TransCanada's Keystone XL, the Safest Pipeline Ever - Says Who?

Twenty-two people were arrested this morning after staging a sit-in at the U.S. State Department’s Chicago office to protest the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline. The action in President Obama’s hometown is the first of a series of planned acts of civil disobedience this summer calling on the administration to reject the controversial pipeline.  All 22 demonstrators have since been released.

Proposed by the Canadian energy corporation TransCanada, the multi-billion-dollar pipeline would transport Alberta's tar sands oil to refineries on the Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Opponents say the pipeline’s environmental impact would be disastrous. Because the KXL would cross the U.S.-Canada border, Obama’s State Department has the last word on whether the megaproject is approved.