Sen. Bernie Sanders: Arkansas spill shows need to move away from carbon-based economy

Monday night on MSNBC, Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said the recent oil spill in Arkansas illustrated why the United States needed to adopt more eco-friendly energy sources.

"It really raises the broader question and that is whether we continue to be a carbon-based economy, whether we finally recognize that if we don't get a handle on greenhouse gas emissions that this planet is going to be facing some disastrous problems in years to come," he said on All In with Chris Hayes.

"As a member of the Energy Committee and the Environmental Committee we have talked to scientists, and you know what these scientists tell us? They say the projections that we made about the damage for global warming, we were wrong," Sanders continued. "We underestimated the problem. What they're now saying is if we don't get our act together and start cutting in a very significant way greenhouse gas emissions, we're talking about this planet heating up by eight degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century. And that is calamitous for this planet."

An Exxon-Mobil pipeline ruptured in the small town of Mayflower on Friday afternoon, covering a residential neighborhood with tar sands oil. The pipeline carried more than 90,000 barrels of crude oil from Illinois to Texas every day.

The spill raised additional doubts about TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL pipeline, which would run all the way from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline would also be carrying tar sands oil, which critics claim is more prone to spills because it is more corrosive than traditional crude oil.

"I think, very simply, here is what the truth is. The truth is that the President of the United States, the Congress and the American people have got to say this is it," Sanders added. "Not only do we not want a Keystone XL pipeline, but we have got to fundamentally transform our energy system away from coal, away from oil, and into sustainable energy and energy efficiency."

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