Press release: WIN! Judge throws out DA lawsuit

Our lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Dakota Access’s legal attempt to silence our voices and right to peaceful protest once and for all – and ta federal judge agreed. The SLAPP suit against us has been thrown out!!!Getting the lawsuit thrown out is just one hurdle on the path to victory. But it’s another piece that proves we are in the right. It shows what can happen when lots of everyday folks are fired up, stand together and speak out to put people and planet first!Dakota Access, LLC had sought a preliminary injunction and a restraining order against Bold Iowa, Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, and Bold director Ed Fallon and Iowa CCI policy director Adam Mason, wherein the company aimed to silence our ongoing peaceful, nonviolent direct actions to stop construction of this pipeline that threatens land, water and climate. “This dismissal is one more small victory in our fight to stop Dakota Access and the pipeline,” said Cherie Mortice, Iowa CCI board president. “We’ll continue to use all of the means at our disposal; building a bigger base and moving them to peaceful non-violent action until President Obama steps in and shuts this pipeline down.” “When citizens are attacked by Big Oil for standing up for their property rights and free speech, we win,” said Bold Alliance president Jane Kleeb.

Bold Iowa and Iowa CCI are co-organizers of the “Bakken Pipeline Pledge of Resistance,” which has now been signed by 2,400 citizens, including over 550 who have pledged to risk arrest in acts of peaceful nonviolent civil disobedience to stop construction on the pipeline.To date, nearly 100 citizens have been arrested in Iowa in acts of nonviolent civil disobedience to stop construction on the Dakota Access pipeline.