Karen Savage, an award-winning investigative reporter, did not expect to be arrested as she covered Energy Transfer Partnersโ controversial construction of the Bayou Bridge pipeline through Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin, a river swamp bigger than the Floridaย Everglades.
โWe were on land that the pipeline company doesnโt even claim to have,โ she said, adding that she had permission in writing from the property owner to be there. โI didnโt think there was really any risk atย all.โ
Savage, a freelance reporter who teaches at the City University of New Yorkโs graduate school of journalism, has previously covered the BP oil spill and environmental justice issues. Truthout describes her as โembeddedโ with Lโeau Est La Vie protest camp, which opposes theย pipeline.
She now faces โcritical infrastructureโ trespass charges, as do over half a dozen others recently arrested near Bayou Bridge construction. These felony charges come under a newly minted Louisiana law modeled after โcritical infrastructureโ lawsย in other states, which have beenย criticized asย efforts to criminalize oil and gas pipelineย protests.
Louisianaโs first felony trespass arrests came on August 9, when three people kayaking through waters adjoining Bayou Bridge construction were charged under the new law, according to pipeline opponents who said the kayakers were paddling in public waterways. And three more people were arrested the same day as Savage, according to Truthout.
Early Monday morning, a Bayou Bridge activist who identifies as a โwater protectorโ was tased and arrested after being forced from a โskypod,โ a device similar to the tripods sometimes used in civil disobedience campaigns. That person was charged and held on $10,000 bail, according to a statement put out by localย activists.
Like many who opposed Energy Transfer Partnersโ Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota, Bayou Bridge opponents identify themselves as water protectors. Some of those opposed to Bayou Bridge have engaged in tree-sits as a form of civilย disobedience.
Trespassing Near ‘Criticalย Infrastructure’
Traditionally, trespass charges are relatively low-level crimes often punishable by little more than aย fine.
The law turning trespassing โ if itโs near โcritical infrastructureโย or construction sites for critical infrastructure โ into a felony carrying a sentence of up to five years went into effect on August 1. It specifically amended the Louisiana criminal code to include oil and gas pipelines under the definition of โcritical infrastructure,โ and, when originally proposed,*ย included โconspiracyโ charges to enter or damage these sites with harsh penalties both in terms of prison time andย fines.
Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the Bayou Bridge pipeline, supported the bill elevating โcritical infrastructureโ trespassing to a felony, a local ABC News affiliate reported in April.
Another ALEC Bill Nowย Law
The Louisiana law is similar to a bill pushed nationwide by theย American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate-funded bill mill whose members include oil and gas companies like Chesapeake Energy and Continental Resources. Energy Transfer Partners has twice supported ALECโs annual conferences, according to Sourcewatch.
Part of the reason that trespass charges are rarely serious is that it can be a complex legal issue to sift out who exactly owns a piece of land, especially if ownership is disputed. The owners of land where Bayou Bridge construction is currently underway have said that the company never obtained an easement or seized their property through eminent domain, meaning that they believe the construction isย illegal.
Bayou Bridge opponents predicted that the bill would be used to target their campaigns โ particularly if thereโs a risk of being arrested for a felony even when you reasonably believe you are notย trespassing.
โClearly the purpose is to chill lawful dissent,โ New Orleans-based environmental activist Meg Logue told The Advocate inย April.
Other reports of police misconduct and the blurring of the lines between public officials and private security at Bayou Bridge sites drew a warning from lawyers from three prominent civil liberties organizations in lateย July.
Police stood by while company โ[c]onstruction workers [used] chainsaws on the very trees these individuals are sitting in,โ William P. Quigley, law professor and director of the Loyola Law Clinic;ย Pam Spees, senior staff attorney at Center for Constitutional Rights;ย and Lauren Regan of the Civil Liberties Defense Center wrote in a July 28 letter to Louisianaโs governor. โWe also have reports that various state employees from the Department of Public Safety, Corrections, and Probation and Parole are working as private security in thisย matter.โ
DeSmog has previously reported that legislatures in at least three other states have begun considering laws similar to ALECโs model bill. So far this year, โcritical infrastructureโ bills have passed either the state House or Senate in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. Similar bills have also been introduced in states including Virginia, New York, Ohio, and Minnesota, and Colorado and Washington state have also considered relatedย measures.
*Update 8/24/18: Corrected to note that the final version of the law was amended to drop the conspiracyย charges.
Main image: Signs fromย Lโeau Est La Vie protest campย in Louisiana. Credit: ยฉ2018 Julieย Dermansky
Subscribe to our newsletter
Stay up to date with DeSmog news and alerts