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The Senate narrowly rejected a Republican-sponsored measure Thursday that would have bypassed the Obama administration's current objections to the Keystone XL pipeline and allowed construction on the controversial project to move forward immediately.

Fifty-six senators voted in favor of the amendment -- four short of the 60 required for approval. Eleven Democrats joined a unanimous Republican caucus in backing the plan.

The proposed 1,700-mile long pipeline expansion, intended to carry crude oil from Canada's oil sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast, has become a political lightning rod. Supporters, including the oil industry, say it's a vital job creator that will lessen the country's dependence on oil imported from volatile regions.

Opponents say the pipeline may leak, and that it will lock the United States into a particularly dirty form of crude that might ultimately end up being exported anyway.

While the amendment would have approved the construction of most of the pipeline expansion, it would not have allowed any work to begin immediately in Nebraska. Dave Heineman, Nebraska's Republican governor, cited environmental concerns in opposing the original route of the proposed expansion.

Congressional Republicans blasted the president for twisting the arms of fellow Democrats.

"By personally lobbying against the Keystone pipeline, it means the president of the United States is lobbying for sending North American energy to China and lobbying against American jobs," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said at a news conference. http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/08/politics/senate-keystone-vote/index.html
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