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Bill Knight - November 10

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wium/local-wium-993129.mp3

Macomb, IL – Corporate claims of jobs to be created by TransCanada's proposed Keystone Gulf Coast Expansion Pipeline Project (known better as the Keystone XL Pipeline) are inflated at best and misleading at the worst, according to a new report by the Global Labor Institute, part of the New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) at Cornell University.

In fact, the $13 billion Keystone XL project may actually kill more jobs than it creates, says the GLI report, "Pipe Dreams?"

Keystone XL is designed to transport oil extracted from tar sands from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico on the Texas coast. The US State Department is reviewing the proposal and, along with President Obama, must determine whether the project is in the national interest before issuing a decision.

TransCanada claims that, during the life of the project, Keystone XL would create: more than 118,000 "person-years" of employment; more than $20 billion in new spending for the US economy; an increase of $6.5 billion in the personal income of Americans, collectively; and more than $585 million more in state and local taxes in the states along the pipeline route.

However, TransCanada has changed its job estimates, which at one time were 13,000 jobs and at one point became 325,000 jobs. The new study questions the lofty promises.

Sean Sweeney, director of Cornell's GLI, says, "This report questions the jobs claims promoted by TransCanada Corporation, the American Petroleum Institute and other proponents of the pipeline. The report's findings should generate a high level of skepticism regarding the value of the Keystone pipeline 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 US than its proponents have claimed and may actually destroy more jobs than it generates."

For example, job projections by TransCanada and the American Petroleum Institute fail to consider the large number of jobs that could be lost by construction of Keystone XL. For example, jobs could be lost because of Midwest consumers paying 10 to 20 cents more per gallon of gasoline and diesel fuel since Keystone XL would divert oil from refineries in the Midwest to the Gulf region. Also, one wonders whether preference was given to the Gulf because of its potential exporting location, sending the oil overseas.

Lara Skinner, associate director of research at GLI, said, "The company's claim that Keystone XL will create 20,000 direct construction and manufacturing jobs in the US is unsubstantiated. There is strong evidence to suggest that a large portion of the primary material input for KXL - steel pipe - will not even be produced in the US."

Meanwhile, TransCanada announced a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for a big part of US construction of the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL, a pact with the Laborers, the Teamsters, the Plumbers and Pipefitters, and the Operating Engineers. The AFL-CIO endorsed the massive project last year.

However, labor allies are stepping up efforts to lobby the AFL-CIO and the Building Trades to reconsider promised gains. Environmentalists in particular object to the huge amounts of toxic waste water and carbon emissions required in separating the heavy crude oil from the sand, plus the necessary clear-cutting of old-growth timber to access the sand.

Colleen O'Doherty of the Guardians of the Good Life community organization in Omaha, Neb., said, "The AFL-CIO isn't fighting for the common good now. They are standing on the side of a multinational corporation. They are standing on the side of temporary jobs, endangering our water, higher gas prices and intimidation of our landowners."

A group of American mayors in 2008 passed a resolution urging US cities to stop using tar-sand oil, which also is so thick it needs lighter Saudi oil Keystone criticizes to blend with it to even move through pipelines.

Sometimes old sayings are on-the-mark, like "When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is."

Bill Knight is a freelance writer who teaches at Western Illinois University. The opinions expressed are not necessarily those of WIU or Tri States Public Radio