{"id":20096,"date":"2013-01-12T17:18:29","date_gmt":"2013-01-12T16:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/truth-out.org\/news\/item\/13873-millennials-occupy-transcanada-offices-across-the-us"},"modified":"2013-01-12T17:18:29","modified_gmt":"2013-01-12T16:18:29","slug":"millennials-occupy-transcanada-offices-across-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/breaking-news\/millennials-occupy-transcanada-offices-across-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Millennials Occupy TransCanada Offices Across the US"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

More than 100 young people stormed a TransCanada office in Houston, Texas on Monday as part of a Tar Sands Blockade<\/a> mass action targeting company offices<\/a> across the United States. Blockaders streamed into the Houston office, occupying the space with their own hand-crafted \u201cKXL pipe monster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activist Alec Johnson was arrested Monday while refusing to leave the lobby of the Houston office after police ushered protesters outside. A videographer with the Chicago Indymedia Center was also arrested. Four others were arrested in a separate action in Liberty County, Texas for interrupting construction on the Keystone XL at work sites there.<\/p>\n

Solidarity actions took place in Michigan, Maine, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and New York, including actions at banks known to have investments in the Alberta tar sands. In Massachusetts eight student organizers locked themselves<\/a> inside a TransCanada office, super-gluing their hands together to symbolize how fossil fuel corporations have us all locked into to irreversible climate change. The sit-in was organized by Students for a Just and Stable Future<\/a>, a student coalition also campaigning to divest university endowments<\/a> from the top 200 fossil fuel companies.<\/p>\n

One of those students arrested in Massachusetts Monday was Lisa Purdy, a student organizer with the Brandeis Divestment Campaign Coalition at Brandeis University. Purdy told Campus Progress about her work on divestment back in November<\/a>, and after she was released from jail we caught up with her again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we want to be building this new economy that\u2019s not based on fossil fuels than we need to be fighting at every level,\u201d Purdy said. \u201cSo we have people fighting down in Texas against the actual infrastructure, we have people fighting in the courts, we have people getting arrested at related offices of TransCanada, and we have people working at their universities to divest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purdy said she felt ecstatic after she was released and hopes that her action will inspire similar actions in across New England.<\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Julie Richard said the state of Massachusetts will seek \u201cconsiderable restitution for the costs of removing the protesters,” but she did not mention what the amount would be, according to the Westborough Daily Voice<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now we\u2019re unaware of the costs we have to pay for the exact decision or actions led to those costs,\u201d Alli Welton\u2013another student working on divestment<\/a> at Harvard University who was also among those arrested during the Massachusetts action\u2013told Campus Progress. \u201cIt would be unfair for the Westborough taxpayers to pay for the attention that TransCanada has drawn because of its ethically dubious actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re dreaming of a day when the law asks TransCanada to pay restitution for the families they\u2019ve uprooted and the resources they\u2019ve damaged and the other impacts of the climate crisis they\u2019ve caused by pushing forward projects like Keystone XL,\u201d Welton continued.<\/p>\n

Protesters also gathered in Brownsville, Wisconsin Monday,\u00a0at the offices of Michel\u2019s Corporation\u2013the construction company contracted to build the southern leg of the Keystone XL across Texas.<\/p>\n

What’s next for the Keystone XL?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the years of mass protest against the tar sands project, former Bush and Clinton cabinets have said<\/a> they expect President Obama to rubber stamp the pipeline soon.<\/p>\n

Former Environmental Protection Agency Head Lisa Jackson is expected to resign this month. A reportedly close source suggests the departure is due to the Obama administration’s plans to approve the Keystone XL.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was going to stay on until November or December,\u201d a Jackson insider told the New York Post<\/em><\/a>. \u201cBut this changed it. She will not be the EPA head when Obama supports it [Keystone] getting built.\u201d<\/p>\n

President Obama denied the original construction permit<\/a> for the Keystone XL pipeline in January of 2012 when TransCanada proposed the 1,700-mile pipeline as a single project. Since then, the corporation has split the pipeline into two halves and reapplied for a permit for the northern section.<\/p>\n

Jackson\u2019s spokeswoman, Victoria Rivas-Vazquez, pointed back to the original announcement regarding the resignation, claiming Jaskson wanted to \u201cpursue new challenges, time with her family and new opportunities. She said \u201cthe idea that her decision was made based on anything else is entirely false.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House refused to comment on Jackson perceived reasons for leaving. Spokesman Clark Stevens told The Post<\/em> that the \u201cState Department\u2019s assessment (of Keystone) is ongoing and any speculation would be premature.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the EPA is not responsible for the pipeline review process, it is one of many federal agencies that have advised the Obama administration on the pipeline project. The State Department, the agency that is<\/em> responsible for the pipeline review, has clashed in the past with the EPA<\/a> over earlier drafts of the pipeline\u2019s Environmental Impact Statement, which the EPA said didn\u2019t address the impacts on air and water quality among many other issues. The EPA, while under Jackson\u2019s helm, has continued to raise serious concerns about the pipeline.<\/p>\n

Though questions concerning the reason for Jackson\u2019s resignation still loom, environmentalists are elated over the nomination of John Kerry for Secretary of State to replace Hillary Clinton. While Clinton has been criticized for having close ties to Paul Elliot, a top TransCanada lobbyist and former deputy director her presidential campaign, John Kerry has been known as a vocal climate hawk.<\/p>\n

In October 2011, Kerry, the head of the U.S. Senate’s foreign relations committee, vowed to use his influence to thoroughly examine the environmental impact of Keystone XL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But no matter who is charged with helm-holding at the State Department or the EPA\u2013or whether or not the president approves the project\u2013the Tar Sands Blockade movement has proved that something grand and game-changing needs to happen.<\/p>\n

Despite mass public outcry<\/a>, mass symbolic protest actions<\/a>, legislative battles<\/a> and now even some high-ranking resignations, it’s direct action<\/a> that’s ultimately need to stop a toxic project that has been deemed \u201cgame over\u201d for the planet by NASA\u2019s top climate scientist.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the idea that\u2019s really catching on with young people across the nation who are utilizing nonviolent tactics, like locking themselves to dirty energy infrastructure in an effort to spread the message that we can\u2019t afford to continue down an unsustainable path for our climate.<\/p>\n

The Tar Sands Blockade movement vows to continue obstructing construction on the pipeline in the event that President Obama indeed gives the project a green light.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n

More than 100 young people stormed a TransCanada office in Houston, Texas on Monday as part of a Tar Sands Blockade<\/a> mass action targeting company offices<\/a> across the United States. Blockaders streamed into the Houston office, occupying the space with their own hand-crafted “KXL pipe monster.”<\/p>\n

Activist Alec Johnson was arrested Monday while refusing to leave the lobby of the Houston office after police ushered protesters outside. A videographer with the Chicago Indymedia Center was also arrested. Four others were arrested in a separate action in Liberty County, Texas for interrupting construction on the Keystone XL at work sites there.<\/p>\n

Solidarity actions took place in Michigan, Maine, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and New York, including actions at banks known to have investments in the Alberta tar sands. In Massachusetts eight student organizers locked themselves<\/a> inside a TransCanada office, super-gluing their hands together to symbolize how fossil fuel corporations have us all locked into to irreversible climate change. The sit-in was organized by Students for a Just and Stable Future<\/a>, a student coalition also campaigning to divest university endowments<\/a> from the top 200 fossil fuel companies.<\/p>\n

One of those students arrested in Massachusetts Monday was Lisa Purdy, a student organizer with the Brandeis Divestment Campaign Coalition at Brandeis University. Purdy told Campus Progress about her work on divestment back in November<\/a>, and after she was released from jail we caught up with her again.<\/p>\n

“If we want to be building this new economy that’s not based on fossil fuels than we need to be fighting at every level,” Purdy said. “So we have people fighting down in Texas against the actual infrastructure, we have people fighting in the courts, we have people getting arrested at related offices of TransCanada, and we have people working at their universities to divest.”<\/p>\n

Purdy said she felt ecstatic after she was released and hopes that her action will inspire similar actions in across New England.<\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Julie Richard said the state of Massachusetts will seek “considerable restitution for the costs of removing the protesters,” but she did not mention what the amount would be, according to the Westborough Daily Voice<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Right now we’re unaware of the costs we have to pay for the exact decision or actions led to those costs,” Alli Welton—another student working on divestment<\/a> at Harvard University who was also among those arrested during the Massachusetts action—told Campus Progress. “It would be unfair for the Westborough taxpayers to pay for the attention that TransCanada has drawn because of its ethically dubious actions.”<\/p>\n

“We’re dreaming of a day when the law asks TransCanada to pay restitution for the families they’ve uprooted and the resources they’ve damaged and the other impacts of the climate crisis they’ve caused by pushing forward projects like Keystone XL,” Welton continued.<\/p>\n

Protesters also gathered in Brownsville, Wisconsin Monday, at the offices of Michel’s Corporation—the construction company contracted to build the southern leg of the Keystone XL across Texas.<\/p>\n

What’s next for the Keystone XL?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Despite the years of mass protest against the tar sands project, former Bush and Clinton cabinets have said<\/a> they expect President Obama to rubber stamp the pipeline soon.<\/p>\n

Former Environmental Protection Agency Head Lisa Jackson is expected to resign this month. A reportedly close source suggests the departure is due to the Obama administration’s plans to approve the Keystone XL.<\/p>\n

“She was going to stay on until November or December,” a Jackson insider told the New York Post<\/em><\/a>. “But this changed it. She will not be the EPA head when Obama supports it [Keystone] getting built.”<\/p>\n

President Obama denied the original construction permit<\/a> for the Keystone XL pipeline in January of 2012 when TransCanada proposed the 1,700-mile pipeline as a single project. Since then, the corporation has split the pipeline into two halves and reapplied for a permit for the northern section.<\/p>\n

Jackson’s spokeswoman, Victoria Rivas-Vazquez, pointed back to the original announcement regarding the resignation, claiming Jaskson wanted to “pursue new challenges, time with her family and new opportunities. She said “the idea that her decision was made based on anything else is entirely false.”<\/p>\n

The White House refused to comment on Jackson perceived reasons for leaving. Spokesman Clark Stevens told The Post<\/em> that the “State Department’s assessment (of Keystone) is ongoing and any speculation would be premature.”<\/p>\n

While the EPA is not responsible for the pipeline review process, it is one of many federal agencies that have advised the Obama administration on the pipeline project. The State Department, the agency that is<\/em> responsible for the pipeline review, has clashed in the past with the EPA<\/a> over earlier drafts of the pipeline’s Environmental Impact Statement, which the EPA said didn’t address the impacts on air and water quality among many other issues. The EPA, while under Jackson’s helm, has continued to raise serious concerns about the pipeline.<\/p>\n

Though questions concerning the reason for Jackson’s resignation still loom, environmentalists are elated over the nomination of John Kerry for Secretary of State to replace Hillary Clinton. While Clinton has been criticized for having close ties to Paul Elliot, a top TransCanada lobbyist and former deputy director her presidential campaign, John Kerry has been known as a vocal climate hawk.<\/p>\n

In October 2011, Kerry, the head of the U.S. Senate’s foreign relations committee, vowed to use his influence to thoroughly examine the environmental impact of Keystone XL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But no matter who is charged with helm-holding at the State Department or the EPA—or whether or not the president approves the project—the Tar Sands Blockade movement has proved that something grand and game-changing needs to happen.<\/p>\n

Despite mass public outcry<\/a>, mass symbolic protest actions<\/a>, legislative battles<\/a> and now even some high-ranking resignations, it’s direct action<\/a> that’s ultimately need to stop a toxic project that has been deemed “game over” for the planet by NASA’s top climate scientist.<\/p>\n

And that’s the idea that’s really catching on with young people across the nation who are utilizing nonviolent tactics, like locking themselves to dirty energy infrastructure in an effort to spread the message that we can’t afford to continue down an unsustainable path for our climate.<\/p>\n

The Tar Sands Blockade movement vows to continue obstructing construction on the pipeline in the event that President Obama indeed gives the project a green light.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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