Water Protectors Charged With Felonies Under Louisiana’s Anti-Protest Law

Photo: Water protectors continue to oppose construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin despite a new state law that criminalizes civil disobedience at pipeline construction sites. Mike Ludwig / Truthout

The Atchafalaya Basin is the nation’s largest river swamp and home to some of the most pristine wetlands in Louisiana, so the frontlines of the fight to stop construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline are only accessible by water.

The sun is beginning to set when a group of Water Protectors pick me up in a small boat and bring me into the basin. Egrets and great blue herons take flight as we glide down the bayou. A bright-eyed fisher waves us down along the way, pulling up beside us to trade a sack of crawfish for some ice from our cooler.

The basin’s iconic groves of bald cypress trees are lush this time of year, but the thick foliage is suddenly interrupted as we approach a pipeline construction site, where large machines used to remove trees sit alongside two fan boats on what is otherwise an empty pile of dirt. This is where the Texas-based oil company Energy Transfer Partners is building the Bayou Bridge Pipeline […]

Full article: Water Protectors Charged With Felonies Under Louisiana’s Anti-Protest Law

More about the Atchafalaya and threatened ecosystems:

The women fighting a pipeline that could destroy precious wildlife

A Tale of Two Basins: Why One is Thriving While the Other is Dying