Pipeline Protesters Plan To Surround The White House

By Mike Hothi

Environmentalists are planning to encircle the White House  Sunday in an attempt to convince President Barack Obama to come out against the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

“Young people still believe in Barack Obama but we know that he’s going to need a little bit of a push from us to make the right decision,” Maura Cowley, co-director of the Energy Action Coalition, said during a press conference Friday.

Organizers believe that surrounding the White House will provide that push.

“There will be no attack on the President on Sunday. Every banner that will be there will simply be a quote from President Obama in 2008,” stated Bill Mckibben of 350.org, referring to statements the President made on the campaign trail, such as “Time the end the tyranny of oil. On my watch the rise of the oceans will begin to slow and the planet will begin to heal.”

The Keystone XL pipeline, which will transport oil form Alberta, Canada through Texas, will need a presidential permit from the State Department since it crosses a national border. The State Department expects to make a decision on the pipeline by the end of the year.