The Senate on Wednesday cleared the way for a vote on a proposed pipeline to carry some of the dirtiest crude oil on the planet from Canada’s tar sands region in Alberta to refineries along the Gulf Coast in Texas. Sanders is a leading opponent of the project. “The scientific community is virtually unanimous in saying the that climate change is real, it is already causing devastating problems in our country and around the world, and if we do not transform our energy system away from fossil fuel that situation is only going to get worse in terms of floods and drought and extreme weather disturbances,” Sanders said in an interview Friday on CNN. Backers of the pipeline say it will create jobs. In fact, according to a State Department analysis, only about 50 workers would operate the completed pipeline. Instead, Sanders said, Congress should approve a massive construction program to repair roads, bridges, railroads, water systems and other parts of our nation’s crumbling infrastructure.  The work needs to be done and fixing the backlog in repairs would create millions of decent-paying jobs.

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