Keystone Seen as No Local Job Starter Along Prairie Route

If the Keystone XL oil pipeline gets built, Rick Balcom doubts he’ll see many construction workers at the bar of his No. 3 saloon in Buffalo, a remote town in the northwest corner of South Dakota.

Balcom, 44, knows most of the workers building the Canada-Nebraska pipeline will stay at a catered “man-camp” seven miles away and won’t be hoisting brews under the stuffed mountain lion that adorns his bar. On their days off, they’ll probably travel to places such as Deadwood and Spearfish an hour-and-a-half drive south that offer gambling and other attractions, he said.