How Low Will Energy Transfer Partners Go When It Comes to Threatening Water Protectors?

Last week, 63-year-old retired school teacher and grandmother Ellen Gerhart was sentenced to 2-6 months in a Pennsylvania jail because Sunoco, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP), claimed she had interfered with construction on her property — land that was seized by the company via eminent domain for the Mariner East 2 project. This is a scheme which, after a lengthy legal battle, allowed the company to take it against her wishes to build its pipeline.

What is striking about this case is not only the bizarre allegations leveled against Gerhart by ETP — that she purposely baited bears onto the site to threaten construction workers — but that the jail authorities thought her such a threat they held her in solitary confinement for most of the week between her arrest and sentencing. It should be noted that this came on the heels of a 4,000 gallons spill of drilling fluid by ETP on her property, threatening the family’s drinking water, which was exactly what her objections and historical evidence had predicted would happen.

“Energy Transfer Partners is yet again fabricating charges against my mom in attempt to silence her. Look at who has actually inflicted damage here: ETP has poisoned dozens of families’ wells across the state, spilled over 100 times, and harassed and intimidated anyone who opposes them.” — Elise Gerhart, Ellen’s daughter, in a written statement after the sentencing

This is just one of many grim events that have occurred during the #RiseTogether Weeks of Action, a series of solidarity and resistance efforts against pipelines and the banks that fund them all across the U.S. As we’ve documented before, ETP has shown a real predilection for using a vast swath of unethical and inappropriate tactics against those that stand up to its pipelines to protect water, farmland, and Indigenous rights. So while it was hardly surprising that ETP is yet again employing such egregious methods, what is shocking is how the company’s pursuits are becoming even more dangerous, and are being used with greater frequency.

How bad has it gotten, you ask? L’eau Est la Vie Camp, the group fighting against the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in Louisiana, has been facing escalating threats and physical attacks from ETP’s private security firm tasked with monitoring the pipeline construction. Footage shows activists being ripped from their kayaks, while another was assaulted with the butt of a rifle. Here’s what the Water Protectors at L’eau Est la Vie Camp have been facing in the last week alone:

Aug 9th, 2018:

On the morning of August 9th, three kayaktivists were abducted by ETP’s private security and subsequently arrested while protecting some of that last untouched swamp in the Atchafalaya Basin.

The Water Protectors were breaking no laws as they were using their kayaks in navigable public waters, a protected right in Louisiana. Moreover, corporate private security should not have the power to abduct and detain people.

 

Aug 6th, 2018:

In one of the more terrifying situations faced this week, an ETP contractor began threatening Water Protectors on kayaks. Days later, the same contractor returned with multiple guns, aimed a shotgun at Water Protectors and used the butt of the shotgun to physically assault one of them. The video below is audio from the first altercation with the activists:

 

Aug 4th, 2018:

Two men from ETP’s private security began cutting extremely close to tree sitters in the path of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline. Both men were directly threatening the lives of activists who were putting their bodies on the line to stop this pipeline:

 

If one thing is abundantly clear, it’s that ETP will literally stop at nothing to get its pipelines built — as quickly as possible and with little concern for laws or the communities in its wake. These increasingly heinous tactics are yet another reminder of why we must put a stop to these pipelines, continuing to push back against one of the greatest threats to our environment. Frankly, local communities shouldn’t have to spend their days fighting for their land while having guns pointed at them, or assaulted while peacefully protesting. We all know in our bones how absolutely unacceptable this is.

Enough is enough.

Please help amplify these stories to your community and continue to stand in solidarity with all those who have been forced to put their lives on the line to protect their water, land, and fundamental rights. Tell banks like JPMorgan Chase that it is time to stop providing financial support to companies like ETP — who have proven time and again that its record on human rights is utterly shameful.