You guys keep asking for the govt to create jobs.

[LLStarks]

Oh. You don't like the pipeline?

That's your problem. This isn't the economy to be picky about where jobs and means to increase energy independence come from.

[greymattermom]

1. Chinese steel?

Just curious. Is the pipeline supposed to be built with Chinese steel?

[TBF]

2. I'm in Texas, and ok with it if it provides jobs and cuts down on these middle

east wars.

[cottage10]

9. Bingo!

No one is talking about the real problem here--our insatiable need for oil. The need for pipelines is just a symptom of the problem; the real problem is our dependence on oil. It's the need for the oil that is driving the U.S. into these endless, stupid, expensive (in both human and monetary terms) wars AND causing environmental disasters.

[gateley]

3. There are other ways to create jobs. We don't have ways to fix the planet. nt

[yardwork]

4. Let's just build a zillion more nuclear power plants while we're at it.

[RC]

13. Good idea. That would lessen our dependence on oil.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Kinda like starting forest fires to create firefighter jobs. Or, wars to hire soldiers..oh, wait..

he's already doing that.

[RC]

15. +1000

Just because it is a job, doesn't necessarily mean that is a good idea for a job.

[mmonk]

6. I prefer jobs for public benefit such as infrastructure.

[hack89]

8. Pipelines are public infrastructure. nt

[City Lights]

7. Well, you sure told me! eom

[LWolf]

10. Jesus Fucking Christ On A Bagel. nt

[RC]

16. LOL

[Ozymanithrax]

11. The question is what it the real cost...

We rip up natural forests in Canada, but those costs are ignored. We build pipelines that will always have leaks that pollute the land, but we will ignore those costs. We create a few hundred temporary jobs to bury those pipelines, and those people go back to being unemployed, and that pipeline doesn't do dick to help the communities it runs under, and those are costs we ignore. We refine the oil in Texas, and that oil is sold on the world market, not dedicated to the American economy, and we ignore those costs. Refining and using those oils create pollution and waste, and the costs of cleanup and increasing global warming are ignored.

This will not add one iota to American energy independence. It creates huge problems and widespread natural destruction. It does not help us develop and implement non-petrochemical solutions to our energy problems which grow every day. If Canada wants destroy their country and build their own damned refinery, let them. But it is a stupid short term profit builder for oil that solves nothing.

The whole energy independence, drill baby drill meme is a right wing talking point. Oil companies already control thousands of places where they can drill, but they don't because the oil there is either to expensive to make a profit now or too easy to get and is better to drill when prices are down. We have to quit looking for energy solutions in pocket books of oil companies. That is a dead end.

[Desertrose]

17. +100

[SOS]

12. There's plenty do without a pipeline through the Ogallala Aquifer

US infrastructure grades:

Aviation D
Bridges C
Dams D
Drinking Water D-
Energy D+
Hazardous Waste D
Inland Waterways D-
Levees D-
Public Parks and Recreation C-
Rail C-
Roads D-
Schools D
Solid Waste C+
Transit D
Wastewater D-
America's Infrastructure GPA: D
Estimated 5 Year Investment Need: $2.2 Trillion

http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/

[devilgrrl]

14. I'd prefer a nationwide rail system first. Fixing roads and bridges too.

eom.

[MadHound]

18. First of all, extracting oil from tar sands isn't "energy indepedence",

It is simply feeding the oil junky another hit of low quality smack at an outrageous price.

Second of all, how can this be "energy independence" if we're getting that oil from Canada. What, we are now oil slaves to a kinder, gentler oil master from the Great White North? Whatever.

True energy independence comes from producing our own energy from within our own borders. And guess what, using green renewables, it can be done. Wind, solar, hydro, and others. These are the energy infrastructure projects that we should be pursuing, not another massive pipeline that is designed to keep us hooked on oil, an energy form that has peaked and is now in decline.

Not to mention the harm that continuing to be hooked on oil is doing to us and our planet. Massive oil spills, massive pollution, it's time to stop the madness. Oh boy, it creates jobs in the short term, yes, at the cost of long term damage. We can do better than that. Put people to work building wind and solar farms, building rooftop solar shingles and backyard wind arrays. These are the jobs that need to be created, not jobs in what is obviously a dinosaur energy sector.