Tar Sands: Native Americans join 10,000 to surround White House today

Posted by Brenda Norrell - November 6, 2011 at 6:14 am

10,000 to surround White House to protest Keystone XL pipeline today

By Brenda Norrell
Photo Clayton Thomas Muller, Native American and First Nation delegation at
the White House, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011

Clayton Thomas Muller, Cree, Debra White Plume, Lakota and other Native Americans join Naomi Klein, Mark Ruffalo, Bill McKibben, Nobel Prize and Medal of Freedom recipients, and top environmental leaders to lead demonstration

WASHINGTON – The battle over the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will reach a decisive moment today, Sunday, Nov. 6, when nearly 10,000 people are expected to join hands around the White House and show President Obama he has the support he needs to stand up to Big Oil and stop the pipeline.

"On Tuesday, President Obama took full ownership over what has become the most important environmental question facing him before the 2012 election: whether or not to grant the necessary permit for a 1,700 mile pipeline which would carry toxic tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico," Tar Sands Action said.

Debra White Plume, Lakota from Pine Ridge, S.D., sent a strong message to Obama and TransCanada to halt the Keystone XL pipeline that threatens the Ogallala Aquifer and water supplies in the heartland and Indian country.

"Oglala Lakota say, 'Stay away from our water!'" White Plume said, pointing out the resolution of the Oglala Sioux Executive Committee. It demands that the US "immediately cease and desist any negotiations and plans to construct the Keystone XL Pipiline Across the Mni Wiconi Water Pipeline easement."

White Plume encouraged events throughout North America, including the gathering in the San Francisco Bay Area in Oakland on Sunday to oppose the Tar Sands. "I will be standing in solidarity with all of you in Washington DC with thousands of others as we surround the White House to let Obama know we don't want him to approve this disaster! Stand with us."

The Sierra Club plans live web coverage at 2 pm Eastern time today, Sunday, Nov. 6:

http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageNavigator/20111010_Nov6_TarSandsRallyRSVP.html
At the White House today
Who: Nearly 10,000 people and top environmental leaders and celebrities, including actor Mark Ruffalo, activist Bill McKibben, Sierra Club executive director Mike Brune, Medal of Freedom recipient and NRDC founder John Adams, Nobel Prize recipient Jody Williams, and more.
Where: Lafayette Square Park across from the White House
When: Spokespeople will be available for interviews between 1:00 – 2:00 pm, opening rally begins at 2:00 pm, crowd will encircle the White House from 3:00 – 4:30 pm, closing rally begins at 5:00 pm.
Why: President Obama is currently considering whether or not to grant a “presidential permit” for the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. The project requires the special permit because it crosses an international border with Canada. The Keystone XL would carry tar sands oil, the dirtiest fuel on the planet, over 1,700 miles across America’s heartland, risking a BP-style oil spill over one of our largest sources of fresh drinking water. America’s top climate scientist says that fully exploiting the tar sands could mean “essentially game over for the climate.” This August, 1,253 people were arrested during a sit-in at the White House protesting the pipeline.
DC Contacts:
Jamie Henn, 415-601-9337, jamie@tarsandsaction.org
Daniel Kessler, 510-501-1779, danieljkessler@gmail.com

San Francisco Bay Protest
Wish you could be in DC this Sunday to encircle the White House?
You can still be part of the movement here in the Bay Area!

Sunday, November 6 · 1:00pm - 2:00pm

Location


Meet on front steps of Oakland City Hall (off 12th St. BART station) at 1:00pm. March to OFA office (1714 Telegraph) at 1:15pm.
Oakland, CAOn Sunday, November 6, join our friends at 350.org Bay Area to converge at the Obama for America Office in Oakland and show solidarity with Tar Sands Action in Washington, DC. Along with simultaneous rallies taking place in Seattle, Los Angeles, and more, the Bay Area will demonstrate that the West Coast stands with our friends encircling the White House! We can't all be in DC this Sunday, but we can all stand up where we are and tell President Obama that Americans across the country say NO! to the Keystone XL Pipeline.

For more information about Tar Sands Action:
www.tarsandsaction.org
For more information about 350.org:
www.350.org

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About Brenda Norrell

Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 31 years. She is publisher of Censored News, focusing on Indigenous Peoples, human rights and the US border. Now censored by the mainstream media, she previously was a staff reporter at numerous American Indian newspapers and a stringer for AP, USA Today and others. She lived on the Navajo Nation for 18 years, and then traveled with the Zapatistas. She covered the climate summits in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Cancun, Mexico, in 2010.

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
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About Brenda Norrell

Personal Website
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Biography

Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 31 years. She is publisher of Censored News, focusing on Indigenous Peoples, human rights and the US border. Now censored by the mainstream media, she previously was a staff reporter at numerous American Indian newspapers and a stringer for AP, USA Today and others. She lived on the Navajo Nation for 18 years, and then traveled with the Zapatistas. She covered the climate summits in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Cancun, Mexico, in 2010.