Youth pastor arrested in Keystone pipeline protest in Oklahoma

Harrah native Stefan Warner secured himself to a platform on a side boom Monday morning near Schoolton in Seminole County, said a spokesman with the Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance.

Warner and seven others were arrested by midmorning, organizers said.

Developer TransCanada said the “momentary” protest did not disrupt construction of the Gulf Coast project, the southern leg of the transcontinental Keystone XL pipeline blocked by the Obama administration last year.

The 485-mile line will link Cushing's oil storage hub with refineries in the Houston area. Construction is expected to be completed by this summer.

Warner said he is concerned about the potential hazards that come with transporting diluted bitumen from Canada's oil sands, pointing to the 2010 oil spill in Michigan's Kalamazoo River.