Opponents of the Keystone XL pipeline are scheduled to hold a protest in front of Sen. Mary Landrieu’s D.C. home Monday morning, one day before the Senate is slated to vote on the pipeline.
Landrieu, who faces a runoff next month in Louisiana to keep her Senate seat, is a key supporter of authorizing the pipeline and is rallying Senate Democrats to join her in supporting the bill to net a filibuster-proof majority.
The activists plan to lay out an “inflatable pipeline” across Landrieu’s front yard. Protesters will include climate activists from groups like 350 Action and Bold Nebraska, an organization of Native American activists called Wica Agli and other local activists and students, according to the Facebook page for the event.
“Attendees and speakers will highlight the pipeline’s role in accelerating dirty tar sands oil development, and worsening the threat of climate change by laying an inflatable pipeline across Sen. Landrieu’s front yard,” reads a post on the event page.
Landrieu is hoping her chances of holding on to her seat are boosted if a Keystone pipeline bill clears the Senate. Her Republican opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy, sponsored the House bill that passed Friday.
President Barack Obama has suggested he might veto legislation to approve the pipeline if it gets through the Senate, where 59 Senators – including 14 Democrats – support the measure, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin said Sunday on CNN. That’s just one vote shy of the procedural super-majority.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said last week that the White House’s “dim view” of proposals to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline has not changed. And he also noted that a State Department review of the project and its impact on the environment is still underway.
