Tar sands extraction in Alberta (Caterpillar)
The Republicans simply want to poke Barack Obama in the eye. They've been at this since January 2009. And they're at it again today, as Joan McCarter has amply
illustrated. Among the goodies they plunked into the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act is a requirement that the president decide within 60 days of passage whether to give the go-ahead to the Keystone XL pipeline project instead of
waiting until 2013. With the forced acceleration in the bill, President Obama has vowed a veto.
The 1700-mile project—which environmental advocates and Congresspeople have ripped apart, spurring Obama to delay making his final decision on it—would carry synthetic crude oil from Alberta's tar sands to various U.S. destinations, ending on the Gulf Coast of Texas. The environmental impact statement that mostly cleared it this past August has been heavily criticized for not looking at the big picture, including the damage done by mining the tar sands in the first place and by burning the end product.
The Republicans—whose only job creation since they promised to focus on jobs like laser beams in the 2010 elections has been in the parody and debate-moderating industry—buy into the pipeline builder's claim that the project will create lots of jobs, 20,000 directly and as many as 120,000 indirectly.
No matter how many times these bogus figures are shot down, they are resurrected, GOP zombie-facts.
So, once again, a debunking:
TransCanada, the pipeline builder, uses annual figures. So 10,000 workers over two years of construction magically become 20,000. The State Department says just 5,000-6,000 jobs would be created for the two-year construction period.
But according to a study published in September by the Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute, "Pipe Dreams? Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of Keystone XL," the project would only employ between 2,500 and 4,650 construction workers. “Most jobs created will be temporary and non-local,” the institute concluded. In fact, only a few hundred permanent jobs would be created, at best.
Even that may be a stretch, however. The pipeline might actually destroy jobs after it is completed, said Sean Sweeney, director of the institute:
This report questions the jobs claims promoted by TransCanada Corporation, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and other proponents of the pipeline. The report's findings should generate a high level of skepticism regarding the value of KXL as an important source of American jobs.
It is GLI's assessment that the construction of Keystone XL will create far fewer jobs in the U.S. than its proponents have claimed and may actually destroy more jobs than it generates...
The industry's U.S. job claims, and even the State Department's analysis, are linked to a $7 billion Keystone XL project budget. However, the budget for Keystone XL that will have a bearing on U.S. jobs figures is dramatically lower—only around $3 to $4 billion. A lower budget means fewer jobs.
The report also indicates jobs might be lost to additional fuel costs caused as Keystone XL shifts oil from Midwest refineries to the Gulf Coast. Those fuel costs could run as high as $4 billion and would reduce other spending that would also cost jobs. Sweeney added, "Furthermore, pipeline spills, pollution and increased greenhouse gas emissions incur significant human health and economic costs, thus eliminating jobs."
And one more thing. According to the report, evidence indicates that much of steel pipe for the project would not be manufactured in the United States, continuing a long-term trend that costs jobs.
That all makes no never-mind to the Republicans, eager to stick it to Obama. As they have proved time and again, they are interested in generating only a handful of jobs, the ones they think they can get by campaigning on their usual bogus claims.