Some concerns over oil pipeline project

I recently received a “Speaker Alert” email concerning the Keystone project: “If you were president and could help create thousands of jobs, what would you do?” So I thought I would research this claim of creating 20,000 new private sector jobs and Speaker John Boehner's claim that it would create “tens of thousands” of new jobs.

According to Fact Checker, this story is a two Pinocchios: “Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle may have legitimate reasons for pushing this project, but they don't need to oversell it. If they said this project will create an estimated 13,000 construction jobs over two years, that would be closer to the truth.” The U.S. State Department forecasts just 5,000 direct U.S. jobs over a two-year construction period.

Here are some interesting indirect jobs that would be supposedly created: “51 dancers and choreographers, 138 dentists, 176 dental hygienists, 100 librarians, 510 bread bakers, 448 clergy, 154 stenographers, 865 hairdressers, 136 manicurists, 110 shampooers, 65 farmers, and 1,714 bartenders.”

A study by Cornell University said the pipeline could actually lead to a decline in jobs as it would lead to higher fuel prices in the Midwest that would slow consumer spending, thus costing jobs.

The oil from oil sands is dirtier than conventional forms of crude, resulting in total greenhouse gas effect of some 5 percent to 30 percent greater than conventional oil and 15 percent more costs to refine.

I would vote no.

Mike Machovec

Springville