Tomorrow, Texas environmentalists plan to hold a direct action protest training in San Antonio. Past direct action protests by Texas environmentalists have included 19 arrests in West Texas in protest of the Trans-Pecos pipeline.
Friday’s training comes not long after Big Bend Defense Coalition leader Mark Glover called for more Texas environmentalists to intentionally get arrested because “it brings attention” to their protests. Glover was one of the 19 arrests during the Trans-Pecos pipeline protests in West Texas, being charged with criminal trespassing after he locked himself to pipeline construction equipment.
Glover’s wife, Texas Sierra Club’s Lori Glover, was arrested twice for trespassing while locking herself to pipeline construction equipment during the protests in 2016 and 2017. More recently, she has been lobbying against bills proposed in the Texas legislature that would increase the penalty for those who similarly endanger themselves and workers on critical infrastructure sites by trespassing, stating that fines and jail time for trespassing on such sites constitutes cruel and unusual punishment:
“The proportion of the punishment to the actual inconvenience [to the company], the misconduct, is already outrageous. With this new bill, it really becomes a violation of the Eighth Amendment.”
While Texas legislators seek ensure that those who intentionally endanger critical infrastructure face a proper punishment, Texas environmentalist have consistently praised criminal activity. Texas Sierra Club Director Reggie James has described Lori Glover as a “super hero” for her arrests and in the summer of 2017, she was recognized with the Texas Sierra Club’s Chapter Conservation Award following her criminal actions.
