Earlier this week, the Obama administration rejected the application filed by TransCanada Corp to build a massive pipeline to bring oil to the Gulf of Mexico from the tar sands of Canada. The pipeline’s proponents claim that failure to build it will cost America jobs, but the small number of jobs the pipeline would create pales in comparison to the economic damage that comes from our dependence on foreign oil. Large-scale projects that create jobs are one of the many things this country needs to get its economy back on track, but these projects should be forward-thinking, not regressive like the Keystone XL.

Environmental concerns aside, one of the main problems with Keystone XL was determining how many jobs it would create. Estimates varied so widely that it made it essentially impossible to say what the economic impact would be. TransCanada’s initial estimate had the pipeline project creating 3,500-4,200 temporary construction jobs. That estimate later jumped to 20,000 jobs, then to 118,000 jobs, before finally ending at 250,000 jobs. Meanwhile the U.S. State Department placed the estimated jobs created at only 5,000 to 6,000.

Given that TransCanada’s estimates grew as opposition to the pipeline increased, it seems likely that the State Department’s figures are much closer to the real amount. While 6,000 jobs would be beneficial, they do not justify perpetuating a system of energy production that negatively impacts the United States.

Our dependence on foreign oil is one of the major factors behind our massive trade deficit. Oil expenditures currently make up nearly half of our trade deficit. Investing in infrastructure that perpetuates our dependence on oil is the wrong way to go about things in the long term. There is a finite amount of oil in the world, it is going to get increasingly expensive, and the United States doesn’t have much of it. Even if the pipeline did lower oil prices in the U.S., it would hurt us in the long term by delaying investment in domestically produced energy. Wind and solar energy are becoming increasingly viable, as are electric cars, but if we make oil more attractive we will be hurting ourselves down the road.

President Obama will likely be hit hard by Republicans for stopping the pipeline and denying Americans much-needed jobs, but the decision was correct for America’s future. The environmental concerns were real, and the number of jobs produced is likely to be negligible. Building this pipeline during the Great Depression might have been a great idea, but in the 21st century it seems a perpetuation of our misguided love affair with oil.

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