Pre-hearing Rally at 5 p.m. will feature landowners on proposed pipeline route, fishermen, and citizens opposed to Bayou Bridge pipeline from across the state and countryNapoleonville, La.” On Wednesday, concerned citizens opposed to Energy Transfer Partners’ proposed Bayou Bridge pipeline will show up in force at a public hearing held by the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources.The proposed Bayou Bridge project is an extension of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The 160-mile pipeline would run through eleven parishes, from Lake Charles to St. James, cutting across 600 acres of wetlands, 700 bodies of water, and risking Bayou Lafourche, the drinking water for 300,000 people in four coastal parishes.A coalition of local grassroots groups will host a rally at 5:00 p.m. outside of the hearing hundreds are expected to attend. Speakers will include landowners on the proposed pipeline route, fishermen whose livelihoods are affected by oil spills and climate change, and citizens opposed to the pipeline for a variety of concerns.WHAT:Rally + Citizen Testimony at Bayou Bridge Pipeline Public HearingWHEN:Wednesday, February 8- 5:00 p.m: RALLY- 6:00 p.m: Public Hearing beginsWHERE:Assumption Parish Community CenterDETAILS:More informationhere.This is the second public hearing for the pipeline. At the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hearing in January, over 400 people attended in opposition to the project.”Article IX of the Louisiana State Constitution is crystal clear: ‘The natural resources of the state, including air and water, and the healthful, scenic, historic, and esthetic quality of the environment shall be protected, conserved, and replenished insofar as possible and consistent with the health, safety, and welfare of the people,'” saidCherri Foytlin, state director of Bold Louisiana.”This writing was, and is, a love letter to the people of Louisiana. The authors felt so strongly that our air and water should be protected, that they wrote it into the supreme law of our state. The Bayou Bridge pipeline is a denial of their intention. It endangers our water, our lands, our people’s livelihoods. We must not sell our legacy so cheaply to those whose only interest is their profits, even over our lives and legacy.””It’s a bad permit application. The companies building this pipeline, Energy Transfer Partner and Sunoco Logistics, want to construct this pipeline through our wetlands instead of under them. They don’t want to build the pipeline safely – they want to build it cheaply,” saidScott Eustis of Gulf Restoration Network.”We deserve the best. Louisiana Department of Natural Resources must deny this permit.” “Our Atchafalaya Basin is already damaged by existing pipelines, and our state has no business permitting another pipeline,” saidAnne Rolfes of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade.”The fight over the Bayou Bridge Pipeline represents an opportunity for Louisiana. We can pivot from a dirty, destructive oil industry to renewable energy sources that provide safe jobs.” # # #
