Keystone XL Pipeline = Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Well-argued op ed, on the Keystone XL Pipeline, by a former ambassador to Canada who is pro-pipeline.

David Wilkins states, "Environmental radicals decided the KXL pipeline was their cause celebre.

Back in 2008, environmentalists had high hopes, with a brand new president and a Democratic Congress, that their wish list would at last be granted.

But that didn’t happen. Instead, environmental groups have been dealt several setbacks. A climate change bill passed the House by the smallest of margins in 2009, only to die in the Senate and with it the promise of legislatively mandated cap-and-trade.

More recently, we’ve seen scandals involving the administration favoring multi-million-dollar loans to renewable energy companies like Solyndra, only to see them file for bankruptcy. With a sputtering economy, Americans put environmental concerns on the backburner. And Congress, likewise, has had no appetite to pass legislation that could be deemed 'anti-jobs.'

As a result, the more strident environmentalists were demanding a victory -- so when Nebraska expressed concern over the project and started seeking an alternative route to avoid areas in the Sand Hills, the administration had a hook on which to hang the delay."

More information about the project.

Article about the congressional hearing, that took place yesterday. Detractors v. supporters went at it.

Update: A pipeline worker, from Oklahoma, weighs in.