The New York Times editorial board opened 2012 half right.  In their piece, ‘Where the Real Jobs Are,’ they call on President Obama to promote job creation through growth in emerging energy technologies, a popular and important component of energy policy.  Unfortunately, they crowd the issue by repeating the laughable assertion that the Keystone XL pipeline project is a step in the wrong direction.

What the editorial board refers to as, “the ridiculous pipeline gambit” is a major and meaningful investment in job creation and a step toward increasing the profile of the United States as a supplier in global oil markets.  Oh yeah, and it’s free.  TransCanada is interested in financing a multibillion dollar investment that will create 6,000 to 6,500 jobs over the next two years and deliver to the Gulf Coast a major new supply of crude oil for refining and trade.  To call this project “ridiculous” is offensive to the men and women that the pipeline would put to work and reflects a narrow opinion that global trade in fossil fuels somehow undermines a stable energy future.

The United States needs jobs, economic growth, and energy security.  And of course, we need growth in the emerging technology sectors that will define the future of global energy; we need to educate the next generation of engineers, and we need to build the next generation of batteries, fuel cells, solar panels, refineries – you name it.  But that’s the energy of tomorrow.  Let’s build this pipeline and put people to work supplying the energy of today.