Reid Porter | 202.682.8114 | porterr@api.org

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2011 — The American Petroleum Institute called the announcement of new environmental hurdles for the Keystone XL pipeline unwelcome news, but hopes it will lead to regulatory certainty for a vital project designed to transport Canadian oil sands crude.

“This much-studied and much-needed pipeline would provide a critical link to our largest energy supplier, Canada, and its vast resources of nearby and available crude oil,” said Jack Gerard, API president and CEO. “It is past time for the administration to approve this important infrastructure investment.”

Development of the Keystone XL pipeline could mean 13,000 construction jobs in the United States, according to TransCanada, the pipeline owner. And overall, development of Canadian oil sands could lead to more than 340,000 U.S. jobs, according to an analysis by the Canadian Energy Research Institute.

Nearly 1,000 U.S. companies in 47 states currently support Canadian oil sands development, according to a preliminary report by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, and the actual number could be higher.

“Oil is a global commodity,” Gerard said. “It will go to where it is welcomed and the capital investments and jobs will go with it.”

The pipeline has been subjected to 32 months of scrutiny through the National Environmental Policy Act, which includes review by ten federal agencies, as well as numerous state and local agency reviews. Eight months after the public comment period closed, workers are sitting on the sideline waiting for the project to start, according to API. 

API represents more than 470 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America’s energy, supports more than 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.5 percent of the U.S. economy, and, since 2000, has invested nearly $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.