Reader's View: As long as we drive cars, we’ll need oil

Car drivers protesting the building of an oil pipeline is like meat eaters protesting the building of a factory farm.
No matter where the pipeline goes, it will be an environmentally dangerous ordeal. America has 250 million vehicles, almost one for every citizen. The problem is cars, not pipelines!
To suck enough oil out of the planet and process it to feed so many vehicles is going to be dangerous and messy, no matter how safe you try to make it.
Those drilling and moving the oil are not evil; they are simply trying to keep your car on the road. They are just trying to keep up with demand - and we demand a lot.
Some protest signs read, “People over Pipelines,” but if people drive, they always will need pipelines. Based on our current lifestyles, it is impossible for humans to separate themselves from oil pipelines.
Frank Erickson
Minneapolis