Hundreds of people were arrested during a protest against the Keystone XL project on Sunday.
The protestors used plastic to tie themselves to the White House fences, calling for U.S. president Barack Obama to reject the production of the pipeline, according to Chicago Tribune.
Protestors claimed the pipeline will pose a great threat to the environment and carried signs that said things such as "There is no planet B," USA Today reported.
Nick Stracco, a Senior at Tulane University, was one of the lead organizers for the protest against the pipeline, The Huffington Post reported.
"Obama was the first President I voted for, and I want real climate action and a rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline," Stracco said. "The people that voted him into office have made it absolutely clear what we want, and that's to reject Keystone XL."
According to Chicago Tribune, other protestors gained attention by wearing white jumpsuits splattered with black ink, which was meant to represent oil. The protestors staged a mock spill by laying down on a black tarp spread out on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The XL project was proposed by Canadian energy firm TransCanada Corp., according to Reuters. The pipeline would be designed to carry crude from oil sands in Alberta to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Supporters of the pipeline claim it will create thousands of jobs.
The project has received a review from the State Department, and is also under review from other agencies, Chicago Tribune reported. Obama has the final say on the development of the project.
"Today's protest represents a fringe minority of people against any use of fossil fuels," said Matt Dempsey of Oil Sands Fact Check, who supported the project. "This extreme position is well outside the American mainstream. Even President Obama says we need an 'all of the above' approach to energy. As a result, today's protest does little but expose the extreme nature of these last remaining Keystone XL opponents."
Students, supported by environmental groups Energy Action Coalition and 350.org, marched to the White House on Sunday, where police arrested protestors and pulled them into tents set up on Pennsylvania Avenue, according to Chicago Tribune. Leaders said their goal was to make clear that young people are a huge voting demographic of Obama's party, and they do not want to have to deal with environmental problems in the future caused by the leaders of today.
