This blog article seems to articulate well the costs and benefits IMO...
Econbrowser: Costs and benefits of the Keystone XL pipeline
let's examine these allegations:
Light sweet crude in North Dakota is still selling for $20/barrel less that you could get for it if you could find a cheap way to transport it to the Gulf of Mexico.
that $20 differential represents the additional expense needed to transport the oil to the oil market place. once it arrives there, its cost will be at parity with the other oil on the international market
in short, what may appear to be a bargain at the well head is no longer discounted at the marketplace
A quick calculation suggests that infrastructure that could move 500,000 barrels a day would generate $3.6 billion in annual value added.
as was noted above, once the cost of transport to the end market is added to the $80 per barrel well head price, that $3.6 billion is lost to cover the expense of transport before a pipeline becomes available
there is NO financial benefit which will accrue
That benefit would go to the
people who work to build the pipeline,
$1 billion in wages (assuming a $50K annual wage) would go to the workers during the total span of construction leaving $3.6 billion in additional profit
for the oil company annually thereafter
motorists who buy the gasoline,
it was estimated by a cite earlier provided, that the price of gasoline is expected to be reduced by $1 per barrel, 1%, due to the resulting additional supply in the world's marketplace. hardly a savings worth the added environmental problems that are expected to result (20-40% increased emissions above that resulting from processing common crude)
i don't see any benefits going to the workers, other than those man years required to construct the pipeline. maybe you will point out how workers other than the pipeline builders will benefit
and companies that produce the oil,
yes, the oil companies will accrue an additional $3.8 billion annually while our citizens are subject to loss of use of their properties thru eminent domain, our nation is subjected to additional environmental toxicity, and our aquifers and habitats are placed at needless risk, to allow the oil inductry to generate those additional profits
and the government that collects taxes from all the rest.
sorry. we are going to use X amount of oil no matter where it comes from. the taxes on X amount of oil consumed will not change if the pipeline is allowed to be constructed
