Let’s invest in solar and wind energy

To the editor:

Informed and concerned citizens implore President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Any tar sands pipeline puts our communities and aquifers at grave risk of spills, while significantly increasing global warming emissions. This is not in our national interest.

The hot bitumen that the Keystone XL pipeline would carry is the most corrosive and environmentally devastating petroleum on the planet. It would traverse America's heartland, blasted at high pressure past our farms and communities.

Meanwhile, the solar and wind energy industries are booming, proving we do not need to invest in dirty energy to create jobs. Clean-tech jobs are not only outpacing the oil industry's, they are higher-paying, safer and more diverse. The sun doesn't send an electric bill and a serious solar energy spill is nothing but a beautiful day.

Let's kill Keystone XL and embrace clean energy for the sake of present and future generations.

Beth Jones

Monticello