TAUC urges support for TransCanada pipeline

November 3 2011

Earlier this fall, TAUC joined together with several international unions in voicing support for the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline at a rally in downtown Washington, D.C.

The pipeline, which is planned to stretch nearly 2,000 miles from Canada to Texas, has come under fire from many environmental groups and politicians who are worried about its impact on the surrounding land.

“We are here not only to support a pipeline, we are here to support a lifeline for thousands of working men and women,” said LIUNA General President Terence O’Sullivan. “The Keystone XL Pipeline will unlock desperately needed jobs and make America safer by reducing our dependence on [foreign] oil?It will allow us to do what we do best: to build America.”

As for the environmental critics, O’Sullivan added: “We applaud the intense environmental scrutiny of the pipeline, because we too care about our air, water and the environment. We also care about putting green in workers’ pockets, so that we can stop the avalanche of foreclosures, unemployment and broken dreams that are tearing apart our families and crippling our country. We must care for the planet, brothers and sisters, but?we also have to care for the people that are on it.”

According to an independent economic study conducted by The Perryman Group, the pipeline construction project would result in more than $20 billion in new spending in the U.S. economy and increase personal income of Americans by $6.5 billion, along with $585 million in state and local taxes in the states along the route of the proposed pipeline.