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Austin Protestors Rally Against XL Pipeline
Whole Foods downtown in Austin is usually packed on the weekends, but not like it was on Sunday. From the street you could see hundreds of people chanting and waving signs in protest.
Chris Wilson with Stop Tar Sands in Austin spearheaded the rally and said protesters formed today to demonstrate they are against a “toxic pipeline coming through Texas.”
The Keystone XL Pipeline will slice through the country’s heartland and run through six states. Construction has already started on the southern portion of the pipeline, but the northern route has yet to be approved by President Obama.
Those opposing said they do not want the pipeline going any further and claim it is a scam.
Wilson says the oil will be used only for export and none of it will stay in the United States.
"Canada is using the united states as a vessel to get their tar sands from Alberta out to refineries in Texas, so it can’t be exported," Wilson said.
Supporters of the 2,000 mile pipeline say it is not a random, arbitrary pipeline; instead it will create jobs and energy independence.
"There is a huge, vast demand for this Canadian crude oil and so that in it of itself will keep the oil here," Christopher Prandoni said.
Austin protestors like Ramsey Sprague said the pipeline will drive up oil prices and be toxic to the environment.
"It’s not going to lower oil prices it will raise oil prices according to every sane rational economist," Sprague said. "There has to be someone to stand up against this industry to say ‘what you are doing is criminal in nature. You are not only stealing land, you are putting in a pipeline that is full of holes all throughout east Texas, and you are poising communities."
The Austin protest was just a taste of the resistance and animosity toward the project as outcries poured out from around the country on Sunday.
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