Oklahoma Grandmother Locks Herself to KXL Heavy Machinery 9th April

ALLEN, OK – Tues­day, April 9, 2013, 9:00 AM – Okla­homa grand­moth­er Nan­cy Zorn, 79, from Warr Acres, has locked her­self to a piece of heavy machin­ery effec­tive­ly halt­ing con­struc­tion on TransCanada’s Key­stone

ALLEN, OK – Tues­day, April 9, 2013, 9:00 AM – Okla­homa grand­moth­er Nan­cy Zorn, 79, from Warr Acres, has locked her­self to a piece of heavy machin­ery effec­tive­ly halt­ing con­struc­tion on TransCanada’s Key­stone XL tox­ic tar sands pipeline. This action comes in the wake of the dis­as­trous tar sands pipeline spill in Mayflower Arkansas, where an esti­mat­ed 80,000 gal­lons of tar sands spilled into a res­i­den­tial neigh­bor­hood and local water­ways.

Using a bike-lock Zorn has attached her neck direct­ly to a mas­sive earth-mover, known as an exca­va­tor, which has brought con­struc­tion of Key­stone XL to a stop.  Zorn is the sec­ond Okla­homa grand­moth­er this year risk­ing arrest to stop con­struc­tion of the pipeline, and her protest is the third in a series of ongo­ing civ­il dis­obe­di­ence actions led by the Okla­homa-based coali­tion of orga­ni­za­tions, Great Plains Tar Sands Resis­tance.

“Right now our neigh­bors in Arkansas are feel­ing the tox­ic affect of tar sands on their com­mu­ni­ty. Will Okla­homa neigh­bor­hoods be next?” asked Zorn before tak­ing action today. “I can no longer sit by idly while tox­ic tar sands are pumped down from Cana­da and into our com­mu­ni­ties. It is time to rise up and defend our home. It is my hope that this one small action today will inspire many to pro­tect this land and our water.”

Exxon Mobil’s recent Pega­sus pipeline spill has forced local res­i­dents to evac­u­ate their homes due to life-threat­en­ing tox­ins released into their neigh­bor­hood. Local fam­i­lies have expe­ri­enced episodes of nau­sea, headaches, and res­pi­ra­to­ry prob­lems due to acute expo­sure to dead­ly chem­i­cals, like ben­zene, that are mixed in with the raw tar sands. Pega­sus was car­ry­ing up to 90,000 bar­rels of tar sands a day before it rup­tured and spilled.  The Key­stone XL pipeline is slat­ed to car­ry over 800,000 bar­rels a day; an alarm­ing 10 times the amount of tar sands.

“In the last two weeks alone there have been at least six dif­fer­ent inland oil spills across the coun­try,” said Eric Wheel­er, an Okla­homa native and spokesper­son for Great Plains Tar Sands Resis­tance. “It’s time to stop refer­ring to pipeline spills as acci­dents, it’s now abun­dant­ly clear that leaks are just part of busi­ness as usu­al. Tar sands hurt every­one they touch, from the indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties in Alber­ta whose water is being poi­soned, to the Gulf Coast com­mu­ni­ties that are forced to breathe tox­ic refin­ery emis­sions. We’re not going to allow this tox­ic stuff in our beau­ti­ful state.”

UPDATE 10:30AM: Nan­cy Zorn has been extract­ed by local law enforce­ment and tak­en into cus­tody. Please con­sid­er con­tribut­ing to Nancy’s bail fund