Opinion : Why to build the Keystone Pipeline NOW

To the Editor,

On November 30, Senate Republicans introduced legislation aimed at forcing the Obama administration to approve the Keystone XL pipeline within 60 days, unless the president declares the project is not in the national interest. As I understand it, the President bounced the deal back to the State Department for further review, which basically defers the decision until after the November election. This satisfies, to some extent, the objections of the environmental lobby. The U. S. imports 10-11 million barrels of crude oil daily, while consuming 15 million barrels of crude daily(data from http://www.transcanada.com/keystone.html). The pipeline, while not reducing our imports, does mean we will rely less on Venezuela, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia.

Keystone XL is shovel-ready. TransCanada is poised to put 13,000 Americans to work to construct the pipeline - pipefitters, welders, mechanics, electricians, heavy equipment operators, among other jobs - in addition to 7,000 manufacturing jobs that would be created across the U.S. Additionally, local businesses along the pipeline route will benefit from the 118,000 spin-off jobs Keystone XL will create through increased business for local goods and service providers.

Environmentalist are concerned about leaks in the pipeline and the damage that could cause to the eco system others worry that building this pipeline has the potential to undermine America's clean energy future. However, we have no real substitute for diesel, Jet A, gasoline, herbicides, insecticides, or plastics(which are derived from petroleum) We need energy from all sources, and we already have thousands and thousands of miles of pipeline carrying natural gas and other hydrocarbons.

The President constantly argues for job creation. Keystone XL pipeline should be started without further delay.

Regards,

John Stiegelmeyer, Vinton