Congress is poised as soon as this week to take up the Keystone XL pipeline for the second time in three months, but that vote belies the emerging appearance of a two-front fight over the politically divisive link between Canada's oil sands and Gulf Coast refineries.

One front, focused on GOP legislative efforts to push the pipeline project past a presidential rejection, could reach a peak if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agrees to give Republicans a vote on their XL legislation as part of his chamber's long-running bipartisan transportation bill.

A second front opened last week when the pipeline's sponsor announced it would begin work on its Oklahoma-to-Texas leg -- a path for Canadian oil sands fuel that the White House supports -- during the first half of this year.

The southern portion of Keystone XL would not require the level of regulatory scrutiny that the full $7 billion project received since 2008, making it a lightning rod for environmentalists who hope to slow down oil sands development they see as bad for the global climate.

While its emergence does not alter a congressional debate still focused on Republicans' support for the entire 1,700-mile pipeline, the two-track strategy steals some practical import from the Capitol Hill jockeying (E&E Daily, Feb. 28).

"The regulatory process is ultimately, I think, the driver for when the permits are going to get done," Michael Whatley, executive vice president at the industry-backed Consumer Energy Alliance and a former top Senate GOP energy aide, said in an interview.

"If they happen to get legislation done that pre-empts that process, great -- we certainly will support that," he added, "but in the interim, we will not take all of our eggs and put them in the legislative basket."

Some green advocates already have floated the possibility of a legal challenge to the southern portion of the pipeline aimed at subjecting it to a review under the National Environmental Policy Act. And landowners along the Oklahoma-to-Texas leg already are pushing back against attempts by project sponsor TransCanada Corp. to build across their land.

"We don't support TransCanada moving forward with that route if it means that landowners get forced aside and TransCanada doesn't have to deal with their poor safety record," National Wildlife Federation Senior Vice President Jeremy Symons said in an interview.

"The battle for the southern portion will be fought on the ground."

But TransCanada, which blasts greens' attacks on its safety record as not borne out by the facts, stated last week that it expects to use already-procured state authorities to work with the Army Corps of Engineers on expediting construction of the pipeline. White House spokesman Jay Carney last week hailed that promised fast pace for building the XL line's southern section.

Though "you wouldn't hear it from some of our critics," Carney told reporters, "we approve pipelines ... all the time." Building a link from oil terminals in Oklahoma now receiving the lion's share of domestic and Canadian oil to Gulf Coast refineries is a crucial goal, Carney added.

The full length of Keystone XL would nearly double U.S. import capacity for the emissions-intensive oil sands crude, in addition to carrying 100,000 barrels of domestic oil from North Dakota's Bakken region. Republicans claim the pipeline would help bring down gasoline prices due to an uptick in supply, while Democrats counter that the project could bump up prices for Midwestern consumers now benefiting from discounted prices due to the surfeit of product sitting in Oklahoma.

Whether the project's shifting fate beyond Washington could spill over into the Capitol remains an open question. Sens. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) yesterday continued pushing Reid to allow a vote on their plan for a prompt fast-tracking of the entire pipeline, and Reid suggested yesterday that he could agree to taking up the issue before ending debate on the transportation bill.

Even if the pipeline proposal comes before the Senate, this week or next, Republicans are unlikely to win the 60 votes needed to overcome resistance from Democrats who align with environmentalists against the pipeline. But failure for the time being is an acceptable option, Hoeven explained.

"We're not going to give up -- we hope to get it at some point," Hoeven said yesterday, pointing to the White House's public support for the southern leg of the project as a sign that the GOP campaign is working. "It's more a question of when ... our case is getting stronger every day."

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) agreed, predicting that "a lot of Democrats" in the upper chamber support the pipeline and likely would break from their party leaders' position if multiple votes were forced. "This is an issue we'll eventually win on."