(MintPress) — One year ago, thousands of activists encircled the White House to demand the Obama administration halt construction on the $13 billion Keystone XL pipeline. Approximately 1,200 people were arrested during the demonstration.
Following the November 2011 action, President Obama announced that he would delay the start of the Keystone XL pipeline for 12 months. However, the ground breaking on one section of the pipeline earlier this month signals an executive acquiescence to the demands of the oil and gas industry.
Protesting Keystone XL
On Thursday, protesters across Texas and Oklahoma staged a “Day of Solidarity” action to protest the groundbreaking of a 1,700-mile tar sands pipeline stretching across Canada and much of the Western U.S. Protests were organized by the burgeoning Tar Sands Blockade, a coalition of activists, faith based groups and landowners opposed to a project that is expected to cause significant environmental harm to communities across the Western United States.
Some involved in last week’s protests took a more confrontational approach by demonstrating at the construction sites. Although no arrests were reported, protesters plan to continue using direct, non-violent acts of civil disobedience, including sit-ins, marches and banner drops to halt construction.
Tammy Carson of Arlington, Texas commented on her reasons for protesting the pipeline construction in an online video, “Why I’m Joining the Tar Sands Blockade,” saying:
“I’m here because I’m outraged at what people with money and power are doing to our earth. It’s not just mine, it’s my kids’ and my grandkids’, it’s all of ours and I am here to say it’s not okay. I am ready to put myself on the line to make that statement.”
Many joined together in small towns and cities across Texas, Oklahoma and parts of Nebraska to raise awareness in the communities. While many long-time activists took part in direct action for environmental reasons, others, including members of the Tea Party, the Occupy Movement, faith based groups, farmers and American Indians, joined together to fight corporate exploitation of local communities.
Organizers report that activists are prepared to form a human chain around construction equipment, linking arms with other protesters.
TransCanada, the main corporation developing the pipeline, has encroached on private property and could displace landowners through eminent domain court orders. While the upper section of the pipeline stretching into Canada still needs State Department Approval, early pipeline construction has begun in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
Those protesting the project contend that the transport, refining and consumption of tar sands will contribute considerably to global warming, potentially pushing the earth’s temperature 2 degrees Celsius higher than the current elevated temperatures.
David Burwell, the director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment, commented on the Keystone XL development in December 2011, saying:
“It is more than a $7 billion capital energy project. It is the Rubicon that scientists, energy analysts and environmentalists say we must not cross if we are to keep global warming at or below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial times. Build Keystone XL and we lock ourselves into reliance on ‘dirty’ energy sources that will put us over the 2 degrees tipping point. It is ‘game over.’”
Opponents also believe that processing tar sands, or “oil sands,” would dirty drinking water aquifers throughout the Midwest, especially in local communities near refinement plants.
While TransCanada has not responded directly to these allegations, TransCanada Chief Executive Russ Girling reaffirmed his beliefs in the economic benefits of this project, commenting,:
“TransCanada is now poised to put approximately 4,000 Americans to work constructing the $2.3 billion pipeline that will be built in three distinct ‘spreads,’ or sections.”
While some temporary construction jobs may result from the pipeline, the Koch brothers are poised to be among the main beneficiaries as principal investors in the project.
Mountaintop mining
Many in the growing environmental activist community are beginning to see their struggle to curb coal mining and gas drilling as a common fight against major corporations and climate change.
Many North American communities have experienced record breaking heat waves this summer, endangering the elderly, children, the poor and other “at risk” communities susceptible to heat stroke.
Food prices have also increased following the record heat which has hurt crop yields across many Midwestern farms.
In Appalachia, a small but dedicated group of anti-mining protesters have braved arrest and, at times, threats from the local residents to protest mountaintop removal methods of coal extraction.
Last month, 20 protesters affiliated with the Radical Action for Mountain Peoples’ Survival (RAMPS) were arrested in West Virginia for protesting a strip mining operation. Those involved caused a disruption in the mining operations, forcing the Patriot Coal’s Hobet strip mine in Lincoln County, W.Va. to close briefly.
Many of these confrontational, yet non-violent tactics used in West Virginia and Texas were first used by the Greenpeace organization, one of the largest multinational groups representing environmental concerns. The group’s commitment to civil disobedience was born out the 1960s protest culture at the start of the environmentalist movement.
Members of Greenpeace successfully drew attention to Japanese whaling in the Pacific by confronting poachers and filming their actions. While the group has never embraced violent tactics, other groups, including the Earth Liberation Front have, at times, been prosecuted for property destruction and violence.
While previous issues relating to whaling or logging may have drawn local, limited responses, the broader fight to shut down dirty, non-renewable energy projects has increased the size of the environmental activist community, causing individuals protesting different issues to use social networking for building community and sharing strategies of resistance.
350.org: Building an environmental coalition
350.org has emerged in recent years as an important organization working to build a global movement for combating climate change. Since its founding in 2007, 350.org has grown considerably, now boasting more than 5,200 actions in 181 countries.
Founded by long-time environmental activist Bill McKibben, 350.org is a growing coalition of individuals working together to combat mountaintop mining, fracking and the Keystone XL pipeline, all issues contributing to increased levels of carbon dioxide and global warming.
According to its website, 350.org is “building a global grassroots movement to solve the climate crisis. Our online campaigns, grassroots organizing and mass public actions are led from the bottom up by thousands of volunteer organizers in over 188 countries.”