................."However, these tremendous-seeming jobs claims are based entirely on a report by the Perryman Group, commissioned by the pipeline’s owner TransCanada, whose results have been described as “dead wrong” and “meaningless” by Council on Foreign Relations fellow Michael Levi and environmental economist Andrew Leach, neither of whom oppose the construction of the pipeline.
The only independent analysis conducted of the American job-creation potential of the Keystone XL pipeline finds that between 500 and 1400 temporary construction jobs will be created, with a negative long-term economic impact as gas prices rise in the Midwest and environmental costs are borne:"............
I wonder if it wouldn't make more sense to build a new refinery in North or South Dakota, and use a shorter pipeline. There are alot of refineries in the Gulf at risk from hurricanes, and then the gasoline may get exported anyway. Just a thought.
If you want to be, press one. If you want not to be, press 2
Republicans are red, democrats are blue, neither of them, gives a flip about you.
How can they build a pipeline and NOT create jobs. It's the same concept as all the other shovel-ready jobs.
And not all of them will be short-termed. Some will be long-termed such as those who run, secure and maintain the pipeline and its right of way. I would think the arrival of more oil in the Southern Plains would also create new jobs. And not a single job would be created on the government dime.
Joe wrote: I wonder if it wouldn't make more sense to build a new refinery in North or South Dakota, and use a shorter pipeline. There are alot of refineries in the Gulf at risk from hurricanes, and then the gasoline may get exported anyway. Just a thought.
I have heard it is very tough enviromentally to get new refinieries approved and most companies choose instead to just expand current facilities. Maybe they could just run the pipeline to Commerce City?
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
The availability of oil products assures that prices of domestic goods/products do not rise and production is not reduced as a result of energy costs. This is a stabalizing factor associated with jobs. Not building the pipeline would assure that domestic goods and jobs would be subject to the vagaries of the cost of energy.
How can they build a pipeline and NOT create jobs. It's the same concept as all the other shovel-ready jobs.
Yea this is laughable- this pipe line will not create jobs- according to all those opposed to it. Anyone who knows anything about this type of work - knows there will be plenty of jobs. The entire Alaska boom in the 70's was generated by one pipeline project.
All construction jobs are temporary- once the project is completed- the construction workers are done- but that didn't stop Obama from spending billions on temporary road projects. This pipeline would keep thousands of workers employed for a half dozen years- and the money is coming from the private market- not government borrowed money. It is real work, that will create real jobs- with real money- jobs that are badly needed at this time.
Then after the project is complete- it will supply and displace oil that we are currently importing by ship from places that we shouldn't be doing business with- and we will be dealing with a friendly stable country like Canada. This project is a win win - very much needed for the jobs it will create - and the energy it will supply. There will be hundreds of permanent jobs created too- to man the booster pump stations- and to maintain the line itself. These jobs never go away- I know several people still employed in Alaska doing this work today.
Obama and his clowns just hate anything to do with oil- they have shown their contempt for traditional energy sources by blocking every and any domestic production of oil, coal and gas.
"Then after the project is complete- it will supply and displace oil that we are currently importing by ship from places that we shouldn't be doing business with- and we will be dealing with a friendly stable country like Canada. This project is a win win - very much needed for the jobs it will create - and the energy it will supply. There will be hundreds of permanent jobs created too- to man the booster pump stations- and to maintain the line itself. These jobs never go away- I know several people still employed in Alaska doing this work today."
I would think another benefit of maximizing the oil we can get on or near the North American Continent would be that it might help avoid other "wars for oil". I understand that, from the world market perspective, all oil is basically lumped into a huge "reservoir", but if we are drawing more out of friendly places then maybe we won't have to fight Iran or some other looney tune country for access to Middle Eastern oil.
The more oil we can extract domestically or buy from close neighbors, the less young American men and women have to bleed for foreign oil. I can't see the downside. More jobs, more security and less blood.
I had to go to a Canadian paper to read anything about this. Why would it be that the American media would be all over the tax cut aspect of this bill about to be approved by the House but not want to talk about the Keystone XL Pipeline? To me this is the best news yet. If I understand the provision correctly, the President will now have 60 days (not months) to decide on pushing the pipeline forward.
According to the paper in Montreal, this is a $7 billion project shovel-ready project. Imagine how many jobs that will create in this anemic economy. Also, imagine the poop storm the President will create with his odd bedfellows (the Unions) if he doesn't push this thing through. It's no wonder why he wanted to kick this can down the road and it's also no wonder why the main stream media doesn't want to talk about this aspect of the bill. They would rather rub the House Republican's noses in the mud about giving in on the payroll tax cut aspect of the bill.
Thursday's deal preserves language in the payroll tax bill requiring the president to take another look at the $7-billion Keystone XL oil pipeline project which he had hoped to defer until after his re-election bid. The Keystone XL provision, requiring a 60-day decision, remains in the final bill that has been agreed to by all sides.
The plan to build an extension to the Keystone XL pipeline has split environmentalists, union workers and business groups in the Democratic base vote, and looms as a high stakes decision for Obama.
"With today's agreement . . . working Americans can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their taxes will not go up at the end of the year and that the president will have to finally decide on whether to move forward on a pipeline project that would create thousands of American jobs," said Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.
If no deal was struck, the fate of the pipeline would not be decided until early 2013, the timeline set by the U.S. State Department.
Most all other provisions in the agreement were seen as a victory for Obama.
The Canadian media has figured it out. You have to wonder why the American media won't talk about it. Could there be a bias? rofllol
It's also odd how none of the Democrats are worried about the impact this extension will have on the viability of the Social Security system. Hmmm. I just don't get it.
Downeast Maine they refer to this as "being caught between a rock and a hard place". Our President should get his rest in Hawaii as I suspect some tough sledding awaits him as the 2012 campaign really gets under way after the New Year.
It makes me wonder...which has a larger voting block for the President, environmentalists or unions? One groups is going to be happy by February 21st and one will not. I can't imagine Republican contenders would take advantage of the President's tough spot.
Under the measure expected to be approved, Obama can deny a cross-border permit within 60 days for the pipeline because it's not in the "national interest." But that option would open him to Republican attacks that he was cutting off an oil supply from a friendly Canadian neighbor. The pipeline would run from Alberta, Canada, to Texas refineries if built, and roughly double Canadian oil imports into the United States.
(So we would rather expend the blood of our young men and women overseas to secure access to oil there?)
Otherwise, Obama can approve the 1,700-mile conduit, and risk widespread anger from environmentalists who have said they are willing to engage in further civil disobedience to block the project. In their view, Keystone XL is a climate change disaster, since the oil sands in Canada release more greenhouse gas emissions in the production process than other forms of oil.
(Civil disobedience. PLEASE! The Canadians are going to extract the oil anyway. They can sell it to us or someone else. Makes better sense to me that they sell it to their closest neighbor.)
Obama also risks anger from union supporters who are counting on pipeline construction jobs if he denies a permit.
(The President was talking about "shovel-ready" jobs early on in his stimulus effort. The only thing this project will cost the government is the paper and ink needed to formalize the agreement. If this President is really about jobs...this one should be a no-brainer. If the unions look the other way while the President fritters away scores of jobs to please the environmentalists then that may cost him next November.)
Yup, he's caught in between a rock and hard place. Dems should enjoy the afterglow of the "payroll tax cut win" because this is about to get really interesting.
"Keystone XL would be Canada’s first step in diversifying its energy market. The pipeline would divert large volumes of Canadian oil from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast, where it would be available for the first time to buyers on the world market. To sweeten the deal, many of the refineries on the Gulf Coast happen to be located in foreign trade zones, where they can export Canadian oil to the world market without paying U.S. taxes."
"Keystone XL would divert Canadian oil from refineries in the Midwest to the Gulf Coast where it can be refined and exported. Many of these refineries are in free trade zones where oil may be exported to international buyers without paying U.S. taxes. And that is exactly what Valero, one of the largest potential buyers of Keystone XL’s oil, has told its investors it will do. The idea that Keystone XL will improve U.S. oil supply is a documented scam being played on the American people by Big Oil and its friends in Washington DC."
When you plant ice you're going to harvest wind. - Robert Hunter
