Alisa Barba And Robin Young Discuss The Republican Congress And Keystone XL

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Andrew Cullen

For the past three years, the Keystone XL pipeline has sat in this field in southwestern North Dakota.

With the new Congress convening this week in Washington, the Inside Energy team has produced a series that examines how the 2015 GOP ascendency in the Senate may affect the country’s energy policy. Executive Editor of Inside Energy Alisa Barba recently joined Robin Young on Here and Now, where the series will air this week, to discuss what may be in store for energy in the Republican Congress.

It’s expected that the first order of business will be a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline, which has been approved by the House nine times but has never made it out of the Senate, and of course would be subject to Presidential veto. Alisa and Robin also discussed the plans of the Chairs of key energy committees, Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who are known to be fossil fuel proponents. Still, renewables may see some hope in the new Congress, with the potential for extension of tax credits for wind and solar. There may also be room for bipartisan agreement on small hydropower, as well as the Shaheen-Portman legislation on energy efficiency.