Let’s recap the economic reasons for construction of the full Keystone XL pipeline project, which has been waiting on the president’s approval for more than four years. According to the State Department’s most recent review Keystone XL would:

• Create 42,100 average annual jobs across the United States over its one- to two-year construction period.
• Generate $2.05 billion in employment earnings.
• Result in $3.3 billion in direct spending on construction and materials.
• Produce $65 million in short-term revenues for government from sales and use taxes in states that levy them.

Considering the plight of construction workers in this country the past few years, suffering double-digit unemployment, those are handsome numbers indeed. They suggest an even greater boost that would... more »

So you think you know something about energy, eh? Starting tomorrow you can test your knowledge during thehill.com’s First 100 Days Contest, tying energy trivia questions to the first 100 days of the second Obama administration. There might be an iPad Mini in your future.

The API-sponsored contest will run through Tuesday, April 30. It will include 30 multiple-choice questions supplied by API, five per day (except for Sunday). Visitors to thehill.com and subscribers to its  e-newsletters will see branded contest ads each day, and it also will be pushed out on social media.

Contestants can answer the daily questions for a chance to register and win an iPad Mini. You can play each day, and each day you play you increase your chances of winning. It’s a fun way to get into some of the... more »

The Hill’s E2 Wire – Interior Chief Jewell on Fracking Rules: ‘One Size Doesn’t Fit All’

New Interior Secretary Sally Jewell hosted her first a public video chat this week. Jewell, a former oil and natural gas industry engineer, talked about her personal experiences with hydraulic fracturing, saying, “fracking as a technique has been around for decades. … I have performed the procedure myself very safely.”

Bloomberg – Eagle Ford Crude Oil Production Reaches Record High in February

Bloomberg reports that the nine geographic fields that make up the majority of Eagle Ford shale play in Texas yielded 471,258 barrels of crude a day in February, a 74 percent increase from last year. 

News Max – Clinton Advisor: Fracking Has Cut Greenhouse Gas By 12 Percent

Jeffrey Frankel, Harvard pr... more »

The EPA was out yesterday with a letter urging yet even more delay for the Keystone XL pipeline – a project that already has been thoroughly reviewed by the State Department over more than four and a half years. In that context, EPA’s simply trying to heap delay on top of delay. Let's have a look at the first of EPA’s objections to State’s latest review:

The DSEIS reports that lifecycle GHG emissions from oil sands crude could be 81% greater than emissions from the average crude refined in the U.S. in 2005 on a well-to-tank basis, and 17% greater on a well-to-wheels basis.This difference may be even greater depending on the assumptions made.

Sounds ominous, but it’s also true that the difference could be even less, depending on the assumptions. Take the government of Alberta’s as... more »

On the Keystone XL pipeline, President Obama’s decision boils down to this: Is the $7 billion project in the United States’ national interest? Economic, energy and environmental considerations figure into the answer, but ultimately the president is charged with determining whether Keystone XL will make our country stronger and safer without significantly impacting the environment and the people along its 1,179-mile route.

We say yes – for a number of good reasons.

The pipeline will make the U.S. stronger – economically, by creating jobs and providing broad economic stimulus, and more energy secure by bringing more than 800,000 barrels of oil a day to our Gulf Coast refineries from a friendly, stable source (Canada) as well as the U.S. Bakken region. As for the environment, four separ... more »