Bold Iowa Responds to Dakota Access Motion for Restraining Order Against Bold Iowa, Director Ed Fallon Aimed at Silencing Peaceful Pipeline Protests

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 29, 2016

Contact:
Ed Fallon, Bold Iowa: 515-238-6404, [email protected]
Jane Kleeb, Bold Alliance: 402-705-3622, [email protected]

Bold Iowa Responds to Dakota Access Motion for Restraining Order Against Bold Iowa, Director Ed Fallon Aimed at Silencing Peaceful Pipeline Protests

Pipeline company seeks to preempt First Amendment speech, pipeline protests organized by Ed Fallon, Bold Iowa and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement

Des Moines — Bold Iowa issues the following statement in response to the unprecedented action by pipeline company Dakota Access today to seek a restraining order against our organization and director Ed Fallon, which recently announced plans to conduct peaceful, nonviolent protests against the company’s proposed Bakken Pipeline project that would traverse the state of Iowa and endanger our land, water and climate:

“For Dakota Access to imply that I was involved with arson is borderline libelous,” said Ed Fallon, Bold Iowa state director. “My life-long commitment to nonviolence and the ideals of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi are well-known in Iowa. I’m not going to be bullied by a big corporation that has forced this pipeline on landowners who just want to farm and enjoy their land and property.”

“Citizens are protecting property rights and water supplies from a risky and unnecessary pipeline. We live in the United States where Big Oil does not get to restrict our freedom of speech or the right to assemble. Basic American rights,” said Bold Alliance president Jane Kleeb.

More than 1,200 citizens have signed the “Bakken Pipeline Pledge of Resistance,” organized by Bold Iowa and partners Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI), CREDO Action, and the local group 100 Grannies for a Livable Future — with hundreds committing to participate in acts of peaceful, nonviolent civil disobedience aimed at sending the message to Pres. Obama to revoke Army Corps permits and halt construction of the Bakken Pipeline.

(View the Bakken Pledge of Resistance here: http://bit.ly/bakkenpledge)

The first action planned under the Bakken Pledge of Resistance is scheduled to take place on Wednesday at an undisclosed location, following a nonviolence training for participants conducted in the morning in Pilot Mound, Iowa. 

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