Part-time pipeline jobs can support families

The Jan. 20 Register editorial “Keystone debate detracts from real issue” indicates confusion about part-time jobs and individual projects, the latter being prevalent in the construction and entertainment industries. Individual projects, which might last four to eight months, when strung back to back, result in yearly employment for thousands of middle-class laborers and their families. They mean jobs and money for those who provide materials, goods, transportation and services related to those projects.

The editorial further suggests Gov. Terry Branstad’s reasonable request for further study of the Bakken pipeline proposal, which was introduced last July, is somehow equivalent to President Barack Obama’s seven years of dallying over the Keystone XL, which was first proposed by Canada in 2008 and commissioned in the U.S. in 2010. After environmental, economical, energy and employment impact studies, the pipeline was approved by the U.S. State Department, which considered it to be modern, efficient and safe with little negative environmental impact.