The Pipeline for the One Percent
Claims:
Keystone XL will create 20,000 jobs for American workers. False. The GLI report, using TransCanada’s own data, finds just 2,500 to 4,650 jobs will be created. They will be temporary and non-local. So much for putting America back to work.
TransCanada will inject $7 billion into the economy. Misleading. The total budget may be $7 billion, but only half of that will be spent in ways that affect the U.S. (Sadly, TransCanada’s stock has dropped nine percent this past week, reflecting perhaps that the company already spent $l.9 billion on a project without approval—just assumptions.)
Keystone XL will create a total of 120,000 “direct, indirect and induced” jobs. Exaggerated. These jobs were theorized using overestimates of construction jobs and an outdated plan that includes parts of the pipeline that have already been built. The 120,000 figure is at least 20% high, and has more than a few holes in it. Even if all the Keystone fantasies were true, seasonally adjusted unemployment numbers would not budge from the current level of 9.1%. American unemployment, it turns out, is a bit more complex than one pipeline dream. America’s economic woes may have more to do with a trillion dollar war, a trade deficit to China and some serious systemic inefficiencies, than one pipeline.
Keystone XL will keep domestic gas prices down. False. The existing Keystone pipeline delivers gas to refineries in the Midwest; the Keystone XL expansion would route petroleum to the Gulf of Mexico where it would be sold internationally at a higher price. In fact, Keystone XL would result in an increase in gas prices of 20 to 30 cents per gallon. This will not only hurt consumers but also businesses, which will likely cut workers to cover (inelastic) costs.
Most importantly: Keystone XL will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. False. Keystone XL is intended to be an export pipeline, with contracts for export…all signed, sealed, and delivered before it reaches the refineries in Port Arthur, Texas.
For instance, research group OilChange, reports, that the Valero Corporation which has contracts for at least l00,000 barrels daily from the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, has a “… publically disclosed business model is focused on exporting crude oil…”. The Valero Port Arthur Texas Refinery is located in a Foreign Trade Zone, where it joins corporate neighbors. Motiva (a joint venture of Royal Dutch Shell and the Saudi government), and Total of France, at the Gulf Coast refineries. Indeed, testimony at Canadian hearings had oil companies arguing that there is a present and pending glut in the American oil market, which requires the tar sands producers to ship outside the continent.
In short, the Keystone XL pipeline means a few jobs, higher gas prices and a pretty good chance of contaminating the Oglalla Aquifer (the big one in Nebraska, which may have stopped this project for now). Suncor- Canada’s largest oil company in the tar sands, boasted third quarter earnings of $l.29 billion, but will likely be crying for a couple of days in its corporate cup of tea over this decision. The decision however, would not have helped most Americans in the short or long term.
more:
http://www.honorearth.org/news/pipeline-one-percent
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