To the editor:

Tar sands oil is the world’s dirtiest fuel, and recent studies show its corrosive nature maks pipeline leaks even more likely than with regular crude oil.

When TransCanada proposed the original Keystone 1 pipeline, they estimated it would only leak once every seven to 11 years, but they neglected to include the pipeline’s pumping stations, which have already sustained 11 reported spills in the last year.

Rep. Fred Upton, our representative, wants to help the same company build another pipeline.

It’s been less than a year since the notorious Enbrige Energy pipeline spill sent nearly a million gallons of oil spewing toward the Kalamazoo River, in Fred’s own district, yet he is pushing legislation to expedite the Keystone XL pipeline, another environmental disaster in the making.

Following the Enbrige spill, the Michigan health department released a study which revealed that hundreds of area residents suffer adverse health effects as a result of this disaster.

We cannot afford to risk our health on such a filthy source of energy when so many clean sources are available to us.

It’s time for Fred Upton to start representing Michigan, not Big Oil.

Mrs. Lois Karasek

Dowagiac