Green Organizing in Red States: The Fight Against Big Oil's Next Pipeline
Saturday, June 18, 2011 at 10:30 AM CDT • L100 AB
Kate Sheppard, Marty Cobenais, David Daniel, Jane Fleming Kleeb, Nick Berning
In recent Congressional fights over environmental protections, polluters' influence has often overpowered that of progressives' often narrow and under-energized coalitions. One environmental campaign that has broken this mold is the fight to stop a pipeline that, if approved by the Obama administration, would carry the dirtiest oil on Earth from Canada's tar sands across six U.S. states to refineries in Texas. Ranchers in Nebraska, landowners in Texas, Native Americans and other unexpected allies have mobilized to take the lead in organizing resistance to the project, called the Keystone XL. These unconventional partnerships have changed the political calculus of the pipeline decision, turning a sure bet for Big Oil into a controversial environmental decision for the Obama administration. This panel will explore what has brought and kept these groups together, as well as opportunities for similar types of unconventional alliances to work in other environmental campaigns.