ORLANDO — The A.F.L.-C.I.O., the nation’s largest federation of unions, has issued an apparent endorsement of the Keystone XL oil pipeline — apparent because it enthusiastically called for expanding the nation’s pipeline system, without specifically mentioning Keystone.þþAnd while some union leaders said the federation’s stance stopped short of an official endorsement, the nation’s building trades unions — eager for the thousands of jobs the pipeline would create — issued a statement saying the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s stance was a clear endorsement of the Keystone pipeline.þþThe labor federation’s embrace of the pipeline, even with some ambiguity, will give President Obama some political cover as he weighs whether to approve the pipeline, which would carry more than 700,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil each day to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.þþBut the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s move is likely to strain the alliances that organized labor has sought to build with the environmental groups that are battling the pipeline.þþThose groups oppose it because it would carry oil derived from tar sands in a process that, compared with other forms of oil production, is dirtier and releases more carbon dioxide.þþGathered in Florida for its annual winter meeting, the executive committee of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. said it supported a comprehensive energy policy that fostered energy security, created jobs and addressed the threat of climate change.þþBut two-thirds of its statement on energy policy focused on pipelines, with the labor federation singing the praises of pipelines, all without mentioning Keystone. Pipelines, the labor leaders said, “are a low carbon emissions method of transporting oil and gas” and “lower the cost of fuel they carry compared with other forms of transportation.”þþRichard Trumka, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s president, acknowledged that the federation statement “can be interpreted in different ways.” Yet he voiced support for building the Keystone pipeline, saying that “there’s nothing environmentally unsound about the pipeline” and that what environmentalists opposed was opening up Canada’s tar sands.þþHe said that if the pipeline were not built, Canada would probably ship crude oil from the tar sands overseas by tanker, a more carbon-intensive means of distributing oil than pipelines.þþSean McGarvey, president of the labor federation’s Building and Construction Trades Department, said, “The U.S. construction industry has been mired in a depression for over four years now, and shovel-ready projects like Keystone XL and other energy infrastructure projects are badly needed.”þþIn addition to expanding “our pipeline infrastructure,” the federation said it favored “a much more aggressive approach to the repair of our more than 2.5 million miles of existing pipelines.” Such repairs, it said, would create tens of thousands of jobs over the next two decades.þþSpeaking about the A.F.L.-C.I.O. statement, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, which opposes the pipeline, said: “There have been tensions over this. The statement doesn’t resolve the tensions. But it is an attempt to reframe the debate to highlight areas where we can make common cause and create jobs and cut pollution.”þþMr. Brune said he spoke with Mr. Trumka before the labor leaders met. And he praised the unions’ call to do far more to repair pipelines, which would reduce leaks and pollution.þþThe Canadian government is likely to be angry if President Obama blocks the pipeline, which supporters say would reduce American reliance on oil from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.þþThe proposed $7 billion pipeline would run nearly 2,000 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. It would be the longest oil pipeline outside of Russia and China.þþThe National Nurses United was in the minority among the federation’s 57 labor unions in opposing the pipeline, saying that building it and exploiting Canada’s tar sands would accelerate global warming and produce pollution that would endanger people’s health.þþLeo W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, said he would back the pipeline as long as the steel used to make the pipes was produced domestically.þþCecil E. Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers, also backed it, saying, “I believe the oil transferred from Canada is going to make it to some final destination no matter what we do in the United States. I think the brothers and sisters in the building trades in the U.S. should have the jobs.”þþAs for whether the A.F.L.-C.I.O. had actually endorsed the Keystone pipeline, Mr. Roberts said, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Source: NY Times
