Keystone pipeline veto is a victory

To the editor:

President Barack Obama's veto of the Keystone XL pipeline represents a victory for our children and grandchildren.

If approved, the pipeline would have used eminent domain to take land from farmers and ranchers to create a mere 50 permanent jobs for Americans.

And once the dirty tar-sand oil piped down from Canada is refined, the gasoline would be sold to the highest bidder on the world market, resulting in more and more climate-changing greenhouse gases.

Instead of 'business as usual,” we ought to be learning from countries like the United Kingdom.

Recently, leaders of all three of the U.K.'s major political parties agreed to phase out the use of coal - a fossil fuel like oil - and build the world's largest offshore wind farm.

While Congress still is making decisions about energy that compromise the future climate of the planet, other nations are making huge strides to convert from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

We ought to be doing the same.

Frank Olsen

Cedar Rapids