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St. James Residents, Water Protectors Battle Anti-Protest Laws

Protest at a Bayou Bridge pipeline site in Maurice, LA, May 12, 2018. Photo credit: Julie Dermansky.

By Sasha Irby

Around the country, big energy companies are bribing politicians to pass laws that severely criminalize the protest of dangerous and costly oil and gas projects such as the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Bayou Bridge Pipeline.

These anti-protest laws have gone into effect in eight states already. In Texas, the legislature is currently considering a bill that would that would make the protest of a pipeline a third-degree felony. This means that a peaceful water protector would do the same amount of time as someone convicted of attempted murder. In Louisiana, a law (HB 727) went into effect last year which makes it a felony offense to trespass on “critical infrastructure”—a category that the law expands to include pipelines, any pipeline construction site, and “all structures, equipment, or other immovable or movable property” located within the pipeline site. More than a dozen peaceful protesters have been arrested under the new law.

On May 22 a federal lawsuit was filed by three organizations—RISE St. James, 350 New Orleans, and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade—as well 10 individuals affected by the new law. They argue that the law could be used to criminalize anyone who happens to be near the 125,000 miles of mostly unmarked pipelines that criss-cross the state of Louisiana. St. James residents are concerned the law would prohibit them from speaking out against the petrochemical industries that have turned their home into “Cancer Alley.”

How it is that we live in a state that is willing to spend millions of dollars attacking peaceful water protectors in the name of “critical infrastructure” while New Orleanians live with Sewerage and Water Board infrastructure so broken that we have frequent boil water advisories and pumps that can’t keep our streets from flooding in routine rainstorms? Is a water system that provides safe drinking water not critical infrastructure? Are safely navigable streets not critical infrastructure?

Why aren’t we issuing felonies to the crooked bureaucrats selling our wetlands off to petrochemical companies which are killing local ecosystems and threatening the very existence of our coastal communities? Because the state cares more about protecting the profits of the energy companies than it does about our public health or safety.

Among the many petrochemical and energy companies that pushed HB 727 were Energy Transfer Partners, Embridge, and Transcanada, all of which were involved in the construction of pipelines that have been met with protest in Louisiana. All three of these companies also financially contributed to Louisiana state representatives who co-sponsored the bill. At least 16 of the bill’s co-sponsors are affiliated with ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), a right-wing task-force controlled by billionaires like the Koch brothers. Across the country, ALEC has pushed to enact laws that favor corporations—mainly oil and gas companies—at the expense of the public.

It is obvious that these laws do not protect the people or infrastructure that is “critical” for the public good. The energy companies are buying off politicians and fast-tracking these laws because they hope that they can stop communities from protesting the destruction of their homelands. The politicians are criminalizing free speech while subsidizing the planet-killing corporations. Worse, they are criminalizing those who fight for the future of our planet. We cannot stand by idly while our water protectors are made into criminals. We must unite with other communities in the struggle against the oil and gas executives and the state which is attempting to silence us. We must not let fear swallow our voice.

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Louisiana House of Representatives Moves to Criminalize Water-Protectors

By Meg Maloney

The fight against the Bayou Bridge Pipeline intensifies in Louisiana. The Indigenous-led L’eau Est La Vie (Water Is Life) camp, located in the swamps of Houma, Chitimacha, and Chata Territory, have been peacefully protesting the Bayou Bridge Pipeline for several months now. Community leaders have been organizing to spread awareness on the high-risk project, which puts 700 bodies of water in danger, including our precious Atchafalaya basin, the last growing delta in the state.

Big Oil is trembling in fear of the people organizing to fight back against companies who continue to make messes in our communities. From this fear has stemmed the bill HB727, which passed the Louisiana House of Representatives in April Next it will go to the Senate. Then it will land on our governor’s desk. If passed this bill could land water-protectors in jail for up to 25 years, and a year for even “conspiring” to protest pipelines.

Knowing how quickly our elected officials fall in line behind corporate sponsors, this bill is very worrying. The HB727 bill is meant to hyper-criminalize water-protectors, fisherfolk, environmentalists, journalists, justice organizers & anyone who wishes to exercise their First Amendment rights in relation to defending their lands and waters.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the organization guilty of writing the HB727 bill. ALEC is an organization that has over 300 corporate sponsors, including Walmart, the Koch brothers, AT&T, and Exxon Mobil. ALEC uses their corporate contributions to draft legislation that legislators across the country take back to their states and introduce as their own “reform” ideas. ALEC is known for promoting privatization and corporate interests in every sphere, including education, healthcare, the environment, voting rights, etc.

If the HB727 bill is passed our tax dollars will be used to protect private companies who are destroying our waterways, wetlands, and crawfish habitats. Our wetlands are vital in protecting us from storm waters, and we’re losing a football field worth of land every hour. Protecting waterways and wetlands should go without saying in South Louisiana. We should be focused on restoring them, because our culture and livelihood depends on it. Both Democrats and Republicans have supported the HB727 bill. It is not an issue of party; it’s an issue of whose pockets are getting filled by big oil.

Cherri Foytlin, an indigenous community organizer at the L’eau Est La Vie camp, says they’re not backing down. That if the people can’t put their bodies on the line to protect the water, on the route of the pipeline, they will bring the fight to the offices of all our corrupt politicians. Our officials can stand on the opposing side of the people, but when organized & united the peoples power will always win. The question is how far our corrupt politicians are willing to take it.

If you wish to support the work against the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, visit nobbp.org. Donate, sign up for camp, and help spread awareness in your community. Call your representatives and say no to bill HB727.