President Obama told a group of House Republicans at a closed-door meeting on Wednesday that the long-delayed Keystone XL pipeline won’t profit anyone but Canada.
Rep. Lee Terry, R-Neb., told the Associated Press that Obama said the benefits of the project have been overstated because many of the jobs created would be temporary, and much of the oil produced from the pipeline would be exported.
“He said there were no permanent jobs, and that the oil will be put on ships and exported and that the only ones who are going to get wealthy are the Canadians,” Terry said.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La, told AP Obama told the group the pipeline “is not going to create as many jobs as you (Republicans) hope.”
But the president also said he doesn’t believe all the negative climate consequences environmentalists have predicted, either.
The White House has not decided whether to approve the pipeline, AP reported.
The Keystone pipeline would carry oil from Canada to refineries in Texas. Estimates of the jobs it would create vary widely — the State Department estimates about 6,000 jobs; Trans Canada, which proposed Keystone, has said it would create as many as 20,000 jobs; and some pipeline supporters say it would create as many as 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.
