Image Courtesy: Center for Manufacturing Research
The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the organization which represents manufacturers both large and small, has been closely following the developments on the Dakota Access Pipeline, as the multi-billion dollar investment continues to benefit those employed by many of their members. This morning, the NAM released a blog post stressing the importance of the pipeline for the manufacturing sector:
Manufacturers support the Dakota Access Pipeline. Dakota Access ensures long-term access to competitively-priced oil for industrial uses and as an input good for many manufactured goods such as petrochemicals, to process gas and transportation fuels and to power operations. Manufacturers also make up the supply chain for the project: between 32 and 37 percent of the cost of constructing an oil pipeline is directly for manufacturing inputs. The major types of manufactured goods used include equipment, line pipe, fittings, coatings and booster stations, including pumps.
The blog addressed the fact that the pipeline permitting process was done in full compliance with all applicable laws:
The project’s sponsors ran the gauntlet and secured every federal, state and local permit needed to begin construction
The author also noted that while the rhetoric around pipelines may be intense, leaders on both sides of the aisle agree that new pipeline systems are crucial to the supply and demand challenges of the 21st century.
The idea that infrastructure investment spurs manufacturing is very apparent and met with agreement by people of all political stripes. Pipeline construction and operation supports a significant amount of manufacturing jobs in the United States, adding several billion dollars to the national GDP and supporting tens of thousands of jobs.