VANCOUVER – Canadian actress Margot Kidder, who played Lois Lane in the Superman movies, was arrested today at a protest outside the White House. Over 2,000 people, including other celebrities such as Danny Glover, have vowed to face arrest over the next two weeks as part of a mass civil disobedience in opposition to the "super-sizing" of the Keystone pipeline. 

The new "Keystone XL" project would increase total pipeline capacity by approximately 700,000 barrels of oil a day from the tar sands to heavy oil refineries on the Gulf of Mexico in Texas.  Author and protest organizer Bill McKibben, founder of the organization 350.org, describes the proposed pipeline as "setting a fuse on a carbon bomb". 

"For years many of us in Canada have been fighting the expansion of the tar sands as part of the international fight against climate change," said Ben West, climate campaigner for the Wilderness Committee. "It's great to see Canadian celebrities like Margot Kidder joining in this effort in such a personal way," said West. "She is a now playing the role of a real hero in this critical fight to stop the growth of fossil fuel dependence and dirty oil infrastructure," said West.

This Saturday, August 27, starting at 2pm, the Wilderness Committee along with the Council of Canadians and other local groups are holding a solidarity rally in Burnaby at Hastings and Inlet Dr., near the site of the oil spill in 2007. (More event information is available here.)

"We are showing our support for the efforts of the activists at the White House and joining them in opposing the expansion of all pipelines and tanker traffic that facilitate the expansion of the Canadian tar sands," said West.

The Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline carries crude oil from the Alberta tar sands to Burnaby for refining and export. Currently an average of two oil tankers a week leave through the narrows of Burrard Inlet, each carrying three times as much oil as was spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster of 1989. Kinder Morgan has expressed interest in expanding their pipeline's capacity to 700,000 barrels a day. The Wilderness Committee and other organizations are calling for a comprehensive tanker ban for the Pacific coast.

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Ben West, Wilderness Committee, Healthy Communities Campaigner, 604-710-5340