The Hill News

Actor Ian Somerhalder on Wednesday asked President Obama to refuse to permit a controversial oil sands pipeline currently under consideration by the administration.

Somerhalder, best known for his work on “Lost” and “Vampire Diaries,” urged his fans with a tweet to protest the Keystone XL pipeline, a $13 billion project that would stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

“We strongly urge the Obama Administration to follow through on its promise to ‘end the age of oil in our time,’” Somerhalder said in a news release sent through the Ian Somerhalder Foundation.

Somerhalder’s foundation focuses on protecting animals and the environment, and the actor has previously testified on related issues on Capitol Hill.

According to the news release, the foundation has accumu! lated 22,000 signatures on a petition to stop the pipeline.
Somerhalder is not the first celebrity activist to try to influence the pipeline decision. Actress Daryl Hannah was arrested outside the White House during a protest at the end of August.