Registration Optional Current status Active | Launched 2012 | |
Type of site Nonviolent Direct Action, Environmental Campaign Website www.tarsandsblockade.org | ||
Tar Sands Blockade is a grassroots coalition of affected Texas and Oklahoma people and climate justice organizers who use peaceful and sustained civil disobedience to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Tar Sands Blockade has utilized non-violent direct action to stop construction of the pipeline throughout East Texas including banner drops, lockdowns, and tree sits. They are best known for a large scale tree sit outside Winnsboro, Texas.
Political and Environmental Issues
TransCanada, a multinational corporation, is currently constructing the Gulf Coast Project section of the Keystone XL with the go ahead from the Obama administration. This section of the pipeline reaches from Oklahoma through East Texas into the Gulf. Anti-XL pipeline activists and environmental organizations claim that probable pipe spillage threatens ground waters, ecosystems, surrounding lands,employment, and the economy . The pipeline crosses 631 streams and wetlands in Texas alone, including not only the Sulphur River, but the entire Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer, which is the water supply for 12 million homes in East Texas.
A whistleblower, Evan Vokes, came forward about TransCanada in mid-October, 2012, claiming confirmed allegations of regulatory non-compliance.