Constructing the pipeline, by this logic, would have no real-world consequences, for, as the Post put it, "symbolic gestures … have no impact on climate change".
Mr. Terry said Republicans intended to press hard on the pipeline and would only give in on raising the debt ceiling if Mr. Obama made a clear deal on constructing the pipeline.
"This means that, most definitely, the I.D.B. assessment team took to their board a proposal that met with all the requirements," Alejandro Segret, the general manager of TGP, an Argentine company constructing the pipeline, said by phone from Lima, Peru's capital.
They noted that large camps of mostly male employees would be constructing the pipeline.
The standard the State Department must consider is whether constructing the pipeline is in the United State's "national interest".
A culture grew around the unique working conditions involved in constructing the pipeline, and each union that worked on the project had a different function and stereotype.
