**Update: 10:00AM 8/17/2012 – Thanks to everyone who made yesterday’s day of action to expose TransCanada’s quiet start to Keystone XL construction. Here is a compilation of just some of the action photos that poured in from across the region.
**Update: 8:40PM – Did you see the news? Tar Sands Blockade is featured in the LATimes!
Read it here “Keystone XL pipeline construction begins amid protests”
Through nonviolent protest and the power of social media all of us exposed TransCanada’s quiet start to Keystone XL construction and made the story all about how people power is confronting this dangerous pipeline.
“Every day we can meet construction with direct action is a small victory for us,” he said. “It gives us a chance to describe the harms and abuses and the dangers of this pipeline going forward.” – Ron Siefert, spokesperson for Tar Sands Blockade. Read more at LATimes.com
Help us and SHARE this story so TransCanada can’t hide anymore
**Update: 7:45PM -Tar Sands Blockade supporters gather outside of Exxon offices in Dallas today as part of actions across the region that erupted at the breaking news of Keystone XL construction. Exxon is one of the major profiteers from refining toxic tar sands. Keystone XL is an export pipeline that would send oil overseas while raising gas prices here in the Midwest. Big Oil rakes in more cash, leaving the rest of us to foot the bill.
**Update: 6:50PM – Photos are still coming in from East Texas landowners who oppose the start of Keystone XL construction. There has never been a pipeline free of spills. Ever. Tar sands pipeline transportation threatens community drinking water and the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and ranchers. Not to mention the simple joys of folks who enjoy outdoor sports and wildlife.
**UPDATE: 5:00PM – Bill McKibben just joined the day of action to oppose today’s Keystone XL construction! Read his latest piece on Grist.org.
“All along, the pipeline has drawn many different kinds of foes. In this case, environmentalists worried about oil spills and global warming are joined by Tea Party conservatives outraged that a private company is allowed to grab land from people who don’t want to sell it.”
“If there were ever a moment to take a stand, this is it. Everyone who cares about the future owes these Texans a debt.” Read more on Grist.org.
**UPDATE: 3:40PM -We just got this great photo from an East Texas landowner who opposes the recent start of Keystone XL construction. Rural hunters and anglers know that Keystone XL not only threatens wildlife but also their communities’ fresh drinking water.
**UPDATE 2:10PM -Tar Sands Blockade organizers rally outside TransCanada Headquarters in Houston to protest the start of construction on Keystone XL. “TransCanada: In Business to Deliver…Disaster”
**UPDATE 1:30PM- Indigenous solidarity from Oklahoma against Keystone XL construction.
“My fight is not about oil, not about another pipeline. My fight is on behalf of the First Nations in Alberta, Canada who have died and are now suffering from cancer at a rate much larger than the regular population; and, some with rare cancers never seen before in central or western Canada.”
- Earl Hatley from the Cherokee Nation, Delaware Tribe
**UPDATE 12:40PM - Our first action in Oklahoma! TransCanada is starting construction at the beginning of the Keystone XL route in Cushing, Oklahoma. Tar Sands Blockade organizers are there with a clear message, that while this project has started, we will not allow it to be finished.
**UPDATE 11:30AM - As TransCanada quietly breaks ground on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline landowner advocates climb atop stacks of pipes in an East Texas construction yard. Organizers unfurled a banner and flew a “Don’t Tread On Me” Gadsden Flag to demonstrate the diverse and unlikely alliance of environmentalists and Tea Partiers who all oppose Keystone XL.
**9:00AM – Organizers drop banner in front of TransCanada’s bulldozers
Tar sands giant TransCanada has quietly begun construction on the southern leg of the Keystone XL— and right now organizers across Texas and Oklahoma are mobilizing a regional Day of Action in response to the industry’s toxic land grab.
Early this morning in East Texas, organizers braved bulldozers to unravel a banner reading: “No Tar Sands In Texas.”
**Live Blog: Visit this page throughout the day for breaking updates on actions happening in the region.
“TransCanada is putting families that wanted nothing to do with this pipeline in harm’s way,” Tar Sands Blockade Spokesperson Ron Seifert said. “Since our leaders and representatives will do nothing to protect our friends and neighbors, the Tar Sands Blockade is calling for people everywhere to join us and defend our local communities from a multinational bully.”
The message remains clear, people across the political spectrum, from Tea Partiers to environmentalists are uniting to TransCanada that while this project has started, we will not allow it to be finished.
“In the midst of record heat and drought, this just adds insult to injury,” says 350.org Founder Bill McKibben.. “More risk, more carbon, more heat–all the things farmers and ranchers don’t need.” This is a risk we can’t afford to take.
Planned events today include actions in Dallas, Houston, and Cushing in solidarity with landowners who say TransCanada has bullied and manipulated them through the use of eminent domain for private gain. Stay tuned for more breaking updates as this story unfolds.
“TransCanada lied to me from day one,” says Susan Scott, a local landowner in East Texas whose land was expropriated. “I worked 37 years for my farm, and TransCanada believes it is entitled to a piece of my home.”
Organizers with the Tar Sands Blockade are taking a stand, demonstrating their commitment to protect the public’s health, safety, and constitutional rights, and to preserve the integrity of the environment that supports local communities across the region.
Plans to integrate the proposed southern segment the existing Keystone system would allow extractors in Canada to transfer a toxic tar sands slurry directly to the export market in the Gulf Coast. This expansion of the petrochemical industry will pad the pockets of Gulf Coast refineries–operating in a foreign trade zone to escape state and federal taxes–while endangering hundreds of communities between Cushing, OK and Port Arthur, TX.
The Blockade is proud to be a part of the burgeoning Summer of Solidarity direct actions against fossil fuel extraction across the nation. Residents defending against mountaintop removal coal strip-mining in West Virginia, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, as well as coal exportation from Montana are confronting abuse and contamination on the part of dirty energy industries operating in their communities.
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Jackie
August 16, 2012 at 3:36 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I stand beside you. No Keystone XL pipeline!!
Kim Feil
August 16, 2012 at 3:37 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
stay safe…..thank you for being out there in those elements…..
eusebio manuel vestias pecurto
August 16, 2012 at 4:08 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Os paises mais ricos do mundo falam em crise e mais crise como uma desculpa eles gastam bilhões de dolares em na extração de compustiveis fósseis e nas industrias sujas elas estão a contaminar o nosso planeta defendemos energias limpas
Jeni Wood
August 16, 2012 at 4:37 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
This kind of abuse of power and greed will be stopped.
Louise Roper
August 16, 2012 at 5:35 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
As an ashamed ( for my country ) Canadian I support all your courageous efforts.
Thank you
darla reynolds-sparks
August 18, 2012 at 12:33 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Louise, I appreciate your support for our cause. As an Oklahoman who spent several years in Edmonton, Alberta and where my first son was born, it means a great deal to hear from you. I found the Canadians I knew to be caring people and I’m so pleased to hear 56 years later, that they still are. Thanks!
Vaness
August 16, 2012 at 5:57 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Standing firmly behind this action! Proud of all of you withstanding the August heat to defend our state and its vital natural resources.
Carol Lynn
August 16, 2012 at 6:16 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Our love and support go out to all of you on the front lines from the awake people here in West Virginia.
Carol March
August 16, 2012 at 6:43 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
We are with you!!
Sue Morris
August 16, 2012 at 6:52 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Right on, brothers and sisters.
Joy Ruth
August 16, 2012 at 7:28 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Great pics of the actions of these dedicated activists who are resisting the tar sand pipeline, a disastrous plan indeed! There is no end to the destruction these companies will impose on this land of ours in the interest of making a buck!
EnvSentry
August 16, 2012 at 7:39 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
What a bad idea to create long-term devastation of the environment for short-term gains!!! Say NO to the KillingStone XL.
Art deVitalis
August 16, 2012 at 8:06 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
We are sure glad to see something happening to oppose Big Nonrenewables Energy’s march. It’s about time!
Keep up the good work and God bless y’all
Emma
August 16, 2012 at 8:39 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Lots of love for everyone taking part in Summer of Solidarity actions! Keep on building the pressure. I see a beautiful and healthy world in the near future
Ron Henry
August 16, 2012 at 10:04 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
To All!
Keep up the fight! Met David Griggs at the National CCL meeting Aug 1-5. David presented
a compelling picture of your intended efforts with the blockade – looking great! Keep up the great
work & activism – it will work!
Cheers,
Ron Henry
Maryland Chapter Sierra Club
Vice Chair, At Large Excom Member
CCL Delegate (Immediate Past Chapter Chair)
karen
August 17, 2012 at 3:53 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
and so it begins. Like the beginning of a book, many chapters lie ahead. How the story unfolds is unknown to the reader until he has finished reading the book. Taking a stand on tar sands may make the eyes of many open to the devastation that is possible if those with power and money are allowed to continue on their path. It is a tangled web and not easy to overcome. With each beat of our heart we must walk the walk and talk the talk. It is with many steps that we shall climb the mountain. When I cannot be with you, I go in spirit. Peace be with you.
Allen Schreiber
August 17, 2012 at 3:50 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
GO PIPELINE WARRIORS!!!!
Hoyte
August 17, 2012 at 4:30 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Trans-Canada has no right: legally-ethically-morally-or humanely to pursue their DESPOTIC destruction of a God given life sustaining resource called WATER for a dehumanising pursuit of the dollar. The head-hunting dude at trans-canada is damning and condemning tree huggers and Native Americans; he has no comprehension of the wrath that will be unleashed upon his unhuman soul and his underlings by the Almighty, GOD-CREATOR, of the EARTH on which we live and have been given dominion over and to protect.
Lori Janick
August 17, 2012 at 5:29 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I am so inspired by your courage and commitment. Thank you for standing up for the well-being of us all.
Steve McNallen
August 17, 2012 at 5:43 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I have never been prouder to be a native Texan! Resist, my brothers and sisters!
Dave
August 17, 2012 at 9:53 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I wish I could be there holding the banner!!!!!!
B. Geary
August 17, 2012 at 10:47 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Much gratitude to the BLOCKADE group, who represent more and more people opposed to the devastation that is part of TransCanada’s plans. It is not only Oklahoma and Texas that are threatened. Thanks to BLOCKADE should pour in from across the US.
TransCanada has shown itself to be a bully toward landowners and a callous violator of the environment.
Where will the first leak happen on the Gulf Coast Project?
What recourse will families, landowners and farmers have to bring back the quality of their water.?
None, because Tar Sands STAYS in the water it contaminates.
darla reynolds-sparks
August 18, 2012 at 12:36 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Hurrah for all my fellow warriors!!! It’s wonderful to know we Okies are not alone in this fight. We will be there until the victory!!!!! People, working together, can change things; it’s the only thing that ever has!!!!
Merlin Friesen
August 18, 2012 at 2:50 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Thank-you for your front lines work. We’re with you here in Nebraska.
Lela Wakely
August 19, 2012 at 3:52 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
How about a Class Action Lawsuit? Bring charges against the owners of Keystone XL of “Attempted plantetary biocide/genocide.” Or, “Attempted Murder of the planet? Or Attempted murder of the NorthAmerican Continent.” File an injunction to stop procedings until the case is settled??? We could get hundreds of thousands of signatures from every state! File for protection at the United Nations?
Lela Wakely
happy
August 20, 2012 at 6:57 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I am from Alberta and actually with you on this one. We have a limited resource up here, and really cant be sharing it with the U.S. We will have none left. Its not the general lay people who want to sell our oil, its the Government of Canada. We would not do this. We sell the oil/gas to the U.S. and pay way more for it than you do, even though it comes from here. I agree. Lets keep the tar in the Alberta tar sands. Less travelling of oil,, less damage done. No pipelines!! Thank you.
Lisa
August 20, 2012 at 7:07 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Wish I could be there, but how can they begin this project? Doesn’t it still have to go through environmental reviews, public comment periods and the President??
DAYLITE
August 22, 2012 at 1:57 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Sun, wind, and wave, are our free energy sources of the future, ending nukes, coal, and fossil fuels. Yall tell the powers that be to go to hell for me. Stay strong and keep up the good fight.
Art deVitalis
August 23, 2012 at 3:44 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Tar stinks. Tar Sand stinks. Oil stinks. Nuke stinks. If you gotta begin to think about installing home power wind and solar,
BREAKING: 4 Locked to Truck Carrying Keystone XL Pipeline » Tar Sands Blockade
August 28, 2012 at 3:34 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] appeals wind through the legal system, pipeline construction [...]
BREAKING: Four Texans Arrested Blockading Truck Carrying Keystone XL Pipeline « It's Getting Hot In Here
August 28, 2012 at 4:34 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] appeals wind through the legal system, pipeline construction [...]
The Time Has Come: A Call to Action | OccuWorld
August 28, 2012 at 6:33 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] we recently announced, construction of the southern leg of the Keystone XL, running through Oklahoma and Texas, has [...]
West Coast Native News » Total of 7 arrested today The final blockade.
August 28, 2012 at 7:47 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] appeals wind through the legal system, pipeline construction [...]
BREAKING: Four Texans Arrested Blockading Truck Carrying Keystone XL Pipeline » Rainforest Action Network Blog
August 28, 2012 at 7:48 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] appeals wind through the legal system, pipeline construction [...]
Landowners and Climate Change Activist Blockade Truck Carrying Materials for Keystone XL « ear to earth
August 31, 2012 at 8:36 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] As appeals wind through the legal system, pipeline construction continues. [...]