‘We Have to Fight’: Indigenous Activists Resist Louisiana's Bayou Bridge Pipeline

The same company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline wants to build a crude oil pipeline through the Louisiana wetlands. Energy Transfer Partners says it won’t damage the wetlands.

Indigenous African American and Cajun activists are coming together to resist the construction of a pipeline that would cut directly through the source of their drinking water. “I think we have a right to be free. I think we have a right to make decisions about our land, our water, and our communities,” says activist Cherri Foytlin.

Activists have set up a protest camp made up of floating rafts along the pipeline’s route, and residents have filed a lawsuit against Louisiana for granting a permit to build the pipeline.