Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is arrested in front of the White House to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline. (AP)
Lawyer and environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and 47 other Sierra Club members were arrested Wednesday after tying themselves to the White House gate to protest the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada.
Proving the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, RFK Jr.’s son Conor Kennedy was also cuffed. The last we heard about the 18-year-old Kennedy scion was when he was wrapping his arms around his then-girlfriend Taylor Swift last summer.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune also was arrested — the first time in the group’s 120-year history that a club leader was arrested in an act of civil disobedience. The club’s board of directors approved the action as a sign of its opposition to the $7 billion pipeline, which would carry oil derived from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.
Activist Bill McKibben, actress Daryl Hannah and NASA climate scientist James Hansen also were arrested, along with more than 40 others. They were charged with failure to disperse and obey lawful orders, and released on $100 bond each.
The protesters are demanding that President Barack Obama reject the pipeline, which they say would carry “dirty oil” that contributes to global warming. They also worry about a spill.
WITH AP