WASHINGTON, DC – Actor David Strathairn has released a powerful new video inviting concerned citizens to surround the White House on Nov. 6 to show President Obama that he has the people’s support if he stands up to Big Oil and denies a permit for a dangerous proposed oil pipeline. Exactly one year from the election, thousands of citizens will surround the White House carrying signs and banners with words from President Obama’s 2008 campaign about the need to end ‘the tyranny of oil.’

The event comes after scores of other protests about the Keystone XL pipeline, including a two-week sit-in at the White House in which 1,253 people were arrested. TransCanada wants to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to carry dirty tar sands oil 2,000 miles from Canada to Texas. The pipeline threatens to pollute some of our country’s most valuable and sensitive land and water resources, including the Olagalla aquifer, which supplies drinking water for millions of Americans and 30 percent of the groundwater used for irrigation in the United States. In the video Strathairn says:

“President Obama ran for office speaking of the dangers of our fossil fuel addiction, promising to fight climate change and fully embrace a clean energy future. The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is a dangerous step away from that commitment. This is President Obama’s decision to make: yes or no to this dangerous pipeline. And he needs to hear voices other than those of greedy oil companies eager to keep us addicted to fossil fuels. He needs to hear the people’s voices.”

Strathairn joins actors Mark Ruffalo, Robert Redford and Alec Baldwin in opposing the Keystone XL pipeline. A broad collection of concerned parties have come together to oppose the pipeline, including unions, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heinemen, and national environmental groups.

David Strathairn’s video can be found at tarsandsaction.org/strathairn and was co-produced with the Natural Resources Defense Council.