Keystone XL Jobs Won’t Wait for Democrats

December 1, 2011

Democrats’ Political Games Are Sabotaging Creation of Hundreds of Thousands of Jobs

A new report suggests that the lack of energy infrastructure to transport oil supplies domestically may be partially to blame for the struggling economy this year. The absence of a national crude pipeline left America particularly vulnerable to a spike in gas prices, and may have cost a quarter-million new jobs.
The Keystone XL pipeline under discussion would both create immediate energy jobs and address this infrastructure shortfall. Even Austan Goolsbee, formerly President Obama’stop economist, called opponents of the project “naive” and short-sighted.
But instead of allowing the creation of immediate energy jobs, Democrats are playing political games, sabotaging the creation of the Keystone pipeline to cozy up to radical environmentalists.

BACKGROUND

A new report suggests that the lack of energy infrastructure to transport oil supplies domestically may be partially to blame for the struggling economy this year. The absence of a national crude pipeline left America particularly vulnerable to a spike in gas prices, and may have cost a quarter-million new jobs:

NATIONAL JOURNAL ANALYSIS: “U.S. ECONOMY MISSED OUT ON CREATING UP TO A QUARTER-MILLION JOBS THIS YEAR” BECAUSE OF LACKING ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE: “The U.S. economy missed out on creating up to a quarter-million jobs this year because it lacked the infrastructure to capitalize on a rare divergence in global oil prices, a National Journal analysis shows.” (Jim Tankersly, “A Crude Hit to Recovery,” National Journal, 11/29/2011)

MUCH OF AMERICA COULDN’T GET ACCESS TO CHEAP OIL SUPPLIES FROM CANADA AND NORTH DAKOTA: “West Texas and Brent are similar in quality. Their prices tracked each other closely until late last year, when global oil prices began rising, culminating in the early-2011 spike linked to the Arab Spring. While prices rose worldwide, Brent prices rose substantially more than West Texas prices – because a new glut of West Texas supply was flooding the market, from increased production in Canada and North Dakota.

“By this fall, when the gap was widest, a barrel of Brent cost $28 more than a barrel of West Texas.

“That could have been great news for American motorists at a time when gasoline prices were soaring. But U.S. drivers, by and large, didn’t benefit from their country’s own cheaper oil.

“Many of them couldn’t get it: West Texas crude is refined in the Midwest, but there’s no sufficient pipeline or shipping route to easily transport that oil to the coasts. So drivers in New York and Washington, for example, kept pumping their cars full of gasoline refined from the more expensive, imported Brent crude, while cheaper West Texas barrels piled up on the Plains.” (Jim Tankersly, “A Crude Hit to Recovery,” National Journal, 11/29/2011)

The Keystone XL pipeline under discussion would both create immediate energy jobs and address this infrastructure shortfall. Even Austan Goolsbee, formerly President Obama’stop economist, called opponents of the project “naive” and short-sighted:

BUILDING NEW PIPELINE INFRASTRUCTURE WOULD REDUCE RISK, STRENGTHEN U.S. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE: “Energy industry groups say expanding America’s pipeline infrastructure – including potential Obama administration approval of the Keystone XL pipeline to carry oil south from Canada – would minimize the odds of another wide price split in the future.” (Jim Tankersly, “A Crude Hit to Recovery,” National Journal, 11/29/2011)

FMR. TOP WHITE HOUSE ECONOMIST AUSTAN GOOLSBEE: KEYSTONE OPPONENTS “NAIVE”:“People in the U.S. opposing TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL pipeline are being ‘naïve,’ said Austan Goolsbee, former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.” (Sean Pasternak, “Goolsbee Says U.S. Opponents of TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline are Naive,” Bloomberg, 11/28/2011)

MORE GOOLSBEE: CANADIAN TAR SANDS WILL BE DEVELOPED WHETHER AMERICA GETS INVOLVED OR NOT: “‘It’s a bit naïve to think the tar sands would not be developed if they don’t build that pipeline,’ said Goolsbee, speaking today in Toronto at the Economic Club of Canada. ‘Eventually, it’s going to be built. It may go to the Pacific, it may go through Nebraska, but it’s going to be built somewhere.'” (Sean Pasternak, “Goolsbee Says U.S. Opponents of TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline are Naive,” Bloomberg, 11/28/2011)

But instead of allowing the creation of immediate energy jobs, Democrats are playing political games, sabotaging the creation of the Keystone pipeline to cozy up to radical environmentalists:

“OBAMA PUNTS KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE” UNTIL AFTER 2012 ELECTION: (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

GREEN GROUPS HAD THREATENED TO ABANDON OBAMA IF HE APPROVED THE PROJECT: “Environmental groups have been protesting the pipeline that would run from Alberta oil sands to Texas refineries, and there have been rumblings that greens would abandon Obama next fall if he approved it.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

PROJECT HAD BROAD SUPPORT FROM UNIONS: “The pipeline has the support of many Republicans in Congress and also major labor unions like the Teamsters, Laborers’ International Union of North America and segments of the AFL-CIO.” (Dan Berman and Darren Goode, “Obama Punts Keystone XL Pipeline,” Politico, 11/10/2011)

KEYSTONE PROJECT WAS PROJECTED TO CREATE MORE THAN 20,000 “SHOVEL-READY” JOBS: (Editorial, “Keystone Cop-Out,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/11/2011)

LONG-TERM JOBS IMPACT: UP TO 130,000 JOBS: “Many of those 20,000 jobs on the construction of the pipeline would have been filled by skilled union members. Eventually, the completed pipeline was expected to result in as many as 130,000 jobs, many of them on the upper Texas Coast, where the heavy oil would be refined into 700,000 barrels of oil daily.” (Editorial, “Keystone Pipeline is the Wrong Call,” The Houston Chronicle, 11/11/2011)