Is the Keystone XL Pipeline actually good for us Americans?

Recently, the Keystone Pipeline has been approved by President Obama as a way to help the economy and provide new jobs, but is it really helping Americans all that much? For those of you who aren't familiar with the Keystone Pipeline it is a large pipeline that will begin in Canada and transport tons of tar sands all the way down to Texas. When the idea was first presented, it was told to common everyday Americans that this would give the economy a huge boost providing thousands of new jobs and creating an oil supply for us that would reduce gas prices. We only later found out that this was not the case at all. As a matter of fact, the pipeline will cause more problems than it will create opportunity.

With the development of the Keystone pipeline, many people have concerns about the environment. Now I know many of you are thinking "here goes another crazy environmentalist rant", but I've done some research into this and the pipeline would truly cause great impacts on multiple states. Several states have already declined the development of the Keystone pipeline for very good reasons. Their main concerns is the extreme amounts of water that it takes to move tar sands. The states that declined the development stated that tar sands traveling through their states could greatly reduce their water supplies causing concern for the people living their. In terms of environmental issues, the Keystone Pipeline would also have multiple leaks as many oil rigs/pipelines/plants have that would cause tremendous damage to the environment. This is also a reaction to what is called "fracking". Fracking is a drilling technique that goes deep into the Earth to extract oil or natural gases deep in the Earth. When this is happening a lot of this is simply released into the air or causes terrible damage to the environment as well as destroying pipelines. A lot of this is occurs around the Keystone Pipeline.

Besides environmental issues, the Keystone Pipeline will not hold up to many of its promises made. A majority of the job opportunities that were suppose to help the United States economically are only temporary and will not have much impact on the economy at all. Many of the people that got the jobs that were suppose to help the economy will simply be told that they are no longer needed and "good luck finding a job somewhere else". This is a terrible move that would lead me to suspicions about the Keystone Pipeline and why exactly we need it.

The biggest impact that the Keystone Pipeline will have is on rich oil industries both here and in Canada. The pipeline project will have little or no effect on average Americans nor on a national scale. I say this because most of the money being had is by Canadian oil companies that have claim over the tar sands which is being sold to us. The oil that we get from Canada will not even be used here in the United States and gas prices and energy efficiency will not be effected at all causing prices to stay the same and possibly even increase. The reality of it is the United States would be selling all of the oil extracted from the tar sands to foreign countries/refineries and will not have a large impact on average Americans, unless the "trickle down" economy works (which last time I checked it didn't). The biggest debate that is happening now is where fracking is going to happen and if people want it allowed in their state. I encourage you to look further into this as you explore more information about the Keystone Pipeline, get involved at your state house, and learn about the impacts the pipeline will have on your area.