07 Jan Texans Take Action for Mother Earth

Today was a day of National Action to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Today marks day 40 for the Houston Hunger strikers who are in solidarity with the Manchester Community in Houston near the Valero plant where the Tar Sands will be refined.

Today also saw the best attended mass action in East Texas yet to stop the pipeline on our home front. Over 100 activists from around Texas and the US stormed TransCanada's offices in Houston, TX this morning, chanting "Tar sands kill. Pipelines fail." and "No exchanges no refunds. Environmental damage can't be undone". Two blockaders locked themselves to the front doors. Many laid down in the center of the lobby together. One of the most powerful moments of the action was when one young man pleaded with the police, "officer, my life is in danger, there are ecoterrorists upstairs will you please help me?" which became a chant as multiple people joined him, all beginning to literally kneel in front of the line of about 10 police officers. Then came the dispersal order and the police started to shove the activists down the sidewalks away from the building. All were demanding a stop to the abuses by the company, and the successfully shut down the building for about 30 minutes.This action kicks off a new phase of the Tar Sands Blockade targeting the corporate and financial infrastructure behind the Keystone XL pipeline.

Follow #NoKXL on twitter, or check out the website where they update their actions as they happen here: http://tarsandsblockade.org/houston-action-transcanada-offices/ 

Later today in Austin, from 5:00pm – 7:00pm, there will be a rally at the capitol in support of the blockade and to show strong opposition to the pipeline.