While environmentalists and other groups celebrate President Obama’s decision to deny the permit for the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline, others in the Midwest are voicing their disappointment. Barry Rubin on the board of Nebraskans for Jobs and Energy Independence and says this was one battle lost but the war continues.
Rubin says this issue is not over. He says, “They still have a routing process they have to go through here in Nebraska that is just getting started. I’m assuming the company will want to continue that process and then wait and re-apply for the federal permit with the State Department while President Obama is still in office or wait until he leaves to start that process again. Rubin says TransCanada has a lot of time and energy committed to this project. He says there are a lot of customers, refiners, shippers and customers that still want this.
Rubin is also disappointed with what President Obama said about the job issue saying the jobs were only temporary. Rubin says every construction job in the world is temporary. He says this project would have created 9,000 construction jobs and over 25,000 spin-off jobs in manufacturing and the service industry.
Rubin says it is very unfortunate that the whole Keystone Pipeline issue became “political piñata”