# What Happened At Bayou Bridge? The Other End of the Dakota Access Pipeline

An episode of [Drilled](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1439735906), 19 Dec 2023, 44 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/tracking.swap.fm/track/SxlTEPDY7xDg35RXkASs/pdrl.fm/3e5572/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/9a7ab5ee-ce11-48ff-a544-b3ec00ea9b1e/56f1ed92-e8ce-438e-a9ed-b3ec00eee41d/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=7f82f371-6316-4ea6-a108-b3ec00ea9b2d

While protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline at the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation drew international attention, the southern end of the pipeline saw a quieter, but no less intense crackdown. Cops moonlighted as pipeline security while suppressing free speech and the right to protest. Reporter Karen Savage shares what happened at Bayou Bridge, and what lessons we can take away from the climate movement for anyone who values democracy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: This episode includes instances of police violence, harassment, racism, and assault.
[0:07] Speaker 1: Please take care while listening.
[0:10] Speaker 2: Me Daku Yappi Kihani wash day Chante wash Dae napitch
[0:14] Speaker 2: Shu zapi Ohitika Wei Miana and white Hat Machiapikshto relatives,
[0:19] Speaker 2: I greet you today with a heartfelt handshake in my
[0:21] Speaker 2: beautiful Lakota language. I'm ci Chango la Kota from Rosebud,
[0:25] Speaker 2: South Dakota and a resident of the state of Louisiana
[0:28] Speaker 2: as a mother. I never intended to get arrested. However,
[0:31] Speaker 2: on September eighteenth, twenty eighteen, I was arrested and charged
[0:35] Speaker 2: with two felony counts under new amendments to Louisiana's Critical
[0:39] Speaker 2: Infrastructure Law. I was facing up to ten years in prison.
[0:43] Speaker 2: I was told that I was being arrested for trespassing
[0:45] Speaker 2: two weeks prior on remote land being worked on by
[0:48] Speaker 2: the pipeline company in the Ahafalaya Basin, despite my having
[0:51] Speaker 2: the express permission of the landowners to peacefully protest there.
[0:56] Speaker 1: That was Anne white Hat testifying last year at a
[0:59] Speaker 1: concour Rational Subcommittee hearing on free speech and a legal
[1:03] Speaker 1: assault on environmental activists and the first Amendment. Anne is
[1:07] Speaker 1: a co founder of louis Levi Water is Life, a
[1:10] Speaker 1: South Louisiana resistance camp founded in twenty seventeen to resist
[1:15] Speaker 1: energy transfers by you Bridge Pipeline. Just make sure you
[1:19] Speaker 1: caught the significance of what she was saying there. She
[1:23] Speaker 1: and a handful of other folks were arrested for trespassing
[1:28] Speaker 1: and assaulted in the process, as you'll hear later in
[1:31] Speaker 1: this episode, except they had permission to be on that land,
[1:37] Speaker 1: written permission from the landowners, but someone was trespassing.
[1:43] Speaker 2: A Louisiana state court later ruled that it was in
[1:46] Speaker 2: fact the pipeline company that was trespassing. Yet we were
[1:49] Speaker 2: the ones brutally assaulted and arrested that day and then
[1:52] Speaker 2: the weeks following by the same uniformed sheriff's deputies working
[1:56] Speaker 2: privately for the pipeline company, and also by pipeline workers themselves.
[2:01] Speaker 2: Over a dozen of us have for several years had
[2:03] Speaker 2: the possibility of lengthy prison sentences hanging over our heads.
[2:07] Speaker 1: This is something we've seen over and over again while
[2:11] Speaker 1: reporting this season. Even when a wrongful arrest or conviction
[2:16] Speaker 1: is ultimately overturned, so much damage happens in the meantime,
[2:20] Speaker 1: a lot of it irreparable. In Anne white Hat's case,
[2:24] Speaker 1: she was arrested at a boat ramp after leading a
[2:27] Speaker 1: prayer ceremony.
[2:29] Speaker 2: It was very stressful to have those charges hanging over
[2:32] Speaker 2: my head for three years, and constant like every day
[2:36] Speaker 2: wondering if they're going to come knocking on the door
[2:39] Speaker 2: to take me to jail, and having to make plans
[2:41] Speaker 2: for my children.
[2:43] Speaker 1: The United States likes to portray itself as the land
[2:46] Speaker 1: of the Free, founded on an unshakable belief in the
[2:50] Speaker 1: right to protest one's government, but the reality is often
[2:54] Speaker 1: much different. In fact, in many states, anyone participating in
[2:59] Speaker 1: the Boston tea party today could be arrested on felony trespassing.
[3:04] Speaker 1: After all, ports are considered critical infrastructure. Paul Revere might
[3:09] Speaker 1: be charged with civil or even criminal racketeering for conspiring
[3:13] Speaker 1: against the British. We'll learn more about racketeering in an
[3:17] Speaker 1: upcoming episode, but for now, let's go back a few
[3:20] Speaker 1: years to some of the most pristine old growth cypress
[3:24] Speaker 1: forests deep in the swamps of Louisiana, a state with
[3:28] Speaker 1: a reputation for being particularly cozy with the fossil fuel industry.
[3:35] Speaker 1: The activist group Louis la Ville was founded in twenty
[3:38] Speaker 1: seventeen by four Indigenous women to oppose the construction of
[3:42] Speaker 1: the Bayou Bridge pipeline. That's the southern leg of the
[3:45] Speaker 1: Dakota Access Pipeline or DAPPLE. It's the same pipeline that
[3:49] Speaker 1: thousands of people were protesting against up north at the
[3:53] Speaker 1: Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation in twenty sixteen. Bayebridge had
[3:59] Speaker 1: plenty of lowcal opposition. The pipeline cuts through more than
[4:02] Speaker 1: seven hundred bodies of water, including the Chafalaya Basin, the
[4:07] Speaker 1: largest river swamp in North America, and by La Forche,
[4:11] Speaker 1: the drinking water source for the United Huma Nation. There
[4:16] Speaker 1: were contentious public hearings putting industry aligned speakers against craw fishermen,
[4:22] Speaker 1: environmental organizations, and just everyday Louisiana's concerned for nature and
[4:27] Speaker 1: their drinking water.
[4:29] Speaker 3: Look, when you're going into something like this and you
[4:32] Speaker 3: are in an area that is hostile to people who
[4:35] Speaker 3: are trying to protect the environment, I've seen it's something
[4:38] Speaker 3: that's trying someone who's trying to stop progress or to
[4:40] Speaker 3: take away jobs. It would be foolish to go straight
[4:44] Speaker 3: to you know, any kind of direct action.
[4:47] Speaker 1: Shari Futlin is another Lowelevey co founder and an Indigenous
[4:52] Speaker 1: mother of six who at the time lived seven miles
[4:56] Speaker 1: from the pipeline route.
[4:57] Speaker 3: We went to the governor every week four months. We
[5:02] Speaker 3: would all show up, all the people from these communities,
[5:04] Speaker 3: all of us.
[5:05] Speaker 4: We would be there every.
[5:06] Speaker 3: Wednesday, I think it was, and we would have.
[5:09] Speaker 4: A press conference.
[5:10] Speaker 3: We tried to talk to the governor.
[5:11] Speaker 4: He never talked to us.
[5:12] Speaker 3: We did get a chance to talk to his underlings,
[5:15] Speaker 3: like they had sent the DQ people, environment Department, Environmental
[5:19] Speaker 3: Quality people to talk to us and things like that,
[5:21] Speaker 3: but we never got decision makers. We never got the
[5:24] Speaker 3: people with the teeth that could make the decision. We
[5:27] Speaker 3: had public hearings and overwhelmingly people said no, they cannot
[5:30] Speaker 3: want this pipeline, but it didn't matter. It got approved anyway.
[5:34] Speaker 3: What do you do when you have exercised every bit
[5:39] Speaker 3: of the channels that they tell you to go through
[5:43] Speaker 3: in order to affect changing your community and find out
[5:46] Speaker 3: that it is entirely a farce, that you don't have
[5:49] Speaker 3: the money and the power to say that you want
[5:53] Speaker 3: to protect your community, or protect your water or even
[5:56] Speaker 3: protect your children.
[5:57] Speaker 4: Well, then that leaves you with very else space in
[6:00] Speaker 4: which to move.
[6:02] Speaker 1: Pipeline construction began in January of twenty eighteen, and a
[6:07] Speaker 1: few months later Loi le V Water Protectors engaged in
[6:10] Speaker 1: non violent direct actions against the project. They started out
[6:15] Speaker 1: just trying to block parts of the route and in
[6:17] Speaker 1: some pretty lighthearted ways.
[6:20] Speaker 3: Really in the beginning there, we just had a lot
[6:22] Speaker 3: of fun, Like we would just have beach parties and
[6:25] Speaker 3: we would have dance parties, and you know, I remember
[6:28] Speaker 3: us bringing donuts to the workers and things like that,
[6:31] Speaker 3: and we would we did a we did a Crawfish
[6:34] Speaker 3: to Musical show on the easement that the oil workers
[6:37] Speaker 3: actually pick apploids.
[6:39] Speaker 4: So I'm just saying creativity and listening.
[6:45] Speaker 5: I think we're the number one things.
[6:46] Speaker 3: I'm just trying to educate people on what it meant
[6:50] Speaker 3: to protect our waters.
[6:51] Speaker 1: And we just so happened to have some tape from
[6:54] Speaker 1: Crawfish to the Musical. By the way, when folks say
[6:58] Speaker 1: oil with a cage and accent, sometimes sounds like earl.
[7:02] Speaker 6: So we're out here at a at a work stoppage,
[7:07] Speaker 6: and you are just in time to be a part
[7:10] Speaker 6: of Crawfish the musical.
[7:12] Speaker 5: We got tickets for.
[7:17] Speaker 3: Free for you.
[7:18] Speaker 7: We reached out to your boss, Kelsey Warren asked him,
[7:21] Speaker 7: if you wanted to buy your tickets please piece.
[7:23] Speaker 3: The biggest piece of crap we know. He said no, Ray,
[7:26] Speaker 3: So we decided.
[7:26] Speaker 8: To give you tickets on the house.
[7:28] Speaker 2: If you contract with ETP, your ticket is free, free, free.
[7:33] Speaker 9: There Earn dun, I'm here to build the buy you bridge, pipeworn.
[7:43] Speaker 8: No, no, get out of here, Crawfish. We hate you, earl.
[7:58] Speaker 6: Well there you have it, Crawfish the Musical, y'all.
[8:08] Speaker 1: As we learned from Connor Gibson in the first episode
[8:12] Speaker 1: of this season. By this time, the fossil fuel industry
[8:16] Speaker 1: was working hard behind the scenes to stifle this kind
[8:20] Speaker 1: of opposition. With the help of the American Fuel and
[8:23] Speaker 1: petrochemical Manufacturers, the trade group representing refineries, pipelines and petrochemical plants,
[8:30] Speaker 1: plus the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC, which works
[8:34] Speaker 1: to pass industry friendly state legislation, they were successfully changing
[8:39] Speaker 1: laws in several states. What would have been misdemeanor trespassing
[8:45] Speaker 1: charges were now felonies, and pipelines were designated as critical
[8:50] Speaker 1: infrastructure in Louisiana, the industry's influence was out in the open.
[8:58] Speaker 1: The bill was drafted by a guy named Tyler Gray,
[9:02] Speaker 1: an attorney with the Louisiana mid Continental Oil and Gas Association,
[9:07] Speaker 1: the Louisiana Trade Group four fossil fuel companies. When it
[9:11] Speaker 1: was introduced by state Representative Major A. Abou Junior, Gray
[9:15] Speaker 1: sat right next to him, answering lawmaker's questions. The bill
[9:20] Speaker 1: passed and was eventually signed into law by Louisiana Governor
[9:24] Speaker 1: John belt Edwards. It went into effect August first, twenty eighteen.
[9:30] Speaker 1: As Anne Whitehat pointed out in her congressional testimony, it
[9:34] Speaker 1: didn't just criminalize activists.
[9:37] Speaker 2: The coordinated attack on our movement also included efforts to
[9:41] Speaker 2: silence the journalists who risk their safety and well being
[9:44] Speaker 2: to tell the world about what was happening to us.
[9:47] Speaker 1: Our reporter Karen Savage was one of those journalists. She'll
[9:51] Speaker 1: be here to tell that story and the rest of
[9:53] Speaker 1: the Bye Bridge story after this quick break. I'mmmy Westervelt
[9:57] Speaker 1: and this is drilled the real fre speech threat. When
[10:08] Speaker 1: Karen Savage went to Louisiana to see what was happening
[10:11] Speaker 1: with the Bye Bridge pipeline, protests. She was there as
[10:14] Speaker 1: a reporter, but that didn't stop police and pipeline security
[10:19] Speaker 1: from treating her exactly like they did the protesters.
[10:24] Speaker 7: So I learned about the Buye Bridge pipeline from Shirry Foytlin,
[10:27] Speaker 7: who i'd known, you know, before this happened. Was twenty seventeen,
[10:31] Speaker 7: and I didn't get down there to start reporting until
[10:33] Speaker 7: about twenty eighteen. And honestly, in the beginning it was
[10:36] Speaker 7: really fairly slow. There were some little actions, nothing hugely remarkable.
[10:41] Speaker 7: Until one day in April, I was actually kind of bored.
[10:45] Speaker 7: I was driving around. There was a pipeline site west
[10:47] Speaker 7: of the basin that I had been told went by
[10:51] Speaker 7: a historic black church, and so it was a Sunday,
[10:54] Speaker 7: and I said, let me drive by and see, you
[10:57] Speaker 7: know what this looks like. So I went out there
[10:59] Speaker 7: and I by the church, and by the time I
[11:01] Speaker 7: got there, there was nobody around. It was Sunday, there
[11:03] Speaker 7: was no work happening. There were a few cars parked
[11:07] Speaker 7: near the church, but nothing at all was happening. So
[11:10] Speaker 7: I drove around the block. But it's rural Louisiana, so
[11:14] Speaker 7: it was like the block was like a mile on
[11:16] Speaker 7: each side. Came around the other direction and was coming
[11:19] Speaker 7: back towards the church parallel to the pipeline on this
[11:23] Speaker 7: little bitty narrow road.
[11:25] Speaker 5: Nobody else was around. It was peaceful. I had been
[11:28] Speaker 5: taking pictures of birds and it was like the Golden Hour.
[11:31] Speaker 7: And I was, honestly at that point, not interested in
[11:33] Speaker 7: the pipeline. I had a million pictures of pipeline construction
[11:36] Speaker 7: sites that I already wasn't using. So anyway, I was
[11:40] Speaker 7: just driving, honestly on my way home at that point.
[11:42] Speaker 10: When this car came at me on this little narrow road.
[11:45] Speaker 7: There were deep ditches on both sides, and I thought
[11:48] Speaker 7: that it was going to hit me head on, and
[11:49] Speaker 7: I'm like, okay, this is it. You know, there's nobody
[11:52] Speaker 7: around to see the crash, so I hope some of
[11:53] Speaker 7: these guys survive and you can call somebody for me.
[11:57] Speaker 5: But they didn't hit me.
[11:59] Speaker 7: They did want those sideways stop things that cars do,
[12:03] Speaker 7: and out jump these two guys, and I could tell
[12:06] Speaker 7: at that point that there was some type of law enforcement.
[12:09] Speaker 7: It was a police type vehicle, and they came up
[12:12] Speaker 7: to me with their hands like on their holsters and demanded,
[12:17] Speaker 7: what are you doing?
[12:17] Speaker 5: Why are you here. Who are you working for? And
[12:22] Speaker 5: I didn't know what to say.
[12:23] Speaker 7: I'm here alone with these guys, so I just said, okay,
[12:25] Speaker 7: what agency are you from? And they were just kept
[12:28] Speaker 7: asking me the same questions overall over again. At one
[12:30] Speaker 7: point I said, do you want to see my license?
[12:33] Speaker 7: Because I kind of assumed I had, like not stopped
[12:36] Speaker 7: or something. But no, they never wanted my license. They
[12:39] Speaker 7: ran the plate of the car, and I know they
[12:43] Speaker 7: used police gear because I could hear somebody on the
[12:46] Speaker 7: other end and say, yeah, it's a rental from b
[12:47] Speaker 7: Lafayette and I had just picked up the rental car
[12:50] Speaker 7: that morning actually, so you know, this went on for
[12:53] Speaker 7: it seemed like forever because it was just me and
[12:55] Speaker 7: these guys with guns on a little remote Louisiana road.
[12:59] Speaker 7: I could tell they had a badge and it was
[13:01] Speaker 7: shaped in the state of Louisiana, but I had no
[13:04] Speaker 7: idea what agency they were with.
[13:05] Speaker 5: They were not telling me.
[13:06] Speaker 7: I couldn't tell Forests Parish, if it was state whatever.
[13:10] Speaker 7: So eventually I guess they got tired of me. They
[13:12] Speaker 7: just told me, Okay, you need to leave now. So
[13:15] Speaker 7: they jumped back in their car and drove away. You know,
[13:18] Speaker 7: kind of did a little three point turn and went
[13:21] Speaker 7: the same direction I was going, so they were ahead
[13:22] Speaker 7: of me. Luckily, I had just gotten a new zoom lens,
[13:27] Speaker 7: so I got a picture of the plate, and when
[13:29] Speaker 7: I got back to my computer, I messaged a couple
[13:33] Speaker 7: of friends and finally found somebody who could run the plate.
[13:36] Speaker 7: And it took a while, but the plate came back
[13:38] Speaker 7: to the State of Louisiana Department of Corrections.
[13:41] Speaker 5: So this is really weird.
[13:42] Speaker 11: Why is the.
[13:43] Speaker 7: Department of Corrections chasing me around near this pipeline? So
[13:47] Speaker 7: I did some records requests in late June figured out
[13:52] Speaker 7: that the DOC Department of Corrections had allowed probation and
[13:56] Speaker 7: parole officers to work side jobs for the pipeline CP.
[14:00] Speaker 5: It actually gave me a really big break in the story.
[14:03] Speaker 7: So eventually there was other reporting that had happened on it,
[14:06] Speaker 7: and the DC changed their mind. They revoked the permission
[14:09] Speaker 7: and those guys weren't allowed to work anymore. But during
[14:12] Speaker 7: an interview, the head of that agency had told me, yeah,
[14:17] Speaker 7: I think the Saint Martin Parish Sheriff's Department will.
[14:20] Speaker 5: Be doing the work now. So, my mom, this is interesting.
[14:23] Speaker 7: So I did records requests and eventually figured out that
[14:28] Speaker 7: that was true.
[14:29] Speaker 5: The deputies were working, got the time sheets.
[14:32] Speaker 7: And could piece together based on who I saw, and
[14:36] Speaker 7: had pictures of the salon and the swamp on what
[14:39] Speaker 7: days that almost none of the deputies that I saw
[14:43] Speaker 7: in the swamp or near protest sites were actually working
[14:47] Speaker 7: for the parish. In fact, almost all of the arrests
[14:52] Speaker 7: were made by deputies who were looking like full deputies.
[14:55] Speaker 5: Mind you, they had the.
[14:56] Speaker 7: Guns on, they had the uniform, they had the you know,
[15:00] Speaker 7: parish issued gear, but they were not working for the
[15:02] Speaker 7: parish at the time.
[15:03] Speaker 5: They were working for the pipeline company.
[15:06] Speaker 1: At one point, the water protectors actually won a court injunction.
[15:10] Speaker 1: The court ruled that the pipeline building should stop until
[15:14] Speaker 1: some of the land rights issues were sorted out. Shari
[15:18] Speaker 1: Futlin and other water protectors from Lois Lev took papers
[15:22] Speaker 1: from the court to the pipeline site.
[15:25] Speaker 4: The police show up right and because we're there and
[15:28] Speaker 4: we're telling them.
[15:29] Speaker 3: Hey, it's time to stop, we give them the paperwork,
[15:31] Speaker 3: the court paperwork, and the first policeman says, okay, guys,
[15:34] Speaker 3: you got to stop, but this is a judge's order.
[15:36] Speaker 3: And another policemen higher than him, that it had been
[15:39] Speaker 3: hired by etpe I Guarantee.
[15:42] Speaker 4: Because they were all on the pay road, they were
[15:43] Speaker 4: getting paid well.
[15:45] Speaker 3: They came in and said no, they can keep going,
[15:47] Speaker 3: and they kicked us out and I ended up getting
[15:49] Speaker 3: asked at that day.
[15:53] Speaker 1: Remember, the new critical Infrastructure laws were due to come
[15:56] Speaker 1: into effect in Louisiana in just a couple months on
[15:59] Speaker 1: August first, twenty.
[16:01] Speaker 10: Eighteen, and as that August first day grew closer and closer,
[16:05] Speaker 10: tension just rose and rose. By that time, all of
[16:08] Speaker 10: the construction and attempts to stop the construction were deep
[16:11] Speaker 10: in the swamp. And it's gorgeous out there, by far
[16:14] Speaker 10: the most beautiful places I've ever reported, from sunsets.
[16:18] Speaker 12: Birds, trees. If you're out in the water at night,
[16:20] Speaker 12: all you see is the red eyes of the gators.
[16:23] Speaker 12: There are armadillos, they're wild boars. It's an amazing place,
[16:27] Speaker 12: but it's also super remote. The only way you are
[16:30] Speaker 12: out is by boat. There's almost no cell phone reception.
[16:33] Speaker 12: Contractors on the fanboats, pipeliners. Anybody out there by August
[16:37] Speaker 12: first certainly knew the Sheriff's Department was working for the
[16:40] Speaker 12: pipeline company. One day, a guy showed up at the
[16:43] Speaker 12: campsite with a rifle. He made threats, he assaulted a
[16:46] Speaker 12: water protector. All kinds of craziness was going on. A
[16:49] Speaker 12: few days later after that incident, I was in a
[16:52] Speaker 12: kayak when the same individual came up in a fan
[16:55] Speaker 12: boat and made more threats.
[17:00] Speaker 2: To talking people will get hurt bad.
[17:03] Speaker 8: Well, the book is I'm gonna get really hurt.
[17:05] Speaker 2: I ll junkie video on people.
[17:08] Speaker 7: So it seemed to be pretty well known that there
[17:11] Speaker 7: would be no repercussions for threatening or assaulting water protectors
[17:15] Speaker 7: or worse.
[17:16] Speaker 3: They knew, I mean they we would be out there, like,
[17:18] Speaker 3: you know, just you know, doing our thing, protesting, and
[17:21] Speaker 3: they would say you just wait, you just wait here.
[17:23] Speaker 4: In a few days, here, on this day, here, on
[17:25] Speaker 4: this day, we're going to get you, you know.
[17:27] Speaker 3: And sure enough, as soon as that law passed, they
[17:29] Speaker 3: were out there passing out felonies.
[17:32] Speaker 7: The first felony arrests were only a few days after
[17:35] Speaker 7: the law went into effect. At that point, three water
[17:38] Speaker 7: protectors were in kayaks and they were pulled out of
[17:41] Speaker 7: the kayaks, handcuffed, dragged up into a pipeline easement and
[17:45] Speaker 7: then arrested under that new felony trespassing law. And that
[17:50] Speaker 7: was the time period when the Department of Corrections was
[17:53] Speaker 7: contracting with Energy Transfer. And what you're about to hear
[17:57] Speaker 7: is two Energy Transfer contractors directing the state employees who
[18:02] Speaker 7: are also working for the pipeline company to arrest the
[18:05] Speaker 7: water protectors in kayaks. They were also physically trying to
[18:09] Speaker 7: prevent me from filming.
[18:11] Speaker 13: I'm not.
[18:13] Speaker 7: I'm not touching you, Okay.
[18:19] Speaker 4: I am not.
[18:24] Speaker 7: I am not on the right way.
[18:25] Speaker 8: I would not do that.
[18:26] Speaker 9: I promise you I will not go on the right
[18:30] Speaker 9: of way.
[18:31] Speaker 4: I understand.
[18:32] Speaker 8: I'm not going on the right I have not.
[18:39] Speaker 1: The right way.
[18:46] Speaker 3: Three.
[18:49] Speaker 1: The three were the first to be arrested under Louisiana's
[18:52] Speaker 1: new critical infrastructure laws. Not long after that, the conflict
[18:57] Speaker 1: moved a few miles down the Bayou to another construction
[19:00] Speaker 1: site on private property in the swamp. This was the
[19:04] Speaker 1: land that Anne white Hat mentioned earlier where loy Le
[19:08] Speaker 1: v Water Protectors had written permission to be and the
[19:11] Speaker 1: pipeline company did not. In fact, the property owners had
[19:14] Speaker 1: asked Loi Levy to be there to help them because
[19:17] Speaker 1: they really didn't want this pipeline on their property.
[19:21] Speaker 7: Energy Transfer didn't have legal permission to work on that site.
[19:24] Speaker 7: And the thing that continually struck me is I was
[19:26] Speaker 7: reporting from there, is that they knew they didn't have
[19:29] Speaker 7: permission to be there. They knew they didn't have permission
[19:31] Speaker 7: to tear up those cypress trees, or dig a trench
[19:33] Speaker 7: or pull a pipeline through that property.
[19:35] Speaker 5: It was clear they knew.
[19:37] Speaker 7: They filed an eminent domain case, and the landowners, wanting
[19:41] Speaker 7: to prevent the destruction of the land, had actually filed
[19:44] Speaker 7: for an injunction, a temporary restraining order to prevent the
[19:47] Speaker 7: pipeline company from working. A hearing for that injunction was
[19:52] Speaker 7: coming up in September. So there were many ways that
[19:55] Speaker 7: Energy Transfer knew that they shouldn't be working out there,
[19:58] Speaker 7: but yet they were still working.
[20:00] Speaker 3: It was not like a situation where we were consistently
[20:03] Speaker 3: breaking the law. We had not broken the law at
[20:05] Speaker 3: that property at all, because the owner had said, yes,
[20:09] Speaker 3: I don't want this pipeline the company my life, and can.
[20:12] Speaker 4: You help me.
[20:13] Speaker 3: But the police, who were bought and paid for by
[20:16] Speaker 3: these oil companies and supported by these systems, arrested us.
[20:21] Speaker 1: Anyway, Here's how Schari described it at the time. This
[20:26] Speaker 1: was just after several people, including Karen, had been arrested
[20:30] Speaker 1: on that property.
[20:32] Speaker 14: Everybody shreve boiler here. I'm out here in a where
[20:37] Speaker 14: we have sus Teresa happening. It's on private land. The
[20:41] Speaker 14: ETP does not own that, they legally don't work on
[20:44] Speaker 14: and we are here with permission, and but the Saint
[20:48] Speaker 14: Mary Saint Martin Parish police will not do anything. In fact,
[20:54] Speaker 14: earlier today myself another person went to speak with them.
[20:57] Speaker 14: We were navigating roup A, three different spots, three different locations.
[21:01] Speaker 14: Finally talked to the two deputies and we gave them
[21:03] Speaker 14: all the paperwork, everything that we had to show that
[21:06] Speaker 14: ETP is not allowed to be here. By the time
[21:09] Speaker 14: we got back, there was a situation where we had
[21:12] Speaker 14: four police boats go out in front of us, loaded
[21:14] Speaker 14: with Saint Martin Parish sheriffs. Why is Saint Martin Parish
[21:17] Speaker 14: criminalizing peaceful water protectors when we are the ones who
[21:20] Speaker 14: are upholding the law and they are the ones who
[21:23] Speaker 14: port in the criminals. I don't know, man, it feels
[21:26] Speaker 14: like a mafia regime honestly buying multi billion dollar corporations.
[21:30] Speaker 5: Something's wrong. There's no reason, And I tell you the truth.
[21:33] Speaker 14: I'd try to be home right now with my kids,
[21:36] Speaker 14: but I'm not because someone has to hold them accountable.
[21:56] Speaker 7: Yes, back up, he's not resisting.
[22:02] Speaker 8: He's not resisting, he's not resting.
[22:05] Speaker 2: You're off tresspassing if you don't want to go, But no,
[22:08] Speaker 2: we're not.
[22:09] Speaker 7: Dress fuck.
[22:17] Speaker 4: Ah, dude, we need to.
[22:47] Speaker 1: Wow, Karen. This tape is really horrifying, and I know
[22:51] Speaker 1: we're only hearing a tiny snippet of it.
[22:54] Speaker 7: Yeah, that that was just a brutal, brutal arrest.
[22:57] Speaker 11: It was.
[22:57] Speaker 7: It was horrible, hard to hear even to this day,
[23:01] Speaker 7: hard to see, you know. And after the guys dragged
[23:04] Speaker 7: Shari away, there were others that were coming towards where
[23:07] Speaker 7: I was standing and where other water protectors were standing.
[23:10] Speaker 7: So everyone started just running in the opposite direction, and
[23:14] Speaker 7: I ran with the water protectors to a boat that
[23:16] Speaker 7: was on the other side of the property. I was
[23:19] Speaker 7: worried they were going to arrest me again because at
[23:20] Speaker 7: that point I had already been arrested once, but mostly
[23:23] Speaker 7: I was focused on protecting my film, to be honest.
[23:26] Speaker 7: I remember laying on the boat floor as we went
[23:28] Speaker 7: from the site through the Bayo because it was like
[23:31] Speaker 7: a fifteen to twenty minute boat ride back to the dock.
[23:33] Speaker 7: I remember laying on the floor with another person who
[23:36] Speaker 7: also had some video from that day, kind of hiding
[23:39] Speaker 7: under there so that if we ran across pipeliners or
[23:44] Speaker 7: security slash police, whatever they were at the time, and
[23:47] Speaker 7: they saw the boat, they wouldn't see me or they
[23:50] Speaker 7: wouldn't see my camera.
[23:53] Speaker 1: Chari Futlin did get arrested that day.
[23:57] Speaker 3: I was arrested for the property that was on the
[24:00] Speaker 3: critical Infrastructure law and that I again had permission to
[24:03] Speaker 3: be on that property. And then when I did put
[24:06] Speaker 3: me in jail, so I had two felony Each of
[24:08] Speaker 3: those felony arrests would have been five years hard labor
[24:12] Speaker 3: in Louisiana, and I mean it and anything labor in Louisiana.
[24:15] Speaker 7: So I.
[24:17] Speaker 1: SHUREI was worried that she would be facing the worst
[24:20] Speaker 1: case scenario if she were convicted.
[24:23] Speaker 4: I was scared. I thought that there was a chance
[24:26] Speaker 4: that I would be able to be with my kids,
[24:29] Speaker 4: and that so mom was the scariest thing in the
[24:31] Speaker 4: world or to me anyway.
[24:34] Speaker 1: Being a reporter on the scene did not help Karen
[24:37] Speaker 1: from butting up against Louisiana's oil friendly cops or laws either.
[24:43] Speaker 7: I ended up being arrested twice, both times after the
[24:45] Speaker 7: felony trespassing law went into effect. One time was on
[24:49] Speaker 7: the property where I had permission to be, and another
[24:52] Speaker 7: time a few weeks later at a boat ramp where
[24:55] Speaker 7: at the same time in white Hat was also arrested.
[24:58] Speaker 7: And we know with that second arrest, by that time,
[25:00] Speaker 7: I knew the way from the boat ramp to the jail.
[25:02] Speaker 7: I'd been there before reporting on other arrests. But once
[25:06] Speaker 7: they got me into the vehicle, instead of going from
[25:09] Speaker 7: point A to point B, the deputy took a really
[25:13] Speaker 7: long way around, circling around these again tiny little remote
[25:17] Speaker 7: gravel roads.
[25:18] Speaker 5: Now in the middle of the sugar cane fields.
[25:20] Speaker 7: You know, the sugar cane is way up at that
[25:22] Speaker 7: point in the year, so you know, no one can
[25:24] Speaker 7: see even that a car is coming, much less what's happening.
[25:28] Speaker 5: It was horrifying because.
[25:29] Speaker 7: You know, you hear all kinds of stories about people
[25:32] Speaker 7: disappearing in the sugar cane fields, and you know, Anne
[25:35] Speaker 7: went through the same thing, but worse. She described how
[25:38] Speaker 7: at one point, as she was being transported, you know,
[25:41] Speaker 7: in the same circular fashion. Another parish police vehicle pulled
[25:46] Speaker 7: up and they had her get out of the first
[25:49] Speaker 7: car and get into the second car. Now, just think
[25:52] Speaker 7: for a minute how horrifying that would have been for her.
[25:54] Speaker 7: This is a brown woman in South Louisiana in the
[25:57] Speaker 7: middle of a sugar cane field during a battle that's
[26:01] Speaker 7: as heated as this, and she's being told to get
[26:04] Speaker 7: out of the car like that by people that she
[26:07] Speaker 7: knows are not actually working for the parish or protecting her,
[26:12] Speaker 7: but people who are working and looking out for the
[26:14] Speaker 7: pipeline company.
[26:15] Speaker 1: Lawyer Bill quickly says, these are the sorts of tactics
[26:18] Speaker 1: that become common when the industry feels like the pushback
[26:21] Speaker 1: against it is starting to work, and so.
[26:26] Speaker 15: When the end is coming and they're desperate, they're willing
[26:29] Speaker 15: to use the law as a means of punishing people
[26:33] Speaker 15: for their protests, for their speech, for their activity that
[26:37] Speaker 15: should be protected by the First Amendment. And they're desperate,
[26:42] Speaker 15: and they're billionaires. You have desperate billionaires. They're going to
[26:45] Speaker 15: do everything they can, and they don't worry about what
[26:48] Speaker 15: the law says, and they don't worry that maybe a
[26:51] Speaker 15: year from now or two years from now, three years
[26:53] Speaker 15: from now, some judge is going to say, well, that
[26:55] Speaker 15: was ridiculous and that was illegal what you did to
[26:58] Speaker 15: these people. They're interested in now punishing people now, using
[27:02] Speaker 15: law as a tool to punish people who have a
[27:05] Speaker 15: different opinion and different conduct about trying to save the
[27:09] Speaker 15: human race.
[27:10] Speaker 13: Right right.
[27:10] Speaker 5: And I think we saw that in Louisiana.
[27:12] Speaker 7: Remember how you know there was a court date in November,
[27:16] Speaker 7: but they wanted folks out of the way so they
[27:18] Speaker 7: could get that work done by November.
[27:20] Speaker 5: Because once the work is done, you know, how are
[27:21] Speaker 5: you going to undo it?
[27:23] Speaker 8: You know, that's absolutely right. Pam Aam could talk a
[27:27] Speaker 8: little bit more about that.
[27:29] Speaker 1: Pam is Pam Spee's staff attorney at the Center for
[27:32] Speaker 1: Constitutional Rights. She's worked on several cases in support of
[27:36] Speaker 1: environmental protest, including various by U Bridge cases with Bill.
[27:42] Speaker 16: So, I think what you're talking about, Karen, is their
[27:45] Speaker 16: flagrant trespass on some really important property in the Chapalia
[27:50] Speaker 16: Basin where the company just made a decision.
[27:54] Speaker 8: We proved this a trial, they admitted it.
[27:56] Speaker 16: They made a financial decision to ignore the law which
[27:59] Speaker 16: is already so favorable to the corporations. You know, oil companies.
[28:04] Speaker 16: Oil pipeline companies have the power of eminent domain. They
[28:08] Speaker 16: don't even have to work through the state, so that
[28:11] Speaker 16: the laws are already really lax.
[28:14] Speaker 8: And supportive of these companies.
[28:17] Speaker 16: And this and by you, Bridge just decided we're not
[28:19] Speaker 16: even going to adhere to the limited restrictions we have.
[28:23] Speaker 16: We're just going to go out there start constructing, because
[28:26] Speaker 16: it's cheaper, ultimately to violate the laws that apply to
[28:30] Speaker 16: us than it is to adhere to.
[28:31] Speaker 8: Them and delay things.
[28:33] Speaker 16: It was a race against time the ones that you're right,
[28:34] Speaker 16: once they got the pipeline built. Our only recourse if
[28:39] Speaker 16: we had won a trial and prevented them from getting
[28:42] Speaker 16: the right of expropriation after the fact, would have.
[28:45] Speaker 8: Been well, now you have to go dig it up.
[28:47] Speaker 16: And no, almost no judge in Louisiana is going to
[28:51] Speaker 16: order a pipeline company to do that. It is so
[28:54] Speaker 16: burdensome on protesters to be hauled into core and even
[29:00] Speaker 16: in these trivulous cases, and have to deal with those
[29:03] Speaker 16: for two three years until they finally peter out and.
[29:07] Speaker 8: Are dismissed, and then by then the damage is done.
[29:10] Speaker 8: And these companies know.
[29:11] Speaker 13: That, right, right, Yeah, I mean just waiting because they
[29:16] Speaker 13: have what four years from the time they arrest you
[29:18] Speaker 13: to go ahead and like put those charges through. Just
[29:21] Speaker 13: waiting and just wondering, you know, am I going to
[29:24] Speaker 13: be in Louisiana jail doing hard labor for five years?
[29:28] Speaker 4: You know?
[29:29] Speaker 11: I was arrested as a reporter, so I wasn't even
[29:32] Speaker 11: you know, I had no attempt to get arrested. I
[29:34] Speaker 11: stayed where it was supposed to be, and they just
[29:37] Speaker 11: basically didn't want me to document what they were doing.
[29:40] Speaker 1: Around the world, the fossil fuel industry invests a lot
[29:44] Speaker 1: of resources into building local support for its projects and
[29:48] Speaker 1: encouraging hostility against its opponents. Land defenders often face threats
[29:53] Speaker 1: not only from law enforcement or corporate employees, but also
[29:57] Speaker 1: from community members. In South Louisiana, that's definitely the case.
[30:02] Speaker 1: The oil and gas industry has not only ingrained itself
[30:05] Speaker 1: in the local culture and pushed through new laws criminalizing protest,
[30:10] Speaker 1: it also had local cops moonlighting as pipeline security. That's
[30:15] Speaker 1: a combination of factors that made for a really dangerous situation.
[30:21] Speaker 3: I had pulled into my driveway, a young woman came
[30:25] Speaker 3: running up to me.
[30:26] Speaker 4: Now there's a field at the end of.
[30:27] Speaker 3: Our road right there, and this young woman come up
[30:30] Speaker 3: to me, and it was dark, and she said, I've
[30:33] Speaker 3: lost my baby, you know, can you help me.
[30:34] Speaker 4: Find I've lost my kid?
[30:35] Speaker 3: And so I was like, yeah, you know, I just you.
[30:38] Speaker 4: Know, went to help.
[30:39] Speaker 3: I did not recognize this person, but I but she
[30:41] Speaker 3: did have a very like South Louisiana accent.
[30:45] Speaker 4: So I didn't have reason not to believe her.
[30:47] Speaker 3: I got a little bit maybe like maybe like a
[30:50] Speaker 3: couple hundred yards out into the field, and it's got
[30:52] Speaker 3: the fat film because.
[30:53] Speaker 4: I kept asking our questions, is it a boy, is
[30:55] Speaker 4: it a girl? What am I looking for? Like, you know,
[30:56] Speaker 4: as a how old?
[30:58] Speaker 13: You know?
[30:58] Speaker 4: Things like that, And all of a sudden I took
[31:00] Speaker 4: a step backwards because she was.
[31:02] Speaker 3: Getting farther away, and almost disappeared when I felt two
[31:06] Speaker 3: hands pushed me down from the from behind. And when
[31:10] Speaker 3: they pushed me, they just started just hitting me. At
[31:13] Speaker 3: one point one of them was seeing me with a belt,
[31:15] Speaker 3: i know, and really just kicking my ass, honestly. And
[31:19] Speaker 3: then I you know that I had pulled myself a
[31:21] Speaker 3: little bit more back.
[31:22] Speaker 4: Into the light.
[31:22] Speaker 3: You had a street right there, but I was out
[31:24] Speaker 3: of it at that point, so I knew if it
[31:27] Speaker 3: got back to the light, I'd be safer and maybe
[31:30] Speaker 3: at least someone in my area.
[31:31] Speaker 5: I could see.
[31:32] Speaker 3: It probably happened very quickly, but it felt long, if
[31:35] Speaker 3: that makes sense. And yeah, by the time I made
[31:38] Speaker 3: it back to the light, they had disappeared.
[31:40] Speaker 4: Too, and I you know, didn't see them again. But
[31:43] Speaker 4: you know, I had to get up myself up and
[31:45] Speaker 4: dust myself off. I also had children in that.
[31:48] Speaker 3: House, you know, five of them, and I did not
[31:51] Speaker 3: and want to scare them.
[31:53] Speaker 13: I did.
[31:54] Speaker 3: I did not want what I did to try to
[31:57] Speaker 3: affect them or as little as possible, you know, so
[31:59] Speaker 3: I kind of, yeah, you know, dusted myself off as
[32:02] Speaker 3: best I could, and I walked in.
[32:03] Speaker 4: The house, was my head up, like nothing was wrong.
[32:05] Speaker 3: And my little boy said, you know what I obviously
[32:08] Speaker 3: had at the situation, and I was like, oh, I
[32:11] Speaker 3: just fell down.
[32:11] Speaker 4: You know.
[32:12] Speaker 3: I locked all my doors and I locked all my windows,
[32:15] Speaker 3: and after that, I got a camera for the around
[32:17] Speaker 3: the house, and I just ate it.
[32:21] Speaker 4: You know, we're in the middle of a big struggle.
[32:25] Speaker 1: In her congressional testimony, Anne white Hat also talked about
[32:29] Speaker 1: this violence against protesters, not just from police, but from
[32:33] Speaker 1: some members of the public.
[32:35] Speaker 2: Escalating violence has been used for centuries against people who
[32:38] Speaker 2: challenge the concentration and misuse of power. This is nothing
[32:43] Speaker 2: new to us, but what we experience needs to be
[32:45] Speaker 2: recognized by all as a coordinated assault on a movement.
[32:50] Speaker 2: Indigenous people continued to be the first responders to the
[32:53] Speaker 2: worsening effects of climate crisis. Our actions are part of
[32:56] Speaker 2: our commitment as caretakers at the places we live in.
[33:00] Speaker 3: There was nothing I can do. I mean, the truth
[33:01] Speaker 3: of the matter is these people are bigger than me
[33:03] Speaker 3: in every single way. But I wasn't gonna let them
[33:06] Speaker 3: intimidate me at that point.
[33:08] Speaker 13: I was not.
[33:09] Speaker 4: I just felt like if I.
[33:10] Speaker 3: Buckled, if I stopped at that point, then anyone or
[33:14] Speaker 3: a lot of people who are out there tried to.
[33:16] Speaker 4: Do the same thing, which is just say no.
[33:18] Speaker 3: Would have to suffer the same thing because they would
[33:20] Speaker 3: know or work.
[33:21] Speaker 4: So I kept going.
[33:23] Speaker 3: And a few months later, I was sitting at a
[33:26] Speaker 3: sonic and I was getting drinks from my babies, and
[33:29] Speaker 3: I was getting ready to.
[33:29] Speaker 4: Go home, and I was kind of excited because I
[33:31] Speaker 4: was going to get spend the afterday.
[33:33] Speaker 3: Afternoon, and somebody camp behind me and grabbed me again.
[33:36] Speaker 4: Somebody grabbed me from behind. I feel if it wasn't
[33:40] Speaker 4: a knife that they had, then it was some kind
[33:43] Speaker 4: of metal objects. But I didn't know look and I
[33:45] Speaker 4: was pretty terrified. So they told me that they were.
[33:49] Speaker 3: Going to kill everyone in my and not me. They
[33:52] Speaker 3: wouldn't kill me, They kill everyone in my family and
[33:54] Speaker 3: everyone I loved. And then they named off a list
[33:58] Speaker 3: of people that I very deeply care and that was
[34:01] Speaker 3: the started Bork cames back.
[34:03] Speaker 4: I couldn't do it. I got my kids out of there.
[34:06] Speaker 4: I hope we went somewhere else.
[34:08] Speaker 1: It was for those reasons that three of those arrested
[34:11] Speaker 1: on felony charges and White Hat, Ramon Mahea and Karen Savage,
[34:16] Speaker 1: along with a dozen other organizations and individuals, filed a
[34:20] Speaker 1: lawsuit in twenty nineteen to challenge the constitutionality of that law.
[34:27] Speaker 1: Pamspis and Bill quickly represented them.
[34:31] Speaker 16: The lawsuit was challenging the twenty eighteen amendments in that
[34:36] Speaker 16: the Louisiana legislature past which added pipelines to the definition
[34:40] Speaker 16: of critical infrastructure, and we brought this suit to.
[34:43] Speaker 8: Challenge the constitutionality of.
[34:46] Speaker 16: The amendments and one of the problems with the way
[34:50] Speaker 16: these pipelines were added into the definition of critical infrastructure
[34:53] Speaker 16: is that Louisiana has well over one hundred and.
[34:56] Speaker 8: Twenty five thousand miles of pipelines.
[35:00] Speaker 16: The law wasn't limited to oil and gas. It was
[35:02] Speaker 16: any kind of pipeline, water, pipelines, right, So then you
[35:05] Speaker 16: add that and you just turned vast, vast swaths of
[35:11] Speaker 16: territory and Louisiana into critical infrastructure. And it didn't specify
[35:15] Speaker 16: in any way areas around pipeline. So one problem right
[35:19] Speaker 16: off the bat was that it was unconstitutionally big.
[35:23] Speaker 8: And then you add the First Amendment.
[35:24] Speaker 16: Concerns into it, and it becomes just very very clear
[35:28] Speaker 16: why this is such a problem. And then we were
[35:31] Speaker 16: into discovery and we got to take depositions of some
[35:34] Speaker 16: of these deputies who were being employed by the pipeline
[35:38] Speaker 16: company who disagreed even among themselves how to figure out
[35:43] Speaker 16: when and where this law applied. It's you know, it
[35:46] Speaker 16: just really showed what a huge mess these amendments created. Unfortunately,
[35:51] Speaker 16: the judge ruled against us that he found that he
[35:55] Speaker 16: didn't think that it violated the First Amendment, and so
[35:58] Speaker 16: we have filed emotion to reconsider, and we're waiting on
[36:02] Speaker 16: that ruling, and we're hopeful, you know, if maybe.
[36:05] Speaker 8: We can change this judge's behnd.
[36:07] Speaker 16: It's not I think we feel we have a really
[36:10] Speaker 16: strong case to make on appeal, but the case.
[36:12] Speaker 8: Is still very much in play.
[36:14] Speaker 1: From a national perspective, A win in Louisiana, which, like
[36:18] Speaker 1: we've heard, is a conservative friend of the fossil fuel industry,
[36:22] Speaker 1: would send a strong message to states considering such laws,
[36:25] Speaker 1: could even push states that have already enacted them to
[36:28] Speaker 1: reconsider while the constitutional case is in play. The state
[36:33] Speaker 1: has since dropped its charges against the protesters, and.
[36:38] Speaker 3: None of those charges went through, not a single felony charge.
[36:42] Speaker 4: From that critical, critical infrastructure all went through.
[36:44] Speaker 3: And you think about the charges, You think about what
[36:47] Speaker 3: it cost to put us in jail, Think about what
[36:49] Speaker 3: it costs to do all that, to the state, to
[36:51] Speaker 3: the city itself, mh, you know. And these officers they got,
[36:57] Speaker 3: they got a few more bucks for a while, but
[36:59] Speaker 3: I mean, was it work it They drink.
[37:01] Speaker 7: That water too.
[37:03] Speaker 1: The state court also ruled that it was the pipeline
[37:07] Speaker 1: company that had been trespassing all along. This is what
[37:11] Speaker 1: loy Levie had been arguing the whole time and why
[37:14] Speaker 1: the landowners had involved them in the first place. And
[37:18] Speaker 1: yet the pipeline company face a very minor fine and
[37:22] Speaker 1: no jail time, Unlike the water protectors. The penalty for
[37:27] Speaker 1: destroying private property for corporate gain a whopping four hundred
[37:31] Speaker 1: and fifty dollars fine, one hundred and fifty bucks for
[37:34] Speaker 1: each of the landowners who filed suit. Those landowners appealed,
[37:38] Speaker 1: and the higher court later uped the fine to ten
[37:41] Speaker 1: thousand dollars plus attorney's fees. For context. Energy Transfer has
[37:47] Speaker 1: said the pipeline is capable of moving four hundred and
[37:50] Speaker 1: eighty thousand barrels of oil per day. At today's oil prices,
[37:55] Speaker 1: that's roughly forty three point two million dollars worth of
[37:58] Speaker 1: oil running through their life land every single day. Completed
[38:02] Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen, the Bayou Bridge Pipeline now transports oil
[38:06] Speaker 1: from the north to refineries in Saint James Parish and
[38:10] Speaker 1: nearby export terminals. And yep, you guessed it. Those are
[38:13] Speaker 1: predominantly African American communities located in what's referred to as
[38:18] Speaker 1: Cancer Alley because the area is home to so many
[38:22] Speaker 1: refineries and petrochemical plants. Even though the pipeline was eventually built,
[38:28] Speaker 1: the way Shari looks at it, lois La Ville was
[38:30] Speaker 1: still a success. For one thing. They were able to
[38:33] Speaker 1: buy some land that was the home base for the
[38:36] Speaker 1: pipeline resistance fight, and they turned that land into what
[38:39] Speaker 1: they call a food forest with banana trees, turmeric, maringa,
[38:44] Speaker 1: and all sorts of plants and veggies that they give
[38:47] Speaker 1: out to the community.
[38:51] Speaker 3: So, yeah, that pipeline went through, But I tell you what,
[38:54] Speaker 3: we fed a lot of people and we have that
[38:57] Speaker 3: property now that's now a buying food forest and we're
[39:00] Speaker 3: replanting after hurricanes come through, or were planting with food trees.
[39:05] Speaker 3: We had inspired many, many people to make change and
[39:09] Speaker 3: to know that they can stand up and even under
[39:13] Speaker 3: great oppression and under great pushback like that, that that
[39:17] Speaker 3: there is.
[39:18] Speaker 5: A reason to do that.
[39:19] Speaker 3: So I am I will never not count lolly Lope
[39:24] Speaker 3: as a win. And I will never say to those
[39:26] Speaker 3: people that intimidated us or had to make those logs
[39:29] Speaker 3: to try to take us or whatever, that they won,
[39:32] Speaker 3: because I don't know what winning is until it's over,
[39:37] Speaker 3: and it's.
[39:38] Speaker 4: Far from over, you know. You remember I talked about.
[39:42] Speaker 3: The Fixed the musical on the easement and how that
[39:45] Speaker 3: the oil workers had clapped.
[39:48] Speaker 1: And Casey missed that that's Crawfish, the musical, which you
[39:51] Speaker 1: heard some tape from earlier in this episode.
[39:55] Speaker 4: Sure, two years.
[40:03] Speaker 3: Later, after I got finished with this whole campaign and
[40:05] Speaker 3: I moved.
[40:05] Speaker 4: Out of there fromund safety, my children's safety, I was
[40:08] Speaker 4: reading an article. It was about this new solar company that.
[40:11] Speaker 3: Was coming in and in the article, the person had
[40:15] Speaker 3: said that they used to be an oil worker, that
[40:17] Speaker 3: they had been at a protest and they had seen
[40:20] Speaker 3: our musical about Crawfish, and it had changed their perspective
[40:25] Speaker 3: because they thought it was such a creative thing to do,
[40:28] Speaker 3: and they started a solar power company that was retraining
[40:32] Speaker 3: oil workers. I had no idea that that happened.
[40:35] Speaker 4: We did not plan for that to happen.
[40:37] Speaker 3: But the truth of the matter is anytime you do
[40:40] Speaker 3: good things on this earth or for the sake of righteousness, period.
[40:43] Speaker 4: It is going to reverberate into the world. I think
[40:45] Speaker 4: that it's up to each.
[40:46] Speaker 3: Generation to decide what it is that they will demand for.
[40:49] Speaker 4: The next generation.
[40:51] Speaker 3: And I think that we can demand more, and I
[40:54] Speaker 3: think that those children and grandchildren and grandchildren deserve more
[40:59] Speaker 3: I guess that's it.
[41:00] Speaker 13: Don't let.
[41:03] Speaker 4: Don't let them do it.
[41:06] Speaker 3: We're stronger than we think, are powerful than.
[41:07] Speaker 4: We think, and if we weren't, then they went and
[41:09] Speaker 4: go after us like this. They have to use a
[41:11] Speaker 4: law to go after us.
[41:12] Speaker 3: They have to try to push us down, try to
[41:15] Speaker 3: scare us, try to do that because they know that
[41:18] Speaker 3: we are much more powerful than they are and together
[41:22] Speaker 3: we can make that change.
[41:23] Speaker 4: But thought Dane, we got to figureut to protect.
[41:25] Speaker 5: What we already have.
[41:26] Speaker 4: We have to do that and what we mean to
[41:28] Speaker 4: do it like right now, right now.
[41:33] Speaker 1: That's it for this time. Big thanks to Karen for
[41:36] Speaker 1: bringing us this story. She'll be back on upcoming episodes
[41:40] Speaker 1: about what it looks like to see protests criminalized in
[41:43] Speaker 1: the US. We'll be leaving the country again and some
[41:45] Speaker 1: upcoming episodes, so make sure to come back for those.
[41:49] Speaker 7: Drill does an original Critical Frequency production. This episode was
[41:53] Speaker 7: written and reported by me Karen Savage.
[41:55] Speaker 1: Our senior editor for this season is Aline Brown.
[41:58] Speaker 7: This episode was also dited by Sarah Ventry. Our senior
[42:02] Speaker 7: producer is Martin Saltz Ostwick, who also does our sound
[42:05] Speaker 7: design and compose most of the music in this episode.
[42:08] Speaker 1: Mixing and mastering by Peter Duff, who.
[42:11] Speaker 7: Also composed some of the music in this episode.
[42:13] Speaker 12: A theme song is bet in the Hand by four known.
[42:16] Speaker 1: Fact checking by Rudan Jan. Our outwork is by Matt Fleming.
[42:21] Speaker 7: Our first Amendment attorney is James Wheedton. This show was
[42:24] Speaker 7: created by Amy Westerbilt, who also co hosted this episode.
[42:28] Speaker 7: You can find related videos, photos, and print stories for
[42:30] Speaker 7: this series, along with all the documentation that we have
[42:33] Speaker 7: to go along with the series, at drill dot Media.
[42:36] Speaker 7: You can also sign up there for our weekly newsletter
[42:38] Speaker 7: we round up the top five stories on climate you
[42:40] Speaker 7: should be reading each week.
[42:41] Speaker 1: It's never more than ten minutes to read, and people
[42:44] Speaker 1: tell us it makes them feel like they're staying up
[42:46] Speaker 1: to date on climate without getting overwhelmed.
[42:49] Speaker 7: You can also find us on Twitter at we are Drilled.
[42:52] Speaker 1: If you'd like to support the podcast, leave us a
[42:55] Speaker 1: rating or a review. It's a huge help in finding
[42:58] Speaker 1: new listeners.
[42:59] Speaker 7: You can also ort us financially by becoming a subscriber
[43:02] Speaker 7: either to the newsletter or the podcast on apples, Spotify,
[43:05] Speaker 7: or Patrion. Paid subscribers get access to add free episodes,
[43:09] Speaker 7: early release episodes, and bonus content, Thanks for listening, and
[43:13] Speaker 7: we'll see you next time.
[43:30] Speaker 1: This time of year, everyone talks about going dry, but
[43:33] Speaker 1: at Athletic Brewing Company, we're skipping that because we prefer
[43:37] Speaker 1: going athletic, which isn't dry at all. From crisp goldens
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[43:54] Speaker 5: Find your new favorite near beer at Athleticbrewing dot com.
[43:57] Speaker 1: Athletic Brewing Company Fit for All Time IMS

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