• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

The Activist Beat with Rose Aguilar, host of Your Call on KALW in San Francisco is a weekly roundup of progressive activism that the mainstream media ignores, undercovers, or misrepresents.

Since Saturday, over 220 environmental activists and concerned citizens have been arrested for protesting in front of the White House. Hundreds of people are in DC speaking out against the proposed $7 billion Keystone XL oil pipeline, which would pump 700,000 barrels of dirty tar sands from Alberta, Canada down to oil refineries in Texas every day.

According to an Environmental Defense report, generating energy out of tar sands is one of the most destructive projects on earth. These important facts are missing from most reporting on this issue: Oil sands mining uses twice the amount of fresh water that the entire city of Calgary uses in a year; processing the oil sands uses enough natural gas in a day to heat 3 million homes; producing a barrel of oil from the tar sands produces three times more greenhouse gas emissions than a barrel of conventional oil.

Why would the Obama administration even consider approving such a project? This does nothing to minimize greenhouse gases or reduce fossil fuel consumption. There is no way we can continue down this path, but the powers that be don’t have the political will to speak the truth about what we’re currently facing. Instead, they continue to embrace the elusive promise of cheap oil. It should be noted that this project will not reduce gas prices.

It’s hard not to be cynical after learning that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s former deputy campaign manager Paul Elliot is now a lobbyist for TransCanada, the sole owner of the Keystone XL pipeline. I mentioned this in a previous piece, but it’s worth repeating. Because the pipeline would cross the US border, it has to be approved by the State Department. That means Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has the power to derail the project.

Last October, Clinton said she was “inclined” to support the project. In March, she said she is “generally supportive” of increasing oil imports from Canada, but refused to comment further because her department has to make the final decision.

The protesters in DC say it’s in the President’s hands. He says he wants to be pushed? Well, he’s being pushed. And because Congress, especially congressional Republicans, have no say in the matter, there is no need for him to use his favorite word: compromise. He can single handedly derail the pipeline. Environmental groups say this will be a crucial issue in next year’s election.

The action began on Saturday with more citizens arriving daily. Over 20 activists from the Gulf joined the protest today, saying they don’t want another BP style disaster in the country’s heartland. These people have survived Katrina and the BP oil disaster. They’ve asked politicians to step up and do the right thing. And each time, they’ve been let down, and yet they are still standing up for what’s right.

A total of 2,000 people have signed up to take part in the action. They say they won’t leave until they are heard. Activists will be in front of the White House next week to greet President Obama and the White press corps as they return from vacation.

This action has received extensive coverage in the alternative and local press, but it has yet to break through the national press.

Just days before the Keystone XL action began, activists with ForestEthics organized rallies outside of stores that sell Dole and Chiquita bananas in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland. Activists are asking the companies to stop using dirty tar sands to transport bananas from plantations in Central America to US stores every year.

The group ran a full-page ad in USA Today on Saturday to educate citizens about this issue.