This pipe line is for the most part finished, at least in terms of providing it a sea port for exportation of the oil. The next phase to accomplish this only needs 435 miles of additional pipe. The final phase would route an additional 1700 miles of pipe over a different path but to the same destination.
Using figures found on oil company web sites I have determined the 20,000 jobs claimed to be quite high. The 36″ diameter pipe proposed by Keystone will carry about 750,000 barrels of crude/day. From numbers of employees at a large BP refinery and its stated capacity I found it takes 1 employee to process about 220 bbl of crude per day. Given the capacity of a 36″ diameter pipe that equates to 3409 refining jobs. Of course that assumes the crude will not be processed outside of the US. It is entirely feasible that with the completion of the 435 miles of pipe, needed to connect it to Port Arthur in Texas, that the crude could be processed in another country. If that happens those 3409 refining jobs will not be created. Remember, it’s Canada’s oil. They will sell it to the highest bidder. If a refiner in Mexico has much cheaper labor and so can afford to bid more for the oil then US refineries, then it will be refined in Mexico. Another scenario is that an American oil company will refine the oil beyond US borders and maybe ship it back to the US again, thereby keeping refining profits off shore and out of reach from the IRS.
It’s difficult to place all the 20,000 jobs claimed. Even if the crude oil is refined in the US, that leaves a balance of 16,591 jobs to build and maintain the pipeline. I don’t see how that many jobs could possibly be contained in building and running a pipeline, even if all the materials and labor were of US origin, which again, they may not be. Even in the case of all 20,000 jobs created, how many will exist in 2 years or less when to pipe is finished? Could it even take 2000 people to maintain about 4000 miles of pipe? That’s 1 person for every 2 miles of pipe. Even with all the supported related industries I think that is a lot of maintenance.
There is not much doubt that the pipeline may have some merits but it could also have some nasty consequences. In such a case it is prudent to take a close look at the project. In the mean time don’t tell me the sky is falling or that I will miss out on a once in a lifetime opportunity just so you get a healthy revenue stream going sooner than later.
Will the oil companies provide guarantees for a specific number of jobs or for labor and material content in producing the pipeline? I haven’t read of any mentioned. I have read threats and ultimatums offered by politicians and oil industry associations.
After the high pressure sell job by the oil companies, and if approval was up to me, I would put their project on the back burner until the trees above the ground became oil below the ground.
I recall in the Nixon days US corporations painted an economic paradise for the US with the benefits produced from free trade. So now we have free trade, I think most of us, certainly the American workers, would rather be in hell.
Reference; TransCanada-Keystone Website; http://www.transcanada.com/keystone.html
references:BP Carson Web, Number of bbl/day produced per worker http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9030203&contentId=7055766
Pipe Capacity Reference; http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/oil.html
“This 42-inch diameter pipeline will have a shipping capacity of one million barrels of oil per day.”
figures modified to 36″ diameter pipe to be 750,000 bbl/day