The United States will consider alternate routes for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, State Department officials announced today. The decision effectively delays any eventual approval for construction of an oil pipeline from Canada's tar sands to the Gulf coast until after the 2012 election.
November 7, 2011- An estimated 10,000 people ringed the White House on Sunday, calling on President Obama to reject a proposal to build a pipeline that would carry crude oil from Canada’s tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico. Among them were prominent Native Americans and First Nations people, who urged the president to honor his promise of a “new deal” with Native Peoples and his pledge to take action against global warming.
October 28, 2011- Native Americans got President Obama’s attention during a speech he was giving in Denver this week. As Native protesters held banners saying, “President Obama, Yes You Can Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline” and “Honor Indian Treaties,” Tom Poor Bear, Vice-President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, called out to the president from the back of the packed auditorium. Obama interrupted his prepared speech and acknowledged Poor Bear, saying, “I hear you. No decision has been made. I know your deep concern about it. We will address it. “
The Oglala Sioux Nation has declared opposition to plans for the Keystone XL gas pipeline project unless the US government can agree to certain conditions set by the Nation.
On September 26, 2011 over 200 people protesting Canadian government's support for Alberta's Tar Sands and the Keystone pipeline XL were arrested trying to carry out a sit-in in the House of Commons in Ottawa.
The Indigenous Environmental Network and other partners in the Tar Sands Action coalition issued a new action plan for protests against the Keystone XL pipeline. They reported that at a meeting on the Rosebud Sioux reservation last week, “Native tribal leaders from both sides of the border and private land owners from South Dakota and Nebraska signed a ‘Mother Earth Accord’ opposing Keystone XL and the tar sands.
Internal State Department emails obtained through the Access to Information Act reveal that the Obama administration has been promoting the Keystone XL pipeline project even while the project is officially under review by the department.
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