The Keystone XL pipeline‘s supporters have long been touting the economic benefits of the project and now they have more ammunition for the ongoing fight.
A study conducted by the Maguire Energy Institute at Southern Methodist University, determined a close to 800 kilometre span of the pipeline has been a tremendous financial benefit for two dozen impoverished counties in Oklahoma and Texas. As a result the study concluded the construction project will pay greater than expected economic dividends.
TransCanada spent $2.3 billion to build the Gulf Coast Pipeline. It created 5-thousand jobs directly and that wasn’t the only benefit. The study concluded restaurants, hotels, and businesses experienced a significant boost thanks to the construction of the Gulf Coast Project.”
“These are small rural counties, and they are also low-income counties, so this project was a real shot in the arm for them,” the author Bernard Weinstein told FoxNews.com.
The report was commissioned by the Consumer Energy Alliance, a proponent of the entire Keystone project. As a result a group against Keystone, Tar Sands Blockade suggests the facts have been distorted.
Tar Sands Blockade, Alec Johnson says, “It makes no mention of the fact that the fossil fuel industry spews 98 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every day, treating out vital public commons – the atmosphere – as an open sewer,” Johnson said. “They pay nothing for that.”
The Keystone XL was announced 6 years ago. Since then, three of the four phases have been finished. The sticking point is the phase that crosses the Canada-US border. It needs approval from the American government, which has been reluctant to make a decision either way.
(source: People’s Pundit Daily)
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