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I am on the fence about this but I am siding with "let them build it".
It will create a fair amount of short term construction jobs, and of course any jobs are good for the economy.
Discussions about the environmental impact are silly. People don't know this, but early all gas / oil isn't shipped via truck, but by pipeline. For example, gas in Phoenix is really made in California and shipped by pipeline. When the pipeline broke one year, it caused a huge gas shortage. But the environmental impact was nil - when the pipeline broke, it broke and they fixed it; It didn't dump millions of barrels anywhere. These pipelines criss-cross the United States and it's not an environmental issue at all.
If Canada needs to refine it's oil.... Why wouldn't it just send it to Minnesota, which is one of the top five states for refining oil? Make no mistake about it - this is not about refining oil, it's about transporting it. They are going to pass this oil through the United States and sell it elsewhere.
If that's not enough... It seems most of the pipeline is already built and in place and running.
So...
- More jobs
- More money in the US (to maintain and run the pipeline, then to refine it)
- More money in taxes
- Zero to little environmental impact
Just build it already.
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