The recent decision by the Obama Administration to delay the Keystone XL pipeline has really generated quite a bit of discussion over the last few weeks. A recent letter to the SDN by Vicki Cook asked why the president is blocking jobs for a project like this. A follow-up letter by Steve Jensen explained how the planned route for this pipeline would have traveled thru some pretty risky areas of Nebraska's sandhills area.

What most people are missing regarding this story is an understanding of the difference between tar sands oil and the stuff that comes out of wells. The general public is only getting the story in sound bites. The oil industry and a growing number of Republicans are telling us this pipeline is just what we need to add tens of thousands of jobs along the pipeline route. But virtually every environmental group that exists is pushing their membership to contact Congress and the president to stop this disaster in the making. People need to understand the real story.

As a strong supporter of a number of environmental and wildlife groups, I had clearly heard the arguments that this is yet another pipeline that can leak and contaminate our water. Oil pipes sometimes develop leaks, and leaks can lead to contaminated aquifers.

The soil under western Nebraska is very porous, making such a pipeline a valid concern.

Some groups such as 350.org have really done their homework and tried to explain how this pipeline is designed to carry tar sands oil that is extracted from a large area in northern Alberta, Canada. This oil is extremely expensive to extract and contributes to far more carbon in our atmosphere. This is because the “mining” of oil uses far more energy than oil wells.

This tar sands oil extraction process is just one of the newer, more risky methods to continue to keep our economy running on oil, natural gas and coal. The oil companies now believe the cost of extracting oil from Canadian soil is worth it. They fail to mention that these expensive processes will dramatically drive up the price of oil once the economy recovers and demand increases. They simply want to keep the pipelines full at any cost.

Vicki's letter echoes the standard line that the pipeline's supporters are telling us: The pipeline will create jobs and make us independent of foreign oil. It seems we heard the last part before. It is true that the construction of this pipeline will create short-term construction jobs, much like the temporary highway construction jobs that were produced by the stimulus bill. It is also true that there is big money behind these pipelines. One of the major firms that will profit from this venture is Koch Industries; a firm that could not care less whether the planet is getting warmer and whose owners are actually funding climate-change denial groups.

For those who want to really understand what tar sands oil is, I’d refer you to an article in the March, 2009 issue of National Geographic. It is online at . I remember reading this story at the time and was simply shocked. As a kid growing up in the ’50s in Pennsylvania’s coal region, I witnessed the damage strip mining can do and how the region is damaged forever. It seems tar sands oil “mining” — yes, digging the stuff out of the soil with huge shovels — is far worse. Even more shocking is that the process uses heated water and steam to extract the oil from the sand. After the thick oil is extracted, the water and other chemicals used in the process is simply pumped into toxic pools.

The National Geographic article explains that the stuff they are mining in Canada is not really oil. It is called bitumen, a fancy word for tar. Only after spending enormous energy resources to turn this tar into synthetic oil is the product actually able to be pumped through pipelines.

Many individuals, including this author, wrote letters to the State Department when they requested comments on the approval of the pipeline. Fortunately, the letters are being read. I believe that a majority of the people in the US still care about our natural resources. They want jobs, too, but not at the expense of a warmer planet, land once covered in forests left in ruin, and contaminated water.

We are lucky indeed to have a president who has the guts to stop this thing.

Dave Yost is a retired engineer now living in Williams Bay, Wisc. and Silverthorne.