Oil lobbyist brags about criminalizing gas and oil pipeline protests: leaked audio recording

Marissa Higgins
and
Daily Kos
20 August 2019

Derrick Morgan, senior vice president for federal and regulatory affairs for oil lobby group American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFRM), bragged about how successful the industry has been in pushing anti-protest legislation, as heard in leaked audio obtained by The Intercept. What kind of protests are we talking about? In this case, pipeline protests. And as more states are passing laws to criminalize these protests, this boasting is nothing to brush off.

Oh, and lest you think the AFRM is no big deal, think again. AFRM is a corporate giant that represents many heavy-hitters in the fossil fuel world, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Koch Industries.

As first reported by Lee Fang for The Intercept, you can hear Morgan boasting about the industry’s effectiveness in pushing this legislation while at a conference in D.C. this June.

“We’ve seen a lot of success at the state level, particularly starting with Oklahoma in 2017,” Morgan stated in the leaked audio, in reference to lobbying efforts after the Dakota Access Pipeline protests got national attention in 2016.“We’re up to nine states that have passed laws that are substantially close to the model policy that you have in your pocket.”

Before we get into the laws, let’s do a quick review of what happened (and to an extent, is still happening) at Standing Rock. While there have been many protests, the Dakota Access Pipeline protests got nationwide attention when a Lakota man chained himself to a piece of construction equipment to protest the construction of a pipeline that would not only threaten clean water access but destroy spiritual grounds.

The $3.8 billion oil pipeline was originally approved to span from the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota all the way to southern Illinois, then spanning out to beneath part of Lake Oahe, near Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Yes: It was approved to span four entire states. Yes: This is terrible for both the environment and local communities, especially, though not exclusively, those living in reservations.

You might remember when #NoDAPL went viral on Twitter and Facebook, and people began “checking in” to Standing Rock online in solidarity of the protesters.

In addition to social media movements, people (including more than 200 tribes) traveled from all over to support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s protest. Among other tragedies, a sacred burial site was disturbed by bulldozers. Private security guards used pepper spray and guard dogs to attack protesters. The treatment of protesters—and the trauma the pipeline caused for the planet and the people—was inhumane.

While the Obama administration eventually denied an important permit for the pipeline, the Trump administration overturned that denial just a few months into his tenure as president. Now, oil is booming, and years later, people are still navigating protest-related charges.

But it’s not just Standing Rock. You might be wondering: Which nine states was Morgan referencing in the leaked clip? The answer is Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, South Dakota, Iowa, and North Dakota. While the bills are all a little different, they all have the same goal: criminalizing peaceful protests.

Basically, the laws make it a crime to “trespass” on what is actually public land if it's being used for “critical infrastructure.” From there, at minimum, you risk being fined (sometimes up to $10,000)—and at maximum, you could serve time in prison. This makes protesting a risk for anyone, but especially for people who are routinely targeted by the police to begin with, like Indigenous populations. Disturbingly, in many states, the laws include fines for individuals and groups who support the demonstrations, even if they aren’t literally protesting alongside them. Yikes.

One scary example comes out of Texas. Recently, Gov. Greg Abbot signed legislation into law that punishes anti-pipeline demonstrators with up to 10 years in prison. Yes: 10 years. And corporate executives are bragging about their role in it.