Rally for Independence from Fossil Fuels

The Rally for Independence from Fossil Fuels was the culmination of the 2013 Walk for our Grandchildren from Camp David, Maryland to the White House for a clean energy future. The event took place at Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. on July 27, 2013 and featured climate activist and 350.org founder Bill McKibben speaking about where the fossil fuel resistance movement is right now. The main focus of the event was to keep pressure on the Obama Administration to reject the Keystone XL pipeline, which McKibben said would be historic because the president would become the first world leader to stop a project because of its contribution to climate change.

Exxon Oil Spill In Arkansas Raises Concerns About Keystone XL Pipeline

Environmentalists and Nebraska farmers are upping the pressure on President Obama to reject the controversial Keystone XL pipeline following an oil spill that took place over the weekend.

The rupture occurred in central Arkansas, about 20 miles north of Little Rock, as Exxon’s Pegasus pipeline spilled thousands of barrels of Canadian tar sands oil — the same Alberta crude the Keystone pipeline would carry. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is calling it a “major spill” as officials from the EPA and Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) are currently conducting an onsite investigation while ExxonMobil continues its cleanup efforts.

Click here to read the rest of the story at The National Memo.

Photos and Video: Keystone XL Pipeline Protest at White House

Last Sunday 12,000 demonstrators from all walks of life formed a human chain around the White House to call on President Obama to reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. Today, in a major victory for pipeline opponents the State Department ordered a new route, effectively killing the controversial project, according to a TransCanada spokesperson who told the National Journal it would die "because the new route would require a new Environmental Impact Statement and a public review that would take months, if not years."

Demonstrators at the Lafayette Square rally and encircle the White House protest came from as far away as Nebraska and as close as the Occupy D.C. encampment at Freedom Plaza to hear leaders such as NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Director James E. Hansen, Natural Resources Defense Council Founding Director James E. Hansen and 350.org Founder Bill McKibben speak about the environmental consequences of building the pipeline.

Following the rally the demonstrators, some holding up a huge inflatable pipeline, many carrying anti-tar sands signs, gathered into sections and encircled the White House to send a powerful message to the Obama Administration that the days of dirty fossil fuels are ending and a new American economic foundation based on clean energy and green jobs is beginning.

Here are photos and video from the event.