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Nearly a dozen Senate Democrats, including five up for re-election this year, are pressing President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, and they say they want a decision by the end of next month.

Most Republicans support the pipeline, but the 11 Democrats who wrote a letter to Mr. Obama urging him to approve the project deliberately made it a one party-effort. While a set of bipartisan signatures can be a powerful thing in the art of Washington letter-writing, these lawmakers clearly want to accentuate the pressure Mr. Obama faces from his own party on this issue.

Its really to turn up the pressure on the president, said a Senate Democratic aide on the condition of anonymity. We know where the Republicans are on this issue.

Democratic Sens. Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Mark Warner of Virginia, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mark Begich of Alaska, who all face tight races this November, signed the letter, which urges Mr. Obama to put in place an explicit timeline to decide on the project and to make a final decision by May 31. The partys quest to keep control of the Senate could hinge on the races of these five Democrats, who have previouslyexpressed supportfor the project. Many of them come from fossil-fuel rich states.

This process has been exhaustive in its time, breadth, and scope, the Democrats wrote. It has already taken much longer than anyone can reasonably justify. This is an international project that will provide our great friend and ally Canada, a direct route to our refineries.

Mr. Obama has not publicly indicated when he will make a final decision on the pipeline, which has been winding its way through a regulatory review within the administration for more than five years.

The Senate Democrats ask in the letter for a decision by May 31 because its a few weeks after the 90-day clock ends on the administrations interagency review of the State Departments environmental report on the pipeline, which was released Jan. 31. That report, like the previous four that have been issued on the project since September 2008, found that Keystone XL wont have a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions. Facing mounting pressure from his environmental base, Mr. Obama said last summer he would only approve the Canada-U.S. pipeline if it didnt significantly exacerbate global warming.

The letter, organized by Ms. Landrieu, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, also included Democratic Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, and Montanas Jon Tester and John Walsh.

Notably absent from the letter are Colorados two Democratic senators: Mark Udall, who is up for reelection this year, and Michael Bennet, who chairs the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and voted yes on a symbolic measure last year that was supportive of the project (though it didnt technically force approval). A spokesman for Mr. Bennets office didnt respond to a request for comment, and Mr. Udalls spokesman reiterated that he supports the administrations process.

Sen. Udall still believes Congress should not be injecting politics into this process, said Mike Saccone, a spokesman for the senator.

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Eleven Democrats Push Obama to Approve Keystone