Guest column: Stay strong and say no to Keystone XL

Anne Woiwode  

Anne Woiwode is the state director of the Sierra Club Michigan Chapter. For 30 years Anne has been a leader within Michigan environmental community, working on issues ranging from wilderness protection to regulation of toxic wastes to animal factory pollution.

By Anne Woiwode

Jobs and the economy are on everyone's minds these days. Our country needs a solid economic boost, but not one that comes with the risk of poisoned drinking water and a massive contribution to climate disruption.

Such is the threat of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Residents in Michigan can easily remember the reality of what happens with pipelines. In 2010, an Enbridge pipeline ruptured in the Kalamazoo River, spilling more than a million gallons of tar sands oil. The residents and ecosystem are still recovering today.

Throughout this spring, activists across the state of Michigan are turning out to energy forums hosted by Governor Rick Snyder in Lansing, Grand Rapids, University Center, Kalamazoo, Detroit, Marquette and Traverse City, which were set up with the purpose of collecting data and testimony on Michigan's energy issues. To Michiganders like me - who see disturbingly milder winters and Lake Michigan at the lowest levels of our lifetimes - the facts and data are clear, and time is running out to make the profound changes we must make to protect our home state.

More than 400 Michiganders boarded buses bound for Washington, DC on President’s Day weekend for the Forward on Climate rally to call on President Obama to protect their families, their environment, and their economic future by blocking the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. While we do groundwork at home to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and invest in clean energy, Senator Carl Levin must be our voice inside the Beltway and help us fight the most important battle of our lifetimes.

Actress Daryl Hannah, center, is arrested in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 13 as prominent environmental leaders tied themselves to the White House gate to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline. AP Photo | Ann Heisenfelt  

We need Senator Levin to stay strong on Keystone XL by calling on President Obama to reject the dangerous pipeline. Senator Levin has been a major supporter of the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy, and he knows the importance of protecting our planet for future generations.

Tar sands oil is the most toxic fossil fuel on the planet. Mining and refining tar sands oil produces three times more climate-disrupting pollution than conventional oil. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that if Keystone XL is built, the climate pollution increase would be equal to adding more than 6 million cars to our roads - and that's not even including the pollution caused by then refining the oil in the U.S. then shipping it overseas.

We ask Senator Levin to call upon President Obama to reject Keystone XL, and instead encourage the U.S. to invest in clean energy. We need constructive jobs - like those being generated in the fast growing clean energy sector. 2012 marked the first time ever that wind energy was the number one source of new US electric generating capacity, with more than 600 megawatts coming online in Michigan. We can do better for our economy and future generations by choosing wind and solar power over dirty fuels.

American prosperity and economic recovery require that we get big oil out of the way of a clean energy future, which will create jobs and break Big Oil’s power grip on our public officials and on our air and water.

America is on track, we are already cutting our oil use through increased vehicle efficiency and new technologies - we need more innovation, more efficiency and more transportation choices to break our addiction to oil and build a sustainable, prosperous clean energy economy.

When we stop the pipeline, we slow the exploitation of tar sands oil and make the right choice to cut carbon pollution and stop climate disruption.

President Obama was right to deny the Keystone tar sands pipeline proposal the first time. We need Senator Levin to join us in calling on the president to do the right thing and stop the pipeline for good.

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