On August 29, 2011 after the tenth day of protest in Lafayette Park in Washington D.C. Protestors continue to clash about the suspected 700 billion dollar pipeline. The Keystone XL 700,000 to 800,000 barrels of oil from Canada’s southwestern district to the Gulf of Mexico. This Pipeline will be the biggest built in the United States and almost as big as those of Russia and China. The movement has made quite a stance against Obama’s supposed promise to heal the American soil of human damage.
Fresh from a two-day stint in D.C.’s Central Cell Block prison, Bill McKibben, author and founder of the environmental organization 350.org, said, “For once, the president has the opportunity to do the right thing without having to involve Congress. Since the pipeline crosses national boundaries, it requires a presidential finding to prove that the project is in our best national interests. “This will be the purest test of Obama’s promise that ‘With my presidency the rise of oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal’,” McKibben added. He quoted James Hansen, a NASA climatologist who said earlier this month that approval of the pipeline would be “game over” for planet earth.
This will be the purest test of Obama’s promise that ‘With my presidency the rise of oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal’,” McKibben added. On Aug. 3, Hansen, along with 20 other leading U.S. climate scientists, penned a letter to the president that read, “It’s imperative that we move quickly to alternate forms of energy and leave the tar sands in the ground – as scientists we can say categorically that [the Keystone XL pipeline] is not only not in the national interest, it’s also not in the planet’s best interest.” The article also added the ecosystems surrounding the pipeline will be severely damaged with irreversible damage. So to environmentalist this is a big promise of whether Obama will look out for the best interest of our planet and the promise of his campaign.
Title: New oil Pipeline Sparks Civil Disobedience.
Publication: IPS, Aug 29, 2011
Url: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=104923
Author: Kanya D’Almeida
Faculty: Peter Phillips, Sonoma State University
Student Researcher: Sean Lawrence, Sonoma State University