Protesters Chain Necks to Trucks to Protest Enbidge Pipeline Expansion

Two protesters with Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands caused trucks to back up at the Precision Pipeline truck yard after chaining their necks to one of the vehicles. (Photo submitted)

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Two protesters chained themselves s to a pipeline construction truck in Oxford Monday morning to protest against expansion of the Enbridge Line 6B pipeline were taken into custody.

Duncan Tarr, 20, and Dylan Ochala-Gorka, 22, organizers with a group called the Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MiCATS), spent most of Monday in the Oakland County Jail. They used bicycle U-locks to chain their necks to a Precision Pipeline truck yard at 3565, causing a backup of trucks and blocking their route to construction sites, The Daily Tribune reports.

They were released on personal bonds, the report said.

The group opposes further expansion of Alberta, Canada-based Enbridge pipeline near Oxford, citing the environmental catastrophe that resulted in 2010 when the line ruptured. More than 1 million gallons of toxic tar sands and diluents spilled into Talmadge Creek, affecting 40 miles of the Kalamazoo River.

The protest is the second by the MiCATS group in a month. Last month, Jacob McGraw and Alan Smith were arrested while picketing near the pipeline site on the four-year anniversary of the Kalamazoo spill.

In a statement, Tarr, of Grand Rapids, and Ochala-Gorka, of Livonia, explained their reasons for civil disobedience.

“At one time there were woods that no one owned. Now our planet has been bought up, torn apart, and exploited for the profit of a few,” Tarr said. “ My act of defiance is an act against this machine, meant to slow and halt its destruction, and protect the Earth.”

“It is those who profit from the exploitation of environment and people who need the healing and love the most,” Ochala-Gorka said. “If putting my body between big oil and profits is necessary, I will continue to stand up between them and their meaningless money.”