Students protest Keystone XL tar sands pipeline in Washington D.C.

The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is more than a hot button issue for Middle America. Students across the nation have pounced on the pipeline issue to test President Barack Obama’s loyalty to his campaign promises about the environment.

Students like Heather Garvey from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., traveled to D.C. last weekend to make sure Obama heard the student opinion.

“A lot of students have helped the campaign for Obama,” Garvey, 21, said. “But we will refuse to support him if he doesn’t stop the pipeline.”

Last week, Obama said he would ultimately decide whether to grant the 1,700-mile pipeline a permit by the end of the year, but reviews of the environmental review may delay the president’s decision.

Thousands of environmental activists, including students from around the nation, circled the White House to protest the $7 billion pipeline on Sunday to send a message to Obama. The pipeline is planned to run from Alberta, Canada to Gulf Coast oil refineries, passing through six states — Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

“We are seeing this explosion of student activism that we haven’t seen since the 60s,” said Ren Ostry, a 21-year-old environmental studies student from Ithaca College who also protested in D.C. “The tar sands is a carbon time bomb that is motivating student activists.”

About 227 students from Eckerd College traveled on buses to protest the pipeline after being inspired by Bill McKibben, an environmental activist and author, who spoke at their college last month.

In a 2008 campaign speech Obama said, “Let’s be the generation that finally frees America from the tyranny of oil.”

Garvey, a marine biology student, said Obama’s environmental campaign stance motivated her to believe in change, but his record on environmental activism hasn’t impressed her. On Sunday, Garvey chanted ‘we are the people and the people say no” in front of the White House and held a sign that sign that said, “Don’t tarnish the Earth. We only have one.”

Shane Farrell, a senior creative writing and literature major at Eckerd College, wants the U.S. to begin relying on more green energy solutions.

One of the reason young people are getting out there for the pipeline is because we wanted to remind Obama who elected him in 2008.

Farrell was one of the students who helped organize the trip.

“Leading my fellow classmates to D.C. to protest the pipeline was one of the defining movements of my life because we felt like we could accomplish almost anything,” Farrell said. “Instead of waiting for a change to come, we became that change.”

During Obama’s presidency, students have felt the president has given them false hope, said Reed Steberger, a senior interdisciplinary studies student at Cornell University. Steberger said he is disappointed with Obama’s backseat approach to climate change, renewable energy and creating a green society.

“The fact is all of those Millennials who mobilized for President Obama aren’t going to go out and help him get reelected if it doesn’t stick to his promises about the environment,” Steberger said. “One of the reason young people are getting out there for the pipeline is because we wanted to remind Obama who elected him in 2008.”

Since Sunday’s protest, the State Department said Obama’s decision might be delayed while the agency reevaluates the pipeline’s environmental review conducted by Houston-based environmental consulting firm Cardno Entrix.

The firm’s evaluation has received criticism from environmentalists because it has a close relationship with TransCanada, the energy company who wants to construct the pipeline.

“I think our message was heard because Congress members have asked for a further investigation into the pipeline,” said Devon Williams, a 20-year-old political science major at Eckerd. “The government was relying on the people to not dig into it, but the people care.”

Nebraska residents and lawmakers have stirred up quite a fuss over the pipeline. Last week, the governor opened a special legislative session to talk about five legislative bills that could prevent the pipeline from being routed through Nebraska and the Ogallala Aquifer located beneath the state. If the legislature passes any of the bills, Nebraska and its residents would have say over the construction of the pipeline in their state.

Obama has acknowledged Nebraska’s concerns. In an interview with Omaha television station KETV, the president said:

“Folks in Nebraska like all across the country aren’t going to say to themselves, ‘We’ll take a few thousand jobs if it means our kids are potentially drinking water that would damage their health…we don’t want, for example, aquifers to be adversely affected. Folks in Nebraska obviously would be directly impacted.”

In late August, Tyson Johnson, a 22-year-old political science and economics at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln was arrested while protesting the pipeline in front of the White House.

Back in Nebraska, Johnson is an intern for Bold Nebraska, a grassroots movement opposed to the pipeline.

His goal is to recruit students to oppose the pipeline. He says there isn’t a large collaborative student movement in opposition of the pipeline on UNL’s campus. While students may have opinions on the pipeline, few are voicing them loudly.

Johnson plans to circulate a petition and has asked the student body government to officially oppose the pipeline. The student newspaper, the Daily Nebraskan, wrote an editorial urging the student government to do the same, but the student government has been silent on the issue.

“It has been frustrating with ASUN, our student government, because they are not willing to take up an issue that is controversial,” Johnson said.

The student body government at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Neb., has passed a resolution opposing the pipeline.

“So far Obama’s environmental record has been pretty shaky,” Johnson said. “The pipeline is a strong opportunity for him to take a step toward pleasing some of his main supporters and also holding up to his campaign promises.”

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