Developing pipeline infrastructure provides a number of benefits to local communities and American companies. Pipelines are an important way to help support construction unions, local businesses, and American companies manufacturing materials that go into building these infrastructure projects. As Brigham McCown, a former head of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, wrote in an opinion piece for The Canton Repository:
Developing these resources helps us to buy American in several ways.
First, the companies that drill the wells and build the pipelines have to hire workers and purchase equipment. This stimulates the economy by creating thousands of jobs in many industries, including construction, manufacturing, transportation, hospitality and food service.
One project that is already showing how great and positive an impact pipelines can have on local economies and employment is the Rover Pipeline, currently being built from Pennsylvania and West Virginia into Ohio and Michigan. As McCown writes:
The pipeline’s components are roughly 76 percent American-made, with as many as 10,000 jobs created for construction workers. Further, its compressors are made by Ariel Corporation of Mount Vernon, Ohio. That contract alone is worth approximately $34 million, Ariel announced. Caterpillar, which was Illinois’ representative at the Made in America Product Showcase, is supplying the project with dozens of compression engines.
Expanding our pipeline infrastructure is a concrete step that can be taken to help economies to grow and prosper. In constructing a wider network to transport our vast natural resources, thousands have already found jobs and thousands more will come. CEPI strongly supports the expansion of pipelines, and we hope to see the positive effects spread to more communities.