Obama to veto Keystone pipeline if passed by Congress

The White House said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama would veto the Keystone XL pipeline ( Phase IV) project if the Congress passed the controversial legislation, boding ill for relationships between the White House and Capitol Hill.

"I can confirm for you that if this bill passes this Congress, the president wouldn't sign it, either," the White House Press Secretary John Earnest told reporters at a regular briefing.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said the first bill that the Republican-led Senate will bring to President Obama's desk is the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The 7-billion-U.S. dollar project is proposed to go from Canada through the U.S. State of Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with existing pipelines to carry more than 800,000 barrels of crude oil a day to refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Earnest said the final conclusion about this pipeline is pending because the pipeline route has not even been finalized and there continues to be an outstanding question about the route of the pipeline through one part of Nebraska which relates to an ongoing legal matter in Nebraska.

"Once that is resolved, that should speed the completion of the evaluation of that project," he added.

The project has been delayed for years as critics say it could worsen climate change by enabling further growth from the oil sands, which create higher greenhouse gas emissions than some other forms of production. But Republicans insist that it will create jobs and enhance U.S. energy security.

At the 2014 year-end press conference, Obama noted there is very little nominal impact on U.S. gas prices by having this pipeline come through, and it's not going to be a huge benefit to U.S. consumers.

Analysts said the controversial pipeline has become a potent symbol of energy and environmental policy to serve both sides as a political tool.

The Keystone Pipeline System, an oil pipeline system in Canada and the United States, runs from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Illinois and Texas and also to oil tank farms and oil pipeline distribution center in Cushing, Oklahoma.

Three phases of the project are in operation, and the fourth is awaiting U.S. government approval. Enditem