The federal approval process for cross-border pipelines (and there are many) historically has taken 18 to 24 months, yet the White House says that more than six years isn’t enough time to determine whether the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest.

Perhaps the State Department can help them out. On the need for Keystone XL:

The proposed Project is meant to respond to the market demand of refineries for crude oil of the kind found in Western Canada (often called heavy crude oil). The proposed Project would also provide transportation for the kind of crude oil found within the Bakken formation of North Dakota and Montana (often called light crude oil).

On Keystone XL’s jobs and economic impacts:

During construction, proposed Project spending would support approximately 42,100 jobs (direct, indirect, and induced), and approximately $2 billion in earnings throughout the United States.

More economic impact:

Construction of the proposed Project would contribute approximately $3.4 billion to the U.S. GDP. This figure includes not only earnings by workers, but all other income earned by businesses and individuals engaged in the production of goods and services demanded by the proposed Project, such as profits, rent, interest, and dividends.

Add to the above that State found Keystone XL would have no bearing on the development of Canada’s oil sands and thus no significant environmental impact, climate or otherwise:

… approval or denial of any one crude oil transport project, including the proposed Project, is unlikely to significantly impact the rate of extraction in the oil sands or the continued demand for heavy crude oil at refineries in the United States based on expected oil prices, oil-sands supply costs, transport costs, and supply-demand scenarios.

All factor into a determination that infrastructure of this nature is in the national interest – a point grasped by a strong majority of Americans in the Keystone XL debate – which seems to elude the White House.

By Mark Green

Originally posted January 12, 2014

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