Keystone Pipeline protesters storm California Chevron facility

August 5, 2013

Police arrested more than 200 demonstrators Saturday who trespassed on Chevron Corporation property in Northern California to protest the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. [Huffington Post]

The protest marked the one-year anniversary of a Chevron refinery fire that generated a cloud of smoke over the city of Richmond and hospitalized more than 15,000 people with respiratory complaints. Richmond sued Chevron on Friday over the damage caused by the pipeline rupture and subsequent fire.

The proposed Keystone Pipeline would transfer oil from Alberta, Canada and the Midwestern U.S. to Gulf Coast refineries in Texas. Several lawsuits and a project application denial by President Barack Obama have stalled construction of the pipeline.

More than 1,000 Keystone XL protesters marched through the streets of Richmond Saturday before some entered the Chevron facility. The protesters chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, fossil fuels have got to go.”

Those arrested for trespassing included three demonstrators in wheelchairs and anti-Keystone activist Bill McKibben. In 2011, McKibben spoke in San Luis Obispo about his opposition to the pipeline and the importance of “green journalism.”

Most of the people arrested were reportedly cited and released.

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