Stop Tar Sands Profiteers Week of Action a Huge Success

Over 50 grassroots organizations across the US and Canada held 50 actions from March 16th to March 23rd to demonstrate that TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is a toxic investment.

Here’s an overview of what happened every day along with details at the bottom of this post:

March 16, 17: Week of Action Kicks Off With Creativity Across The Country
March 18: Blockades and Bikes From Coast to Coast
March 19: TD Bank Slammed as Tar Sands Profiteer
March 20: TransCanada Office Shut Down – Big Banks Called Out For Bankrolling Coal & KXL
March 21: Twenty Arrested at Two Separate KXL Protests in DC – Hundreds March with Idle No More in Seattle
March 22: Asheville Protesters Shut Down TD Bank, Four Arrested. Two arrested at TC office in Westborough
March 23: Over 60 People Blockade Chevron Tar Sands Refinery in Utah — NYC and DC Call Out TD Bank

Over 50 actions and events happened this week to directly confront the corporate profiteers bankrolling the Keystone XL pipeline and the broader tar sands industry. These actions come at a critical time as investor confidence in Alberta’s tar sands is waning due to major delays and resistance to Keystone XL’s construction timeline.

The Keystone XL project has become a flagship issue for the U.S. climate movement and has spurred dozens of acts of civil disobedience and the largest climate rally in U.S. history. But while 45,000 marched on the White House President Obama was golfing with oil executives and the southern segment of KXL in Texas and Oklahoma was still being built.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that we cannot rely on corporation-funded politicians to oppose corporate excess; we must engage this destructive industry directly. That’s what we’ve done in Texas, and it’s working: in February, TransCanada reported lower fourth-quarter earnings and admitted that the southern portion of Keystone XL (the Gulf Coast Project) was way behind schedule and only 45 percent completed. By showing up at their offices and putting a stop to “business as usual,” we can show tar sands investors that their lives would be easier and their businesses more secure if they invested in projects that don’t endanger our communities’ health and the chance for a livable climate.

We’ll be posting links and updates here throughout the Stop Tar Sands Profiteers Week of Action as actions happen!

Grassroots activists from over 50 organizations are uniting to send a strong message to the industry that TransCanada and its financial backers must rethink their investments in tar sands, the dirtiest fuel on the planet. We will demonstrate to companies bankrolling KXL that their investments are as toxic as the tar sands they want to pump through the pipeline. Activists are marching, holding rallies, giving trainings, and physically disrupting “business-as-usual” for those who seek to profit from the exploitation of marginalized people and the destruction of our collective future.

Some of the top tar sands profiteers facing protest this week: TransCanada, TD Bank, Valero Corp., and John Hancock Life Insurance Co., to name a few.

Week of Action Updates:

Saturday and Sunday, March 16 & 17 – Week of Action Kicks Off With Creativity Across the Country

Activists in New Orleans blockade two bus-loads of oil executives including BP, Shell, Valero, and other investors in tar sands and extraction industries.
Stunning tar sands banner drop in Grand County, Utah
Over 100 people hold “Funeral for Our Future” in TransCanada’s Westborough office – 25 arrested
Overpass light brigade in Wisconsin sends a bright message with lights: “Block Keystone XL!”
Organizers hold “Stop the Pipeline” banners and march in the traditional St. Patty’s Day Parade in Boston
Trainings and presentations on tar sands in Salt Lake City, Utah
Musicians sang #NoKXL themed songs in the Boston subway and passed out literature

Monday, March 18th – Day 3: Blockades and Bikes From Coast to Coast

Direct action training camp in Oklahoma to stop KXL hosted by Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance
Twelve people arrested for blockading a fracking pipeline in upstate New York
Portland, Oregon takes bike tour of the city’s worst polluters
Dozens rally outside National Geographic building where Secretary Kerry was speaking in Washington, DC
Over 40 rallied outside Michels Corporate office in death costumes in Kirkland, WA

Tuesday, March 19th – Day 4: TD Bank Slammed As Tar Sands Profiteer

Three people lock themselves inside a TD Bank in Washington, DC
Over three dozen rally at TD Bank in Upstate New York this last weekend
Banner drop promoting the Week of Action appears in Oklahoma City
Dallas-Fort Worth community teach-in hosted by local Unitarian Universalists
Concerned citizens in Houston pressure the City Council to sue Valero for pollution violations
Organizers rally next to rail line transporting tar sands in Newark, Delaware for refining
Community teach-in and film screening in Houston’s toxic East End

Wednesday, March 20th – Day 5: TransCanada Office Shutdown. Big Banks Called Out For Bankrolling Coal and KXL

Activists shut down work at TransCanada office in Omaha, Nebraska
Dozens of climate justice activists in Montpelier, Vermont rally at TD Bank and close their accounts
Rainforest Action Network Boston Fights BAC (Bank of America Corporation)!
Hudson Valley Earth First and the Green Team TD Bank Action in White Plains, New York

Thursday, March 21st – Day 6: Twenty Arrested for #NoKXL Actions in Washington, DC – Hundreds March with Idle No More in Seattle

About 15 interfaith leaders arrested for civil disobedience at the White House
Five arrested for occupying the lobby of Valero in Washington, DC
Creative solidarity banner drop in Vancouver
Overpass light brigades in Gainesville and Tampa Bay, Florida display messages “No Keystone XL”
Hundreds march with Idle No More Seattle against coal export terminals
Banner drop in Cushing, Oklahoma at the iconic “Pipeline Crossroads of the World” sign
Houston rallies at the courthouse to put Valero and TransCanada on trail alongside polluters like BP
North Texas Light Brigade lights up an overpass with a message against tar sands
Idle No More Portland drops banner at ESCO headquarters

Friday, March 22nd – Day 7: Six Arrested for Actions At TransCanada, TD Bank, John Hancock Life Insurance Offices

Over 60 people shut down a TD Bank branch in Asheville, NC
Veterans For Peace and others enter TransCanada’s Westborough Office – Two arrested
Dozens rally at John Hancock Life Insurance in Los Angeles
Protestors outside Dallas, Texas call out John Hancock Life Insurance for funding a deadly pipeline
Newark, Delaware rallies to “Move Your Money” from TD Bank
Activists in Boulder, Colorado did a banner hang over an overpass
Bike brigade in Portland, Oregon tours the city’s worst polluters
Activists in Denver rallied outside the Governor’s mansion and held a nonviolent direct action training
Gathering for World Water Day in Portland, Oregon to protect it the Sacred Water from tar sands
Valero Corporate HQ in San Antonio taken over by the community

Saturday, March 23rd – Day 8: Over 60 People Blockade Chevron Tar Sands Refinery in Utah — NYC and DC Call Out TD Bank

Over 60 Salt Lake City residents blockaded the entrance to a Chevron tar sands refinery and turned away six trucks
Dozens in New York City hold a “Divest from TD Bank Day of Action!”
Activists in Washington, DC close off another TD Bank branch
Organizers with Red Lake Blockade of Enbridge in Northern Minnesota observe solidarity
Memphis, Tennessee residents rally outside a Valero refinery that exploded several months ago
New Haven, Connecticut Takes Action at Their Local TD Bank
Banner drops in New Orleans
Idle No More and other organizations hold a big nonviolent direct action training in San Francisco