ABILENE, Kan. - Supporters hail the development of oil sands and American-based oil fields as an important step in reducing the nation's reliance on Middle Eastern crude oil. Opponents say it's an environmental disaster that underscores the disappearance of readily available oil, a shortage made all the more pressing by rapidly growing energy demand in China and India.

A panel discussion to explore both sides of this growing controversy will begin at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, in the Visitors Center Auditorium of the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene. The public meeting is part of the library's ongoing Kansas Town Hall series, which seeks to increase citizen participation and encourage Kansans to engage in important policy issues.

The panel will feature Jim Prescott, a project representative for TransCanada, which built the 36-inch Keystone pipeline that extends from Alberta, Canada, to Cushing, Okla., passing through Kansas; and David Daniel, a landowner from Texas who is actively opposing the pipeline.

Moderating the panel will be Thea Nietfeld from K-State's Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy.

A proposed expansion of the project would add another 1,660 miles of pipeline from Alberta to Texas.

TransCanada, a North American energy company whose holdings include 35,500 miles of pipeline, says the privately-funded $13 billion Keystone project will increase America's energy security and create more than 20,000 high-wage manufacturing jobs.

Opponents, who are organizing protest demonstrations to be held in Washington in coming weeks, say the pipeline threatens environmentally sensitive lands, and that recovering and refining the heavy oil sand creates higher levels of greenhouse gases.