Environmentalists Huddle in the Barrels of Keystone XL Pipeline to Prevent Construction

(Photo: Tar Sands Blockade)

Three environmentalists have been arrested after crawling inside the actual barrels of the unfinished Keystone XL pipeline and refusing to leave.

While inside, they made at least one video in which they glorified themselves and their cause, citing corporate greed and pollution as their primary targets.

Smith County deputies and other officials attempt to extract one of three protestors who chained themselves inside a section of pipe for the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline project east of Winona, Texas, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. (Photo: AP)

Here's a transcript from the self-righteous video posted on the protesters' website:

...it's very important for people to feel empowered to take action against resource extraction.  The Keystone XL pipeline [doesn't] really serve to benefit anybody but the corporations who will reap all of the profit at the expense of the communities that will be poisoned through their water, through their air, and it's just not right.

[I] wanted to plant myself in the middle of that fight against resource extraction because I feel that it's all really tied together, whether it's here in Texas against tar sands, or in West Virginia against coal extraction, or in Pennsylvania against fracking.  It's about coming together and making a stand against those who are trying to exert their influence, their power, their corporate criminality over the rest of us...it is one of the most important struggles that we face today.  And that's why I'm here, dedicated to staying in this pipe as long as it takes to make the point that Keystone XL pipeline has no place on this planet​.  [Emphasis added]

And here is the video:

Tar Sands Blockade, the name of the group, has been regularly updating its site with the most recent news.  Before the trespassers were arrested, they primarily wrote of the police efforts to remove them.

"Police are continuing to threaten tear gas and canine units. They are also saying that they could raise the pipe and dump out the blockaders. Doing so would cause serious harm or even death," they wrote dramatically, though the protesters could have easily crawled out.  "Matt and Glen are locked between two barrels of concrete which weigh over six hundred pounds each."

Several conservative websites have pointed out the holes in the protesters' arguments.

Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit wrote that apparently the protesters would rather see us "import expensive oil from unfriendly nations who exploit the environment."

Tar Sands Blockade protestors gather in support east of Winona, Texas where three of their fellow protestors chained themselves inside a section of pipe destined for the TransCanada Keystone XL Pipeline project. (Photo: AP)

In showing a similar hatred for coal, fracking, and other proven forms of energy, they are also protesting the very substances that enable us to heat our homes, drive our cars, and irrigate our fields.  Either they are oblivious to the fact that they are encouraging their own destruction, or they believe that they would be the ones to survive in a world where the local windmill provides enough energy for the commune.

The protesters reportedly face charges of resisting arrest, criminal trespassing and illegal dumping, and as they were being carted off, they leveled more allegations at the greedy corporations.

TransCanada sent a response to KLTV: "It is unfortunate these protestors are trying to keep thousands of Americans from the jobs they depend on to provide for their families. This project is important, not only to thousands of workers, but also to Americans in general."

(H/T: Gateway Pundit)

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Related:

• No, Seriously: Keystone Pipeline Could Be Delayed for One Year Because of an Endangered Beetle 
• 'Stuck on Stupid': Van Jones Compares Keystone Pipeline to Heroin Needle