Published on Friday, December 16, 2011 by Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/17/us-usa-pipeline-outrage-idUSTRE7BG02820111217

by Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON - Environmental opponents of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline aimed to deluge the White House and Congress with phone calls on Friday, slamming a Republican plan to speed approval of the project in exchange for extending a payroll tax cut.

"Red alert - call the White House and tell them not to back down to big oil on Keystone," environmental activist Bill McKibben said in a tweet. McKibben mobilized some 10,000 demonstrators outside the White House earlier this year to protest the pipeline.

A spokesman for Friends of the Earth said a call for grassroots opposition to the deal generated more than 10,000 phone calls to U.S. senators on Friday.

"We are surprised at the extent to which the Republicans have decided to go to bat for Big Oil here," said Nick Berning, a spokesman for the group. "We're urging the Democrats to stand strong with the position they've articulated and not to cave."