Environmental Group Protests Keystone XL Pipeline in Vienna

VIENNA, VA -- Members of the environmental group 350 Fairfax protested the Keystone XL Pipeline outside a Vienna branch of Wells Fargo Bank Saturday. The bank has come under fire with environmentalists for helping to finance the new extension of the pipeline.

The group is a local chapter of the global network 350.org, which aims to fight climate change. 350 Fairfax says the key to stopping the pipeline is to stop the funding.

"We’re here to ask Wells Fargo to stop funding the Keystone XL Pipeline, and to educate the public that the pipeline is carrying the dirtiest form of oil from the tar sands in Canada,” said Helene Shore, co-chair of 350 Fairfax. “It’s a threat to our water, our air and our climate."

(Sign up for real time alerts and a newsletter. iPhone users can download the Patch app in the App Store. Plus, like Vienna Patch on Facebook.)

President Trump's executive order in January gave the new 1,100-mile route pipeline the go-ahead. Energy Transfer Partners, which is building the pipeline, says it will reduce dependence on foreign oil and create up to 12,000 local jobs. The current route extends from Alberta, Canada to Nebraska, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. The new route is shorter, running from Alberta to Nebraska. It could carry 830,000 barrels oil a day to Nebraska.

350 Fairfax handed out flyers to bank customers and passersby to explain their opposition to the pipeline. Echoing the protestors at Standing Rock, the group says the pipeline would hurt water and soil quality, as well as interrupt sacred Native American land.

The protest comes weeks after numbers of protests in April across the country, including April 29 climate march in Washington, DC. This event drew approximately 300,000 people to the city.

Images via 350 Fairfax