the project would help the US economy by creating jobs, however Democrats argue that it will create as few as 35 permanent jobs.

The White House has already issued numerous veto threats to the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline bill, which would allow TransCanada Corporation to build and operate the pipeline from Alberta, Canada to the US Gulf Coast.

Although activists claim the Keystone pipeline would have a negative effect on the environment, a final US State Department Environmental Impact Statement, released in January, said that there will be no significant impact from the project.