Editor’s note: The following quotes are from Wednesday’s State Department hearing held at the LBJ Auditorium on the proposed extension of the Keystone Oil Pipeline. The pipeline, which transports oil from the Alberta Tar Sands, would cut across the United States to the Texas Gulf Coast.

“I hate to say that we still need oil, but we do. I would love to have an all-green economy, but it’s better to have [oil] and send our money to friends.”
— Mike Goetz, a member of Laborers’ International Union of North America, in support of the pipeline’s extension, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

“Texas can live without a pipeline. But we can’t live with unsafe water and air.”
— Christine Wilson, a member of environmental group Stop the Tarsands Oil Pipeline, in opposition to the pipeline’s proposed extension, according to the Statesman.

“Given that we are at a turning point in how we get our energy, it is important that we not take a giant step backwards by building this risky and dangerous tar sands pipeline.”
— Brittany Morgan, president of the UT Sierra Student Coalition, in opposition to the extension, according to The Daily Texan.