How Did Alaska Senators Vote in Narrow Defeat of Keystone XL Pipeline?

Both Alaska senators supported the the Keystone XL pipeline, voting in favor of a failed attempt to overturn President Barack Obama’s veto of the project in March.

The attempt fell five votes short of the required supermajority, garnering 62 yea votes and 37 nays, according to the Senate’s roll call.

Had Congress overturned the veto, a pipeline would have been built from Canada to Texas to transport oil reserves for refining in the South.

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Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan both cast yea votes in favor of the reversal.

Murkowski chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and has been a vocal advocate for the passage of the Keystone pipeline.

“The world is watching to see whether the United States is willing to lead as a global energy superpower that respects its neighbors, trades with its allies and builds needed infrastructure,” Murkowski said in a weekly Republican address in January, according to CBS News. “I believe we are ready for that role, and our leadership can start with the approval of Keystone XL.”

When S1 passed in January, Murkowski celebrated, calling it a victory “for jobs in this country, for energy security, for good trade relationships with our neighbor in Canada,” according to The Huffington Post.

Murkowski criticized Obama in an interview with Alaska Public Media in January, after votes were postponed and statements relayed the vote “cut short” the permitting process.

“Cut short were the words that the president used,” Murkowski said. “This has been under consideration for six years. Give me a break!”

Murkowksi isn’t the only Alaskan voicing support for the pipeline; Sullivan also has showed support for the bill.

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“We are now once again on the verge of becoming the world’s energy superpower. Incredibly,” Sullivan told KCAW. “Ten years ago nobody would have thought this. We are once again the world’s largest producer of natural gas. We are once again on the verge of becoming the world’s largest producer of oil. We’re becoming the world’s largest producer of renewables. ... There’s agreement that this is a great new instrument of American power that we can use strategically to help keep us safe.”

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