Louisiana

Indigenous And Environmental Water Protectors Fight To Block Louisiana Pipeline

July 18, 2018 Sheehan Moore, Wagingnonviolence.org Resist! Environment, Indigenous Peoples, Louisiana, Pipelines, Water Protectors

Half an hour outside of Lafayette, Louisiana — almost three hours west of New Orleans — the proposed route of the Bayou Bridge pipeline crosses the road. It’s a seemingly minor bend in the crooked path of a 162.5-mile pipeline that, if completed, would snake underground from Lake Charles near the Texas border to St. James in “Cancer Alley” — the dense stretch of refineries and other petrochemical facilities lining the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. But this bend matters to Cherri Foytlin, a Diné (Navajo) and Cherokee activist, journalist and mother, whose organization owns the small plot of land around which the pipeline’s route skirts. Here, a few small structures and a long line of tents make up the L’Eau Est La Vie (“Water Is Life”) resistance camp.

Tree Sits Established To Stop Bayou Bridge Pipeline

July 17, 2018 Staff, L'eau Est La Vie Camp - No Bayou Bridge Resist! Louisiana, Occupation, Pipelines, Protests

Deep in the Atchafalaya Basin, one of the largest swamps in North America, tree-sits have been established directly on the path of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Water protectors are currently occupying multiple sits on the pipeline easement. We have petitioned, filed lawsuits and demonstrated. We have carried out nearly 50 worksite actions. But despite these efforts, construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline has continued. We are left with no other choice but to put our bodies, and our lives on the line to stop this pipeline. The tree-sitters and their support team are living in inhospitable conditions, with limited resources and under close watch of Energy Transfer Partners. THEY NEED YOUR SUPPORT.

Louisiana Residents Arrested For Delivering Judge’s Orders To Stop Bayou Bridge Construction

May 29, 2018 Staff, Stopetp.org Resist! Courts, Louisiana, Pipelines, Protesters Arrested

(St. James) Twenty Water Protectors brought construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline to a halt this morning in St. James Parish, an area where the pipeline company is currently under a judge’s orders to stop construction. Bayou Bridge LLC has defied Judge Alvin Turner’s order to halt construction, not only continuing construction in the fragile coastal zone but accelerating it. Water Protectors intervened today to enforce the law that the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources is failing to enforce. Two women were arrested at the site. “St. James residents haven’t been listened to,” said Alicia Cooke, a Water Protector with 350 New Orleans who was arrested in this morning’s civil disobedience. “We’ve been fighting this pipeline on every level through every legal means for over a year. I’m not sure how many more ways Louisianans can say we don’t want this or need this. Our bodies are on the line, because that’s all we have left.” A video of the morning’s events is available here.

Under Louisiana Bill, Peaceful Protesters Could Face 20 Years In Prison

April 21, 2018 By Christine Baniewicz, Truthout.org Educate! Legislation, Louisiana, Protests, Repression

"It's a good bill," he said, then motioned for favorable passage. Ninety-seven legislators voted yay, three voted nay, and just like that, all 4.6 million residents of Louisiana took a step toward losing their First Amendment rights. Should the bill become law, it would impose severe penalties on peaceful protesters engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience actions at sites considered "critical infrastructure" by Thibaut's bill. In fact, simply planning to take such an action, considered "conspiracy" by HB 727, could be punishable by fees of up to $10,000 and prison sentences as long as 20 years. With the crack of a gavel, Louisiana joined the growing number of states across the nation with similar "critical infrastructure" bills moving swiftly through the courts and onto governors' desks.

A Death In Louisiana’s Cancer Alley Reinforces Small Town’s Fears Of Industry Impacts

April 18, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Educate! Cancer, Industrialization, Louisiana

Sixty-year-old Keith Hunter lived in St. James, Louisiana, for roughly 27 years, and during that time, he watched as the sugarcane farms gave way to oil storage tanks and as a railroad terminal was being built down the road, all visible from his front yard. Hunter was an outspoken critic of the industrialization of his neighborhood. And in a similar fashion as some of his neighbors, Hunter died on February 10 following a respiratory illness. The town of St. James lies in St. James Parish, about 50 miles west of New Orleans. Despite its location along a stretch of Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge known as both the “Petrochemical Corridor” and “Cancer Alley,” St. James remained partially rural until fairly recently. In 2014 the parish adopted a land use plan, which allowed industrial development along the Mississippi River in a portion of St. James known as District 5.

Bayou Bridge Protesters Arrested As Louisiana Advances Bill Toughening Penalties For Pipeline Protests

April 10, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Resist! Louisiana, Pipelines, Protesters Arrested, Protests, Repression

On Thursday, April 5, opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline attempted to shut down its construction by blocking an industrial supply company’s facility in Iowa, Louisiana, just outside of Lake Charles on the same day a bill spelling out harsher penalties for pipeline protesters was advanced to committee during the Louisiana legislative session. For about two hours starting at 6:30 a.m., roughly 20 protesters blocked the entrance to Yak Mat, an industrial yard that supplies access mats used to create temporary roadways at pipeline construction sites and enable trucks to pass through muddy areas. The site is close to the starting point of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, which spans south Louisiana from Lake Charles, near the Texas border, to St. James, along the Mississippi River.

Louisiana And Minnesota Introduce Anti-Protest Bills Amid Fights Over Bayou Bridge And Enbridge Pipelines

April 3, 2018 Alleen Brown and Will Parrish, Theintercept.com Resist! Legislation, Louisiana, Minnesota, Pipelines

THIS WEEK, THE Louisiana House of Representatives introduced new legislation aimed at criminalizing the activities of groups protesting the extraction, burning, and transport of oil and gas. The bill is similar to a model created by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council. Indeed, in the wake of the massive protest movement at Standing Rock, which attempted to prevent completion of the Dakota Access pipeline, at least seven states have introduced or passed “critical infrastructure” legislation. Louisiana’s version comes as opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline have ramped up protest activities in the state, staging occupations and blockades aimed at halting construction of the project. The legislation creates new crimes that would punish groups for “conspiring” to trespass on critical infrastructure sites and prescribes particularly harsh penalties for those whose ideas...

Resistance Born On The Bayou

March 30, 2018 Eleanor Goldfield, Artkillingapathy.com Resist! Louisiana, Pipelines

That morning, three of us woke up early – earlier than most people visiting New Orleans – and drove to a rural area not far from Rayne, LA. A local woman there had asked Cherri to come and monitor the pipeline work being done. We came to assist. The property is long – long enough that it is already home to five pipelines. Yellow marker poles run nearly the entire length, and now mud pits and excavators mark the placement for a sixth pipeline: the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. “I brought a book,” Cherri says, digging through her bag. She pulls out James Baldwin and flips through a few pages before getting pulled back into conversation. She jokes about a recent phone call where a man appeared shocked by her eloquence and depth of knowledge. “What was he expecting?” she says laughing, and adopting a caricatured Native accent.

Appeals Court Reverses Decision Stopping Bayou Bridge Pipeline Work Through Cypress Swamp

March 19, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Resist! Courts, Louisiana, Pipelines

On February 24, U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick, an Obama appointee, granted Earthjustice an injunction in order to prevent irreparable harm to the basin, an environmentally sensitive National Heritage Area, until the group’s lawsuit challenging a U.S Army Corp of Engineers permit for the pipeline could be heard. Earthjustice had filed this lawsuit January 11 on behalf of the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association-West, Gulf Restoration Network, the Waterkeeper Alliance, and the Sierra Club. The suit alleges that the Corps is not enforcing existing permits for oil and gas pipeline companies already operating in the basin, where pipelines, canals, and dredge piles traverse the country’s largest river swamp. According to the suit, the Corps acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in issuing a permit for the Bayou Bridge pipeline.

Bayou Bridge Pipeline Opponents Say Louisiana Governor’s Office Is Surveilling Them

March 16, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Resist! Louisiana, Pipelines, Surveillance

Opponents of the Bayou Bridge pipeline accused Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards of meeting with representative of the oil and gas industry while refusing to meet with activists and communities affected by the pipeline’s construction. They further allege that the administration has instead placed them under surveillance, pointing to similar treatment of Dakota Access pipeline opponents in North Dakota in 2016. Their claims are based in part on emails and other public records released by the state. The activists brought their grievances to the Democratic governor’s home and office on March 1, holding a press conference in front of the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge and then occupying the foyer to his office in the State Capitol for over an hour. “The Bayou Bridge pipeline should be called the John Bel pipeline,” Louisiana Bucket Brigade founder and director Anne Rolfes declared at the press conference.

Federal Judge Halts Bayou Bridge Pipeline Installation

February 28, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Educate! Courts, Louisiana, Pipelines

The Bayou Bridge pipeline will be the last leg of the Dakota Access, carrying oil fracked in North Dakota to Louisiana. The final stretch of the project, if built as proposed, will span 162.5 miles from Lake Charles to St. James, cutting through the Atchafalaya Basin, a national heritage area and the country’s largest swamp. The lawsuit Earthjustice filed in federal court on January 11 against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on behalf of the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association-West, Gulf Restoration Network, the Waterkeeper Alliance, and the Sierra Club, alleges that the Corps acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” when it issued a permit for the pipeline. The plaintiffs were relieved by the judge’s ruling, and look forward to presenting their case in court, which they are confident will show cause to stop any new pipeline from being built until non-complaint companies fix existing problems.

Citizens In Cancer Alley Vow To Ramp Up Battle Against Industrial Pollution In 2018

January 31, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Resist! Cancer, Industrialization, Louisiana, pollution

This past year in Louisiana’s St. John the Baptist Parish, a small group of residents began organizing their community to compel the state to protect them against an invisible menace: the air they breathe. Their parish, the Louisiana equivalent of a county, is situated in what’s known as Cancer Alley, an industrial corridor between Baton Rouge and New Orleans that hosts more than 100 petrochemical factories. At the helm of the battle is the Concerned Citizens of St. John, a diverse group of parish residents pushing back against the area’s historically bad — and worsening — industrial pollution. “One thing we all have in common is a desire for clean air,” the group’s founder, Robert Taylor, told me. Next year, the burgeoning group plans to get political and broaden its reach by banding together with similar groups in the region.

Citizens In Cancer Alley Ramp Up Battle Against Industrial Pollution

January 11, 2018 By Julie Dermansky, Desmogblog.com Resist! Air Pollution, Cancer, Louisiana, pollution

Teacher Handcuffed For Questioning Superintendent’s Raise

January 11, 2018 Nina Golgowski, Huffingtonpost.com Resist! Education, Louisiana, Teachers

Disturbing video taken at a Louisiana school board meeting on Monday shows a teacher being forcefully removed in handcuffs after she questioned a superintendent’s pay raise during a public comment portion. The teacher, who was identified as Deyshia Hargrave in a YouTube video and by a colleague to HuffPost, was called on to speak by a member of the Vermilion Parish School Board on Monday as it voted on the superintendent’s contract — one that would reportedly give him a five-digit pay bump. Hargrave, who is an English language arts teacher at Rene Rost Middle School, according to the school’s website, voiced her concern about superintendent Jerome Puyau’s pay increase, calling it a “slap in the face” to teachers who “work very hard with very little” as their class sizes grow.

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