Louisiana's Landrieu Silent at Almost 70% of Energy Hearings

As the Senate heads to a vote on Keystone pushed by Senator Mary Landrieu, a review shows her shift to energy priorities is relatively new.

Senator Mary Landrieu, a Democrat from Louisiana, speaks at a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing about the Gulf Coast disaster and the nation's response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, May 17, 2010
Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg

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By Lisa Lerer and Annie Linskey

November 18, 2014 at 4:51 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu is presenting herself as a leading voice for Louisiana on energy issues in the U.S. Capitol, showcasing her inside influence by forcing a Senate vote on a bill that would allow construction of the Keystone pipeline, a project backed by industries and voters in her state.

Yet her outspokenness and perseverance in legislative forums is relatively new, emerging in the 10 months since she took over the chairmanship of the Senate Energy and National Resources Committee and as she faces an uphill battle in a Dec. 6 runoff against Republican Representative Bill Cassidy.