Daryl Hannah leads celebrity Keystone XL protest at White House gates

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/feb/13/daryl-hannah-keystone-xl-protest-obama?intcmp=122


Members of environmental groups, including US actress Daryl Hannah, protest in front of the White House. Photograph: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

A celebrity roster of protesters, including climate scientist James Hansen, actor Daryl Hannah, civil rights leader Julian Bond and environmental advocate Robert Kennedy Jr, were arrested on Wednesday after handcuffing themselves to the gates of the White House to demand that Barack Obama shut down the Keystone XL pipeline project.

In all, about 50 people were detained. The protests, while entirely orderly and co-ordinated in advance with local police, delivered a sharp reminder to Obama the morning after his state of the union address of the enormous political challenges ahead as he tries to make good on his promise to act on climate change.

Other campaign groups vied for Obama's attention on Wednesday. The Natural Resources Defense Council and the League of Conservation Voters released separate polls showing a majority of the American public – roughly two-thirds in both polls – wanted Obama to act on climate. Democratic senators are preparing to formally launch a new attempt at climate legislation on Thursday. None of those issues, however, are as immediately problematic for Obama as the Keystone XL project.

Obama did not mention Keystone XL in the state of the union speech. But the pipeline has become one of the most contentious issues on his second-term agenda, a touchstone for environmental campaigners. To protesters, the project has become the defining symbol of Obama's promises to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

[kristopher]

1. Hansen was also arrested (again)

NASA Climate Scientist Arrested in Pipeline Protest

Climate scientist James Hansen was arrested today outside the White House while protesting the proposed construction of the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline.

The 1,179-mile (1,897-kilometer) pipeline would carry heavy crude oil from Canada (Hardisty, Alberta) to the U.S. Gulf Coast, according to news reports. The project needs the president's approval for a construction permit.

Some 48 activists, including Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, executive director of the Sierra Club Michael Brune, Bill McKibben, co-founder of the grassroots climate group 350.org, and civil rights activist Julian Bond, practiced civil disobedience in front of the White House. They are demanding the president deny the pipeline construction and address the climate crisis.

Environmentalists argue that not only would the pipeline seal the country's dependence on "dirty fuels," adding to the emissions of greenhouse gases and the warming of the planet, it would also disrupt various ecosystems as it slices through critical habitats....

http://www.livescience.com/27117-nasa-climate-scientist-arrest.html

[MADem]

2. I thought, for a second, you meant that band of blond-haired lads!!

Whoopsie, forgot the darned link! http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/activists-arrested-at-white-house-protesting-keystone-pipeline/2013/02/13/8f0f1066-75fa-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story_1.html

Julian Bond and the junior RFK were there, too!

Julian Bond, who was first arrested at a sit-in at the Atlanta City Hall cafeteria in March 1960 and who was most recently arrested in the 1980s outside the South African Embassy in Washington, said civil disobedience was again needed.

“When you find that ordinary methods of persuasion are not working, you turn to other methods, and this is peaceful, nonthreatening and has been successful in the past, and there is no reason to believe it won’t be successful here.” ... “This is not a pipeline to America. It’s a pipeline through America, and it threatens to be a disaster for us if it leaks poisons on the way.”

The protesters were released Wednesday afternoon after each paid a $100 fine.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, said that although he prefers to challenge projects in court, he chose to be arrested because legal avenues had been closed off by friends of the oil industry.