St. Michael Patch: OPINION: President's Rejection of Keystone Pipeline Inexcusable

When President Barack Obama rejected the construction of the Keystone Pipeline on January 18, 2012, he did more than cancel a necessary construction project for our nation. He vetoed thousands of American jobs, maintained our nation’s dependence on foreign oil and unnecessarily wounded our relationship with Canada, a country that provides 20 percent of America’s oil imports every year. At a time when over 13 million Americans do not have a job and the average price of gas is $3.69, the President’s decision to cancel the pipeline’s construction is inexcusable.

Sponsored by TransCanada Inc., one of the leading energy infrastructure companies in North America, the Keystone Pipeline was to be a 1,600-mile long conduit connecting the tar sands of Canada to the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Not only would this extensive pipeline have decreased America’s dependence on foreign oil, it would have stimulated thousands of desperately needed American jobs.

According to TransCanada’s estimates, the pipeline would have created 20,000 jobs in both the construction and manufacturing sectors right away. Upon completion of the connection, the company also projected 465,000 American jobs would have been created along with an eventual $521 billion increase in the America’s Gross Domestic Product. Over 830,000 barrels of oil would also have been delivered to refineries across America per day, doubling the amount of oil we currently receive from Canada.

Yet with all those positive factors to the Keystone proposal, the President still chose to cancel the plan, needlessly damaging America’s friendly diplomatic relations with our neighbor to the north. A few days after the President’s rejection, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper responded by asking China if they would accept the crude oil we rejected.

In short, not only would the pipeline have helped thousands of Americans rejoin the workforce, but, more importantly, it would have helped bring some hope to the dismal American economic outlook. Despite that, President Obama killed the plan. Whether this was a political move to appease environmental lobbyists or a part of his 2012 campaign strategy, the President has unfortunately cost the American people some of the hope he claimed his administration would produce.

Sadly, I cannot say that I am surprised by the President’s decision. This is not the only time the President has rejected plans that would have helped create American jobs. In the past year, my Republican colleagues and I have become increasingly frustrated as we present the President and his Democratic allies in the Senate with jobs bills. There are now 28 jobs bills just sitting in the Senate, waiting for action.

I believe we can get America’s economy up and running again. But President Obama needs to support job-creating measures such as the Keystone Pipeline and the other 28 bills stuck in the Senate. Through positive action in Washington on these measures, I believe our nation can see the unemployment rate fall when millions of Americans go back to work. We can have better days ahead.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is a Republican United States Representative from the Sixth District of Minnesota.

Originally published by St. Michael Patch.