Contact: Sterling Burnett at 972-308-6462 or sterling.burnett@ncpathinktank.org
DALLAS —In response to the Obama administration’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline project, National Center for Policy Analysis Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett issued the following:
“This is just one more bit of evidence that the Obama administration cares more about politics than creating jobs and bringing the economy back. The environmental reviews have indicated that the pipeline should be safe along the currently proposed route. We need the oil – which is far more secure than what we are getting from the Middle East, Venezuela, Russia and Nigeria – and could use the tens of thousands of high paying jobs that would come with building and maintaining the pipeline, refining the oil and the jobs created to feed, clothe and house the workers.”
“The sad thing is the environment is likely to suffer more if the Keystone pipeline is not built. The Canadian government and the companies involved will build or expand pipelines east and west, crossing the entirety of Canada as oil is shipped to refineries on America’s east coast and west to Canadian ports. The oil will be loaded in tankers – more than doubling tanker traffic – and sent to China and refineries on America’s west coast.”
“Tankers are far more prone to spill oil than pipelines – and increased traffic raises the accident risk. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions, which environmentalists claim to be fighting against in preventing Keystone, will be vastly higher due to the increased shipping. This oil will still be produced, delivered, and burned as gasoline and other fuel. The only question is which is better for the environment. Keystone? Or other pipelines and increased shipping?”
“For American jobs and the environment, the answer is clear: Keystone.”
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