Projects » Job Study

Millennium Bulk Terminals – Longview

Retained as expert witnesses by Washington State Office of the Attorney General (AGO) in the matter of Lighthouse Resources, Inc., et al. v. Jay Inslee, et al. before the US District Court (West). Prepared written expert testimony Expert Report on Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview/Lighthouse and the Expert Rebuttal Report on Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview/Lighthouse. The reports analyze the burden to the US coal industry if the Millennium Bulk Terminals-Longview (Millennium) were not built.

Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE)

Two years before Governor Cuomo’s May 2020 rejection of this controversial pipeline project (to transport shale gas from Pennsylvania to NYC), TGG demonstrated that Williams was substantially overstating employment and other economic benefits of the Project. TGG’s Expert Report on the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) Project Economic Impact Analysis for New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania, commissioned by the Eastern Environmental Law Center (EELC) in May 2018, evaluates the economic impact study prepared for the proponent by Michael Lahr and Will Irving of Rutgers University.

PennEast Pipeline Project

In 2015, the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF) commissioned TGG to evaluate the economic impacts of the PennEast Pipeline.  TGG’s Expert Report on the PennEast Pipeline Project Economic Impact Analysis for New Jersey and Pennsylvania evaluated the economic impact study (PennEast Pipeline Project Economic Impact Report and Analysis) prepared for the PennEast Pipeline Company.

Trans Mountain Expansion Project

Background: The Trans Mountain Expansion Project has been one of the most controversial crude oil pipeline projects in Canadian history. Since 2013, it has been the target of numerous legal challenges, intense public protests and two major regulatory reviews at Canada’s National Energy Board (NEB). In 2013, Kinder Morgan filed an application with the NEB to expand the capacity of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline, which transports up to 300,000 barrels per day from Alberta through British Columbia (BC) and Washington State to refineries and ports on the West Coast. The C$7.4 billion expansion (estimated at C$12.6 billion in late 2020) would more than triple the capacity of the existing pipeline (to 890,000 barrels per day). The increased capacity would be provided by a second line, roughly parallel to the existing pipeline. This second line would be largely used to transport more tar sands dilbit for export markets (US West Coast and Asia).

Keystone XL Pipeline for South Dakota

The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (RST) of South Dakota retained TGG in 2015 to provide expert testimony in the Keystone XL (KXL) permit recertification case before the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC). TGG’s written expert testimony, Changes to the Economic Costs and Benefits of the Keystone XL Pipeline for South Dakota, was filed on behalf of the RST in April 2015 (and withdrawn in July 2015).

Colorado Roadless Coal Exception

For over 30 years, TGG has prepared numerous studies evaluating Environmental Impact Statements and Environmental Assessments for energy-related activities. In May 2015, TGG released an expert report entitled Comments on Scoping Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) Rulemaking for Colorado Roadless Coal Exception #46470. TGG’s Comments were presented to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service on behalf of the Sierra Club.

Enbridge’s Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project

In 2013, TGG was retained by a coalition of Quebec- and Ontario-based environmental groups (the Équiterre Coalition) to provide expert testimony related to a controversial crude oil pipeline: Enbridge’s Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion (300,000 barrels per day at full capacity). The project would transport a mix of tar sands dilbit and synthetic crude oil (SCO), Bakken, and conventional Western Canadian crudes through Ontario and Quebec, crossing major waterways and Canada's most populous urban areas (including Toronto and Montreal). TGG filed written expert testimony entitled, The Relative Economic Costs and Benefits of Enbridge's Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project in August 2013 at Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) on behalf of the Équiterre Coalition.

Keystone XL Job Study (10th Anniversary)

TGG’s jobs analysis in Pipe Dreams? Jobs Gained, Jobs Lost by the Construction of Keystone XL was used to demonstrate to the US media and the Obama Administration that KXL would not be a major job creator for the US, nor would it have any substantial impact on US employment.  TGG co-authored this influential and widely publicized study on the employment impacts of the Keystone XL pipeline with the Cornell Global Labour Institute in 2011. The report was released in September 2011 and updated in January 2012. TGG’S Ian Goodman and Brigid Rowan provided the economic analysis to demonstrate that TransCanada Pipelines Ltd had greatly exaggerated the employment impacts of the Keystone XL (KXL) Project. TGG estimated the Project would create no more than 2,500-4,650 temporary direct construction jobs for two years and at the most a handful of permanent jobs (ranging from a low of 20 to a high of 127).

Employment Impacts of Air-Pollution Controls at North Dakota Coal Plants

TGG has been evaluating green job impacts for over 30 years. In November 2011, TGG prepared an expert report for the Sierra Club (National) entitled Employment Impacts of Air Pollution Controls at North Dakota Coal Plants. The purpose of this study was to estimate the employment impacts of pollution-control expenditures at the Milton R. Young and Leland Olds coal-fired plants in North Dakota.