OUR VIEW: Keystone pipeline would be a boon to area

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OUR VIEW

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Proponents say it would have created jobs, diversified and strengthened the tax base along its route and provided America with an energy source from a trusted ally. Opponents say it would have been an ecological nightmare and that it was being forced upon those in the way.

We understand that the Keystone XL wasn’t without controversy, but tend to agree with Republicans who say Obama’s decision Wednesday will drive Canada into the arms of the nations that compete economically — and perhaps militarily — with America. Namely, some consider China just such a threat, and also a prime customer for that valuable Canadian oil.

Be assured that Canada will not sit tight on its oil-producing tar sands. It will sell that oil somewhere. And although tar sand oil is considered a dirty alternative to sweet crude and therefore an environmental threat, it’s going to be burned by someone.

TransCanada has been denied a permit to run a pipeline from Canada to the American Gulf Coast, President Barack Obama decided Wednesday. Although TransCanada can try again in the future, the company can’t dig into American soil at the moment.

It’s strange to us how the pipeline — known as the Keystone XL — has generated so much press and controversy. It has become a centerpiece issue of Obama’s presidency and is, like its own name, a keystone in the foundation of disdain that Republicans are laying against the Democratic president.

Had it gained permission, the Keystone XL would have been buried in western South Dakota, including in our own vicinity, near Winner.

We prefer the Keystone XL be built. We also want South Dakota to benefit from the tax dollars that it would produce. Likewise, we prefer South Dakota businesses benefit from the workers that would have come here to build it. And although South Dakota’s unemployment currently is startlingly low and potentially dangerous to the state’s future development, we felt the pipeline would have created jobs that could be filled by welders and machinists from within this state’s borders.

There is a hard truth that Americans must understand in the coming years: Oil is necessary for our everyday lives and our national security. It’s going to have to come from places that in the past may have been deemed sacred, and it’s going to take pipelines like the Keystone XL to transport it to the places where it best benefits us.

Tags: tar sands, opinion, updates, editorials, keystone, pipeline, oil, energy, jobs, business, pollution, environment, transcanada