Constructing a pipeline requires skilled labor. In Oklahoma this week members of a pipeliners union rallied in support of completing construction of the Keystone XL pipeline which will connect the United States to new sources of Canadian oil.
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Hundreds of union workers rallied in Tulsa on Tuesday to support a regional pipeline construction project they say would create thousands of jobs and improve the economies of cities along the line’s route.
Organizers of the rally backing Calgary-based TransCanada’s Keystone XL Pipeline said the project would allow the U.S. to tap a key energy source in North America instead of sending its money overseas to import millions of barrels of oil every day.
“To me, we need to stop the transfer of wealth out of this country to OPEC,” said Danny Hendrix, business manager for the Pipeliners Local 798, which is headquartered in Tulsa and has about 6,500 members across the country. “We get a barrel of oil from it, but we also get a barrel of problems.”
