Louisiana pipeline opponents were ticketed and kicked out for trespassing on private property — citations revealed only one of them was even a resident of the state.
On Tuesday, numerous environmental protesters were reprimanded for trespassing on private property while attempting to meddle with pipeline construction equipment in southern Louisiana. After the Jeff Davis Parish Sheriff’s Office responded to a complaint from a nearby landowner that protesters were encroaching on his land, deputies discovered four vehicles on private property, according to The Advertiser. Several environmental protesters were congregating near heavy equipment and “causing a safety hazard for themselves and the construction workers,” authorities said.
The protesters initially lied to law enforcement.
“When we walked out to where the equipment was and explained to them that they were trespassing, they said they had the land owner’s permission. Well, I told them the land owner had contacted us and was on his way there, and he wanted all of them to be arrested on site,” Chief Deputy Chris Ivey stated Wednesday to local media.
“If you’ve been around any of these bulldozers and track hoes that they use to dig trenches with, and that operators moving, all the other workers out there have on lime green or orange reflective vests and hard hats and steel toed safety boots, well some of these protesters had on flip flops and tee shirts. They’re wandering around on this work site,” Ivey went on.
The group was ultimately ticketed and ordered to leave. Almost every one of the protesters were not only from out of town but from out of state, police citations revealed. The individuals came from Texas, Oregon and New York — with only one from Louisiana. A spokesman for the group called themselves “water protectors.”
The out-of-towners were protesting the construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline — a pipeline that will run through the southern part of the state, beginning from Lake Charles, Louis., to St. James, Louis. The new pipeline will make for a more safe and efficient transport of oil than the current reliance of trains and trucks, the company behind the project, Bayou Bridge, LLC, vows.
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