Keystone Pipeline Protesters Block Chicago Federal Building

Protesters blockade Chicago’s Metcalfe Federal Building in the first action of the No KXL campaign, Jun 17, 2013..

Protesters blockade Chicago’s Metcalfe Federal Building in the first action of the No KXL campaign, Jun 17, 2013.. (Photo: @whitjones via Twitter)

Jun 18th, 2013

Over 20 anti-Keystone protesters were arrested Monday morning for blockading the doors to a Chicago federal building as part of newly launched call to action that declares “if you don’t act, I will.”

The demonstration was the first action organized by the group No KXL who are launching a civil disobedience campaign aimed directly at President Obama and his pending decision to permit construction of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. …

According to the NOKXL website, over 60,000 activists have pledged to participate in similar actions intended to pressure Obama into blocking the pipeline.

The protest came just days after the Globe and Mail reported that at least 2.5 million gallons of toxic fluid have spilled from an oil and gas operation in Northern Alberta. The drill site in question is operated by Houston-based Apache Corp.