Why We’re Protesting: Tar Sands Pipeline Opponents In Their Own Words

Why We’re Protesting: Tar Sands Pipeline Opponents In Their Own Words

Why We’re Protesting: Tar Sands Pipeline Opponents In Their Own Words

Protesters continued gathering outside of the White House as part of a 15-day effort to convince Obama to halt construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

On Monday, more protesters gathered outside of the White House as part of a 15-day-long effort to halt the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline, which would cut through the middle of America, from the border with Canada all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. Protesters spoke out against the pipeline, which has the potential to generate disastrous effects across large regions of the country, pleading with President Obama to not allow the plans for the pipeline to go through.

"We’re asking President Obama to make the right decision, because he can decide yes or no," said Mike Tidwell, the founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, in this video from The Nation and On The Earth Productions. "He doesn’t need Congress’s involvement." Watch a video here from Saturday’s protests.

—Carrie Battan

Disobey authoritarians, support The Nation

Over the past year you’ve read Nation writers like Elie Mystal, Kaveh Akbar, John Nichols, Joan Walsh, Bryce Covert, Dave Zirin, Jeet Heer, Michael T. Klare, Katha Pollitt, Amy Littlefield, Gregg Gonsalves, and Sasha Abramsky take on the Trump family’s corruption, set the record straight about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s catastrophic Make America Healthy Again movement, survey the fallout and human cost of the DOGE wrecking ball, anticipate the Supreme Court’s dangerous antidemocratic rulings, and amplify successful tactics of resistance on the streets and in Congress.

We publish these stories because when members of our communities are being abducted, household debt is climbing, and AI data centers are causing water and electricity shortages, we have a duty as journalists to do all we can to inform the public.

In 2026, our aim is to do more than ever before—but we need your support to make that happen. 

Through December 31, a generous donor will match all donations up to $75,000. That means that your contribution will be doubled, dollar for dollar. If we hit the full match, we’ll be starting 2026 with $150,000 to invest in the stories that impact real people’s lives—the kinds of stories that billionaire-owned, corporate-backed outlets aren’t covering. 

With your support, our team will publish major stories that the president and his allies won’t want you to read. We’ll cover the emerging military-tech industrial complex and matters of war, peace, and surveillance, as well as the affordability crisis, hunger, housing, healthcare, the environment, attacks on reproductive rights, and much more. At the same time, we’ll imagine alternatives to Trumpian rule and uplift efforts to create a better world, here and now. 

While your gift has twice the impact, I’m asking you to support The Nation with a donation today. You’ll empower the journalists, editors, and fact-checkers best equipped to hold this authoritarian administration to account. 

I hope you won’t miss this moment—donate to The Nation today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel 

Editor and publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x