Keystone oil sands pipeline construction in doubt

Keystone oil sands pipeline construction in doubt

By Steve Hargreaves @CNNMoney November 7, 2011: 6:57 PM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Twenty thousand construction jobs. $5 billion in tax revenue. 700,000 barrels of additional oil a day.

All these things are now in doubt as opposition mounts to the expansion of the Keystone pipeline, a 1,700-mile long conduit that would carry crude from Canada's Alberta oil sands region to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Just a few weeks ago analysts thought the jobs and economic benefits would easily outweigh environmental concerns and push the Obama administration to approve the $7 billion project.

But now Nebraska is balking at the pipeline's route, and rumblings of discontent are being heard from South Dakota as well.

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