Washington – Thousands of protesters are gathering in Lafayette Square across from the White House exactly one year out from the presidential election to oppose a plan for a transnational oil pipeline they fear could harm the environment.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
More than 8,000 people linked hands around the White House to oppose the Keystone XL project, a pipeline that would carry oil derived from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.
Bill McKibben, one of the protest organizers, described the scene as either “a big O-shaped hug” or “a symbolic house arrest.”
Obama missed most of the protest while he played golf at Fort Belvoir in Virginia on Sunday afternoon.
We were taking some guests to do the usual Washington sightseeing this afternoon and wandered into this demonstration. What was really neat was seeing a bunch of Netuai Karta or Chareidi types also marching around with their signs (which were somewhat incoherent) but I assumed they were protesting that the kevorim of some native americans in Nebraska were in the path of the pipeline.
this is terrible.
If the pipeline is cancelled, then we’ll be sending an extra boatload of money every day to the middle east.
I wonder of the oil cpompanies are funding the enviromentalists. whenever we buy arab oil, half the profits go to the developing companies such as esso shell or whatever!!.
They couldnt get away with obscene profits if it were local oil.
oil has to get here somehow is it better that they truck it
Unbelievable. These environmentalists are looking at cleaner, cheaper energy and rejecting it.
Instead of getting oil from Arab countries, we have a chance to get it from friendly Canada. Yet, they still object. For anyone who wonders why environmentalists are made fun of routinely, this will just have to be one more in a long line of examples.
Enough, already. Time for some nice Canadian oil to flow. And some American oil would be a good idea, as well.
But the wacky environmentalists just keep saying “no.”
The alternative is to reduce our use of oil, period. This pipeline runs on top of a major aquifer that is the fresh water source for large parts of the Midwest. A leak (and there are always leaks) will destroy the aquifer. The environmental review was done by a company with strong ties to the oil company. What if this were you? Would you be fine if you had to buy bottled water to do your laundry, cook, shower? If you were a farmer whose farm suddenly became useless? Also, you have to understand that this oil is not coming to the US to replace Middle Eastern oil. All oil, from Canada, US or elsewhere, goes into an international pool from which we, and other countries, buy. It will not go just to the US. It is not wacky to care about the environment. It is wacky to destroy the world our kids and grandchildren will inherit.
This is Obama punishing Canada for not towing his line on Israel.
All Obama’s dirty work is done through front groups.