This is from The Wilderness Society today. If you were going to design an industrial energy project to cause the most possible environmental damage, you couldn't do better than the Keystone XL pipeline. As outrageous as it may seem, certain members of Congress have allowed this pipeline debate to become so important that they are potentially willing to let tax cuts expire for 160 million Americans. If that's not putting Big Oil before the American people, I don't know what is. The fate of wilderness should not be determined by a game of "chicken." As part of The Wilderness Society, you understand this. The Keystone XL pipeline is probably the single most environmentally destructive project in North America threatening millions of trees and thousands of miles of rivers, lakes and streams as it snakes its way across the nation's heartland. The fact that the payroll tax cut for American families has been held hostage by this environmental train wreck is unbelievable. If this pipeline is approved, it will foster climate change conditions that will threaten every aspect of America's wild places. Our national forests, already threatened by climate-related fire and beetle infestations, will become dangerously stressed. Iconic places like Glacier National Park will lose namesake glaciers, and places like Acadia and the Everglades will be even more threatened by rising seas. Forwarded by Jane Clark - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/