By Tony Huppert, CEO, Team Oil Inc.

In the discussion of the Keystone pipeline, many people think I’m against it because I ask questions. 

In this “for or against” society, I have controversy surrounding me all the time because I ask questions.  I’m afraid to rely on what the “fors” say about the ones “against” and vice versa.  Both sides will spin it to best suit their own viewpoint. 

I look at it a different way. I ask the question, “How many people have been hit and killed by trains, versus, how many people have been blown up and killed by pipelines in the same period of time?” 

The next question is, “How many deaths per gallon of product transported from point A to point B?”  In my way of looking at issues, human life trumps money.

I know this is an insensitive way of looking at it but, it is what it is. One must look at issues logically, NOT emotionally.  It is like when my Aunt Evelyn turned 90.  She was asked what it is like to have another birthday when you’re this age.  She said, “It beats the alternative.”

Tony Huppert is a Wisconsin businessman of 40 years and CEO of Team Oil Inc., the family-owned and operated Team Oil Travel Center, and Subway in Spring Valley, Wis.