Keystone pipeline Environmental disaster or Economic asset Part 2

Last week I began to touch on the subject of the recently proposed Keystone pipeline. In this post I would like to discuss more of how the economy will be affected by this new project and what it would mean for everyday Americans.

In terms of jobs supplied by the pipeline’s construction and active use, the only independent study, conducted by Cornell University’s Global Labor Institute, concludes that it may generate 6-7,000 temporary jobs, but no more than 50 permanent jobs when the work is done. This means that most of the new jobs would wear out by the end of construction as usual for large building projects. The permanent jobs are mainly plant hands and engineers that control the flow of the line. Now one may ask what about the lines maintenance? Well since TransCanada is a Canadian Company they have the choice to hire which ever contractor they wish, which will likely be Canadian. So is the large construction project worth the short term economic spike? Well it would help Americans in the area for a few years and provide jobs, however; it provides a false short term since of security for the families. The main idea for the new addition to the pipeline is to get to the refineries in the south of Texas. What many do not know is that after the product is finished and refined TransCanada plans to sell the oil to the world market not the American citizen. This does provide more production in the United States, but does it really grow the economy? Now I am definitely no economist so is this a great idea I don’t know the argument makes sense either way to me. There is one simple concept of economics that I do understand, every time quantity supplied is increased prices fall.

Keystone pipeline Environmental disaster or Economic asset Part I

The proposed Keystone XL pipeline project formed by the TransCanada oil company has suffered plenty of political fallout in the past couple of weeks. Obama, who is a supporter of clean energy, openly denied the oil giants proposal to expand the pipeline. In defense of the pipeline the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, also felt, “President Obama is destroying tens of thousands of American jobs and shipping American energy security to the Chinese. There’s really no other way to put it. The President is selling out American jobs for politics". Now I can see both sides of the argument from environmentalist and pro oil supporters. I myself find that I’m torn between the two sides; as a current sophomore in civil engineering I know that a society has certain needs to meet, while minimally impacting the environment as economically as possible. Often to meet these needs the economy and environment have to be interchanged to meet the problem at hand.

Having said all of that, environmental concern is an important topic. A civil engineer must find the best way at the time to get the job done for society. Many environmentalists fear a possible rupture in the pipeline will harm the country’s farmland. Now as far as engineering is concerned steel oil pipeline is among the safest and most economical transportation methods to date. According to the Association of Oil Pipelines there are 168,000 miles of liquid pipelines in the USA, and these are the "safest, economical and environmentally favorable way". So in my eyes there is no real environmental concern that’s any bigger than that of other pipelines throughout the United States. With all of that said there are still reasons for environmental concern, but the main things I want to leave everyone with is stop trying to think politically and try to think in terms of the positive and negative benefits.

I will have more posts on this topic to come in the following weeks.

In the Begginging

All throughout history engineering has played a huge part in people’s lives. As nomadic tribes began to settle down and establish settlements brilliant minds were not far behind to make life easier for the masses. One can see the effects of engineering through history just from the monuments left behind through the ages. The ancient Egyptians left us the pyramids; as well as, some extremely important engineering techniques. The Egyptians created the math of geometry, which would allow them to build some of the most elaborate and advanced cities and monument for their time. Egypt was also one of the main civilizations that pioneered the use of relatively modern surveying techniques. The addition of these techniques made it possible to lay out properties and elaborate building plans.

Another amazing civilization that contributed to the art of civil engineering is the civilization of Rome. The Roman Empire was the first to build an elaborate road system that stretched through most of the ancient world. They were also the first to embrace new hygienic practices. They built elaborate works of aqueducts and sewer systems that greatly improved the overall health of the population. This allowed the empire to thrive and flourish for hundreds of years.

The Art of civil engineering was not actually established until the 18^th century the title of civil engineer was given to all non-military engineers. This was started to meet the rapid growing civil need for engineering in the cities of the rapidly growing European countries. It is said that civil engineers have arguably saved more lives than all of the doctors through the ages. Through their existence civil engineers have improved the lively hood and safety for all.