September 16, 2016

Business and Labor Agree: We Need to Build Pipelines; Enough is Enough

Increasingly, business and labor interests are aligned against the Obama Administration's war on energy development. 

The latest example is the Dakota Access Pipeline.  AFL-CIO President Richard Trumpka has essentially said that enough is enough, expressing frustration with environmental activists and the Obama administration's recent decision to stop three agencies from working on the pipeline site and asking the company to voluntarily stop its own work despite the fact that permits have already been granted. 

The administration is clearly losing allies in its effort to stop the development and use of fossil fuels. Stopping construction on a project already underway is the most extreme example yet.

“[O]nce these processes have been completed, it is fundamentally unfair to hold union members’ livelihoods and their families’ financial security hostage to endless delay,” Trumpka stated. He continued, “The Dakota Access Pipeline is providing over 4,500 high-quality, family supporting jobs.”  We add that it also unfair to the communities along the pipeline route that support the project, and all Americans who stand to benefit from increased energy and economic security once the project is completed.

As we stated just recently, far too many Americans are missing out on the benefits of our energy revolution due to environmentalists politicizing the pipeline and transmission projects needed to move energy to where it is needed.  Mr. Trumka’s support is welcomed.  The national labor movement is aligned with American businesses as we join in opposition to poorly made, unfair, job-killing government decisions and in support of the many workers building pipelines and the need for more energy infrastructure.