A letter about the Keystone XL protest  Principal author: John
L. Clark  Bill McKibben hosted a video chat this past Wednesday
for those attending the upcoming Tar Sands Action, and in it he
encouraged people to write letters to the editor to raise
awareness about the protest. I composed the following letter and
submitted a version of it to the Plain Dealer today. It was a
little bit long, so I had to whittle it down to size, but I
still prefer this slightly longer version.  I object to the
Keystone XL oil pipeline, which is planned to deliver oil mined
from destructive Canadian Alberta tar sands sites to the United
States through Montana and other states. For over a week at the
end of August, I will join with others at the Tar Sands Action
to take our protest to the US capitol.  Why protest a pipeline?
Transport networks like this pipeline are the blood vessels of
our industrial system. The concentrated liquid fire in its
veins, though, has never been necessary for human happiness.
Quite the opposite, this c