Obama Mocks Thousands Of Jobs Created By The Keystone XL Pipeline

Editor Comment: Over the weekend, the President mocked the creation of 2000 new jobs and used ridiculous numbers to play his political game. He pooh-poohed the Keystone XL pipeline claiming that it would create only 2000 jobs. His numbers were low by 50 percent it's 4000 jobs). But setting that point aside, what does Mr. Obama have against even 2000 new jobs in an economy with so many unemployed Americans?

Sean Hackbarth at the US chamber of Commerce has responded to the "green energy" President's comment which again evidences that he would rather see people out of work before he would ever support a carbon based job. Mr. Obama has repeatedly stood in the way of the XL Pipeline.

---

Editorial Toon by AF Branco

by Sean Hackbarth, Free Enterprise: How serious is President Obama is about approving the Keystone XL pipeline? The energy infrastructure project came up in a New York Times interview and got a laugh from the President when the conversation steered toward job creation [emphasis mine]:NYT: A couple other quick subjects that are economic-related. Keystone pipeline -- Republicans especially talk about that as a big job creator. You've said that you would approve it only if you could be assured it would not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon in the atmosphere. Is there anything that Canada could do or the oil companies could do to offset that as a way of helping you to reach that decision?

MR. OBAMA: Well, first of all, Michael [Shear, New York Times reporter], Republicans have said that this would be a big jobs generator. There is no evidence that that’s true. And my hope would be that any reporter who is looking at the facts would take the time to confirm that the most realistic estimates are this might create maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline -- which might take a year or two -- and then after that we’re talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 [chuckles] jobs in a economy of 150 million working people.

NYT: Yet there are a number of unions who want you to approve this.

MR. OBAMA: Well, look, they might like to see 2,000 jobs initially. But that is a blip relative to the need.2,000 jobs? Really? The facts on the ground prove otherwise. TransCanada which is constructing the pipeline, states on its website that 4,000 people are employed to build the southern length from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast. At a minimum, the President is already off by 50%.

We're not sure where the President got this number. White House staff couldn't source it, but the Washington Post figures it might have come from a 2011 study produced by Cornell University’s Cornell Global Labor Institute that estimated between 2,500-4,650 jobs would be created from construction of the entire pipeline. We already know the high-end number has nearly been reached on the southern length. The President should have left this flawed study to pipeline opponents (who love getting arrested).

What's even more curious is the President ignored the economic analysis of his own State Department which finds that the pipeline will create 42,100 jobs. If he has a problem with the State Department’s estimate, he should discuss this with Secretary John Kerry.

We know that thousands of more jobs will be created if the northern section of Keystone XL is approved. The Washington Post reports that with the southern leg almost complete, there are 10 segments left to stretch the pipeline from Oklahoma to Alberta. Based on TransCanada's data, that will mean over 5,000 jobs created to construct the northern section, plus thousands more jobs from building pumping stations, construction camps, and storage tanks along with managing and inspecting the project.

Even if I was in a good mood and were willing to accept the President's ridiculously low number (which I'm not), the President shouldn’t scoff at 2,000 jobs. It’s not like this economy is a finely-tuned job-creating engine. In addition to creating jobs, the Keystone XL pipeline will strengthen American energy security and increase local and state government revenues – all with minimal environmental impact.

What’s grating about the President’s quip is that last year, after rejecting the pipeline and lobbying Senators to not vote to approve it, he stood up in Cushing, OK and announced that he would make construction of the southern leg a priority (even though it didn’t need the President’s approval). He’s probably taking credit for those 4,000 jobs.

Instead of chuckling, the President should find some accurate numbers, end the delays, and approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

---

Tags: XL pipeline, jobs, President Obama, speech, To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!