(Image Source: Flickr/Shannonpatrick17)

BY JESSICA SMITH 

ANCHOR CHRISTY LEWIS

The State Department finished up its public hearings on the Keystone Pipeline project this week -- and things got a little rowdy.

“Kill the pipeline!”
“Ha! Get a haircut!”

FOX News explains the project that sparked all this debate.

“It’s a 22 billion dollar project that would pump crude oil from Canada nearly 2000 miles down to the Texas Gulf Coast. But a lot of people along that pipeline’s path are not happy.”

They’re not happy about the prospective pipeline’s impact on the environment. The pipeline is expected to boost U.S. oil consumption from Canada by 50 percent. A New York Times editorial sums it up.

“Adding it all up, we do not think that the benefit from Keystone XL outweighs the certain damages and potential risks: the stripping of the Canadian boreal forest, the further carbon-loading of the atmosphere, and the threat to the Midwest’s water supplies.”

But pipeline supporters say the project will help fuel the economy. A Perryman Group study -- paid for by TransCanada -- predicts the construction would create 20,000 full-time jobs -- and the finished product could add another quarter of a million jobs. In total, the Keystone pipeline could pump 25 billion dollars to the struggling U.S. economy.

The American Petroleum Institute Vice President told CNBC:

“It’s the largest shovel-ready project out there...Getting that resource from Canada is a win-win all around.”

But in the article, the Sierra club counters:

“Asking Americans to shoulder that kind of environmental burden and threaten their air and drinking water simply doesn’t make sense.”

The State Department will make its final decision by the end of year, and most experts predict the economy to win.  An analyst tells CNN Money,

"We still anticipate State will approve the project by year end, The White House will cite national energy security, trade with a close neighbor, new jobs, and historically strict permitting requirements as justification for approval."