NextGen Climate Action Asks Keystone Supporters Which Job Number is The Right One

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, NextGen Climate Action released a new study that shows the widely diverging job estimates used by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, TransCanada and other Keystone XL Pipeline supporters. Research of media statements found that Keystone supporters have provided numbers ranging from 1 million to 20,000 temporary and permanent U.S. jobs.

"It looks like Keystone supporters put on a blindfold and played a game of darts, in the hopes of hitting on a number that will stick," said Chris Lehane, a spokesperson for NextGen Climate Action. "We're just wondering what number TransCanada will use in its upcoming ad buy in its efforts to continue trying to sell a pipeline that is all risk and no reward for the United States."

NextGen Climate Action released the information as an infographic to illustrate why it makes no sense to rely on a jobs argument when Keystone's supporters cannot agree on what the possible jobs benefit would be.

As part of its four-week ad series, "Bringing Down TransCanada's House of Cards: The Keystone Chronicles," NextGen Climate Action argued that the 35 permanent U.S. jobs that a State Department analysis found Keystone would create was not worth the pipeline's risks and would undercut U.S. investment in clean energy. The ad can be viewed at: http://www.keystonetruth.com/priorities

"Look, our questions about TransCanada's and Prime Minister Harper's claims of the supposed benefits of this pipeline come, not from us, but from analysis by the U.S. State Department and TransCanada's own contractor," Lehane said. "Before we expose our heartland to the world's dirtiest oil for a few temporary jobs and oil that will primarily benefit foreign interests, we deserve some honest answers."

The infographic can be found at: http://www.keystonetruth.com/jobs

About NextGen Climate Action:

NextGen Climate Action was founded by investor Tom Steyer to act politically to avert climate disaster and preserve American prosperity. Learn more at http://www.nextgenclimate.org.

SOURCE NextGen Climate Action