Update: Activists to Protest on Strand Against Keystone XL Pipeline

Update 1:25 p.m. Wednesday: About 40 people appeared outside Loews for the Keystone protest. Police said they assembled without incident. It was the first protest in Coronado since a labor issue a year ago at the Hotel del Coronado, a sergeant said. Two officers supervised the protest during its roughly one-hour duration. More details to come in a new story.

Protesters will gather shortly before noon Wednesday to stand against the proposed XL Keystone Pipeline project, which a Congressional panel considered this week.

The activists will protest beginning at 11:45 a.m. outside Loews Coronado Bay Resort, where a two-day meeting of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade group, is taking place. 

A group of activists have protested in San Diego before, reports CBS8, drawing hundreds to events in February, though the project is proposed for the Midwest and Gulf regions of the U.S.

Environmentalists across the country have been up in arms over the project, protesting outside events where President Barack Obama is appearing and issuing reports on its potential impacts on climate change.

Supporters say the plan will create jobs and spur the nation's oil production.

The proposed Keystone pipeline would take oil from its origins in Canada through Oklahoma to refineries in Texas. Parts are approved but other segments require further review, so political battles spurred by industry and environmentalists have been brewing for several years.

For more see the Huffington Post's page on the project and the Washington Post on the politics behind the controversy.