Listening to General Anderson: Keystone XL tar sands pipeline would set back clean energy by 20 years
Posted January 21, 2012 in Moving Beyond Oil, Solving Global Warming
Brigadier General (Retired) Steven Anderson is a crusader against dependence on oil and in our fight against climate change. He has been speaking out against TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline that would bring tar sands oil across America’s heartland to the Gulf Coast for an oil industry plan to get higher prices on the export market.
As the General has said: “My experiences in Iraq convinced me that the greatest threat to our security is our over-reliance on oil and that Americans must immediately take steps to cut our petro-addiction before it’s too late.”
The oil industry argues that Keystone XL is in America’s national interest. But who do you trust to know our security interests better – multinational oil companies or a General who fought on the ground in Iraq?
Watch this short video where the General says:
The stakes are American security, American lives, American blood and billions of dollars. We are actually supporting Big Oil through this pipeline and we’re ignoring the implications that it will have on our national security. It makes us more vulnerable in the future. It will continue to keep us addicted to oil.
This addiction leads to global instability and climate change.
Bottom line is that we need to make tough choices now about changing the way we handle energy, manage energy and get our energy in this nation. We need to develop renewable energy now. The Keystone XL pipeline would set back a timeline for clean energy by twenty years.
Read NRDC and Oil Change International’s new report on energy security and Keystone XL here.
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Comments
John — Jan 22 2012 06:35 PM
Your absolutely right. This is a power grab to keep America addicted to the oil drug! No more wars over oil. Electric vehicles are a good start to end the oil addiction. Support solar PV and wind energy!
James — Jan 23 2012 10:09 AM
Even as someone who works in renewable energy I believe your argument is flawed. The real problem is not so much our addiction to oil (there's really nothing wrong with oil) but who we get it from. It's shortsighted to make the national security argument as a reason not to support the Keystone XL pipeline when that oil would arguably be the safest oil the US could ever import.
As for the comment above, if your concern is over the use of fossil fuels, electric vehicles won't get you any closer to weaning your dependance. Over 50% of US power is from coal; solar and wind are not even close and heavily subsidized. Furthermore, there are a lot of other things (ec. clothes, carpet, plastic, etc) made out of oil - its more than just fuel. Try giving them up.