The Keystone XL pipeline has gone through delays and controversies since it was first proposed in 2008. With the executive decision approaching this fall on the pipeline’s second application, it is imperative for the American people to make their voices heard against the pipeline before the end of the public comment period on April 22.

At the beginning of March, the U.S. State Department issued a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for TransCanada’s second application for a Presidential Permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.

This is an extension to the already existent pipeline, which moves large amounts of tar sands oil from Northern Canada to the United States.

President Barack Obama holds the final say in the project because a part of the proposed extension crosses an international border, involving the executive office in decision-making. The sections of extensions that do not cross international borders have been confirmed by the lower levels of government and are in the process of construction.

The TransCanada Corporation touts that the extension of the pipeline will be “a critical infrastructure project for the energy security of the United States and for strengthening the American economy,” according to the corporation’s website. It claims the pipeline would support “the significant growth of crude oil production in the United States.”

While international trade should be encouraged, the support of tar sands oil is detrimental to the people of the United States and Canada, only benefiting economically at the expense of human lives and livelihoods, as well as environmental health.

The fuel carried by the pipeline comes from Canadian tar sands, some of the most energy-intensive fossil fuels to extract. The fuel is confirmed by the State Department to be up to 19 percent more greenhouse-gas-intensive than conventional fuel. The fuel is not easily seeping out of the ground, so work must be put in to extract the fuel from beneath our feet. After it is extracted, it must be refined heavily into a usable form.

This environmentally degrading fuel generally occurs on native lands in Northern Canada. Because of this, many native peoples have had their lands intruded upon by the Canadian government. Some of these people have begun to take action in a court of law to halt these degrading processes on their lands.

The extension of the pipeline will also travel across the Ogallala Aquifer beneath the plain states of America, an aquifer that provides drinking water and agricultural irrigation for more than a million people.

This path of the pipeline is the main reason for the rejection of its first application in January 2012. Because the pipeline passes from Montana to the Gulf Coast of Texas, it threatens much of the aquifer and other bodies of water.

Water bodies have already been affected by tar sand oil spills, such as Michigan’s Kalamazoo River spill. After two and a half years, more than 40 miles of river are still contaminated, despite almost a billion dollars spent on the clean-up.

With these reasons, the Keystone XL pipeline only continues our nation’s reliance on fossil fuels. Whether the fuel is from the Middle East or Canada, our nation will still be dependent on another country for a fuel that knowingly increases global climate change.

We will also be fostering other nations’ dependence on fossil fuels. It is well known that most of the tar sands oil to be refined in the United States will be shipped out of Texas. We will be supporting the use of tar sands throughout the world, and all of the injustices attached.

A decision to increase our dependence on fossil fuels, especially tar sands, is shortsighted and not in the best interest of our nation. Because the public comment period for the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement ends April 22, it is imperative to alert your elected officials to work against the use of Canadian tar sands and the creation of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Meg Callaghan is a junior environmental studies major at SUNY-ESF. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at mlcallag@syr.edu.

Published on April 3, 2013 at 2:22 am