bama Press Secretary Questioned on Pipeline Protest Aboard Air Force One; Thursd ay Nearly 100 former 08 Obama

Staff and Volunteers to Protest Washington, DC During a press gaggle this morning aboard Air Force One, White Ho use Press Secretary Jay Carney was questioned by pool reporters about the two-we ek long protests ongoing outside of the White House over the Keystone XL pipelin e, called the key environmental question facing the President in 2012. During the Q&A with reporters, when asked if he had discussed the most pressing environmen tal issue facing the President today, Carney admitted I havent talked to him about it. In an effort supported by nearly every major environmental group in the country, over 500 Americans have been arrested at the White House over the last 10 days in an effort to stop a proposed dirty oil pipeline, the Keystone XL. "Just in the last two days everyone from the president s chief climate scientist to an 84-year-old grandmother was arrested on his front doorstep, said environme ntal author Bill McKibben, who is spearheading the White House protest. This is t he largest civil disobedience action in the environmental movement in a generati on, and if they really aren t even discussing it with the president, that signal s a deep disrespect for their supporters, most of them young, who have demonstra ted that the environment is a top priority." Carney was asked about the White House protest this morning aboard Air Force On en route to President Obamas speech in Minneapolis: Q: Also, anything on these protests outside the White House on this pipeline? H as the President decided against TransCanadas permit for the pipeline? Its the ta r sands pipeline. There have been a lot of arrests outside the White House abou t it. MR. CARNEY: I don t have anything new on that. I believe the State Department has -- that s under the purview of the State Department presently, but I don t h ave anything new on that. Q: Is the President aware of the protests? MR. CARNEY: I havent talked to him about it. In fact, the decision whether or not to build the pipeline rests firmly on Presi dent Obamas desk. Due to the proposed pipeline crossing the Canadian-US border, t he Canadian company TransCanada must receive a Presidential Permit that states the 1,700 mile tar sands pipeline is in the national interest of the United States. According to Politico, Washington Post, New York Times, and others, the debate o ver whether to grant TransCanada a permit has become the defining environmental test for President Obama before the 2012 election. On Thursday, nearly 100 former Obama staffers and young volunteers will be riski ng arrest at the White House, many of them wearing Obama 08 buttons and t-shirts. Thursdays protests will build off of the arrest yesterday of Obamas 2008 fundrais ing email author, Elijah Zarlin, who warned that the Presidents approval on the p ipeline would be a deal-breaker. It will be increasingly difficult to mobilize the environmental base and to mobil ize in particular young people to volunteer, to knock on thousands of doors, to put in 16-hour days, to donate money if they dont think the president is showing the courage to stand up to big polluters, Mike Brune, the Executive Director of t he Sierra Club, told reporters last week. ###