FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 6, 2011

CONTACT:
Mike Tidwell, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org, 240-460-5838

Heather Mizeur, heather@heathermizeur.com, 240-464-8523

Ted Glick, ted@chesapeakeclimate.org, 973-460-1458

Maryland State Del. Heather Mizeur, actor Mark Ruffalo, Dr. James Hansen of NASA, Others Appear at Unprecedented Event

 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Sunday, more than 12,000 activists encircled the White House to dramatize widespread opposition to the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline. Activists formed a continuous “Circle of Hope” around the executive mansion to encourage President Barack Obama to reject the controversial $7 billion pipeline. Scheduled exactly one year before the 2012 presidential election, the event was meant to unequivocally demonstrate that President Obama’s supporters demand that he keep his campaign promise to help end the “tyranny of oil” during his administration.

President Obama will soon decide whether to approve the $7 billion pipeline, which would increase carbon emissions equal to adding six million cars to America’s roads. Opposed by top scientists and riddled with charges of lobbyist and State Department abuses and mismanagement, the proposed pipeline is a symbol of corporate excess and global warming danger, demonstrators declared.

Maryland State Delegate Heather Mizeur, who represents part of the DC suburbs in the Maryland General Assembly, was a featured speaker at the November 6th event. Mizeur, a member of the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Executive Committee, recently circulated a resolution to DNC members throughout the nation, asking them to voice their opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. The resolution explains that the pipeline “would increase carbon emissions, place one of America’s largest aquifers in the line of danger, and do little to improve America’s energy security.”

Delegate Mizeur said: “President Obama is the nation’s community organizer-in-chief. He asked – no, pleaded – for us to hold him accountable to our Democratic values. So, our message to him is simple. We are your base. We elected you. We are the faces of hope that you ignited in 2008. We trust you will listen to us. Do the right thing; reject the Keystone XL pipeline.”

“Sometimes it takes a while, but Washington is finally waking up to the real voices of real citizens,” said CCAN director Mike Tidwell. “Today’s protest shows again that a historic push is underway for clean-energy solutions across the Chesapeake region and across the country.”

More than 1,200 protestors were peacefully arrested outside the White House in August and September in opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline, drawing widespread public attention. Most recently, the State Department revealed that only one staffer had been assigned to review the 1,700-mile pipeline. The State Department also recently admitted that it has “misplaced” tens of thousands of public comments the department collected about the project.

Learn more about Keystone XL at www.tarsandsaction.org.

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) is the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. With more than 80,000 supporting members, CCAN’s mission is to build and mobilize a powerful grassroots movement in this unique region that surrounds the nation’s capital to call for state, national and international policies that will put us on a path to climate stability. Learn more about the Chesapeake Climate Action Network at www.chesapeakeclimate.org.