Environmentalists are in a projectile sweat over the climate damage they claim would be caused if President Obama approves of the Keystone XL pipeline. The only problem is that the Keystone pipeline system is already pumping nearly 600,000 barrels a day of Canadian oil sands to Illinois refineries—and doomsday still hasn’t come.
The Keystone pipeline system, first proposed in 2005, has four phases. Phase 1 has been operating since 2010, carrying oil from Alberta across three Canadian provinces and six states to refineries in Illinois.
Phase 2 put a link in the pipeline from Steele City, Nebraska, to Cushing, Oklahoma, a major U.S. oil refining and storing hub. It went operational two years ago.
And Phase 3, currently under construction, extends the Keystone pipeline from Cushing to the Gulf refineries in Texas. President Obama even gave a speech in Cushing in March 2012—during his reelection bid—praising the pipeline extension as good for the economy.
The much-derided Keystone XL, Phase 4, is a separate pipeline starting in Alberta—where Phase 1 starts—crossing only three states (Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska), and connecting to the existing pipeline in Steel City.
Environmentalists complain that Phase 4, which would have the capacity to pump about 830,000 barrels of oil per day, would transport oil across environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska. Governor Dave Heineman expressed similar concerns. So the pipeline builder, TransCanada Corp., has proposed to reroute the pipeline, which satisfied the governor and the Nebraska legislature. Even the U.S. State Department has said the risks are minimal.
One reason TransCanada located the Phase 4 route where it did was to transport up to 100,000 barrels a day of U.S. crude oil from the Bakken reserves in North Dakota and Montana. That’s U.S. oil going to U.S. refineries.
Phases 1 and 2 directly employed nearly 9,000 workers on U.S. facilities and pipelines. Phase 3, which is under construction, has been divided into three sections, employing about 1,000 workers on each section. Those aren’t debatable projections; those are real Americans working at high-wage jobs. And the pipeline jobs won’t cost the government a dime. In fact, the government will gain revenue if the project is ever completed.
The fact is that the Keystone XL pipeline is simply an extension of an already existing pipeline system that is working well, creating jobs and expanding U.S. manufacturing. It should be an easy, and quick, decision for any president concerned about the economy.