Today President Obama announced his rejection of Canada' s proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. This pipeline project has been in the works for over seven years, and would connect existing oil pipelines from Alberta's oil fields down to refineries in Illinois and the Gulf Coast. On the way, it would bring some of North Dakota's oil with it, to a tune of over 800,000 barrels of oil per day.
Advocates of the project assert that it would create large infrastructure jobs, thus boosting the economy and workforce of many different states. In addition, it would further decrease our dependency on foreign oil by helping to lower domestic costs.
Those opposed to the project mainly cite large environmental concerns as their biggest problem with the pipeline. They claim that it would hasten the already deteriorating atmosphere, and harm the environment surrounding both the oil fields and along the pipeline.
I'm not too educated about the pipeline, but it seems that most politicians from North Dakota, democratic and republican, fully support the building of the pipeline to increase our economy, and in that sense I would have to agree with them.