Palo Alto Joins XL Pipeline Protests

In Palo Alto, members of 350.org Silicon Valley held a candle-lit vigil on Monday night at a busy downtown intersection. They called on President Obama to reject the proposed 1,000 plus-mile oil pipeline. They joined with environmental activists nationwide who called for protests on short notice following disappointing news last Friday; the US State Department's environmental impact report that said the pipeline is "not likely" to have major negative impacts.

Poetry, song and dance enlivened the Lytton Plaza event. A singer performed a ballad she wrote for the occasion, inspiring two of the seven Raging Grannies who attended to burst into an impromptu lyrical dance interpretation. One speaker waxed poetic about the fate of whales, while others cited statistical evidence for concerns related to the oil pipeline.

Keystone XL is a tar sands pipeline that would transport some of the dirtiest crude oil on the planet from Alberta, Canada, and across American soil for export. Activists in both Canada and the US are trying to stop the pipeline from endangering communities along the proposed pipeline route.