Saturday marks seven years since the first application was filed to extend the Keystone pipeline out of Canada and into the United States, and a new poll shows 68 percent of voters are ready to finally approve it and build it.
On Sept. 19, 2008, Canadian energy company TransCanada applied for a permit to build the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Neb., and then on to oil refineries in the Midwest and the Gulf Coast.
A Nielsen poll conducted from Sept. 10 through Sept. 13 of 907 registered voters shows two-thirds of those polled believe the delay has hurt the American economy. A majority of people reported they would rather import oil from Canada than from other foreign nations.
Cindy Schild, a senior manager at the American Petroleum Institute, said the poll results were a sign the president should get out of the way of Keystone XL and let construction take place.
“This foot dragging is an affront to American workers. It’s politics at its worst. And the American people agree,” she said in a statement.
Since the pipeline would cross the U.S. border with Canada, it needs a presidential permit. But the application has been stalled in the U.S. State Department for seven years.
Earlier this year, President Obama vetoed a bill that would have approved the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Of the 907 people polled, an equal amount of people identified as Republican and Democrat, 32 percent each, and 22 percent identified as independents.
Almost 80 percent of those polled thought the U.S. should support getting Canadian oil getting into the global market as much as it supports Iran being able to sell its oil. As a part of the Iran nuclear agreement, Iran would be allowed to once again export oil.
About two-thirds of those polled said they would be more likely to support a candidate in favor of building the Keystone XL pipeline and 83 percent said they believe the president shouldn’t be the sole decider on national energy infrastructure projects.
The Department of Energy reports the Keystone XL pipeline could transport as much as 800,000 barrels of oil per day, which is about half of what the U.S. imports from the Middle East. Estimates show the project could create as many as 42,100 jobs and $2 billion in earnings.
According to Friends of the Earth, the seven-year delay has meant more than about 1.82 billion barrels of tar sands oil remains in the ground and more than 1 billion tons of carbon emissions has been stopped as of Friday.
On Thursday, former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she would reveal her position on the Keystone XL pipeline “soon.” Clinton was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 when the TransCanada’s permit application was being considered by the State Department.
“I have been waiting for this administration to make a decision. I thought I owed them that,” Clinton said during a town hall meeting Thursday. “I can’t wait too much longer. I am putting the White House on notice. I am going to tell you what I think soon.”
