The math doesn't add up for Trump's claims of pipeline jobs
According to President Trump, tens of thousands of new jobs are in the pipeline because of the executive actions he signed yesterday to complete two controversial pipelines.
He’s touted 28,000 jobs – “great construction jobs.”
The math, however, tells a different story.
According to a report by the State Department, the Keystone XL pipeline could create about 16,000 full and part time construction jobs.
Energy Transfer Partners, the company backing the Dakota Pipeline, says up to 12,000 construction jobs will have been created for the project. However, the Dakota pipeline is roughly 90 percent complete, and the majority of those jobs are already finished.
Together, the two pipelines will leave behind only about 100 full and part time maintenance jobs once construction ends.
Mr. Trump’s recent order is not a restart of the projects – it’s more like a reset.
TransCanada, the firm in charge of Keystone XL, will now resubmit its application for approval. For the Dakota Pipeline, the Army Corps of Engineers was ordered to “review and approve in an expedited manner.”
Going forward, either pipeline’s approval could still take months or years.
The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe have fought the construction of the Dakota Pipeline, saying it crosses what they call traditional tribal land and that it might lead to a catastrophic leak.
Chairman Dave Archambault II said his efforts to reach out to the new administration were ignored.
“I know what drives this man,” he said. “It’s all about money.”
Activists vow to continue to block the Dakota project.
Mr. Trump owned up to $50,000 of stock in the company building the Dakota pipeline. A spokesman says he sold them last year. That can’t be verified until he files financial disclosure statements in May of 2018.
