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Published August 22, 2011, 12:39 AM

Police arrest 65 near White House in protest of TransCanada pipeline

WASHINGTON (AP) — Environmentalist protesters have been arrested outside the White House on the first day of a planned two-week protest over a proposed oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

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    U.S. Park Police officers handcuff and arrest protestors over TransCanada's proposed Keystone pipeline to bring tar sands oil to the U.S. from Canada, in front of the White House in Washington, Saturday. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Environmentalist protesters have been arrested outside the White House on the first day of a planned two-week protest over TransCanada's proposed Keystone oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline cuts through South Dakota and has caused controversy here.

U.S. Park Police spokesman David Schlosser tells media outlets that 65 people were arrested Saturday. The protest is scheduled to run through Sept. 3.

The protesters want President Barack Obama to deny a permit for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline. In addition to South Dakota, it would go through Montana, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas to refineries in Houston and Port Arthur, Texas.

Gus Speth, co-founder of the Natural Resources Defense Council, and one of the protesters tells the Wall Street Journal the pipeline would continue the nation's reliance on fossil fuels.

TransCanada says its pipeline would provide jobs and needed oil.

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