Pipeline expansion could see over 300,000 jobs created
Posted Jan 5, 2011 3:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The US’s largest oil industry group is pushing the White House to approve a pipeline that would see the Americans buy more Alberta oil.
Calgary-based TransCanada Pipeline’s proposed Keystone expansion would see about 900,000 barrels of oilsands crude flow across the US border every day.
It would run over 3,000 kilometres all the way down to Texas and cost around $7-billion.
Projections by the American Petroleum Institute hold the pipeline would create about another 340,000 jobs in the United States and boost its GDP by about $34-billion.
Alberta Energy’s Jay O’Neill tells 660News the province is watching the situation across the border closely and those economic benefits are getting harder to ignore.
“The midterm elections last fall in the United States were all about jobs and I think what people are recognizing in terms of the politicians, the legislatures and the decision makers is that jobs are very important to an economy right now that is struggling.”
The American Environmental Protection Agency is calling for more studies on the possible damage the pipeline could cause.
The API says there’s been enough study and it’s time to get on with the work.
