The Keystone XL Pipeline

Valentin Sigalov // Prokhor Zakharov

The Keystone XL Pipeline is the subject of a rather heated debate in the USA. It is, essentially, a proposed pipeline which would stretch from Canadian Alberta all the way to the oil refineries on the Texan Gulf Coasts. It would run a huge amount of crude through it. Of course, this is a Republican-backed built with Democratic opposition.

The bill to approve this project did not pass through the Senate during the vote today. It was extremely close though: 59-41 in favor, but 60 required to pass. President Obama would likely have vetoed the bill if it did pass however.

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said, “I think that what we’re going to see is that the president’s got to come to the table, and both parties are going to have to work together to get things done… It’s going to take the president saying ‘I want to work with you, I want to pass some of these jobs bills, I want to pass the Keystone Pipeline and get things done.” This makes it sound like a perfect solution that both parties could get behind. A job creation machine which would improve the economy of all of the states it's being built in.

However, it's not just potentially disastrous, but is also not as much of a job-maker as it is put out to be. While it will create anywhere from 2,500 to 20,000 jobs during it's construction, the number drops to about 20 after it is complete, according to Bloomberg. On top of that, from the $7 billion dollars appointed to the project from federal spending, $3-4 billion will likely be going towards wherever the steel comes from. Is it truly worth it?

Not only will this pipeline contribute to our reliance on fossil fuels, there are massive environmental concerns arising. Along the path of the pipeline, more forests will be cut down. This isn't it: Woodland caribou populations are shrinking and are now listed as threatened by the Canadian government, in part because the animal will not cross logged forest.