Alberta’s tar sands oil and the Keystone XL pipeline should have no future. They are planet killers.

Congress has said that President Barack Obama must rule on a permit for the XL pipeline by Feb. 21. He needs to say no.

There is no doubt about what is causing climate change. Burning fossil fuels adds heat-trapping compounds to our atmosphere. The delicate balance that holds our world together is being lost.

Climate change in Maine already is affecting our economy. Just the slightly warmer winters of recent years has meant shortened and less predictable logging seasons. Warmer temperatures have allowed an invasive pest to threaten our hemlock trees. Now we are told our sugar maples and ash trees may also be endangered. This is only the beginning.

We can’t stop what is already happening, but we can keep it from becoming much, much worse. We need to end our overwhelming dependence on fossil fuels. Tapping into the Alberta tar sands will only increase that dependence.

The promoters would like us to believe the pipeline is all about jobs. The price tag on the pipeline is in excess of $7 billion. The latest job creation estimate is 6,000 jobs lasting only two years. We can take it to the bank that those 6,000 welders, teamsters and laborers aren’t taking home more than $1 million apiece. Somebody is going to get rich, and they don’t care if the rest of the world burns.

We need to start a real jobs program that will put tens of thousands of people to work finding real solutions that fulfill our energy needs and won’t destroy our planet.

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