DALLAS – By advancing the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects, President Donald Trump is not only moving to unshackle the energy industry and promote a more secure United States, but is giving the green light to create a wealth of middle class jobs.
“President Trump has been successful in keeping a few thousand jobs in the U.S., but his action on the Keystone XL Pipeline alone will actually create what the State Department estimates is upwards of 42,000 jobs,” said Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) resident scholar Merrill Matthews, Ph.D.
“Nothing has been a bigger boost to the middle class than the nearly decade-long U.S. energy boom,” said Matthews. “The number of new high-paying jobs in the oil and gas industry has increased by more than a quarter million since 2003. President Trump realizes that is a great way to grow a stronger middle class”
National security depends, in part, on energy security, both for the U.S. and our allies, many of whom depend on imported oil and natural gas from countries that use energy access as leverage for nefarious behavior, said Matthews. “Keystone XL imports from Canada would offset all of our Venezuelan imports, money that government uses to prop up the totalitarian Maduro regime. If we’re going to import crude oil, and we will need to for a few more years, let’s at least support our allies rather than our enemies.”