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| credit: Think Progress |
As the Keystone XL pipeline decision is forthcoming, it is important for opponents of the bad idea from Big Oil to refute the usual arguments made to foist development projects that ruin the landscape on the unsuspecting public. TransCanada, the proposed pipeline builder, admitted that the number of jobs created by the project has been
grossly oversold. The Chamber of Commerce claimed at one point over
250,000 permanent jobs would be created by the pipeline project. The American Petroleum Institute pulled an even bigger number out of its ten gallon hat, claiming that oil sands development would create nearly
half a million jobs by 2035.
Pipe dreams. The only independent study of the project's jobs impact concluded that any jobs coming from the project (TransCanada now claims 20,000 calculated at one year's employment for one person) would be outweighed by environmental damage and higher fossil fuel costs in the Midwest. Are you listening, Mr. Obama?
