Northwest Iowa — Protesters attempted to block construction of the Bakken Pipeline, that pipeline that will move crude oil diagonally across several Iowa counties, including Lyon, Sioux, and O’Brien.
Thirty protesters who tried to block access to construction equipment for the Bakken oil pipeline were arrested Wednesday afternoon. More than one-hundred other activists gathered to witness the arrests and show their support. Adam Mason of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement was a protest organizer.
Carolyn Raffensperger of Ames provided free legal advice to the protesters who were arrested.
Raffensperger just returned from North Dakota, where protesters have joined members of the Standing Rock Sioux to try to block construction of the pipeline on tribal lands. Frank Cordaro, a peace activist from Des Moines, conducted a training session for the Iowa protesters Wednesday morning.
Cordaro has been arrested many times for civil disobedience at federal facilities and he’s been sentenced to serve several months in prison on at least eight different occasions. The protesters arrested Wednesday in Boone are being charged with misdemeanor trespassing.
