Sabrina Fang | 202.682.8114 | fangs@api.org

WASHINGTON, August 26, 2011 ─ API welcomed the U.S. State Department's final Environmental Impact Statement on the Keystone XL pipeline project and urged the agency to complete its national interest determination and issue permits for the pipeline without delay.

"The nation's quintessential shovel-ready project is a step closer to reality," said API Refining Manager Cindy Schild.  "That's good news for tens of thousands of Americans who stand to find new jobs when this pipeline project is finally approved.  If the State Department gives the final okay, hiring could begin immediately in hundreds of American companies in the Midwest and across the country." 

The Keystone XL pipeline would help deliver Canadian oil to U.S. refineries in the Gulf Coast states.  Once permits for the pipeline are issued, Schild said, thousands of new U.S. construction and manufacturing jobs would be created.  The State Department's report concluded that building and operating the pipeline would not create significant environmental impacts.  

The national interest review that follows should make clear that building the pipeline will also strengthen the nation's energy security by facilitating increased energy imports from Canada. 

"The President should support our biggest trading partner and number one importer of oil. More energy from a friendly ally makes sense," said Schild. "We need this critical project because more jobs and a move to secure energy equal a stronger economy."

The oil and natural gas industry has driven employment growth in many parts of the nation, despite lackluster economic news.  Hundreds of thousands of additional new jobs are possible if policymakers support responsibly developing more of our own oil and natural gas supplies. Strengthening our energy partnership with Canada will add to that potential. Development of Canada's oil and natural gas resources could add to that potential.  By 2035, Canada's oil sands alone could generate close to $775 billion in GDP for the U.S. and support 600,000 American jobs, according to the latest report from the Canadian Energy Research Institute.  

API represents more than 470 oil and natural gas companies, leaders of a technology-driven industry that supplies most of America's energy, supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers more than $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.