The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed legislation on the Keystone XL pipeline for the ninth time since May 2013.

The House passed the bill 252 to 161. No GOP lawmaker voted against the bill, and 31 Democrats supported it.

Authored by U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, the bill calls for Keystone’s immediate construction and eventual operation and maintenance. The bill also says the pipeline’s environmental impact statement, submitted by the U.S. State Department in January, will be deemed adequate because it satisfies all of the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.

The State Department’s EIS concluded that the pipeline would be unlikely to alter global greenhouse gas emissions. The department has estimated that the Keystone project would create 42,000 direct and indirect jobs.

The House bill will be sent to the U.S. Senate, which is expected to vote on its own bipartisan Keystone bill, Hoeven-Landrieu, on Tuesday. On the floor of the Senate earlier this week, U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., called for a vote for unanimous consent.

In an address to House lawmakers on Thursday, Cassidy said Canada’s oil sands, which would be shipped from Alberta to the United States via Keystone, will be developed “with or without” the pipeline. He said the Canadian government has already said that its oil sands will be shipped overseas to markets such as China.

“(The oil sands) will be shipped on rail and oil tankers, which may actually increase greenhouse gas emissions versus transportation to the U.S. via pipeline,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy said Pew Research has indicated that 60 percent of Americans support the pipeline. He said, however, that eight previous Keystone bills the House sent to the Senate remained on the desk of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “If there was ever legislation that should not be difficult to get through the Senate, it would be the Keystone XL pipeline,” Cassidy said.

In interview with the American Press on Thursday, Cassidy said the House’s Keystone bill is intended to pressure the Senate into voting on its own bill and not “bluff” it. He said the House bill is exactly the same as Hoeven-Landrieu.

In a statement Friday, Cassidy said the House passage of its Keystone bill “will make it easier for the Senate to do right by the American people.”

“Authorization to build the pipeline has now passed the House nine times,” Cassidy said. “If the Senate fails to pass this now, they are ignoring a majority of Americans who support the pipeline and the thousands of jobs it will bring.”

If Hoeven-Landrieu passes the Senate on Tuesday, President Obama will have 10 days to sign it.

Obama, however, has already said that if the pipeline contributes to rising carbon dioxide emissions, it would not be in the nation’s best interest to proceed with its construction.

In a conference call on Friday, Landrieu, who will face Cassidy in a runoff election on Dec. 6, said she is confident that 60 votes have been secured in the Senate for Hoeven-Landrieu’s passage. But she said that she did not think the Senate has 67 votes to help override a presidential veto on the bill.

“Ask (House Speaker) John Boehner if he thinks he has the votes to override a presidential veto, and then get back to me on that,” she said.

If Obama vetoes Hoeven-Landrieu, it would require a two-thirds majority vote in both houses of Congress — 67 in the Senate and 287 in the House — to override the veto.

The 36-inch Keystone XL pipeline would carry up to 830,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta through the U.S. Midwest to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.(MGNonline)