To the editor:

I am writing to express my support for President Obama’s decision to deny permission for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The pipeline, which is designed to take Canadian tars ands oil to Texas for refining and export, poses a danger to the ecology of the state of Kansas by crossing some of the most ecologically sensitive areas of the state, including the Flint Hills and the Ogallala Aquifer; a spill would endanger the drinking water and agricultural irrigation of millions of people in the region. Also, the tapping of this particularly energy-intensive form of oil would release hundreds of thousands of pounds of carbon into the atmosphere, adding to the climate change that is already occurring and leading to what NASA climatologist James Hansen called “game over” for the environment.

Despite inflated jobs claims from the oil industry, the pipeline would provide at most a few thousand temporary construction jobs, and virtually none of those in Kansas. There is far more potential for job development in the transition to wind, solar and other clean, renewable and domestic sources of energy. Taking this farsighted approach would be better for Kansas, for the country and for Creation.