The PEW Research Center released a new poll showing 61 percent of the public are in favor of building Keystone XL. These results shouldn’t surprise anyone. More telling is that both “young outsiders” and the “next generation left” believe the pipeline needs to be built, by wide margins. For reference, 70 percent of the “next generation left” voted for Obama in the last election, and 62 percent support building Keystone XL. It shouldn’t be shocking that young people are interested in jobs when 12.6 percent of recent college graduates are unemployed in the so-called economic recovery. Young people want jobs and an economy that is moving forward, but the denial of Keystone just highlights the administration’s failure to provide either.  

AAF research has shown that delaying the Keystone pipeline has cost the US 40,000 jobs collectively and $2.1 billion in earnings, while Americans will send $7.7 billion more to Middle East oil suppliers. Democrats and Republicans, young and old, next generation and the greatest generation all support building the pipeline. Why then is the administration still holding up what should be an easy yes?