It is time for the president to approve the Keystone XL pipeline. He explained in a speech last summer at Georgetown University his standard for approving a project like this. “Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest,” he said. “And our national interest will be served only if this project does not exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” In other words, he would approve the project if it didn’t make the problem of global warming worse.

Many have questions of whether the issue of global warming is as bad as the president considers it to be. But let’s, for a moment, concede his point. There is no reason to hold up the construction of the pipeline. The State Department completed an exhaustive environmental review and concluded that the pipeline would not “exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution.” In fact, it will actually make it better.

That is why Phil Kerpen recently wrote a column with the title: “Fight Global Warming: Approve the Pipeline!” He was obviously having a little fun at the president’s expense, but his title is indeed correct. He was on my radio program recently to explain why. If the pipeline was not built, then all the oil would probably be shipped by rail, which would lead to higher carbon emissions. It would be higher whether all of the oil was shipped by rail or some was also shipped to tankers for distribution.

If you don’t believe global warming is a major problem, then you should support the construction of the Keystone pipeline. But even if you are very concerned about global warming, constructing the pipeline would be better because there would be less carbon emissions.

I might also mention that the pipeline is a shovel-ready project. Five years ago this month, the president signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. We were promised that the stimulus would save the economy and that there were lots of shovel-ready projects that would be started. That was not the case.

By contrast, the Keystone pipeline has been extensively engineered, studied, and reviewed. The latest study estimates that it will create 42,000 construction jobs and give our country a more secure oil supply. It’s time to build the pipeline.