Nearly 400 people have been arrested at a sit-in outside the White House aimed at pressuring President Obama to deny the permit for a massive new oil pipeline. More are expected to join the daily civil disobedience over the coming days.
At stake is what has quickly become the largest environmental test for President Obama before the 2012 election. The President must choose whether or not to grant a Canadian company a permit to build a 1,700 mile pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. [Editor’s Note: On Friday the State Department approved the pipeline, only the first of several federal OKs before the project can begin.]
Environmentalists warn that the pipeline could cause a BP disaster right in America’s heartland, over the largest source of fresh drinking water in the country. The world’s top climatologist, Dr. James Hansen, has warned that if the Canadian tar sands are fully developed it could be “game over” for the climate.
“It’s not the easiest thing on earth for law-abiding folk to come risk arrest. But this pipeline has emerged as the single clear test of the president’s willingness to fight for the environment,” said environmentalist and author Bill McKibben, who was arrested Saturday morning. “So I wore my Obama ’08 button, and I carry a great deal of hope in my heart that we will see that old Obama emerge. It’s hot out here today, especially when you’re wearing a suit and tie. But it’s nowhere near as hot as it’s going to get if we lose this fight.”
McKibben was amongst those arrested, along with the co-founder of NRDC and former White House official Gus Speth, gay rights activist Lt. Dan Choi, author and activist Mike Tidwell, Firedoglake founder Jane Hamsher, and many others.
Environmentalists say that the President’s failure to take any substantive steps to protect the environment and stop the climate crisis has left his base disheartened and desperate. While the President can blame Congress for the Democrats’ failure to pass a climate bill despite unprecedented majorities, the decision whether or not to grant the Keystone XL the permit necessary for construction is his and only his.
The protest began with a small rally in Lafeyette Park, where participants listened to McKibben address the crowd and prepared themselves for jail. At about 11:00 AM, the group formed two lines and marched to the White House fence to the applause of onlookers. A group of participants lined the fence, holding two large banners that read “Climate Change is Not in Our National Interest: Stop the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline” and “We Sit In Against the Keystone XL Pipeline. Obama Will You Stand Up to Big Oil?” The rest of the group sat-in on the sidewalk infront of the fence.
Within a few minutes, police began issuing warnings to clear the area. At 11:30 AM, a young woman from Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, AK was the first person to be arrested. Arrests proceeded for over an hour as van-loads of protestors were taken away from the White House.
Jane Kleeb, an outspoken opponent of the pipeline and founder of BOLD Nebraska, stood in Lafayette Park this morning and cheered on the protestors as they were arrested.
“Nebraskans are counting on President Obama to do the right thing,” said Kleeb, who is planning to risk arrest on Monday with a delegation of farmers and ranchers who are coming in from Nebraska. “Back home we are fighting to protect our land and water. We decided to bring that fight to the President’s doorstep because our families’ legacies, those that homesteaded the very land now threatened by a foreign oil company, are too important for us sit on the sidelines. We are acting on our values and expect our President to act as well.
The coalition organizing the protest, Tarsandsaction.org is accepting donations and new sign-ups for the sit-in throughout the next two weeks. For more information, the public can visit tarsandsaction.org or follow the group on Twitter at @tarsandsaction.
Richard Graves is the blogmaster for It’s Getting Hot in Here: Dispatches from the Youth Climate Movement: http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/ and served as the New Media Fellow for the Energy Action Coalition. This article appeared first at It’s Gettig Hot in Here.