Opinion: Obama Should Not Clear Keystone XL Pipeline

As this article goes to press, the White House is deciding whether or not it should permit the construction of a pipeline called the Keystone XL, which would transport oil from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas.Proponents of the pipeline claim the project will create many jobs. Initial estimates concluded that the Keystone XL would create 20,000 jobs. That estimation was supplied by the Perryman Group, which was hired to conduct the study by TransCanada – the company poised to build the pipeline. Optimistic as that estimation was, it’s dwarfed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce projection, which stated that the pipeline would create 250,000 permanent jobs. The American Petroleum Institute cited similarly rosy numbers.But if we examine estimates provided by groups that wouldn’t profit from the pipeline’s construction, the numbers are much lower. The State Department’s prediction dipped far below the 20,000 mark, gauging job-creation at 5,000 or 6,000 temporary positions. According to a recent study by Cornell University, the Keystone XL could create between 500 and 1,400 temporary construction jobs, along with 127 permanent jobs, though the project might also cause a net loss of jobs.More recently, the vice president of TransCanada admitted that most of the jobs created by the pipeline would be temporary, and that the amount of permanent jobs added to the economy would be “in the hundreds, certainly not in the thousands.” TransCanada also revealed that it calculated its initial estimations according to ‘person years,’ which means that if one person works five years on the project, that counts as five jobs. This method of estimation tip-toes the fine line between deception and lies in order to inflate projected job growth.Whether you’re inclined to believe the figure of 250,000 jobs or 127 jobs likely depends upon your political bias. Either way, all these studies forgot to count the most guaranteed source of job-creation that the pipeline will provide; namely, crisis management and emergency relief. After the Keystone XL is built, it is sure to spring a leak and spew oil all over the amber waves of grain and fruited plains.When the pipeline ruptures it will contaminate the heartland and thereby contribute to the health of the U.S. economy because an immense amount of labor will be required to decontaminate the environment. Disaster is certain. For example, part of the pipeline will cross an active seismic zone that was rocked by an earthquake of 4.3 magnitude in 2002. Even more promising, the United Steelworkers claim that TransCanada intends to use unsuitably thin steel for the pipage and also to pump oil at an unusually intense pressure. The use of thin steel bodes well for the likelihood of catastrophe given that the pipe will transport diluted bitumen extracted from tar sands oil, which is highly abrasive and corrosive. In fact, the type of oil pumped through the pipeline is roughly sixteen times more likely to cause spills because of pipe corrosion.We don’t have to guess about whether or not the pipe will cause environmental calamity because the completed portions of the Keystone XL have already ruptured at least twelve times, in one instance gushing 21,000 gallons of oil.Another reassuring sign that the Keystone XL will burst is that the company that performed an environmental safety analysis of the pipeline, named Cardno Entrix, described TransCanada as a “major client,” just like the Perryman Group that misleadingly puffed-up the pipeline’s job-creating potential. TransCanada got what they paid for: Cardno Entrix declared the pipeline would have “limited adverse environmental impacts.” If we apply the trusty adage that you should never believe anything until it’s officially denied, then we can safely say the pipeline is unsafe.The recent oil spill in Mayflower, Arkansas augurs well for the job-creating potential of these faulty pipelines. Like most pipelines, Exxon’s Pegasus was underinspected, thus rendering it ripe for cataclysm. And when disaster struck, clean-up crews were quickly assembled. This is clear evidence that oil spills spur job-growth. The streets of this Mayflower neighborhood ran black with murky crude. Well-kept lawns were drenched in soupy muck. The inky stream flowed toward the local water supply. People were evacuated and relocated. And so jobs were created.As is evident, the jobs-for-the-sake-of-jobs mentality dominates D.C. If you want to rally support for a bill, you need only claim that it creates jobs. This mentality assumes that job-promotion is the acme of civic morality. To give a slightly hyperbolic illustration, if the government wants to shutter a company that produces cancer-causing chemicals, then people should oppose the government because protecting jobs is superior to protecting society from cancer-causing chemicals. It’s also worth noting that claims of job-creation can only gain support in an economy that features significant unemployment… unemployment which suggests that the U.S. economic model is deeply flawed.Though people reflexively applaud the creation of jobs, nobody ever asks, What kind of jobs? Are they jobs where workers control their workday? Where work is a source of empowerment rather than subordination? Where workers exercise democratic control over their workplace? Where workers are paid high salaries? Where workers have their evenings and weekends free? Where overtime is never mandatory? Where the workplace provides day-care options? Health care? Paid sick leave? Paid pregnancy leave? Paid parental leave? Paid holidays? Paid vacations?The contemporary mood regards such expectations as evidence of “the greedy, American worker.” From a different angle, one could view the absence of such benefits as evidence of “the greedy, American business owner.” The unspoken rule is that workers are expected to sacrifice in order to boost company profits, though workers should not expect to share in those profits.As the ‘jobs’ argument runs out of fuel, pipeline advocates are emphasizing Keystone XL’s ability to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil. This is like a heroin junkie gloating about buying smack made from American opium poppies instead of Afghan poppies: Real energy independence doesn’t mean eliminating dependence on foreign fossil fuels, it means eliminating dependence on fossil fuels altogether. And if it’s jobs you want, then transforming the U.S. into a renewable energy economy based on solar and wind power is a better bet. Besides, most of the pipeline’s oil is destined for foreign markets, not for U.S. consumption.And the oil isn’t the only thing being shipped to foreign markets. While proponents of the pipeline vaunt the Keystone XL’s job-creating potential, they fail to mention that many of those jobs will be located outside U.S. borders. For instance, at least half of the steel pipe will be manufactured by Welspun Corp. Ltd. which is based in Mumbai, India and Evraz plc which is based in Moscow, Russia.But unlike most jobs that can easily be shipped overseas, disaster relief and decontamination jobs, like those required to mop up oil spills, can’t be sent abroad since the ecological devastation will happen on good old American soil, which is mostly covered in asphalt.