Dear Friends,
Christine Sheller and Arlo blocking construction equipment during a BAT action last fall.
The Dakota Access pipeline isn’t finished. Tomorrow, here in Iowa, we’ll continue to stand with our allies at Standing Rock and with Iowa farmers, landowners, Native communities and environmentalists who have fought Dakota Access every step of the way. Public officials and businesses who’ve supported the pipeline need to hear that a 30-inch pipe carrying 570,000 barrels of oil a day is wrong for Iowa and wrong for our planet. Those who helped bring this catastrophe to our fields and waters need to know that we’re not done fighting.
So, if you haven’t yet signed up for a BAT tomorrow — Wednesday, February 21 — it’s not too late. Just respond to this message and we’ll hook you up with someone in your area leading an action. Here’s more detail, in the form of the press release we sent out this morning. (You can read the original release posted on the Bold Iowa website.)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Contact: Ed Fallon, Bold Iowa Director, (515) 238-6404 or ed@boldiowa.org
Bold Action Teams (BATs) to Occupy Offices
In at least 10 cities, teams of Iowa pipeline fighters, some risking arrest, will occupy offices of politicians and banks that have supported the Dakota Access pipeline
Des Moines, IA — On Wednesday, Feb. 22 throughout the day during business hours, Bold Action Teams (BATs) will mobilize for a DAPL Day of Direct Action across Iowa, targeting officials and businesses that have aided and abetted construction of the Dakota Access pipeline. Cities where actions will occur include Ames, Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Des Moines, Fort Dodge, Grinnell, Iowa City, Newton, Sioux City and Omaha, Nebraska. Some cities will see multiple teams and actions at several locations.
“The Dakota Access pipeline isn’t finished,” said Bold Iowa director, Ed Fallon. “Here in Iowa, we continue to stand with our allies at Standing Rock and with Iowa farmers, landowners, Native communities and environmentalists who have fought Dakota Access every step of the way. Public officials and businesses who’ve supported it need to hear that this pipeline is wrong for Iowa and wrong for our planet. And they need to know that we’re not done fighting.”
Bold Iowa’s BATs were formed last fall to stop construction of the Dakota Access pipeline at targeted locations across the state. Teams of five people mobilized repeatedly, preventing construction equipment from working up until the point where BATs were threatened with arrest. On one day in Calhoun County, BATs were able to stop construction for 7 – 8 hours.
As further evidence of the effectiveness of Bold’s BAT approach to protesting the pipeline, DAPL’s attorney, Bret Dublinske, wrote to the Iowa Utilities Board on December 19, 2016 that Dakota Access had been unable to finish work on the pipeline in 2016, “due to the 90 day regulatory delay from March 10, 2016 until June 7, 2016, as well as several incidents of trespassers interfering with construction work.”
“We know this approach worked to slow down construction of the pipeline,” continued Fallon. “Now we’ll see how well it works to disrupt business-as-usual for the politicians who backed the pipeline and the banks that financed it.”
Bold Iowa is part of the Bold Alliance, building a coalition of small-and-mighty groups in rural states to fight Big Oil, protect landowners against the abuse of eminent domain, and work for clean energy solutions while empowering a political base of voters who care about the land and water.
# # #