More than 200 people were arrested in front of the White House Saturday while protesting a proposed 1,700-mile oil pipeline that would extend from Alberta to Texas — and that opponents say endangers water resources. The State Department said last week there would be “no significant impact” to natural resources, but environmentalists point out that its operator TransCanada had another major new pipeline shut down by regulators briefly in May after it sprung two leaks. (Canada's minister for the environment, however, said TransCanada had a sterling safety record among pipeline operators.) President Obama will decide by December whether to approve the proposed $7 billion pipeline, which would deliver 34.9 million gallons per day across the Great Plains. At the ongoing White House protests, more than 1,000 protesters have been arrested along Pennsylvania Avenue in all, including Daryl Hannah on Tuesday.
