Day 14: Author Naomi Klein and Indigenous Leaders Join Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
For Immediate Release
September 2, 2011
Author Naomi Klein and Indigenous Leaders Join Keystone Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
Protest Numbers Reach More Than 1,000
Washington DC - On the day that President Obama refused to tighten air-quality rules, American Indian and Canadian Native leaders, author and activist Naomi Klein, actor Omar Metwally, and Maryland State Sen. Paul Pinsky (D-Hyattsville) were arrested today in front of the White House protesting a proposed oil pipeline.
In total, 166 people were arrested on Day 12 of the Keystone XL pipeline protest. The demonstration has now seen 1,009 people arrested.
The protestors, many wearing their Obama ’08 buttons, are demanding that the President must live up to his campaign promises to fight climate change and get the country off of oil. The Keystone XL pipeline is a key test of his commitment before the 2012 election. If he chooses to permit the pipeline, he risks alienating a key voting block—youth and environmentalists.
Tom Goldtooth, director of the Indigenous Environmental Network whose group organized this Indigenous Day of Action in DC said, “The Canadian tar sands, the proposed Keystone XL and all the other current and proposed pipelines and heavy hauls are weapons of mass destruction leading the path to triggering the final overheating of Mother Earth. President Obama made promises to Native Nations. Here is an opportunity for him to honor those promises and be a man of conscience by standing up to corporate power, address the compounding changes of climate change and over consumption of the resources of Mother Earth; and saying no to the Keystone XL pipeline.”
Keystone XL has become a lightning rod for the environmental movement in the U.S. A new fact sheet, “TransCanada’s Four Dirty Lies,” takes apart many of the erroneous claims made by the pipeline’s supporters and is now available at http://www.tarsandsaction.org/signup/dechristopher-share/key-facts/.
The facts show that if the pipeline is built it will have several significant spills, it will contribute to climate change, and much of the oil produced will be exported.
