Oil-sands pipeline sparks protest

More than 2,000 people from all 50 states gathered to protest the Keystone XL, a crude-oil pipeline that would start in Alberta, Canada, and pass through the Canadian province of Saskatchewan and into Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. In the process, it would cross the Yellowstone River and the vital Ogallala Aquifer, a source of fresh water for eight states. It would then connect with the existing Keystone Pipeline, which runs through Nebraska and Kansas.

Environmentalists are critical of fuel extracted from oil sands, as its production creates more carbon-dioxide emissions than many other sources of oil. The oil industry, however, maintains that the pipeline would support more than 20,000 new jobs. The protest comes on the heels of a series of Keystone Pipeline spills this summer.