Will Steger is the first person to have made his way across the Antarctic on foot, a daunting terrain of ice waves and howling winds. There were no dogs, no company at all. Just endless white, a man and his wooden sled, wind, ice, and bitter cold.  

Now he is taking on what might prove to be an even harder challenge.  In his "The Longest Summer" tour, he is travelling the Midwest to talk about the big energy choice we are poised to make - will we choose solar, wind and other renewable sources of clean energy or energy even dirtier than conventional fossil fuels, further imperilling our fragile planet?  It's hard to believe that there is even a debate. It seems so obvious.  Choose clean energy!  But, as Steger points out in his excellent Op-Ed in the Minnesota Star Tribune, we are just as likely to pick the dirty energy of our past as we are to choose the clean energy of our future.

In the Op-Ed, he  contrasts the high-carbon path of developing oil shale with the lower-carbon path of renewable and other green energy.  He points out that there is a lot of political pressure to develop these dirty fuels. His Senator, Norm Coleman (R-MN), supports developing oil out of the Rocky mountain shale deposits, a highly greenhouse gas and water intensive way to make oil.  

But sadly Minnesota already refines a high-carbon fuel and is one of the largest players in promoting its use in other parts of the Midwest.  At its Pine Bend refinery, Minnesota refines "dirty oil" derived from the tar sands region of Alberta, Canada. The owner of the refinery, Flint Hills Resources Ltd, is one of the largest purchasers and distributors of tar sands oil. To produce this oil, thousands of acres of undisturbed Boreal forest ecosystem - the nursery for millions of songbirds and waterfowl – is dug up and huge amounts of global warming pollution are created in getting the oil out of the tarry soil.   

A “crossroads” implies a choice and a debate.  The time for that debate is now and it should start with a look at the role of the tar sands – as well as oil shale - in the Midwest’s future.  Thanks to Will Steger, that debate will get a new injection of the right kind of energy.  Then its up to us.