TransCanada Corporation's, Calgary, (TSX: TRP) (NYSE: TRP) president and CEO was in Washington, D.C. to discuss the fundamental reasons why the Keystone XL pipeline is in the national interest of the United States and should be built. Russ Girling explained the pipeline would help Americans achieve two primary goals: increase domestic energy security and create thousands of jobs.
"The Keystone XL project is a privately funded $7 billion dollar undertaking that will directly create thousands of construction and manufacturing jobs and indirectly stimulate additional private sector investment and job creation," said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer. "Thousands of those working men and women spoke out in support of the project, one in particular captured what this pipeline means to them - 'This pipeline is not just a pipeline - to me it's a lifeline'."
Within days of receiving regulatory approval, Keystone XL would create 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs in the U.S during the construction phase. This includes welders, pipefitters, heavy equipment operators, engineers and many other trades. Investing billions in the economy would also lead to the creation of 118,000 spin-off jobs as local businesses benefit from workers staying in hotels, eating in restaurants and TransCanada buying equipment and supplies.
The Keystone XL project is expected to create $20 billion of economic stimulus to the U.S. during construction and contribute over $5 billion in property taxes to the communities it will pass through - money counties could use to build new roads, schools and hospitals.
"The United States consumes 15 million barrels of crude oil per day and imports 11 million barrels per day. Under any scenario, the need for crude oil as the primary transportation fuel will remain for decades," added Girling. "The United States has a choice of receiving more oil from its most secure, most stable and most reliable trade partner, Canada, or to continue to import from less stable locations that do not share the interest and values of Americans."
The benefits of Keystone are not limited to the states where it would be located. From pipe manufactured in Arkansas, pump motors made in Ohio and transformers built in Pennsylvania, workers in almost every state in the U.S. would benefit from the project and the ongoing development of Canada's oil sands. The Perryman study conservatively estimated the permanent increase instable oil supplies that Keystone XL creates will add more than 250,000 permanent jobs for U.S. workers and add more than $100 billion in annual total expenditures to the U.S. economy.
If construction of the pipeline begins early in 2012, Keystone XL is expected be operational in 2013.
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