Protests Continue At Keystone Pipeline Construction Site

Protests continue at the construction site of the Keystone Pipeline. On Tuesday, for the second time in two days, police were called in to take care of the situation.

Now, a spokesperson for Keystone says these protests are happening so often they are going to court to have it stopped.

5/14/2013 Related Story: Women Cement Selves To Ground In Protest Of Keystone Pipeline

Tuesday morning, workers arrived to the Keystone Pipeline work site near Holdenville to find two women who encased their arms in concrete then chained themselves to concrete filled barrels.

On Monday, Bob Waldrop staged a similar protest at the site.

"It's just time for people to take personal responsibility," Waldrop said.

But Keystone has filed a restraining order saying those who do take matters into their own hands will face financial and legal consequences.

"When folks stage these protests they're clearly saying ‘We're above the law, the law doesn't apply to us'," said project spokesperson Jim Prescott.

Prescott says not only are the protestors trespassing, but causing safety concerns.

"They're clearly putting themselves in harms way and frankly it's a safety risk for the workers involved."

The restraining order originally asked for 18 people to be banned from interfering with construction but the judge granted the order only for three people who had already been arrested. Waldrop, an adamant environmentalist, was not one of those listed on the order, but he was arrested and ticketed for his protest.

"I plead not guilty by reason of necessity because what I did was necessary to prevent even greater evils the eco-side in Canada, the increase in global warming emission, the price increase for gasoline here in Oklahoma City," Waldrop said.

And he says Keystone's legal maneuvers won't deter him or the others.

"They're obviously going to fight with money, we're going to fight with time, they're going to run out of money before we run out of time. You can bet that."

Despite the protest, Prescott says construction of the pipeline is on schedule to be complete by the middle of the summer.