Shovel Ready Jobs Buried by Obama Administration's Decision on Pipeline

Press Release

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Ennis/Arlington) expressed disappointment after the Obama Administration announced it was denying permits to build the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline, determining that it wasn't in the national interest. The project is a proposed 1,700 mile extension of an existing pipeline linking energy supplies in Canada to the United States -- by way of East Texas - that would create tens of thousands of jobs and bring needed energy security to our nation.

"This administration is once again playing politics with our nation's economy. One day after the President's own jobs council recommended building pipelines and expanding energy exploration in the US, he has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. This shovel ready project would almost immediately create tens of thousands of jobs -- many of them in Texas -- and it would safely bring needed energy resources into our nation. Now because the President listened to radical anti-energy activists, the jobs will stay in Canada and the oil will be shipped to China," said Barton.

If it had been approved, the Keystone pipeline system was expected to carry 1.4 million barrels of oil each day to refineries along the Texas coast, significantly expanding North American energy supplies and reducing our need to import oil from unstable regions of the world. Building the Keystone XL pipeline was projected to directly create 20,000 construction and manufacturing jobs (many of which would have been in the Lone Star State), not to mention the thousands of additional jobs and economic benefit that would have come from an infrastructure project of this magnitude and the secure, stable energy supplies it would have delivered.

"This isn't the end of this battle. My House colleagues and I will continue to create a job friendly environment and secure our nation's energy future," added Rep. Barton.

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