The direct damage is only part of the picture. Hundreds, if not thousands of businesses along the pipeline route will lose a lot of revenue, especially felt in small towns, along the pipeline route because they will not be housing, feeding, or otherwise doing business with the workers as they transit the area while constructing the pipeline. Such economic shots in the arm can be vital to the economies of those small communities. Not to mention operator's, maintenance and route inspection jobs to ensure all is working as it should (and to keep the ecoterrorists from damaging the pipeline, valves, pig stations, and other infrastructure.