Keystone pipeline benefits are inflated

Canada is a great country and a good neighbor. But promoting the Keystone XL pipeline under the guise of job producer is questionable.

The National Wildlife Federation outlines mysteriously rising jobs claims: In 2008, a report included in TransCanada's Presidential Permit application for Keystone XL to the State Department said they anticipate “a peak workforce of approximately 3,500 to 4,200 construction personnel” to build the pipeline. In 2010, TransCanada put out a news release that said, “During construction, Keystone XL would create 13,000 jobs and further produce 118,000 spin off jobs.” In 2011, TransCanada put out a fact sheet that said Keystone XL would “create about 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs.” Recent half-page advertisements in The Gazette and other newspapers claim “up to 600,000 jobs by 2035.”

This is preposterous. According to Cornell University's Global Labor Institute, the project will create no more than 2,500 to 4,650 temporary direct construction jobs for two years and that the company's claim that Keystone XL will create 20,000 direct U.S. construction and manufacturing jobs is unsubstantiated.

Furthermore, the claim that this oil will come from a friendly nation to benefit the United States is bogus. The oil will be sold on the open market to the highest bidder - most likely China.

My grandchildren and yours won't be able to drink water or breathe contaminated air. No matter how much energy or how many jobs this pipeline would produce, without unpolluted drinking water, untainted agricultural lands and pure air, all is for naught.

Ann Christenson

Iowa City