Hundreds Arrested In Protest Of Keystone XL Pipeline

[cal04]

Last edited Sun Mar 2, 2014, 08:09 PM - Edit history (5)

Source: ThinkProgress

Youth activists held a rally on Sunday outside of the White House demanding President Obama stop construction of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would carry tar sands south across the country from Alberta, Canada to Texas.

About 1,000 were expect to turn out for the protest, many of them university students. An estimated 300 people locked themselves to the White House fence before being arrested by security. The protest comes just days after a report from the State Department’s Inspector General found that there was no conflict of interest in the fact that the contractor hired to write a Environmental Impact Statement on the pipeline also worked for major oil companies involved in its construction.

just updated
Rally organizers peg the number arrested at around 400. Buses were brought in to cart away those who’d been arrested:
https://twitter.com/Agent350/status/440250574865715200
Here’s a look at some photos from the protest:

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/03/02/3350081/photos-keystone-protest-arrests/

---

Keystone XL Pipeline Protestors Create ‘Human Oil Spill’




http://news.yahoo.com/photos/several-hundred-students-youth-marched-georgetown-university-white-photo-200501382.html

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/several-hundred-students-youth-marched-georgetown-university-white-photo-202353119.html
Associated Press Susan Walsh


Read more: Keystone XL Pipeline Protestors Create ‘Human Oil Spill’
http://swampland.time.com/2014/03/02/keystone-xl-pipeline-protestors-create-human-oil-spill/


Today more than 1,000 youth from across the country marched to the White House from Georgetown University—where President Obama laid out his “climate test”—to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. Once at the White House, hundreds of youth were arrested while participating in a nonviolent civil disobedience sit-in. This protest was the largest youth act of civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.

http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/02/hundreds-arrested-protesting-keystone-xl/

Co-founder and Communications Director, 350.org
http://350.org/
I just came back from the White House, where the police are still arresting the hundreds of students who are taking part in what will likely be the largest act of youth civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.

This is XL Dissent: a massive surge of protest against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and a powerful show of solidarity with all communities who are fighting the fossil fuel industry and confronting the impacts of the climate crisis.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-henn/keystone-xl-protest_b_4886208.html


Another update
Breaking: 400+ Youth Arrested at White House Protesting Keystone XL Pipeline
Today more than 1,200 youth from across the country marched to the White House from Georgetown University—where President Obama laid out his “climate test”—to protest the Keystone XL pipeline. Once at the White House, more than 400 youth were arrested while participating in a nonviolent civil disobedience sit-in. This protest was the largest youth act of civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.
http://ecowatch.com/2014/03/02/hundreds-arrested-protesting-keystone-xl/

[bvar22]

1. Heroes...one and all!

[proverbialwisdom]

2. More.

Georgetown Students protest the Keystone XL Pipeline
March 2, 2014

http://www.politico.com/gallery/2014/03/keystone-xl-protest-in-washington/001660-023631.html

[img][/img]

POLITICO Photo Gallery:
Scores gather in Georgetown before marching to the White House as a protest against the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, March 2.

#XLDissent
#NoKXL

[cal04]

6. Thank you proverbialwisdom

for the video and link

[proverbialwisdom]

13. Thank you for the terrific links and thread including the following from your OP.

Last edited Sun Mar 2, 2014, 05:45 PM - Edit history (1)

"This protest was the largest youth act of civil disobedience at the White House in a generation."

[freshwest]

7. Excellent. n/t

[swilton]

29. Thanks PW

from a GU grad (Russian Studies)

[Cleita]

3. Yet I've been watching M$NBC and nary a word that I've seen.

I doubt if CNN or FOX or any of the broadcast channels are covering it either. Hundreds of citizens arrested for exercising their right of free speech and dissent is BIG news particularly in our capital.

[QuestForSense]

4. People tend to forget this one important fact about so-called 'mind control':

It's not about what you hear on the 10:00 o'clock news; it's about what you don't hear.

[proverbialwisdom]

5. At the very least, as a show of support, I hope their 'Twitter followers' go through the roof.

http://www.popularresistance.org/breaking-initial-photos-massive/

Breaking: Initial Photos Massive Youth Protest #NoKXL
March 2nd, 2014

[img][/img]

Below are some initial photographs from the #XLDissent youth protest against the Keystone Pipeline being held today in Washington, DC. More than 1,000 youth activists marched through Washington, DC to the White House. They carried signs opposing the KXL pipeline and saying “We did not vote for KXL” and “Obama: Stop the Pipeline of The PEOPLE Will.” At the White House they chanted “We are unstoppable, another world is possible.” There was a die-in on an oil spill in front of the White House involving scores of youth, some of whom were arrested. At the same time hundreds of youth zip-tied themsevles to the White House fence. They refused to leave after several police warnings and they began to be arrested. As each was arrested they shouted support to each other “We love you” they exclaimed.

[center][img][/img]
XL Dissent first arrest
(by Jenna Pope)[/center]

[center][img][/img]
Captain Planet getting arrested at the White House.
(By Harris from the Post @rousseau_ist)[/center]

[center][img][/img]
Youth activists tied to White House fence chanting ‘We are unstoppable, another world is possible.’
(By Harris from the Post @rousseau_ist)[/center]

[Ms. Toad]

40. There are reports that the woman in the "first arrest" photo is Chelsea Clinton.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/02/1281665/-Open-thread-for-night-owls-Grassroots-groups-supplied-alternative-to-West-Virginia-s-tainted-water

If true, that might make for some interesting conversations in that family!

[progressoid]

8. The protesters should have hung tea bags from their hats.

Then the media pays attention.

[DeSwiss]

19. ....

[Cleita]

21. Here's the problem.

When we a driving around, we want breaking news on our car radio. Many poor people don't have cable but rabbit ears on their TV meaning they need broadcast news while they go about their household chores. If you are in a waiting room somewhere that has FOX news on, it seems you can only get CNN as an alternative, Fox News Lite.

Many of us cannot afford the gadgets and services to be able to be tuned into internet services all the time while we go about our day. Many elderly are barely able to use email on a computer or a simple cell phone. If people are wondering why old people run around in tea bags, it's because they are getting all their information on FOx News, broadcast TV and talk radio which today seems to be all conservative across the country.

Print media seems to be following in the same path, Rupert Murdoch's path. I was a faithful reader of the Los Angeles times because of their in depth reporting and excellent editorial page for forty years. Today I can't abide the claptrap and occasional liberal bone thrown to readers today, but for some people it's all they have.

Thanks for the thought. I know it came from a good place.

[DeSwiss]

22. Yeah I know.....

- One day.

[GeorgeGist]

9. no money, no free speech.

capiche?

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Hooray for them, and hooray for YOU

for posting this!

[soundsgreat]

11. TransCanada Whistleblower's Safety Complaints Validated by Regulator: report

Almost two years ago, the former TransCanada employee filed a lengthy complaint against the proponent of the Keystone XL line with the National Energy Board (NEB).

It claimed the Calgary-based company routinely cut corners, let business decisions undermine engineering practices, and did not uphold the law governing pipeline safety, such as Onshore Pipeline Regulations-99 (OPR-99). In one of several forthcoming audits on the company's management practices, released this week, the federal pipeline regulator confirmed that the company is not complying with the law on a number of safety issues.

Prompted by Vokes' complaint and several media investigations, the NEB found that the company was "non-compliant" on issues designed to prevent and predict pipeline failures, including hazard identification, risk assessment, operational control-upset, inspection and management review.

In particular, the board found that TransCanada's NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. system, which is 23,500 kilometres long, was plagued with over-pressuring incidents and was "not conducting sufficient inspections or audits of its customer installations to ensure that the system is operated in compliance" with OPR-99.

Furthermore, the NEB found that the company gave "inadequate consideration" to the board's safety advisories and regulatory requirements. It also chastised the company for ignoring Vokes' concerns about pipeline safety while he worked for the company.

http://www.resilience.org/stories/2014-02-27/transcanada-whistleblower-s-safety-complaints-validated-by-regulator

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. 40 thousand by some reports showed up

yet your tv news doesn't report it.

kicked and nominated

[cal04]

15. News Media:If it's not a war or tea party stupidity we don't cover it

[Joe Shlabotnik]

14. Right on.

[Curmudgeoness]

16. Thanks to all who are standing tall!

"This protest was the largest youth act of civil disobedience at the White House in a generation."

I am grateful that they are willing to put themselves out there.

[proverbialwisdom]

18. Backstory, IMO.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/25/remarks-president-climate-change

June 25, 2013 (100 degrees in the shade)
(Outdoor) Remarks by the President on Climate Change

Georgetown University
Washington, D.C.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you! (Applause.) Thank you, Georgetown! Thank you so much. Everybody, please be seated. And my first announcement today is that you should all take off your jackets. (Laughter.) I’m going to do the same. (Applause.) It’s not that sexy, now. (Laughter.)

It is good to be back on campus, and it is a great privilege to speak from the steps of this historic hall that welcomed Presidents going back to George Washington.

I want to thank your president, President DeGioia, who’s here today. (Applause.) I want to thank him for hosting us. I want to thank the many members of my Cabinet and my administration. I want to thank Leader Pelosi and the members of Congress who are here. We are very grateful for their support.

And I want to say thank you to the Hoyas in the house for having me back. (Applause.) It was important for me to speak directly to your generation, because the decisions that we make now and in the years ahead will have a profound impact on the world that all of you inherit.

<>

Actually, it was 94 degrees ( http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KDCA/2013/6/25/DailyHistory.html ) and the students in the audience waited for this historic speech outside for hours in the extreme heat.

Think these college students also might remember the following, read between the lines, and extrapolate to climate? The requirement that the public play its role in the heavy-lift the administration faces?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/09/25/president-obama-congressional-black-caucus-foundation-annual-dinner-march-me-and-pre

President Obama at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Dinner: "March with me and press on"
Erin Lindsay
September 25, 2011

FULL VIDEO AT LINK

THE PRESIDENT: (...) "Throughout our history, change has often come slowly. Progress often takes time. We take a step forward, sometimes we take two steps back. Sometimes we get two steps forward and one step back. But it’s never a straight line. It’s never easy. And I never promised easy. Easy has never been promised to us. But we’ve had faith. We have had faith. We’ve had that good kind of crazy that says, you can’t stop marching. (Applause.)

Even when folks are hitting you over the head, you can’t stop marching. Even when they’re turning the hoses on you, you can’t stop. (Applause.) Even when somebody fires you for speaking out, you can’t stop. (Applause.) Even when it looks like there’s no way, you find a way — you can’t stop. (Applause.) Through the mud and the muck and the driving rain, we don’t stop. Because we know the rightness of our cause — widening the circle of opportunity, standing up for everybody’s opportunities, increasing each other’s prosperity. We know our cause is just. It’s a righteous cause.

So in the face of troopers and teargas, folks stood unafraid. Led somebody like John Lewis to wake up after getting beaten within an inch of his life on Sunday — he wakes up on Monday: We’re going to go march. (Applause.)

Dr. King once said: “Before we reach the majestic shores of the Promised Land, there is a frustrating and bewildering wilderness ahead. We must still face prodigious hilltops of opposition and gigantic mountains of resistance. But with patient and firm determination we will press on.” (Applause.)

So I don’t know about you, CBC, but the future rewards those who press on. (Applause.) With patient and firm determination, I am going to press on for jobs. (Applause.) I’m going to press on for equality. (Applause.) I’m going to press on for the sake of our children. (Applause.) I’m going to press on for the sake of all those families who are struggling right now. I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I don’t have time to complain. I am going to press on. (Applause.)

I expect all of you to march with me and press on. (Applause.) Take off your bedroom slippers, put on your marching shoes. Shake it off. (Applause.) Stop complaining, stop grumbling, stop crying. We are going to press on. We’ve got work to do, CBC. (Applause.)

God bless you, and God bless the United States of America." (Applause.)

[Curmudgeoness]

23. Well, he certainly asked for it, didn't he?

You don't have to read between the lines. You just have to convert the subject to what matters most to you. My mother would tell Obama to "watch what you wish for"....since she told me that many times.

I am so grateful to these students who are taking up the heavy lifting. I am older and getting too tired to do it anymore, and we need a new generation to be willing to fight for what is important.

You can't stop marching.

[proverbialwisdom]

27. Smith University student: "We cannot sit idly by, or we will not have a future to fight for."

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/03/02-0

Published on Sunday, March 2, 2014 by Common Dreams

#XLDissent: Students Overtake DC to Demand Climate Action
Smith University student: "We cannot sit idly by, or we will not have a future to fight for."

- Lauren McCauley, staff writer

[img][/img]
Day of student-led action kicks off with a rally in Georgetown before over a thousand demonstrators march to the White House. (Photo: @350/ Twitter)

Over 500 students are risking arrest Sunday as they handcuff themselves to the White House fence, placing their bodies on the line in what many say may be a "watershed" moment for a generation. Under the banner XL Dissent, over one thousand college students are descending on the White House to force President Obama to face the individuals whose future is imperiled by current U.S. climate policy.

"Our generation is going to be stuck with the reality of decisions made now about whether to invest in destruction or the future," Smith College student Aly Johnson-Kurts told Common Dreams ahead of the demonstration. "We are realizing we cannot sit idly by, or we will not have a future to fight for."

Beginning at 10 AM with a rally in Georgetown, the demonstrators will march to Lafayette Park, beside the White House, where they will hold a rally. En route, the protest will stop in front of Secretary of State John Kerry's house to display a banner that reads “Sec. Kerry: Don’t Tar Your Legacy,” in reference to the pending Keystone XL tar sands pipeline decision, which has become a major flashpoint for the climate movement.

Follow #XLDissent updates on Twitter: see link.

During the protest, demonstrators will also drop a 40 by 60 foot banner, cut to look like an oil spill, right on Pennsylvania Ave.

According to Jamie Henn, a co-founder of 350.org, upwards of 500 people are preparing to get arrested for handcuffing themselves to the White House fence. In preparation, many of the demonstrators took part in a mass civil disobedience training Saturday night.

In what promises to be the largest student-led civil disobedience action at the White House in a generation, many are saying that XL Dissent could become a watershed moment for a generation whose lives are guaranteed to be impacted by current climate change inaction.

“We’re building a culture of resistance,” Tufts University junior Evan Bell told Todd Zimmer of the Rainforest Action Network.

"The students taking part here in XL Dissent see their democratic responsibilities as extending beyond the voting booth," Henn wrote on the eve of the action. "If anything, the Obama administration seems to have solidified the impression that even the most youth-friendly candidates need to be pushed, protested, and forced into living up to their rhetoric."

<>

[Curmudgeoness]

30. My heart swells!

I am ready to pull my marching boots back out....gathering dust since the start of the Iraq war. These young people are an inspiration, and a sorely needed one.

[proverbialwisdom]

33. Chokes me up, actually; inspiring video here.

KXL Dissent
Posted by Daniel Ruthenberg-Marshall

[Sunlei]

17. It's good that people protest the pipeline, wish there were more than 300.

Doubt the DC police would arrest and cart off 20,000 people hanging on the fence.

[proverbialwisdom]

48. Gasp, check it out: 86,242 activists have signed the Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/03/1281795/-The-398-arrests-for-civil-disobedience-in-Sunday-s-anti-Keystone-XL-protest-are-just-the-beginning

This is just the latest round of Keystone XL-related arrests at the White House that began in 2011. Not likely to be the last. More than 86,000 people have taken the CREDO pledge to be arrested, if necessary, in opposition to the pipeline. President Obama is expected to announce his decision on whether to approve construction sometime after May 1, but the "after" could be days, weeks or months.

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/kxl_pledge

Sign the Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance

DETAILS

86,242 activists have signed the pledge

[Sunlei]

50. I bet there are millions against that pipeline and much other DOI shenanigans of all types.

Wish those millions would call and mail the white house and voice their complaint Those calls are counted. The mails are counted. There is I believe a public comment period open now.

Wish some experts in the field of permiting would review the permits NOW for fraud. Start federal cases now. Once the permits are approved, the pipeline is law and laws on the books.- The only thing that would stop that pipeline then is their first disaster.

[DeSwiss]

20. Well, at least he didn't go play golf with oil company executives this time.....

- K&R

[Berlum]

26. Is that in fact a photo from today?

[DeSwiss]

34. No, apparently he's learned to schedule his golf games around protests now.

It's from the front page of HuffPo on February 20, 2013.

[Ash_F]

24. Will Obama clean out the state department over this scandal?

Nah.

[Berlum]

25. Thank you, fellow Americans

[Agony]

28. Fracking A!

this kind of news makes the heart sing!

and here is one reason why demanding that KXL be stopped dead is of prime importance. Spread it.

http://www.whoi.edu/fileserver.do?id=165564&pt=2&p=150429 (2 page fact sheet pdf)

20 Facts about Ocean Acidification

This document presents the highlights of the Frequently Asked Questions about Ocean
Acidification (2010, 2012; www.whoi.edu/OCB-OA/FAQs), a detailed summary of the state of
ocean acidification research and understanding. The FAQs and this fact sheet are intended to
aid scientists, science communicators, and science policy advisors asked to comment on details about
ocean acidification. In all, 63 scientists from 47 institutions and 12 countries participated in writing
the FAQ, which was produced by the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry Project (www.us-ocb.org),
the United Kingdom Ocean Acidification Programme (www.oceanacidification.org.uk), and the
European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA). More information and contacts can be found at
any of these websites or at the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre’s website
(www.iaea.org/ocean-acidification). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth
Assessment Report findings on ocean acidification can be viewed at www.ipcc.ch.

[cal04]

32. thank you for the link Agony

[Agony]

38. You bet!

Thank you for the OP... made my day.

education is king, ignorance about climate change is broad and deep unfortunately.

Cheers,
Agony

[swilton]

31. Beacons of Light

one and all!

[frwrfpos]

35. recommend

[proverbialwisdom]

36. 350.org: 'Hundreds of Students Arrested at White House Protesting Keystone XL'

Last edited Fri Apr 18, 2014, 08:20 PM - Edit history (3)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-henn/keystone-xl-protest_b_4886208.html

Jamie Henn
Co-founder and Communications Director, 350.org

Hundreds of Students Arrested at White House Protesting Keystone XL
Posted: 03/02/2014 4:53 pm EST Updated: 03/02/2014 4:59 pm EST

I just came back from the White House, where the police are still arresting the hundreds of students who are taking part in what will likely be the largest act of youth civil disobedience at the White House in a generation.

This is XL Dissent: a massive surge of protest against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and a powerful show of solidarity with all communities who are fighting the fossil fuel industry and confronting the impacts of the climate crisis.

"An entire movement has thrown itself into in this Keystone fight, from local frontline groups to big national green organizations," 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben wrote in an email. "But this weekend shows the power and bravery of some of the most crucial elements: young people, and activists who understand the centrality of environmental justice."

The scene down at the White House this afternoon was incredible. There were just over a thousand students that rallied in Lafayette Park, but it sounded like 10 thousand. This wasn't your parents' protest, but the spark-shooting dynamo of student movement that is beginning to embrace its true power.

"Obama was the first President I voted for, and I want real climate action and a rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline," said Nick Stracco, a Senior at Tulane University and one of the lead organizers of XL Dissent. "The people that voted him into office have made it absolutely clear what we want, and that's to reject Keystone XL."

The action this morning began up at Georgetown University, where last summer President Obama pledged that he would only approve the Keystone XL pipeline if it didn't significantly increase greenhouse gas emissions. At around 10:30am, students surged out of the gates of campus and headed towards the White House. Along the way, they stopped at Secretary Kerry's house and unfurled a giant mock oil spill in the middle of the street. It's up to Kerry to make a recommendation to President Obama on whether or not Keystone XL is in the the country's national interest. While students are counting on Kerry to build on his legacy as a climate champion and push for a rejection, they're not taking any chances.

<>

I particularly like how I posted my hunch (post 18, above) only minutes before it was actually confirmed by this HuffPo article, lol.

[blkmusclmachine]

37. Hope for "Change"

[proverbialwisdom]

39. Tomorrow: Keystone XL Dissent — West Coast March

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/action/events/index.html#dissent

[img][/img]

Keystone XL Dissent — West Coast March

March 3, 2014

San Francisco, California

In solidarity with the 500 youth to engage in civil disobedience against the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House on March 2, young people on the West Coast are also taking action to stop Keystone XL. Join Center staff and volunteers in supporting these youth in demanding that the State Department and President Obama restore the viability of their future and reject Keystone XL.

If you'll be in San Francisco, meet us at the Ferry Building to march to the State Department and amplify voice of young people whose future is at stake in the Keystone decision. And you don't have to be a "youth": All are welcome, regardless of age or the extent of your willingness to participate in civil disobedience.

For more details, see this Facebook invite or contact us.

When: Monday, March 3; meet at 8:30 a.m.
Where: Meet at San Francisco's Ferry Building and march to the State Department

RSVP on Facebook or email the Center's Valerie Love.

Also visit the Center's No Keystone XL website for more information, a video, lots of links and even downloadable masks and signs you can use in your anti-Keystone activism.

[proverbialwisdom]

47. Arrests in SF today.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/03/03/1281795/-The-398-arrests-for-civil-disobedience-in-Sunday-s-anti-Keystone-XL-protest-are-just-the-beginning

Going on right now
Blockading us state dept. @1market plaza, sanfrancisco. #XLDissent.

[img][/img]


Protest continues as those arrested are being held inside the building. #XLDissent #nokxl

[img][/img]

[Scuba]

41. He said "make me do it" so they showed up to make him, but were arrested.

[Enthusiast]

45. +1!

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[daybranch]

42. I sure hope them republicans support this demonstration

Are they not so concerned about what we inflict on our future generations, oops no that is their bull about the deficit. I guess inconsistency again on their part.

[RandiFan1290]

43. When publicons tried to get over the fence and threaten the president

Zero arrests

[theHandpuppet]

44. Cheers to our young heroes!

You are our hope!

[jsr]

46. Recommend

[proverbialwisdom]

49. "StudentNation: What Is XL Dissent?" (ignored by MSM, discussed on college campuses across the US)

http://www.thenation.com/blog/178340/what-xl-dissent#

What Is XL Dissent?
StudentNation on February 12, 2014 - 10:55 AM ET

This manifesto was originally signed by fifty students from fifty different US colleges and universities and was released as an open invitation to a March 2 Keystone XL protest in DC.

For a handful of multimillionaires, Keystone XL would be a dream come true. Koch Industries alone expects to rake in $100 billion if it is built, which for perspective, is as much as the federal government spends annually on education. Yet for us, a generation of young people awaiting its future, the pipeline would be a nightmare.

The Keystone XL pipeline, if approved, would carry over 800,000 barrels of tar sands oil—best described as a semi-viscous, carbon intensive, toxic injustice—through America’s heartland each day. Tar sands oil is a disaster at the point of extraction, where it causes cancer rates to spike and destroys local ecosystems, all the while violating the treaty rights of Canadian First Nations. It is a disaster when transported, as both the recent railroad crash in Quebec and pipeline spill in Arkansas have made strikingly clear. It is a disaster when refined, exacerbating cancer and asthma clusters and doing so mostly in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.

And tar sands oil is an absolute disaster at the final stage, when power plants burn it and dump the carbon pollution into our skies. This carbon serves to further destabilize our imperiled atmosphere, threatening society with one of the greatest crises it has ever faced.

The decision on Keystone XL will be the definitive test of President Obama’s character and integrity. Moreover, it will be a crucial arbiter of his legacy, impacting history’s verdict on his presidency far more than incidents such as the Benghazi affair or the NSA ordeal could.

Last July in a speech at Georgetown University, President Obama said, “And someday, our children, and our children’s children, will look at us in the eye and they’ll ask us, did we do all that we could when we had the chance to deal with this problem and leave them a cleaner, safer, more stable world? And I want to be able to say, yes, we did.”

We are asking that question of the president today.

We ask because President Obama’s willingness to govern in an environmentally responsible manner has been called into question. At Georgetown, President Obama promised to review the pipeline based on whether it would have a significant impact on the climate. But in the months since that speech, the State Department has continued to rely on ERM (a dues-paying member of the American Petroleum Institute) to run the environmental review of the pipeline. That’s despite the fact that ERM has a close business relationship with TransCanada and that it was later caught red-handed for lying to the State Department in order to cover up those business connections.

President Obama has indeed made several responsible choices, such as increasing the mileage standards for cars. But he has also made some disastrous ones. He opened vast swaths of Western lands for coal mining, repeatedly endorsed an “all-of-the-above” energy approach, and even supported the Southern leg of the Keystone pipeline.

We know that if we sit back and trust him to independently make the right choices, we will be doing so at our peril.

We have therefore decided to act. Rejecting Keystone XL will help keep the tar sands where they belong, buried safely in the ground. It will protect communities that are already struggling to survive. And it will send a resounding message that the days of unchecked fossil fuel recklessness are coming to an end.

So here is our plan:

On March 2, throngs of young people from around the country will converge at Georgetown University to demand that President Obama follows through on the promise he made there during his speech. From Georgetown, we will march to the White House. When we get there we will have a huge rally featuring speakers from communities that are at the frontlines of the fight against tar sands oil.

We will proceed to engage in an act of peaceful and principled civil disobedience at the White House gate. We hope that this action will set the record for the largest single-day act of civil disobedience at the White House in American history. You will learn about the exact details soon, but for now we can say that this will be different from previous White House protests. Emboldened by our passion and our frustration, we will partake in an unprecedented action to denounce the Keystone XL pipeline and the “all-of-the-above” energy approach that makes such fossil fuel projects possible.

We are young, awaiting a future fraught with uncertainty. This will not deter us from participating in an act of civil disobedience. Indeed, it has compelled us to organize one.

We ask you to join us in Washington, DC on Sunday, March 2 for this action.