It’s been six years since TransCanada submitted its first application to the U.S. State Department to build the Keystone XL pipeline. The administration’s delays and the opposition’s distortions have made national headlines and have been fodder for Washington politics.

But what’s actually happening in the communities along the planned route? How are they being impacted by the pipeline limbo that the administration has subjected them to for the past six years?

To find out, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent a team to travel the 875-mile route in the United States and talk to people along the way. The team started in Morgan, Mont., where the pipeline will cross the Canadian border and ended in Steele City, Neb., where it will connect to America’s existing pipeline network. In every community, the message was the same: Keystone delays equal lost opportunities.

Delays equal lost property taxes. The State Department estimates that rural counties in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska would collect more than $55 million in property taxes in the first year of the pipeline’s operation. Anticipating the influx of revenue, city officials planned and voters approved a brand-new elementary school in Glasgow, Mont. But with Keystone revenue in doubt, the school still hasn’t been built. The story is the same all along the route — projects to improve infrastructure and education have been put on hold or jeopardized.

Delays equal lost jobs and growth. In the three pipeline states, the project would generate 11,600 direct and indirect jobs, $391 million in wages, and $648 million in economic activity, according to the State Department. Businesses have been counting on new workers with good incomes to help lift their economies and invigorate their communities — they’re still waiting.

Delays equal lost economic development potential. Several places see Keystone as their chance to become something more. Baker, Mont., near the Bakken shale boom, believes that a planned on-ramp for shale oil to the pipeline will help cement the town’s role as a regional energy hub. Winner, S.D., hopes that electricity infrastructure needed for Keystone will attract new businesses and allow for wind power so that it can diversify its economy.

These communities are acutely aware of what’s at stake — but Keystone delays have implications for all of us. Nationally, 42,000 new jobs and $3.4 billion in economic activity are on the line. Our ability to enhance energy security and reduce our reliance on foreign oil is at stake.

All of these opportunities can still be seized. But first we’ve got to approve and build the pipeline.

— Tom Donohue is president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The opinions expressed are his own.