WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today expressed disappointment with President Obama’s veto of a bill authorizing construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline, and announced she will support an effort to override his veto:

“When our own State Department review shows that this oil is coming out of the ground, it’s only a question of how, then the decision to be made is this—what is the safest way to move it to market? Pipelines are better than barges or trains. That’s common sense, and I will vote to override this veto.”

McCaskill has long been a supporter of the swift approval and construction of the Keystone XL pipeline—which passed the Senate and House on a bipartisan basis—previously voting to force approval of the project.

Last year, McCaskill called on President Obama to implement an explicit timeline for approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline permit, highlighting the repeated delays in the approval process over the last several years.

In January, after the State Department completed its final environmental impact statement of the pipeline, McCaskill called on President Obama to approve the Keystone project. McCaskill previously urged then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to speed up the lengthy review process for the northern portion of the pipeline, citing the significant potential for jobs and increased energy security the pipeline’s construction would mean for the United States.