President Barack Obama has revived debate about the number of jobs that would be created by the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas. The 1,700-mile pipeline would carry oil from tar sands in Alberta to refineries in the Houston area, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.
During a jobs speech Tuesday in Tennessee, Obama downplayed the pipeline's effect on jobs, calling it a “blip” compared with the overall economy. He also made that point in an interview with The New York Times last week.
The president correctly characterized the project's overall effect on U.S. employment but underestimated the number of jobs it would create.So what? It's all politics. At least he telegraphed his plans to kill the Keystone once and for all.
My thoughts:
Looking at the Keystone based on jobs is extremely short-sighted. This project was never about jobs; TransCanada was probably wrong, in hindsight, to even bring jobs up as a selling point. This project should have been argued on the merits of the project's intended outcome and/or purpose.
TransCanada and supporters of the pipeline should have stressed the national interest for the US.
The jobs would take care of themselves. Everyone knows that most of the jobs will be temporary, no matter how many are created. Arguing that the jobs will mostly be temporary anyway is a fallacious / misleading argument; all construction projects are temporary by their very nature. I don't think the major reason for wind farms has to do with jobs, though that is sometimes invoked.
Like flaring, talking about jobs and the Keystone XL diverts folks from working much more important issues.
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