The Effects of Keystone XL Pipeline Project

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This paper will discuss the effects of Keystone XL Pipeline project and how the findings of the research might be beneficial to the United States. The first point of argument will be the negative impact of the Keystone Pipeline to America’s economy and the environment. The second point of view will be the positive impact of Keystone Pipeline to America’s economy. Keystone XL Pipeline is TransCanada’s tar-sand transportation project. The pipeline is supposed to cut across America to be linked with Canada’s tar-sand mines. It is aimed at increasing energy security in America. However, the project has received a lot of criticism from both the citizens and environmentalists for climate reasons (Mendelsohn and Dinar 154). To understand the implications of Keystone XL Pipeline, it is important to look at its environmental and economic impacts to the United States.
According to Brendan Smith, in his article “5 Reasons Why the Keystone Pipeline is bad for the Economy”, the project will have negative effects on the country’s economy. He argues that, building the pipeline will harm the economy because its impacts on the environment are costly and it will force the citizens and the government to pay the price. He continues by stating that the project will reduce jobs in the country because the fossil fuel industry had slashed its workforce. Smith points out that the effects of the project will be felt mostly by the poor people because they will not manage to cope with the adverse climate brought about by the increased use of fossil fuel. Moving on, he argues that the Keystone Pipeline will not sustain the economy because it cannot create more jobs in the country (Smith n.p). This is because a sustainable economy is one that creates more jobs...

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...e hazardous to the environment. The government will be forced to incur the cost of environmental damage brought about by increased use of fossil fuel in the country. The money could have been used to invest in other sectors of the economy. Similarly, the pipeline will increase the level of unemployment in the country. This is because construction of the pipeline will force most workers to lose their jobs. This will in turn add to the number of the already existing unemployed people in the country.
From the arguments, it is evident that the negative effects of the construction of Keystone XL Pipeline supersede its positive impacts, both on the United States of America’s economy and environment. Therefore, it is important that the country takes into consideration the negative effects that might be associated with the pipeline before embarking on its construction.

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