Today CFACT students from the University of Minnesota headed over to Senator Klobuchar’s office. The reason for this impromtu field trip? CFACT wanted to show Minnesotans support pipelines. Today a small group of individuals gathered outside of Senator Klobuchar’s office because they oppose the expansion of pipelines and oil in the United States, and they wanted to 
pressure Senator Klobuchar on this issue. CFACT was on hand, passing out flyers and making sure the other side of the pipeline was represented as well.
Pipelines represent the safest way to move oil. With the recent expansion of the oil industry in North Dakota, and other locations, pipelines simply do not have the capacity to move the vast amount of oil that is being produced. So instead of traveling by pipe oil is being moved by rail. There has been a massive spike in rail related oil spills in the last few years, and the risk of a major spill in a population center, like the Twin Cities, is an ever present danger.
When asked, the pipeline opponents did not have an alternative for safely moving oil across the nation. They instead said that we should just stop using oil, and other fossil fuels, altogether. The problem is our society is based upon the energy produced by oil and other fossil fuels, and it isn’t feasible to abandon them. Plus advances in technology are making fossil fuels safer and cleaner. However, even these advances are not enough. One of the protesters even went so far as to say, “even if fossil fuels were completely clean, I still wouldn’t use them.” When it comes to protecting the environment we should be willing to use the best technology we have available. It is wrong to reject a good technology just because you personally do not like it.
