WASHINGTON (AP) — Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, say the privately funded, $8 billion project is a critically needed piece of infrastructure that will create thousands of jobs and make the U.S. dependent on oil from friends, rather than foes. Critics claim it will disastrously increase the pollution blamed for global warming and put communities along its 1,179-mile route at risk for a damaging spill, all for oil and products that will be exported anyway. Extracting oil from Canadian tar sands does require more energy — and results in 17 percent more greenhouse gas emissions from oil well to tailpipe than a traditional barrel of oil refined in the U.S.