United States Senate candidate Linda McMahon is being accused of plagiarizing an op-ed piece that she ran last week on a Connecticut news site.

In the piece, which can be read at CTNewsJunkie.com, McMahon writes the following about of TransCanada’s pipeline:

“Keystone XL stands ready to put some 13,000 Americans to work to construct the actual pipeline. These would be pipefitters, welders, mechanics, electricians, and heavy equipment operators, among others.”

Compare McMahon’s quote to the following text from the TransCanada website:

“TransCanada is poised to put 13,000 Americans to work to construct the pipeline — pipefitters, welders, mechanics, electricians, heavy equipment operators, among other jobs.”

McMahon also wrote:

“Another 7,000 manufacturing jobs would be created across the U.S. What’s more, thousands of additional spin-off jobs likely would be created by the increased demand for local goods and services along the pipeline route.”

Compare that with what’s on the TransCanada site:

“… in addition to 7,000 manufacturing jobs that would be created across the U.S. Additionally, local businesses along the pipeline route will benefit from the 118,000 spin-off jobs Keystone XL will create through increased business for local goods and service providers.”

McMahon’s office on Tuesday defended the language:

“These are factual statements widely used by advocates for the Pipeline,” said McMahon spokeswoman Erin Isaac via email to HuffingtonPost.com. “In researching the project and arguments both for and against it, the most compelling language revolves around job creation. These stats are repeated by respected industry experts and across multiple sources including TransCanada’s website, which we should have cited in our piece. Ultimately, this project represents thousands of jobs and it remains unacceptable that this administration would continue to put up roadblocks when millions of Americans are still looking for work.”

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