0:00

This episode includes instances

0:02

of police violence, harassment,

0:05

racism, and assault. Please

0:08

take care while listening. Mi

0:10

daqui api. Hi hani washtay. Chante

0:13

washtay nape chus api. Ohitika wi miena

0:15

an white hat machi a pi kshto.

0:18

Relatives, I greet you today with

0:20

a heartfelt handshake in my beautiful

0:22

Lakota language. I'm Si-Changul Lakota

0:24

from Rosebud, South Dakota, and a resident

0:26

of the state of Louisiana. As a

0:28

mother, I never intended to get arrested.

0:31

However, on September 18, 2018,

0:33

I was arrested and charged with two

0:35

felony counts under new amendments

0:38

to Louisiana's critical infrastructure law. I

0:40

was facing up to 10 years in prison. I

0:43

was told that I was being arrested for

0:45

trespassing two weeks prior on remote land being

0:47

worked on by the pipeline company in the

0:49

Atchafalaya Basin, despite my having

0:51

the express permission of the landowners to

0:54

peacefully protest there. That

0:56

was Anne Whitehat, testifying last year

0:58

at a congressional subcommittee hearing on

1:01

free speech and the legal assault

1:03

on environmental activists and the First

1:05

Amendment. Anne is a

1:08

co-founder of Loi La Vie,

1:10

Water is Life, a South

1:12

Louisiana resistance camp founded in

1:15

2017 to resist energy transfers

1:17

Bayou Bridge pipeline. Just

1:19

make sure you caught the significance of what she

1:21

was saying there. She and a

1:24

handful of other folks were arrested

1:26

for trespassing and

1:28

assaulted in the process, as you'll

1:30

hear later in this episode. Except

1:34

they had permission to be

1:36

on that land, written permission

1:38

from landowners. But

1:40

someone was trespassing. A

1:43

Louisiana state court later ruled that it

1:45

was in fact the pipeline company that

1:48

was trespassing, yet we were the ones

1:50

brutally assaulted and arrested that day. And

1:52

in the weeks following, by the same

1:54

uniformed sheriff's deputies working privately

1:56

for the pipeline company and

1:59

also by pipeline the burkers themselves. Over

2:01

a dozen of us have for several years

2:04

had the possibility of lengthy prison sentences hanging

2:06

over our heads. This is

2:08

something we've seen over and over

2:10

again while reporting this season. Even

2:13

when a wrongful arrest or

2:15

conviction is ultimately overturned, so much

2:18

damage happens in the meantime. A

2:20

lot of it irreparable. In

2:23

Anne Whitehat's case, she was arrested at

2:25

a boat ramp after leading a

2:27

prayer ceremony. It was

2:30

very stressful to have those charges hanging over

2:32

my head for three years

2:34

and constantly, like, every day wondering

2:37

if they're gonna come knocking on the door to

2:39

take me to jail and having to make plans

2:41

for my children. The

2:43

United States likes to portray itself

2:45

as the land of the free,

2:48

founded on an unshakable belief in

2:50

the right to protest one's government. But

2:53

the reality is often much

2:55

different. In fact, in

2:57

many states, anyone participating in the

2:59

Boston Tea Party today could

3:02

be arrested on felony trespassing. After

3:04

all, ports are considered

3:06

critical infrastructure. Paul

3:08

Revere might be charged with civil

3:10

or even criminal racketeering for conspiring

3:13

against the British. We'll

3:15

learn more about racketeering in an upcoming

3:17

episode, but for now, let's

3:20

go back a few years to

3:22

some of the most pristine, old-growth

3:24

cypress forests deep in the swamps

3:26

of Louisiana, a state with

3:28

a reputation for being particularly cozy with

3:30

the fossil fuel industry. The

3:35

activist group Loy La Vie was founded

3:37

in 2017 by

3:39

four indigenous women to oppose the

3:42

construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline.

3:44

That's the southern leg of the

3:46

Dakota Access Pipeline, or DAPL. It's

3:48

the same pipeline that thousands of

3:50

people were protesting against up

3:52

north at the Standing Rock Sioux Indian

3:54

Reservation in 2016. Bayou

3:58

Bridge had plenty of local opposition.

4:00

The pipeline cuts through more than 700

4:03

bodies of water, including the

4:05

Atchafalaya Basin, the largest river

4:07

swamp in North America, and

4:09

Bayou La Force, the drinking

4:11

water source for the United

4:14

Huma Nation. There

4:16

were contentious public hearings pitting

4:18

industry-aligned speakers against

4:20

craw fishermen, environmental

4:22

organizations, and just everyday

4:25

Louisianaans concerned for nature

4:27

and their drinking water.

4:29

When you're going into something like

4:31

this and you are in an area

4:33

that is hostile to people who

4:35

are trying to protect the environment at sea

4:37

and it's something that's trying, someone who's trying

4:39

to stop progress or to take away jobs,

4:42

it would be foolish to go straight to,

4:45

you know, any kind of direct action. Cherie

4:48

Feutlin is another Loi-Lavi co-founder and

4:50

an indigenous mother of six who

4:53

at the time lived seven miles

4:55

from the pipeline route. We

4:58

went to the governor every week

5:00

for months. We would all show up,

5:02

all the people from these communities, all

5:05

of us, we would be there every Wednesday, I

5:07

think it was, and we would

5:09

have a press conference. We tried to talk to

5:11

the governor. He never talked to us. We did

5:13

get a chance to talk to his underlings

5:15

like they had sent the EQ

5:17

people, Department of Environmental Quality people to talk

5:19

to us and things like that, but we

5:22

never got decision makers. We never got the

5:24

people with the teeth that can make the

5:26

decision. We had public hearings and

5:28

overwhelmingly people said no, they did not want

5:30

this pipeline, but it didn't matter. It got

5:32

approved anyway. What do you do when you

5:36

have exercised every

5:38

bit of the channels that

5:40

they tell you to go

5:42

through in order to accept changing

5:44

your community and find out that it

5:46

is entirely a farce, but

5:48

you don't have the money and the power

5:51

to say that you want

5:53

to protect your community or protect your

5:55

water or even protect your children. Well

5:58

then that leaves you with very little As

8:09

we learned from Connor Gibson in the first

8:11

episode of this season, by this

8:13

time, the fossil fuel industry

8:15

was working hard behind the

8:18

scenes to stifle this kind

8:20

of opposition. With

8:22

the help of the American fuel

8:24

and petrochemical manufacturers, the

8:26

trade group representing refineries, pipelines,

8:28

and petrochemical plants, plus the

8:30

American Legislative Exchange Council, or

8:32

ALEC, which works

8:35

to pass industry-friendly state legislation,

8:37

they were successfully changing

8:39

laws in several states. What

8:43

would have been misdemeanor trespassing

8:45

charges were now felonies, and

8:48

pipelines were designated as critical

8:50

infrastructure. In

8:55

Louisiana, the industry's influence was out in

8:57

the open. The bill

8:59

was drafted by a guy

9:01

named Tyler Gray, an attorney

9:03

with the Louisiana Midcontinental Oil

9:05

and Gas Association, a Louisiana

9:08

trade group for fossil fuel

9:10

companies. When it

9:12

was introduced by state representative Major

9:14

Thabo Jr., Gray sat right next

9:16

to him, answering lawmakers' questions. The

9:20

bill passed and was eventually signed

9:22

into law by Louisiana Governor John

9:24

Bel Edwards. It went into effect

9:27

August 1, 2018. As

9:30

Anne Whitehat pointed out in

9:33

her congressional testimony, it didn't

9:35

just criminalize activists. The

9:37

coordinated attack on our movement also included

9:40

efforts to silence the journalists who risked

9:42

their safety and well-being to tell the

9:44

world about what was happening to us.

9:47

Our reporter, Karen Savage, was one

9:49

of those journalists. She'll be

9:51

here to tell that story and the rest of the

9:53

Bayou Bridge story after this quick break. I'm

9:56

Amy Westervelt and this is Drilled,

9:58

the real free- One

16:00

day in April, I was actually

16:02

kind of bored. I was driving around, there

16:05

was a pipeline site west of the basin

16:07

that I had been told went by

16:09

a historic black church. And

16:12

so it was a Sunday and I said,

16:14

let me drive by and see what this

16:16

looks like. So I went out there

16:18

and I drove by the church and by the time

16:20

I got there, there was nobody around. It was Sunday,

16:22

there was no work happening. There were a

16:24

few cars parked near the church, but nothing

16:26

at all was happening. So I

16:29

drove around the block, but it's rural

16:31

Louisiana. So it was like, the block

16:33

was like a mile on each side. Came

16:36

around the other direction and was

16:38

coming back towards the church parallel

16:40

to the pipeline on

16:42

this little bitty narrow road. Nobody

16:44

else was around, it was peaceful. I'd been

16:46

taking pictures upstairs and it was like the

16:49

golden hour. And I was honestly at that

16:51

point not interested in the pipeline. I had

16:53

a million pictures of pipeline construction sites that

16:55

I already wasn't using. So

16:57

anyway, I was just driving honestly on my way home

17:00

at that point when this car came

17:02

at me on this little narrow road, there were

17:04

deep ditches on both sides. And I thought

17:06

that it was gonna hit me head on. And I'm like, okay, this

17:08

is it. There's nobody around to see

17:11

the crash. So I hope some of these guys survive

17:13

and can call somebody for me. But

17:16

they didn't hit me. They did one

17:18

of those sideways stop things that cars

17:20

do. And I would jump these two guys.

17:23

And I could tell at that point that

17:26

there was some type of law enforcement. It

17:28

was a police type vehicle. And

17:30

they came up to me with their hands like on

17:33

their holsters and demanded, what

17:35

are you doing? Why are you here? Who

17:37

are you working for? And

17:40

I didn't know what to say. I'm here alone with these

17:42

guys. So I just said, okay, what agency are you from?

17:45

And they were just asking me the same questions

17:47

overall or again. At one point

17:49

I said, do you wanna see my license?

17:51

Because I kind of assumed I had like

17:53

not stopped or something. But no,

17:56

they never wanted my license. They ran the

17:58

plate of the car. And

18:00

I know they used police gear because I

18:02

could hear somebody on the other end say,

18:04

yeah, it's a rental from Lafayette. And I

18:06

had just picked up the rental car that

18:08

morning, actually. So, you know,

18:10

this went on for, it seemed like forever because it

18:13

was just me and these guys with guns on

18:15

a little remote Louisiana road. I

18:18

could tell they had a badge and it was

18:20

shaped in the state of Louisiana, but I had no

18:22

idea what agency they were with. They were not

18:24

telling me. I couldn't tell if it

18:26

was parish, if it was state, whatever. So

18:28

eventually I guess they got tired of me.

18:30

They just told me, okay, you need to

18:32

leave now. So they jumped back in their

18:34

car and drove away, you know, kind

18:37

of did a little three point turn and

18:39

went the same direction I was going. So they were ahead of me.

18:42

Luckily I had just gotten a new zoom.

18:45

So I got a picture of the place. And

18:47

when I got back to my computer,

18:49

I messaged a couple of friends and

18:51

finally found somebody who could run the

18:53

plate. And it took a while, but

18:56

the plate came back to the state of Louisiana. So

18:59

I'm like, this is really weird. Why is the department

19:02

of corrections chasing me around near the

19:04

state line? So I did some

19:06

records requests and in

19:09

late June figured out that the

19:11

DOC, Department of Corrections, had

19:13

allowed probation and parole officers to work

19:16

side jobs for the pipeline company. It

19:18

actually gave me a really big break

19:20

in the story. So eventually there was

19:22

other reporting that had happened on it

19:24

and the DOC changed

19:26

their mind and revoked the permission and those

19:28

guys weren't allowed to work anymore, but

19:31

during an interview, the head of

19:33

that agency had told me,

19:35

yeah, I think the St. Martin Parish

19:37

Sheriff's department will be doing the work. So

19:40

I'm like, this is interesting. So I

19:43

did records requests and

19:45

eventually figured out that that was

19:47

true. The deputies were working, got

19:50

the timesheets and could

19:52

piece together based on who I

19:54

saw and had pictures of the

19:56

salon and the swamps on what days that

19:58

almost none of the. that I

20:00

saw in the swamp or near

20:03

protest sites were actually working

20:05

for the parish. In fact,

20:08

almost all of the

20:10

arrests were made by deputies who were

20:12

looking like full deputies. Mind you, they

20:14

had the guns on, they had the uniform,

20:16

they had the, you know, parish-issued

20:19

gear, but they were not working for the parish

20:21

at the time. They were working for the pipeline

20:23

company. At

20:25

one point, the water protectors actually

20:27

won a court injunction. The

20:29

court ruled that the pipeline building

20:31

should stop until some of the

20:33

land rights issues were sorted out.

20:35

Cherie Foytland and other water protectors

20:38

from Loe La Vie took papers

20:40

from the court to the pipeline

20:42

site. The

20:44

police show up, right? And because

20:46

we're there, we're telling them, hey, it's time to

20:48

stop. We give them the paperwork, the court paperwork,

20:50

and the first policeman says, okay, guys, you gotta

20:52

stop. This is a judge's

20:54

order. And another policeman, higher than him,

20:56

said, there's nothing higher than E-T-P-E. I

20:59

did keep, because they were all on the payroll.

21:01

They were getting paid well. They

21:04

came in and said, no, they can keep going, and

21:06

they kicked us out, and I know they're getting out of

21:08

the day. Remember,

21:12

the new critical infrastructure laws were due

21:14

to come into effect in Louisiana in

21:16

just a couple months on August 1,

21:18

2018. And

21:21

as that August 1 date grew closer and

21:23

closer, tension just rose and rose. By

21:26

that time, all of the construction and attempts to

21:28

stop the construction were deep in the swamp.

21:30

And it's gorgeous out there, by far

21:32

the most beautiful places I've ever reported

21:34

from. Sunset, birds,

21:37

trees, if you're out in the water at night,

21:39

all you see is the red eyes of the gators. There

21:42

are armadillos, there are wild boars. It's

21:44

an amazing place, but it's also

21:46

super remote. The only way

21:48

in or out is by boat. There's almost no

21:51

cell phone reception. Contractors on the fan boats. Pipelingers.

21:54

Anybody out there by August 1 certainly

21:56

knew the Sheriff's Department Was working for

21:59

the pipeline company. One. Day a

22:01

guy showed up at the camp site with a

22:03

baseball. He made threats, He assaulted a water protector.

22:05

All. Kinds of presence of going on, A.

22:08

Few days later after that incident, I was

22:10

in a kayak. When. The same individual came

22:12

off in a fan vote and made more. So

22:26

as seem to be pretty well known that

22:29

there would be. No repercussions for

22:31

threatening or assaulting water protectors.

22:33

Over. A nail on the

22:36

night. We are just. Without.

22:38

Do and I seen such as to

22:40

an ability to school he just wait

22:42

and a few days service. Oh yeah

22:44

mistake words it's you know as soon

22:46

as as soon as that law passed

22:48

the were out there sauce not felonies.

22:51

The first felony arrest or only

22:53

a few days after the law

22:55

went into effect. At that point,

22:57

three water protectors were in kayaks

22:59

and they were pulled out of

23:01

the kayaks, handcuffed, drag us into

23:03

a python easement, and then arrested.

23:06

hundred and new felony trespassing law.

23:08

And that was the time period

23:10

when the Department of Questions was

23:12

contracting with. Energy Transfer and

23:14

what you're about to here is

23:16

to Energy Transfer of Contractors directing

23:18

the state employees who are also

23:20

working for the pipeline companies to

23:23

arrest the water for doctors and

23:25

kayak. They were also

23:27

physically trying to prevent me from some. The

24:08

three were the first. To be arrested

24:10

under Louisiana's. New critical infrastructure

24:12

laws, Not long after that the

24:14

conflict moved as you miles down the by

24:16

a own to another. Construction Site on

24:19

private property in the swamp. To.

24:22

This is the land that and White

24:24

had mentioned earlier. were loyal as the

24:26

water protectors. Had written permission to be

24:29

and the pipeline company did not. In

24:31

fact, the property owners had passed lily

24:33

lousy to be there to help them

24:35

because they really didn't want this pipeline

24:37

on their property. Energy

24:40

Transfer didn't have legal permission for.

24:42

Work on that site and the thing that and shingles.

24:44

Suck me as I was a party from there is a thing

24:46

mean. They didn't have permission to be this.

24:48

They knew they didn't have permission to tear

24:50

up the cypress trees or dig a trench

24:53

or pull a pipeline through that property. It

24:55

was clear they knew they filed an eminent

24:57

domain case in the land owners. Wanting to

24:59

prevent the destruction of the land. Actually

25:02

filed for an injunction, a temporary.

25:04

Restraining order to prevent that i

25:06

think symphony from working. A hearing

25:08

for that injunction was coming up in

25:10

September, so there were many ways that

25:13

Energy Transfer knew that they said be

25:15

working out there, But yet they were

25:17

so fucking. And was not

25:19

a situation where it says that when placing

25:21

a loss we have not broken the law

25:24

that that properties are all the as the

25:26

owner have success or or punters. I find

25:28

this of the my. Link and can

25:30

you How cool is that? The

25:33

police are bought and paid for

25:35

by the spoil companies Unsupported. Are

25:37

these systems arrested as anyway? Here's

25:42

how Surrey described in at the time. To

25:44

says just after several people including

25:47

Care and had been arrested on

25:49

that property. Ready

25:51

to spoil your money or in

25:54

his have five percent square. We

25:56

have three. Said happening is on

25:58

that land that. ETP does not

26:00

know that they are illegally doing work

26:02

on. And we are here with permission,

26:05

and the St.

26:07

Martin Parish police

26:09

will not do anything. In

26:11

fact, earlier today, myself and another

26:13

person went to speak with them. We

26:16

were navigating around to three different spots, three

26:19

different locations, finally talked to two deputies. We

26:21

gave them all the paperwork, everything that we

26:23

had to show that ETP was

26:25

not allowed to be here. By

26:27

the time we got back, there was a situation where

26:30

we had four police boats go out

26:32

in front of us loaded with St. Martin Parish

26:34

sheriffs. Why is St. Martin Parish

26:36

criminalizing peaceful water protectors when we are

26:38

the ones who are upholding the law and they

26:40

are the ones supporting the criminals? I

26:44

don't know, man. It feels like I'm off the regime, honestly. Biting

26:47

multi-billion dollar corporations. Something's wrong,

26:49

there's no reason. And

26:51

to tell you the truth, I'd rather be home right now

26:53

with my kids, but I'm not because

26:55

someone has to hold them accountable. Let

27:00

him go! Let

27:04

him go! He's

27:07

back! Let

27:10

him go! He

27:13

let him go! Yes, back. Yes!

27:16

Back. Back up. Back

27:18

up. He's not resisting. He's

27:21

not resisting. He's not resisting. You're

27:24

all trespassing. If you don't want to go, you better

27:26

go. We're not trespassing. We're not trespassing. You are trespassing.

27:30

Fuck. He's

27:33

back. Ah,

27:36

dude. You're taking me.

27:39

Brother, come back. Narya, please

27:41

ask her first. Stop joking

27:44

around. No, don't, don't.

27:47

We need you to come back. We need

27:50

you back. Help. Please don't come

27:52

back. He's back. He's

27:56

back. Ah! Hey,

27:58

you're back. You're back. While.

28:06

Carrying this tape is really horrifying and

28:08

I know we're only hearing a tiny

28:10

snippet of it. Yeah, that

28:13

that was just a brutal. Brutal

28:15

Arrest it was. It was horrible.

28:17

hard to hear. Even to this

28:19

day. Hard to see, you know,

28:21

and after the guys treasury away,

28:23

there were others that. Were coming towards

28:25

where I was standing and were other

28:28

water protectors were standing so everyone started

28:30

to some running. And the opposite direction

28:32

when I ran with the water protectors to

28:34

have thought that was on the other side

28:36

of the property. I was worried they were

28:39

gonna arrest me again because at that point

28:41

I had already been arrested once. but mostly

28:43

I was focused on protecting myself. To be

28:45

honest I remember laying on the both floor

28:47

as we went from the site through the

28:49

biogas was like fifteen twenty minute boat ride

28:52

back to the doctor remember lane on the

28:54

floor with another person who also has some

28:56

some video from that day kind of hiding

28:58

under their so that if we ran across

29:00

pipeline. Or is or security size police

29:03

whatever they were at the time and

29:05

they saw the boat they wouldn't see.

29:07

Me or they would see my camera. Surrey.

29:12

Fleet Lin did get arrested that day.

29:15

Varies arrested hundred for are not properly those

29:17

on for the provide for such a loss

29:20

on the like a game's on. From listen

29:22

to the on the other it's add without why

29:24

they put me into our fire to. Solve

29:26

Israel's founding of us would have

29:28

been five years hard labor in

29:31

Louisiana inactivating way to go and

29:33

look good. So I suffered arts.

29:36

Sure, he was worried that she would be

29:38

seizing. The worst case scenario. Is he

29:40

was convicted. I

29:43

thought that through the chance that our

29:45

favorite says feel fine so it's not

29:47

so long as a series of an

29:49

oil or to me. Being

29:53

a reporter on the scene did not

29:55

help Karen from butting up against Louisiana's

29:58

will. Friendly cops. Are laws. either.

30:01

I ended up being arrested twice, both times

30:03

after the felony trespassing law went into effect.

30:06

One time was on the property where I

30:08

had permission to be. And another

30:10

time a few weeks later at a boat

30:13

ramp where at the same time in White

30:15

Hat was also arrested. And

30:17

we know without second arrest, by that time I

30:19

knew the way from the boat ramp to the jail.

30:21

I'd been there before reporting on other arrests. But

30:24

once they got me into the

30:26

vehicle, instead of going from

30:28

point A to point B, the deputy

30:30

took a really long way around circling

30:32

around these again, tiny little remote gravel

30:34

roads. Now in the middle of the

30:36

sugar cane fields, you know, the sugar

30:38

cane is way up at that point

30:40

in the year. So you know,

30:42

no one can see even that a car

30:45

is coming much less what's happening. It was

30:47

horrifying because you know, you hear all kinds

30:49

of stories about people disappearing in the sugar

30:52

cane fields. And you know, Anne went

30:54

through the same thing, but worse. She described

30:56

how at one point as she was being

30:58

transported, you know, in the same circular fashion,

31:01

another parish police vehicle

31:03

pulled up and

31:06

they had her get out of the first car

31:08

and get into the second car. Now

31:10

just think from it, how horrifying that would have

31:12

been for her. This is a brown woman in

31:14

South Louisiana in the middle of a sugar

31:17

cane field during a battle

31:19

that says heated as this. And

31:21

she's being told to get out of the car like

31:23

that by people that

31:25

she knows are not actually working

31:28

for the parish or protecting her, but

31:30

people who are working and looking out

31:32

for the pipeline company. Lawyer Bill Quigley

31:34

says these are the sorts of tactics

31:36

that become common. When the industry feels

31:39

like the pushback against it is

31:41

starting to work. And

31:44

so when the end is coming and they're desperate,

31:47

they're willing to use the law as

31:50

a means of punishing people for

31:52

their protests, for their speech, for their

31:54

activity that should be

31:56

protected by the First Amendment. And

31:58

they're desperate. And

32:00

they're billionaires. When you have desperate billionaires,

32:03

they're gonna do everything they can and they don't

32:05

worry about what the law says and they don't

32:08

worry that maybe a year from now or two

32:10

years from now or three years from now, some

32:12

judge is gonna say, well, that was

32:14

ridiculous and that was illegal, what you

32:17

did to these people. They're interested in

32:19

now, punishing people now, using the

32:21

law as a tool to punish people

32:23

who have a different opinion and different

32:25

conduct by trying to save the human

32:27

race. Right, right. And I think we

32:29

saw that in Louisiana, remember? How, you know,

32:31

there was a court date in November, but

32:34

they wanted folks out of the way so they could

32:36

get that work done by November because once

32:39

the work is done, you know, how you gonna undo

32:41

it, you know? That's

32:43

absolutely right. Like Pam can talk a

32:45

little bit more about that. Pam

32:48

is Pam Spee's staff attorney at

32:50

the Center for Constitutional Rights. She's

32:53

worked on several cases in support

32:55

of environmental protest, including

32:57

various Bayou Bridge cases with Bill.

33:00

So I think what you're

33:02

talking about, Karen, is their flagrant

33:05

trespass on some really important

33:07

property in the Atchafalaya Basin, where

33:10

the company just made a decision. We

33:12

proved this at trial. They admitted it. They

33:15

made a financial decision to ignore

33:17

the law, which was already so

33:19

favorable to the corporations. You know,

33:22

oil companies, oil pipeline

33:24

companies the power

33:26

of eminent domain. They don't even have to work through

33:28

the state. So the laws

33:30

are already really lost and

33:33

supportive of these companies. And Bayou

33:36

Bridge just decided we're not even

33:38

gonna adhere to the limited

33:40

restrictions we have. We're just

33:42

gonna go out there, start constructing, because it's

33:44

cheaper ultimately to violate the

33:46

laws that apply to us than it is

33:49

to adhere to them and delay things. It

33:51

was a race against time. The ones that,

33:53

you're right. Once they got the pipeline built,

33:55

our only recourse

33:57

is we had won a trial and prevented them from...

34:00

getting the right of expropriation after

34:02

the fact would have been you

34:04

will now have to go dig it up and and

34:06

now almost No judge

34:08

in Louisiana is going to order a pipeline

34:10

company to do that. It is so burdensome

34:13

on Protesters

34:15

to Be

34:17

hauled into court and even in these

34:19

frivolous cases and have to deal with

34:21

those for two three years Until

34:24

they finally Peter all and are

34:26

dismissed and then by then the damage

34:28

is done and these companies know that Right,

34:31

right Yeah I mean just waiting because

34:33

they have what four years from the time

34:36

they arrest you to go ahead and like put

34:38

those charges through Some waiting

34:40

and just wondering, you know, am

34:42

I gonna be in a Louisiana jail

34:44

doing hard labor for five years? You

34:47

know, I was arrested as a reporter. So I wasn't even

34:50

You know, I had no attempt to get arrested

34:52

I stayed where it was supposed to be and

34:55

they just basically didn't want me to

34:57

document what they were doing Around

34:59

the world the fossil fuel industry

35:02

invests a lot of resources into

35:04

building local support for its projects

35:06

and encouraging hostility against its opponents

35:10

Land offenders often face threats not

35:12

only from law enforcement or corporate

35:14

employees, but also from community members

35:17

in South Louisiana That's definitely the

35:19

case The oil and

35:21

gas industry has not only ingrained

35:23

itself in the local culture and

35:25

pushed through new laws criminalizing protest

35:28

It also had local cops

35:30

moonlighting as pipeline security That's

35:33

a combination of factors that made

35:35

for a really dangerous situation. I

35:41

Told into my driveway a young

35:43

woman came running up to me now There's

35:45

a field at the end of our road right there

35:47

and this young woman talked to me and it

35:49

was dark And she said I've

35:51

lost my baby, you know, can you help me?

35:53

Hi, I lost my kid I'm sorry. Yeah, you

35:55

know, I just you know, I have to help

35:57

I do not recognize this person but

36:00

she did have a very like South

36:02

Louisiana accent. So I did

36:04

have reason not to believe her. I got a little bit,

36:06

maybe like a couple hundred dollars

36:09

out into the field and he's got this back to him because

36:11

I kept asking her questions. Is it a boy, is it a

36:13

girl, what am I with a boy? Like, you

36:15

know, how old, you know, things like that. And

36:18

all of a sudden I took a step backwards because

36:20

she was getting farther away and

36:22

almost disappeared when I felt two hands

36:25

push me down from

36:27

behind. And when they pushed me,

36:29

they just started just hitting me.

36:32

At one point one of them was hitting me with a belt, I

36:34

know. And really just kick

36:36

him, honestly. And then I, you

36:38

know, that I have pulled myself a little bit more back

36:40

into the light. We had a street right there, but I

36:42

was out of it at that point. So

36:44

I knew if I got back to the light, I'd

36:47

be safer. And maybe at least someone

36:49

in my area could see. And it

36:51

probably happened very quickly, but it felt long,

36:53

if that makes sense. And yeah,

36:55

by the time I made it back to the light, they

36:59

had disappeared too. And I didn't see them

37:01

again. But I had to put up

37:03

myself up and dust myself off. I

37:05

also had children in that house, you

37:07

know, five of them. And I did not

37:10

want to scare them. I

37:12

did not want what I

37:15

did to affect them as little as possible,

37:17

you know? So I kind of, you know,

37:19

dusted myself off as best I could and I walked

37:21

in the house with my head up. Like nothing was

37:23

wrong. And my little boy said, you know, wow. He

37:26

said, obviously, that's the situation. And I said, oh,

37:28

I just fell down, you know? I locked all

37:31

my doors and I locked all my windows. And

37:33

after that, I got a camera for the, around

37:35

the house and I just ate

37:38

it. You know, we were in the middle

37:40

of a big struggle. In

37:44

her congressional testimony, Anne Whitehat also

37:47

talked about this violence against protesters,

37:49

not just from police, but from

37:51

some members of the public. Escalating

37:54

violence has been used for centuries

37:56

against people who challenge the concentration

37:59

and misuse. power. This is nothing new

38:01

to us. But what we experience

38:03

needs to be recognized by all as a

38:05

coordinated assault on a movement. Indigenous

38:09

people continue to be the first responders

38:11

to the worsening effects of climate crisis.

38:14

Our actions are part of our commitment as caretakers

38:16

of the places we live in. I

38:18

know it's nothing I can do. I mean, the truth of the

38:20

matter is these people are believing in me in every single way.

38:23

And, but I wasn't going to let them intimidate

38:25

me at that point. I was not. I

38:27

just felt like if I struggled, if I

38:30

stopped at that point, then anyone,

38:32

a lot of people who are out there trying to

38:34

do the same thing, which is just to know, would

38:37

have to suffer the same thing because they would

38:39

know it would work. So I kept going. And

38:43

two months later, I was sitting at a Sonic

38:45

and I was getting drinks from my babies and I was getting

38:47

ready to go home. And I was kind of excited because I

38:50

was going to get to spend the rest of the afternoon with

38:52

them. And somebody came up behind me and

38:54

grabbed me from behind. I

38:57

feel if it wasn't a

38:59

knife that they had, then it was some kind

39:01

of metal object. But I didn't know anything.

39:03

And I was pretty terrified. So they

39:05

told me that they were

39:07

going to kill everyone in my, not

39:10

me, they wouldn't kill me. They kill everyone

39:12

in my family and everyone I loved. And

39:14

then they named off a list

39:16

of people that I very few

39:18

people killed. And that was the start

39:20

of it. I couldn't do it.

39:23

I got my kids out of there. And we went

39:25

somewhere else. It was

39:27

for those reasons that three of those

39:30

arrested on felony charges and White Hat,

39:32

Ramon Mejia and Karen Savage,

39:35

along with a dozen other

39:37

organizations and individuals filed a

39:39

lawsuit in 2019 to challenge

39:41

the constitutionality of that law.

39:45

Pam Spees and Bill Quigley represented them. The

39:50

lawsuit was challenging the 2018 amendments

39:52

that the Louisiana legislature passed, which

39:55

added pipelines to the definition of

39:57

critical infrastructure. And

40:00

we brought this to challenge the

40:03

constitutionality of the amendment. And

40:06

one of the problems with the way

40:08

these pipelines were added into the definition

40:10

of critical infrastructure is that Louisiana has

40:12

well over 125,000 miles of pulp lawns.

40:18

The law wasn't limited to oil and

40:20

gas. It was any kind of pipeline. Water

40:22

pipelines, right? So then you add that and

40:24

you just turn vast, vast

40:27

swaths of territory in Louisiana

40:30

into critical infrastructure. And it

40:32

didn't specify in any way

40:35

areas around pipelines. So one problem right

40:37

off the bat was that it was

40:39

unconstitutionally vague. And then you add the

40:42

first amendment concerns into it and it

40:44

becomes just very clear

40:46

why this is such a problem. And

40:49

then we were into discovery and we got

40:51

to take depositions of some of these deputies

40:54

who were being employed by

40:56

the pipeline company who

40:58

disagreed even among themselves how

41:00

to figure out when and where this

41:03

law applied. It's, you know, and

41:05

just really showed what a huge loss these

41:07

amendments created. Unfortunately, the

41:10

judge ruled against this. He

41:12

found that he didn't think that

41:14

it violated the first amendment. And

41:17

so we have filed a motion to reconsider

41:19

and we're waiting on that ruling and

41:21

we're hopeful, you know, if maybe we

41:23

can change this judge's mind. If not,

41:26

I think we feel we have

41:28

a really strong case to make an appeal, but

41:30

the case is still very much in play. From

41:33

a national perspective, a win in

41:35

Louisiana, which like we've heard is

41:37

a conservative friend of the fossil fuel

41:39

industry, would send a strong

41:41

message to states considering such laws. It

41:44

could even push states that have already

41:46

enacted them to reconsider. While

41:49

the constitutional case is in play, the

41:51

state has since dropped its charges

41:53

against the protesters. And

41:56

none of those charges went through.

41:58

Not a single fella. charge from

42:00

that critical infrastructure that I went through. And you

42:02

think about the charges, you think about what it

42:05

costs to put us in jail, you think about

42:07

what it costs to do all that, to the

42:09

state, to the city itself. And

42:14

these officers, they got a few more bucks

42:16

for a while, but I mean,

42:18

was it worth it? They drink that water too. The

42:22

state court also ruled that it

42:24

was the pipeline company that had

42:27

been trespassing all along. This

42:29

is what Loewe LaVeie had been arguing the

42:31

whole time and why the landowners had

42:34

involved them in the first place. And

42:37

yet, the pipeline company faced

42:39

a very minor fine and

42:41

no jail time, unlike the

42:43

water protectors. The penalty

42:45

for destroying private property for corporate

42:47

gain? A whopping $450 fine. $150 for

42:49

each of the landowners who filed a

42:55

fine suit. Those landowners appealed and the higher

42:57

court later upped the fine to $10,000 plus

43:01

attorney's fees. For

43:03

context, Energy Transfer has said

43:06

the pipeline is capable of

43:09

moving 480,000 barrels of oil per

43:11

day. At today's oil prices,

43:13

that's roughly $43.2 million

43:16

worth of oil running through their

43:18

land every single day. Completed

43:21

in 2019, the Bayou Bridge

43:23

Pipeline now transports oil from the

43:25

north to refineries in St.

43:27

James Parish and nearby export

43:29

terminals. And yep, you guessed

43:31

it. Those are predominantly African-American

43:34

communities located in what's referred to

43:36

as Cancer Alley because the area

43:38

is home to so many

43:40

refineries and petrochemical plants. Even

43:44

though the pipeline was eventually built, the

43:46

way Cherie looks at it, Loewe LaVeie

43:49

was still a success. For

43:51

one thing, they were able to buy some

43:53

land that was the home base for the

43:55

pipeline resistance fight. And they turned that land

43:57

into what they call a food forest. with

44:00

banana trees, turmeric, meringue, and all

44:02

sorts of plants and veggies that

44:04

they give out to the community.

44:09

So yeah, that pipeline went through. But

44:11

I tell you what, we sold a

44:13

lot of people, and we

44:15

have that property now that's now a bi-youthly

44:18

forest, and we're replanting after hurricanes

44:20

come through, we're planting with fruit

44:22

trees. We had inspired

44:24

many, many people to make change,

44:27

and to know that they

44:29

can stand up, and even

44:31

under great oppression, under great

44:33

pushback like that, that there

44:36

is a reason to do that. So I

44:40

will never not count Lole Law B as

44:42

a win, and I will never say to

44:44

those people that intimidated us, or had to

44:46

make those laws to try to take this,

44:48

or whatever, that they won. Because

44:51

I don't know what

44:53

winning is until it's over,

44:56

and it's far from over. You

44:59

know? You'll remember I talked about

45:01

the, I fished the musical on the

45:03

easement, and how the oil workers had

45:05

cracked? In case you missed that, that's

45:08

Crawfish the Musical, which you heard

45:10

some tape from earlier in this

45:12

episode. I

45:21

was reading an article, and it was about this new solar company

45:23

that was coming in, and

45:31

in the article, the person had said that they

45:33

used to be an oil worker, that

45:35

they had been at a protest, and they

45:38

had seen a musical

45:40

about Crawfish, and it

45:42

had changed their perspective because they thought

45:44

it was such a creative thing to

45:46

do, and they started a solar power

45:49

company that was retraining oil workers. I

45:52

had no idea that that happened. We did not

45:54

plan for that to happen. But the

45:56

truth of the matter is, any time you

45:58

do good things on this edge, or voice it, the state

46:00

of righteousness period, it is going to reverberate

46:02

into the world. I think that it's up

46:05

to each generation to decide what it is

46:07

that they will demand for the next generation.

46:10

I think that we demand more,

46:12

and I think that those children and

46:14

grandchildren and grandchildren deserve more. I

46:17

guess that's it. Don't let them

46:20

do it. I

46:24

want stronger than we think, more powerful than we

46:26

think, and if we weren't, then they wouldn't go

46:28

after us like this. They have to use the

46:30

law to go after us. They have to try

46:33

to push us down, try to steer us, try

46:35

to do that, because they know that we are

46:37

much more powerful than they are.

46:40

And together we can make that change, but we've

46:42

got to sit down and protect what we already

46:44

have. We have to do that. And we need

46:46

to do it like right now. Right now.

46:51

That's it for this time. Big thanks

46:54

to Karen for bringing us this story.

46:56

She'll be back on upcoming episodes about

46:58

what it looks like to see protests

47:00

criminalized in the U.S. We'll

47:03

be leaving the country again in some upcoming

47:05

episodes, so make sure to come back for

47:07

those. Jilled is an original Critical

47:09

Frequency production. This episode was

47:11

written and reported by me, Karen Savage. Our

47:14

senior editor for this season is Aline

47:16

Brown. This episode was also edited

47:18

by Sarah Ventry. Our senior

47:20

producer is Martin Zaltz-Ostwick, who also does

47:23

our sound design and composed most of

47:25

the music in this episode. Mixing

47:27

and mastering by Peter Duff, who also composed

47:29

some of the music in this episode. Our

47:32

theme song is Burt in the Hand by Four

47:34

Known. Fact checking by Rudan

47:36

Yan. Our artwork is by

47:38

Matt Fleming. Our first amendment attorney

47:40

is James Wheaton. This show

47:42

was created by Amy Westervelt, who also

47:44

co-hosted this episode. You can

47:47

find related videos, photos, and print stories for

47:49

this series, along with all the documentation that

47:51

we have to go along with the series

47:53

at drilled.media. You can also sign up

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week. It's never more than 10

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