LINCOLN — The proposed Keystone XL crude-oil pipeline will bring jobs to Nebraska and increase U.S. energy independence, union workers said at a rally Wednesday.
About two dozen union members with pipeline training, many from the Omaha area, joined union officials and lobbyists at a rally Wednesday at Lincoln's downtown Holiday Inn. Later, they went to the State Capitol to talk to lawmakers about the issue.
The line, which would carry tar-sand oil from Canada to Gulf Coast refineries, would pass through groundwater-rich areas of the Sand Hills in Nebraska.
The U.S. State Department is deciding whether to approve the pipeline because it would cross an international border. Several bills have been introduced in the Nebraska Legislature raising concerns about the pipeline.
Ron Kaminski, business manager for the Laborers Local 1140, estimated the pipeline would create about 500 jobs in Nebraska for specially trained pipeline construction workers affiliated with his union. He predicted 80 percent of those jobs would go to Nebraskans, with the remainder going to residents of western Iowa and South Dakota.
He said he based his estimates on a project labor agreement between his union and pipeline developer TransCanada Inc. They do not include members of other participating unions who would be hired to operate heavy equipment, drive trucks or weld pipes.
Opponents of the pipeline project, however, dispute those job estimates. The National Wildlife Federation, for example, estimates only 10 to 15 percent of pipeline construction jobs will go to local workers.
They also argue that the environmental risks of the project outweigh the number of jobs to be created.
“A few temporary jobs are not worth the risk to the Sandhills and Ogallala Aquifer, Nebraska's most precious natural resource,” said Jane Kleeb, executive director of Bold Nebraska, an opposition group.
Kaminski, who arranged the union laborers for a similar pipeline built in 2009, said he is confident about his job figures.
Shawn Howard, a Calgary-based spokesman for TransCanada, estimated that it will take about 1,500 construction workers to build five sections of pipeline passing through Nebraska, plus another 300 workers to install five pump stations.
He said he could not estimate how many Nebraska workers would be hired to build the pipeline because it would depend upon which construction companies win the contracts to build each section of the pipeline. He acknowledged, however, that his company has signed project labor agreements with a number of U.S. unions, including the Laborers Local 1011, to hire their workers.
Kaminski said his union already has established a facility in Omaha to train workers in the skills needed to build pipelines as well as skills for building ethanol plants, biodiesel plants and wind turbines.
Several workers interviewed at Wednesday's event said they'd already completed their training.
Darrell Weinbrandt of Silver City, Iowa, about 20 minutes from Omaha, sat with his friends, Terry White of Omaha and Mark Heyen of Bellevue. He said they're eager to get to work on pipeline jobs that pay $16.50 an hour or more, depending on a worker's skills.
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