Pipeline not the answer

The Sept. 1 editorial mistakenly equates job creation with burning more fossil fuels. The reality is that both the XL pipeline and the export of coal from Montana will adversely impact both ecosystems and the region’s economy.

Running from the tar sands in northern Canada to the U.S. Midwest, the pipeline will traverse the world’s most productive agricultural region. A pipeline spill into the Ogallala Aquifer would contaminate the Midwest’s primary water supply and devastate this nation’s agricultural production. Furthermore, oil from the tar sands would dump 150 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.

While The Spokesman-Review on page A3 pointed out the enormous cost of Hurricane Irene, the editorial on page A11 endorses a pipeline that would make such disasters more common by massively increasing carbon emissions.

Similarly, sacrificing eastern Montana to supply coal for China makes little economic or ecological sense. Eastern Montana’s long-term economy is based upon agriculture. Strip-mining the region will put farmers and ranchers out of business and turn the last remnants of the Great Plains into an industrial sacrifice area.

Ultimately, the issue is one of priorities. Which is more important: supplying food for America or coal for China?

Greg Gordon

Spokane