In the next few months President Obama will make a decision that, if passed, will be one of the greatest regrets during his presidency; the decision of whether or not to extend TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline right through the middle of the United States.

If passed, the Keystone XL oil pipeline would stretch nearly 1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada all the way to the Texas Gulf Coast, moving some of the dirtiest oil on Earth from one border of the country to the other, as reported by The New York Times.

Rather than work to create cleaner fuels, the Keystone pipeline extension would likely prolong the need for such fuels and delay future fuel production.

It’s about time this country quit taking the easy way out and stops letting the environment take the first hit.

The pipeline has been a popular debate among environmentalists.

According to environmental activist group Friends of the Earth, during the extraction process of the tar sands oil used in the Keystone project, the release of hazardous greenhouse gases can be four times higher than those of conventional oil, which would be the equivalent to putting 5.6 million more cars on the road in the U.S.

In a society that already runs off the release of harmful greenhouse gases that jeopardize the future of our environment, wouldn’t it be smart to think of a cleaner solution?

The pipeline extension plans to move 800,000 barrels of toxic tar sands oil every day, from Canada through some of America’s greatest water sources, according to an article by The New York Times.

As stated by National Geographic, despite moving high levels of cancerous and toxic materials such as benzene and arsenic, TransCanada hopes to run the pipeline directly through the Ogallala Aquifer, which rests under eight of the Great Plains states.

The Vancouver Observer reported in northern Alberta, members of the Athabasca Chipewyan tribe have suffered copious deaths from a number of rare cancer cases which many tribe members believe is a direct link to the toxins of tar sands pollution.

In June 2013 when the tar sands oil project was expanded, despite crippling the tribe, an Athabasca Chipewyan spokeswoman called the expansion ‘cultural genocide,’ assuming the tribe would suffer more cancer related deaths.

While the Athabasca Chipewyan were mostly impacted due to their close proximity to the tar sands, it is likely similar health problems will occur from the extension of the Keystone pipeline.

With the same hazardous materials from the tar sands being pumped all across America it certainly provides opportunities for errors that could jeopardize public health.

According to National Geographic, pushing tar sands oil or diluted bitumen through a pipeline is the equivalent to ‘sandblasting’ the pipe, a process that would increase the chance of a leak by sixteen times that of regular crude oil.

There is no question pumping hazardous materials through a number of water sources and communities is a huge risk, and could leave Americans suffering from the same health complications that struck the Athabasca Chipewyan.

When discussing the Keystone pipeline extension, one cannot overlook the countless habitats that will be damaged by the pipeline’s construction.

If the Keystone extension is passed, ecosystems from Alberta’s Boreal Forest to the Great Plains will be trekked over by the tread from tractor tires and construction boots that will mark the beginning of compromise for other species that don’t know it yet.

For so many years ecosystems like these have been protected to ensure species’ succession and the beauty of nature we hope our children will one day experience.

We are given just one planet to live on. The importance of its survival and the survival of its living creatures is something that cannot be forgotten.

-Josh Babcock is a senior communication major from Pullman. He can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.