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By Alistair Bell STEELE CITY, Nebraska (Reuters) - In the heated debate over whether to build the Keystone XL pipeline, the energy industry and lawmakers have predicted that the project could unleash an economic bonanza in the Midwest, and provide jobs for up to a half-million people. Kansas pipeline worker Jeremy Rippe knows better. Rippe saw TransCanada Corp - the company that hopes to build the 1,200-mile (1,900-km) Keystone XL segment as part of a network of pipelines that move oil from Canada to refineries on Texas's Gulf Coast - lay another section of the Keystone line nearby four years ago. Rippe's experience reflects what many labor analysts are saying as President Barack Obama's administration weighs whether to approve the Keystone project: that despite predictions by TransCanada, politicians and business groups of a Keystone-inspired boom, the pipeline would result in few permanent jobs in the United States.

British Prime Minister David Cameron will urge Scots on Friday to heed warnings from the head of the Bank of England and business leaders over voting to become independent in a referendum in six months' time. Cameron will tell the Scottish Conservative Party conference in Edinburgh that the September 18 referendum is a major life choice and no decision should be made without being fully aware of the consequences. Business leaders have raised concerns about Scotland leaving the United Kingdom due to uncertainties over currency, tax, regulatory regimes and European Union membership. All three main UK political parties have ruled out sharing the pound in a sterling zone, which is the Scottish government's preferred currency option if voters back independence.