Climate change is the most urgent crisis facing our world …
the very survival of our children and grandchildren is in the balance. Yet climate change was never mentioned once
during the presidential debates. The Keystone XL Pipeline, however, is a topic
that was. The pipeline is being built by
TransCanada. It has been sold as a means
for job creation and for bringing more energy to the US. Actually, the oil that will be forced at high
pressure through the pipeline is not intended for the US. And it
won’t bring more permanent jobs to the US. If previous TransCanada oil pipeline
experience is any indicator, there will be plenty of clean up jobs at tax payer
expense.
Will the Keystone XL Pipeline bring more energy to the US? The truth is that the pipeline will deliver toxic
Tar Sands oil to a refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast. From there it will be shipped to South America
and to Europe. The pipeline is the means
by which TransCanada plans to offload, right down the middle of our country, toxic
tar sands oil mined in Alberta. At this very moment the southern leg of
Keystone is pushing ahead. Family ranches
are being seized in Texas. But the worst part has to do with what
will happen to the climate if this tar sands oil is burned.
James Hansen, the chief climate scientist for NASA, has
declared that the burning of the huge tar sands oil deposit in Alberta will
spell “game over for the climate.” The
Keystone XL Pipeline will be the fuse to a giant carbon bomb. We have
to think of our children and our grandchildren. We have to urge the President to deny
approval for the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.
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