Keystone XL Pipeline

There has been quite a bit in the news lately about the Keystone XL Pipeline. From it's flagrant support at the last Republican Debate (they seem to think it's a no brainer to build 3,000 miles of pipes from Canada to Texas...) to Obama's consideration. I was even smart enough to engage in my own debate on the topic with a republican...needless to say we butted heads and didn't make any progress on convincing each other of our respective opinions (I'll qualify this by saying that we were complete strangers and if I'd known him longer and we had each had time to debate for more than 2 minutes, I sorely hope I could have convinced him).

350.org's news letters have been summing up most of the action, thankfully because it's been pretty complicated lately. What's your take on the pipeline? To me it seems like a no brainer NOT to build it! What's the point of 3,000 miles of pipe line across the U.S.? Why in the world would anyone build a pipe across our entire country? Possibly endangering the water supply of the entire nation. And (this is by no means a calculated estimate, but...) I would have to assume that it will take an enormous amount of energy to create this thing - did anyone calculate how that compares to the amount of energy that it will produce in an equivalent time frame? And how safe are these Tar Sands? I've heard news that Canada is now questioning whether it will even let anyone drill them? And, for the most used fact - creating 200,000 jobs. I know that is a significant amount, but still, only a small city's worth. And what if we were to pour all of this money, energy, and labor into a renewable energy - say Solar or Wind? Wouldn't that be great! We could be using an energy source that NEVER runs out and doesn't produce CO2 as it's byproduct, among others. I admit, this has now become a rant. But it's a frustrating topic for me. I really hope it gets tossed in the garbage by sensible President Obama soon!