[TheRealVille]

As the Feb. 21 deadline approaches for the Obama administration's decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the project's supporters have launched a new advertising campaign touting its job benefits. A full-page ad placed in the New York Times this week by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the president not to say "no" to "20,000 jobs." But that number isn't as straightforward as it seems.

Twenty thousand jobs is the number used by TransCanada, the Alberta-based company that wants to build the pipeline. In a recent news release, TransCanada said the Keystone XL would create 13,000 direct construction jobs and 7,000 manufacturing jobs.

Opponents of the pipeline say TransCanada has inflated the number of construction jobs by ignoring two facts: That most of the jobs would be temporary, and that there's a big difference between hiring people for varying periods of time and creating jobs.

Reports from two other sources—the U.S. State Department and Cornell University—say that no more than 6,000 jobs would be created by the pipeline, which would funnel up to 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day from the tar sands mines of Alberta, Canada to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Much of the confusion centers around different definitions of what counts as a job.

To most people, the word "job" implies a year-round, full-time position occupied by a single person. But Jaclyn Houser, a spokeswoman for the Laborers' International Union of North America, said construction jobs are usually temporary by nature, lasting anywhere from two weeks to several years.

Laborers' International is one of several unions that have reached agreements with TransCanada to provide workers for construction of the Keystone XL.

The United Association (U.A.), a union of plumbers, welders and pipe fitters, has also come to an agreement with TransCanada. Tom Gross, the U.A.'s director of pipelines, told InsideClimate News that most of the construction would take place between April and December.

"As with any construction work, they ramp up during a 8 to 9 month work season and are laid off anywhere from 1 to 6 months in a year," said U.A. Special Representative David Barnett.

Gross said pipeline workers often work long hours to complete their projects. "It would be common for a worker to work 2,400 hours or more in [nine months]." That's the equivalent of working 48 hours a week for 50 weeks.

Barnett said some of the members might work both years, thus reducing the total number of people hired for the project.

100% of the construction workers will be union. The bold is me, except I don't go out west to work. Like I said, I'm all for the pipeline, just not through that waterway. I'm sure TransCanada could do away with that part, and tie in closer to Kansas, then go south.

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/201201...nt-cornell