Tar Sands Blockade has taken numerous direct actions against the toxic Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and other tar sands infrastructure in Texas. We’ve also taken part in actions organized by/with other groups, organized solidarity actions, and we’ve seen other grassroots direct action campaigns against tar sands form. Here’s a chronology of some of the highlights:
AUGUST 2012
Aug 16 – Keystone XL Construction Begins, Met By Day of Action Across Texas and Oklahoma
Aug 28 – Seven Arrested for Blockading KXL Pipe Truck in Livingston, TX (Action Video)
SEPTEMBER 2012
Sept 5 – Three Blockaders Lock Themselves to KXL Heavy Machinery in Saltillo, TX
Sept 19 – Five Blockaders Arrested for Stopping Work at KXL Construction Site Winnsboro, TX
Sept 24 – Eight People Climb Trees And Start Indefinite Tree Sit to Stop Keystone XL
Sept 25 – Benjamin and Shannon Lock Themselves to KXL Machinery to Defend Tree Blockade
Sept 25 – TransCanada Actively Encouraged Torture Tactics to Be Used on Peaceful Protestors
Sept 27 – TransCanada Worker Attempts to Drop Tree on Peaceful Blockader
OCTOBER 2012
Oct 1 – Winnsboro Tree Blockade Weathers an Intense Week
Oct 1 – Blockader Locks Himself to Underground Capsule in Path of KXL to Protect Family Farm
Oct 2 – Texan Climbs 40 Foot Pole in Path of Keystone XL Clear Cut to Defend Tree Blockade + (Action Video)
Oct 4 – Maggie Arrested After Sitting On a 40 Foot Pole to Delay KXL Clear-Cutting for Two Entire Days
Oct 4 – Daryl Hannah and Eleanor Fairchild a 78 Year Old Landowner Arrested for “Trespassing” on Her Farm
Oct 5 – Over 50 Organizations Sign Letter of Solidarity with Tar Sands Blockade + Denounce Police Brutality
Oct 9 – Two Freelance Journalists Arrested While Reporting on Tree Blockade
Oct 11- Texas Man Climbs Tree in Nature Preserve in Path to Stop KXL
Oct 11 – Police Paid by TransCanada Detain New York Times Journalists on Private Property
Oct 15 – Mass Action: Over 50 Enter Tree Blockade in Defiance of Police Repression to Defend Tree-Sitters
Oct 24 – Cherri Foytlin, Gulf Coast Oilfield Wife and Mother, Chains Self to KXL Pipeyard Gate
Oct 24 – Winnsboro Tree Blockade Sustains an Entire Month of Resistance + Two More Join Blockade
Oct 31 – Dr. Jill Stein, Green Party Pres. Candidate Arrested for Resupplying Winnsboro Tree Blockade
Oct 31 – Two Arrested for Delaying KXL Construction With a New Tree Blockade in Sacul, Texas
NOVEMBER 2012
Nov 15 – Over 40 Solidarity Actions Launch Worldwide to Defend Climate Change + More Solidarity Actions
Nov 25 – Welcome to Manchester, a Houston Neighborhood Living in the Shadow of Valero
DECEMBER 2012
Dec 3 – Three People Barricade Themselves Inside Keystone XL Pipe To Halt Construction
Dec 9 – Houston Hunger Strike Marks 11 Days
Dec 11 – Judge Halts Construction of KXL On Landowner’s Renewable Biofuels Farm
Dec 27 – Manchester Community Puts New Demands on Valero, Hunger Strike Marks 29 Days
JANUARY 2013
Jan 7 – Mass Action: Over 100 People Storm TransCanada and KXL Offices in Houston
Jan 10 – Rally with Indigenous Leaders on the KXL Easement in Oklahoma
Jan 14 – Diboll, Texas Tree Blockade Continues to Halt Construction in Angelina County
Jan 15 – Bob and Diane Announce End to Hunger Strike on 45th Day
Jan 24 – Statement of Solidarity With Worldwide Tar Sands Resistance + Actions in the Northeast
Jan 31 – Blockader Disrupts Oil & Gas Pipeline Conference
FEBRUARY 2013
Feb 4 – Norman, Oklahoma Resident Elizabeth Leja Locks Her Neck to KXL Machinery in Oklahoma (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
Feb 11 – Lifelong Oklahoman Youth Pastor Suspended and Locked to KXL Machinery (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
Feb 12 – 48 Arrested at White House Fence In Opposition to Keystone XL
Feb 17 – Forward on Climate Rally in DC: Voices of Resistance: Four Women Tell Why They’re Rallying in D.C.
Feb 19 – Ohio Residents Shut Down a Frack Waste Storage Facility in Ohio with Monopod and Banner Drops (Appalachia Resist!)
Feb 28 – Activist Disrupts TransCanada Presentation At Industry Marketing Conference
MARCH 2013
March 7-9 – “Moccasins on the Ground” training to Protect Sacred Water in South Dakota
March 11 – Over 100 Hold a “Funeral For Our Future” at TransCanada Office Outside Boston (Tar Sands Action)
March 16-23 – Stop Tar Sands Profiteers Week of Action a Huge Success with 55 Actions Across the Continent!
March 16, 17 – Week of Action Kicks Off With Creativity Across The Country
March 18 – Blockades and Bikes From Coast to Coast
March 19 – TD Bank Slammed as Tar Sands Profiteer
March 20 – TransCanada Office Shut Down – Big Banks Called Out For Bankrolling Coal & KXL
March 21 – Twenty Arrested at Two Separate KXL Protests in DC – Hundreds March with Idle No More in Seattle
March 22 – Asheville Protesters Shut Down TD Bank, Four Arrested. Two arrested at TC office in Westborough
March 23 – Over 60 People Blockade Chevron Tar Sands Refinery in Utah — NYC and DC Call Out TD Bank
March 27 – Activist Climbs Flagpole Outside LyondellBasell, Hangs Banner Denouncing Investment in Tar Sands
APRIL 2013
April 6 – Blockader Disrupts Valero-Sponsored Golf Tournament, Demands Accountability for Manchester
April 9 – Oklahoma Grandmother Locks Herself to KXL Heavy Machinery in Solidarity With Affected Arkansas Residents (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
April 16 – Two Lifelong Oklahomans Halt Construction of Keystone XL Work Site (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
April 22 – Activist Locks Himself to Keystone XL Heavy Machinery Launching a “Red River Showdown” Over KXL South (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
April 25 – The “Red River Showdown” Continues! – Blockader Encases Arm in Concrete and Shuts Down Work on KXL (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
April 29 – Two Texans Lock Down to Protect Cross Timbers from Tar Sands (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
MAY 2013
May 13 – Fourth Generation Oklahoman Catholic Worker Locks Himself to KXL Machinery (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
May 14 – TransCanada Reps Kicked Out of Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation (Cheyenne River Sioux)
May 14 – Holly and Baily “I am blockading Tar Sands because I am blockading indifference, I am blockading passivity” (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
May 27 – Indigenous Activists Living In “Chemical Valley” Disrupt Pro-Tar Sands Conference (Coalition Against Line 9)
JUNE 2013
June 14-17 – Moccasins on the Ground: It’s About Survival (Owe Aku)
June 20 – Swamp Line 9 – a New Blockade to Halt Tar Sands in Enbridge’s Line 9 Pipeline (Swamp Line 9)
June 20-29 – Fearless Summer Week of Action & Week 2 Update
June 24 – “Construction of Keystone XL Pump Station Shut Down in Largest Action Yet by Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance” (Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance)
June 25 – Injunction Served on Line 9 blockaders, Entire Camp Resisting, 4 Locked Down (Swamp Line 9)
JULY 2013
July 5 & 6 – Tar Sands Healing Walk (Healing Walk)
July 22 – MI-CATS Reports: Activists Block Tar Sands Pipeline (Michigan CATS)
July 29 – TWAC Attacks TransCanada (Trans* and Womyn’s Action Camp)
July 29 – ACTION To Stop Tar Sands Mining in Utah (Peaceful Uprising & Canyon Country Rising Tide)
AUGUST 2013
Aug 12 – Rising Tide Philly Rallies at TD Bank HQ (Rising Tide Philly)
SEPTEMBER 2013
Sept 16 – MI CATS Scratch Back At Enbridge (Michigan CATS)
Sept 20 – Rising Tide Philly Draws the Line At TD Bank (Rising Tide Philly)
Sept 21 – The People’s Eminent Domain: Tar Sands Blockade Condemns Keystone XL Project Director’s Home
Sept 21 – Alabama Residents Draw the Line on Tar Sands on Mobile Bay (MEJA Coalition)
Sept 23 – Rally and Vigil in Dallas Protests Exxon’s Negligence in Mayflower Spill
OCTOBER 2013
Oct 7 – Letter from Mi’kmaq Delivered to Southwestern Energy HQ in Houston
Oct 19- Tar Sands Blockade FOIAs PHSMA
Oct 21 – Maine Trans And/Or Women’s Action Camp Occupying Irving Corporations Portsmouth, NH Headquarters (Trans* and Womyn’s Action Camp)
