Thursday, January 19, 2012

Speaker Boehner: Pipeline will "create 100,000 new jobs", NOT

When President Obama rejected the Keystone XL Pipeline today, Speaker Boehner said that the pipeline would have created "100,000 jobs"  Republicans seem to have a problem with numbers.  Most reliable estimates for the jobs that would be created with the keystone pipeline range around 1800 to 6,500 jobs.  These few jobs are not adequate compensation for having a toxic oil river run through our entire country.   Tapping the oil sands will also have a huge impact on our global CO2 footprint.  John Boehner and Eric Cantor blasted President Obama today for cancelling the Keystone XL Pipeline, saying:
 From ABC news
“President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese.  There’s really just no other way to put it.The president was given the authority to block this project only and only if he believes it’s not in the national interest of the United States.  Is it not in the national interest to create tens of thousands of jobs here in America with private investment?  Is it not in the national interest to get energy resources from an ally like Canada, as opposed to some countries in the Middle East?”
This toxic sludge they wanted to send to the Gulf of Mexico was to be exported! The refined oil would have then been sent off to the world market, most likely China.
This Washington Post article notes Speaker Boehner's personal financial stake in the pipelines completion.
Environmentalists note that in December 2010, according to Boehner’s financial disclosure forms, he invested $10,000 to $50,000 each in seven firms that had a stake in Canada’s oil sands, the region that produces the oil the pipeline would transport. The firms include six oil companies — BP, Canadian Natural Resources, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Devon Energy and Exxon — along with Emerson Electric, which has a contract to provide the digital automation for the first phase of a $9.4 billion Horizon Oil Sands Project in Canada.

Eric Cantor said that President Obama cost the nation "20,000 jobs".  There are no "ten's of thousands", or "100,000" of jobs with the Keystone XL Pipeline unless you count the clean up workers for the anticipated toxic oil spills from the pipeline.  The republicans cost the nation 68,000 jobs when they rejected President Obama's "Green Jobs Energy Bill".  The republicans don't want you to have solar panels on your roof, but they are eager for a toxic river to run from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico.  Eric Cantor and John Boehner must use Fox news as their sole source of information.  Check out Stephen Colbert's rundown on the pipeline and the"fanciful" job numbers Fox has been spouting for the XL Pipeline.

Enhanced by Zemanta

No comments:

Post a Comment