Obama left with climate headache following another Keystone protest

White House protest led by celebrity environmental campaigners

The fierce debate over the development of an oil pipeline in America has escalated following the arrest of 50 protesters who had handcuffed themselves to the gates of the White House.

The group, which was made up of environmentalists and celebrities including Kill Bill actress Daryl Hannah, staged their demonstration outside the building to directly call on President Barack Obama to oppose the development of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry crude oil from tar sands in Canada to refineries in Texas. 

Daryl Hannah has been very vocal about her views regarding climate change

(Image source - New York Times)

Climate campaigners have made their feelings known to Obama for some time, with the President still apparently undecided on the issue. Many politicians believe the pipeline will be beneficial to the country in terms of creating energy and jobs, but campaigners believe the President should be investing more money into renewable energy schemes, sticking to the promises he made to tackle climate change following his re-election.

The protest came the day after Obama made his state of the union speech and, whilst the Keystone XL pipeline wasn’t mentioned during that speech, it has become one of the most contentious issues in America, with climate campaigners seeing it as a defining symbol of Obama’s pledge of deal with climate change. ‘The Keystone pipeline project is the purest test of whether the president is serious about doing something about climate change or not’, Bill McKibben told the few hundred protesters outside the White House. McKibben is the founder of the 350.org group, who have led the protests over the pipeline.

What started as a small protest led by a few students has turned into a mainstream movement within environmental circles. The issue has become a major headache for the President, who it seems will be judged no matter what his final decision over the Keystone XL pipeline will be.

What will Obama do about Keystone?

With majority of Senate backing pipeline plans, President faces tough decision

President Barack Obama is facing pressure to go back on his climate change promise as a bipartisan majority in the Senate has called for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline to go ahead.

A letter from 53 senators, a group made up of both Democrats and Republicans, claimed there was no reason to deny approval of the project as it has undergone in-depth environmental review despite protests from campaigners who believe the pipeline, which will pump crude oil from Alberta Tar Sands in Canada to oil refineries in Texas, will lead to higher carbon emissions. 

Whatever Obama decides on the project, the decision will upset a lot of people

(Image source - ABC News)

Keystone leaves Obama in a very difficult position, having pledged to tackle climate change during his second term as President. Denying the project will anger many politicians, who see Keystone as way of providing more energy and creating jobs, but approving it will be seen by environmental campaigners as going back on his word. However, Henry Waxman, a congressman who has set up a taskforce on climate change with senator Sheldon Whitehouse and is against the pipeline, denies that the issue will be ‘make-or-break’ for Obama, saying ‘This is only a small issue compared to the overall objective that the president and we want to achieve," Waxman said. "What would you like me to do? Should I say to the president, 'If you don't agree with me on Keystone, I'm not going to work with you on solving the climate change issue'? That would be a little bit childish and counterproductive’.

Waxman’s views that Keystone is a small issue are held by many others, including the Washington Post, who in an editorial called on the President to ‘ignore the activists who have bizarrely made Keystone XL a line-in-the-sand issue, when there are dozens more of far greater environmental impact’.

Will the President now commit to climate change action?

Expectations rise as newly re-elected Obama talks about ‘destructive power of a warming planet’

With the celebrations of his supporters still in full swing, President Barack Obama has also fueled excitement among environmental campaigners with his victory speech, in which he seemed to accept the risk that climate change poses to the world by mentioning the ‘destructive power of a warming planet’.

Whilst his Republican rival Mitt Romney turned rising sea-levels into a joke during his acceptance speech in August, and despite both candidates completely ignoring climate change during their televised election debates, campaigners feel confident that Obama will start to take action on the issue during his final term as President.

As was the case during his first term, Obama will have a tough task of pushing through any legislation on climate change due to the Republican’s continued control of the House of Representatives. However, with the impact of Hurricane Sandy still fresh in people’s minds, an endorsement from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg because of his position on climate change, and the fact that the majority of Democrats elected to the Senate and the House of Representatives owe many of their victories to the votes of environmental campaigners, Obama does have a better chance of making any climate-change based laws over the next four years than he did during the last four.

The existing Keystone pipeline and the routes of the proposed XL addition

(Source - The Guardian)

Obama has the perfect opportunity to please climate change campaigners, following news that a demonstration will be held outside the White House on 18th November protesting against the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which will carry oil from Canada to be refined in Texas. The pipeline has faced heavy criticism from many people following its announcement, including Kill Bill actress Daryl Hannah, who was arrested for her role in a protest against the pipeline last month.