In the first activist demonstration to encircle the White House since 1965, thousands protested the pending construction of the Keystone XL pipeline on Nov. 6. Photo by Catherine Jampel

Story by Catherine Jampel

President Obama postponed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline after a Nov. 6 protest at the White House. The demonstrators, estimated to be 8,000 to 12,000 in number, included a handful of State College locals and a strong Pennsylvania showing. The protest followed a two-week sit-in at the White House in August and September that led to 1253 arrests.

The proposed 1,700-mile, $7 billion pipeline would carry crude oil extracted from Alberta, Canada’s tar sands, through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to the Gulf of Mexico.

Pipeline developer TransCanada Corporation has announced plans to reroute the pipeline to avoid the Sand Hills and Ogallala Aquifer, the proposed route’s points of greatest contention.

Nebraska citizens and their Republican governor, environmental groups including 350.org and the Sierra Club and two transport workers labor unions were among those in the wide coalition that surrounded the White House on all four sides, sometimes two-to-five rows deep.

This was the first time citizens have encircled the White House since 1965, when an estimated 35,000 people gathered to protest the Vietnam War.

Among the protesters were locals from State College and other Pennsylvania universities.

A large number of protesters came with organized college groups, including Pennsylvania’s Gettysburg College, University of Pittsburgh and Shippensburg University. Over two hundred students from Eckerd College traveled by bus from St. Petersburg, Florida. No organized group attended from Penn State, though a few traveled in small groups.

“I was really pleasantly surprised at how many people were there when I got there,” said Penn State junior Bernadette Brogden, who attended the protest. “The emails that went out said they were expecting 4,000 people, but when you show up and there’s over double, almost three times that amount of people coming to one space to protest something they all care about, it’s really cool.”

Brogden said she heard about the protest when visiting Occupy Wall Street in New York.

Others also learned about the action through the growing Occupy movement.

“I first heard about the pipeline on Al Jazeera and learned about this protest at Occupy Harrisburg,” said Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania freshman Julia Saintz, who took a chartered bus to the protest with others from Harrisburg, Lancaster and York. .Several protestors credited scholar and environmental activist Bill McKibben for their involvement in the action.

“I found out about this when I saw Bill McKibben at the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability Conference in Pittsburgh this past October,” said Gettysburg College senior Sara Tower, an environmental studies and globalization studies major who traveled to the protest with 15 fellow students.

Another protester was so inspired by McKibben’s recent book “Eaarth” that he made a two-day journey from St. Louis by train.

“I feel like I’m obligated as a steward of the earth to participate, and with enough people like me, change can happen,” said Andy Clubb, 21, of Missouri.

McKibben was among the rally speakers, who included scientist James Hansen, actor Mark Ruffalo and Vice President of the Ogallala Lakota Nation Tom Poor Bear. Many of them emphasized Obama’s potential role in preventing the permit from being awarded, since the President and State Department must approve the pipeline because it crosses a transnational border.

Protesters positioned directed their chants at the President, shouting “Mr. Obama, the earth is our mama” and “Hey, Obama, we don’t want no climate drama.”

Leading up to his decision to delay the Keystone XL permit, Obama faced criticism from the Democratic Party and the base that helped him get elected.

“It is time to put pressure on the President within the Democratic Party to do the right thing,” said Heather Mizeur, Maryland state representative and member of the DNC’s executive committee, at the rally. “As the Community Organizer in Chief, he has asked us to hold him accountable to democratic values.”

Courtney Hight, who worked as Florida Youth Director for Obama’s presidential campaign, said she was hesitant about becoming a vocal critic of the pipeline, but that she finally joined the movement.

“Now I’m using the skills and training from the campaign to work on this issue,” she said. “He laid out a vision that I still believe in, and today I was reminding him of that vision.”

Anti-fracking activists also made a strong showing at the protest. Extracting oil from the tar sands is an energy-intensive process driven by natural gas. Anti-fracking groups anticipate a growth in the oil sands industry stimulating demand for natural gas.

Proponents of the pipeline cite reducing reliance on oil from the Middle East and job creation as primary reasons for allowing the pipeline.

Pipeline opponents are divided about whether the pending environmental review that pushes the decision until after the Presidential Election is a true or empty victory.

The delay might mean that a new administration approves the rerouted pipeline. But, according to Business Week, the strategy may work. The magazine suggests Obama will retain grassroots support because Republicans do not offer welcome alternatives.

Those who attended the protest expressed agreement that diverting the pipeline route from the Sand Hills would not be enough.

“Yes we can! Stop the pipeline!” was the rally’s final cry.

( Catherine Jampel, a Penn State graduate student in Geography, attended the Keystone XL protest as an activist. )