To build or not to build the seventeen hundred mile Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry Canadian oil from the northern border to American refineries on the Gulf Coast. The answer should be obvious when you consider that the US spends a million dollars a minute on OPEC oil and the pipelines have proven track record being the safest and the most economical means of transporting oil and natural gas. As the Business Manager of the UA Local 798, Danny Hendrix says: “We design it right, we build it right, we get the right contractors then we don’t have any problem, instead we will have a hundred years pipeline”.
To demonstrate that those who would build the Keystone XL have the skills to successfully complete this critical work, the organization responsible for training them made its case. Pipelines local 798 and the union representing workers in the pipe trades, invited the public in to witness the quality of its training and to hear how it will make the difference “first of all there’s not a better qualified or trained pipeline workforce in the world; we are the best we are pipelines that’s what we do that’s all we do” said the financial secretary of the UA local 798, David Barnett.
The United State currently spends almost one –half trillion dollars a year on oil from OPEC nations. Some say it helps to finance the other side in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Canada on the other hand is proven all and partner with common goals and values. Oil from keystone XL is projected to reduce consumption from OPEC by 12 to 15 percent. In the current economy job creation is the top priority, Keystone XL will put people to work, almost up to 13,0000 construction jobs. It is not jobs only it is generating tax revenue and generating income for everybody along the rout. Supporters at Keystone XL say it is the best way to ensure that America addresses current energy need while making the transition to alternative energy that is sustainable and green it’s. However, by stabilizing the economy in America, by providing jobs, by assuring that America have a reliable source of energy it can transition that technology and it can transition to the alternative sources of energy that is the future of America.
Sources:
– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline
– http://www.foe.org/projects/climate-and-energy/tar-sands/keystone-xl-pipeline
-http://keystone-xl.com