Keystone XL Backers Could Derail 1 Million Jobs

Friends of Big Oil have been making a habit in this session of Congress of threatening to scuttle “must pass” legislation in order to hasten construction of the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline.  In June, yet another special interest showdown is looming as Congress takes one more stab at passing a bipartisan transportation bill that enjoys supermajority support in the Senate. At stake are than one million jobs the bill is estimated to create.

For the oil industry’s chief champion in the House, Speaker John Boehner, it’s one more chance to do the bidding of special interests by trying to force lawmakers to accept a highly controversial amendment requiring the pipeline be built. The question is – how far in this game of chicken is he willing to go?  Might he scuttle one million jobs that will be created by the transportation bill so oil companies can reap profits by building the dangerous Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. NWF’s Jeremy Symons said it well a few months ago and it still applies,

“Speaker Boehner is willing to put jobs at risk once again by hijacking the transportation bill.”

Here at NWF, we worked up a chart to check the spin of Keystone XL backers who are pondering scuttling the transportation bill.  Those big long bars on the right represent jobs that would be created or supported by the transportation bill.  Those little slivers on the left represent the industry’s own job projections by building Keystone XL. It’s below.

You can help stop the Keystone XL pipeline and tell Congress to protect wildlife instead of Big Oil profits.  Click here to take action.