The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday edition that it is time to stop muddying the pipeline debate. The Globe's Barrie McKenna writes that the battle over TransCanada's Energy East pipeline is not about pipeline safety. Energy East, like other large pipeline projects, has become an unfortunate proxy in the broader battle over climate change. Hundreds of oil and gas pipelines already criss-cross this country. Some are buried a few centimetres beneath those bike trails many of us enjoy. Many others run just beyond urban backyards. Almost no one complains. The world will still be hooked on oil, even if new pipelines such as Energy East, Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain line or Enbridge's Northern Gateway project are never built. Killing all those projects would no doubt make opponents gleeful, but it will not get the world any closer to a climate change solution, and it could well wreck the Canadian economy in the process. The lack of access to international markets means that oil sells for an average of nearly $20 (U.S.) less a barrel in recent years compared with competing West Texas Intermediate. TransCanada says the gap should be just $10 (U.S.) a barrel to account for the higher cost of refining heavy crude.