Hundreds Of Students Were Just Arrested For This

The White House had to deal with crowds of angry young people yesterday, as hundreds of students protested the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, and were subsequently arrested. The rally, which drew roughly 1,000 people, demanded that President Obama halt construction on the proposed pipeline that would ship tar sands across from Canada to Texas, creating a horrendous amount of carbon dioxide and only around 35 permanent jobs.

Some of the protesters, who were mostly college-age, tied themselves to the White House's fence. Others wore paint-splashed jumpsuits or lay down on a giant black tarp — meant to represent an oil spill — to call Obama's attention to the risks of installing the pipeline. According to the demonstration's organizers, 400 protesters were arrested at the rally, but many were able to snap photos and make a splash on social media before being taken away.

Keystone XL, proposed by TransCanada Corp, a Canadian energy firm, would carry crude oil— one of the dirtiest forms of oil—from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas. It would also emit 51 coal plants’ worth of carbon dioxide, but create less than 40 permanent jobs.

The now-infamous pipeline has already managed to push past a number of obstacles, including a State Department environmental review. Even some successful legal challenges didn't manage to stop the pipeline from moving forward; now, it's basically up to the President to axe the project.