Prentice in Washington: Obama veto won't be the end for Keystone XL

Alberta's premier says he's optimistic that a presidential veto won't spell the end of the Keystone XL pipeline debate in the United States.

Jim Prentice is in the U.S. capital for meetings on a variety of subjects, including the controversial pipeline.

He says everything he's hearing suggests President Barack Obama will veto a Keystone bill that just made it through Congress -- and that the discussion will continue.

Prentice says the likely next step is that lawmakers will attach a pipeline provision to other legislation and send it to the president. One Republican has already mused that Keystone could become part of a big infrastructure-funding bill.

Prentice held more than a half-dozen meetings on Monday in Washington during a U.S. trip.

His interlocutors included the head of the World Bank, the chief-operating officer of the Inter-American Development Bank, lawmakers, think-tanks, the Washington Post editorial board, and members of the Obama administration.

One of those administration members is the State Department official gathering input for the soon-to-be-completed Keystone regulatory process, which is separate from the legislation in Congress.

In his meetings, Prentice repeatedly promoted Alberta's attempts to reduce emissions from the oilsands.