UPDATE: Wednesday, 10 pm – We’re working hard to get Matt, Glen and Isabel out of jail.
Thanks so much to everyone who’s donated to Matt, Glen and Isabel’s bail fund! We’ve still got a long way to go, however. Their bail is $65,000 each, which means we need $6,500 each, or $19,500 plus fees to get them out of jail.
Our lawyers are working on getting a bail reduction hearing to argue against this absurd and excessive bail amount.
Demonstrate your support for Glen, Matt, and Isabel, by donating to their legal fund now!
UPDATE: Wednesday: 11 am – Write letters to Isabel, Glen and Matt to help ease their incarceration
Jail is oppressive, dehumanizing, and boring. Your messages of love and support will help lift their spirits.
For Matt and Glen, send to
Inmate’s Full Name (1 per letter: Matt Almonte, or Glen Collins)
C/O Smith County Jail
206 E. Elm
Tyler, Texas 75701
*Note: Letters cannot exceed 12” by 15”. Return address with full name is required. Be mindful that the authorities will likely read your letter. Keep it positive and avoid inflammatory language – otherwise it might not be delivered. As a general rule: if in doubt, leave it out.
To write to Isabel, address to:
Isabel Brooks
PO Box 849
Kaufman, TX 75142
Also, demonstrate your support with a donation to their legal fund.
UPDATE: Tuesday, 9 am – Our friends are being held on a $65,000 bail each.
Our 3 brave friends that barricaded themselves into a mile long section of KXL pipe yesterday are being held on $65,000 bail each. The charges are criminal trespass, resisting arrest, and illegal dumping (between 500-1,000 lbs) all of which are misdemeanors. Our lawyers are working to fight this bail amount.
UPDATE: 8:00 pm Video: Coverage of the action on CBS Channel 19 News
KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports
UPDATE: 6:30 pm – Video: Matt speaks truth to power from inside the KXL pipe
UPDATE: 5:30 pm – Police pulled so hard on the barrel that one of the chains broke
Update from Glen in jail: Police pulled so hard on the barrel that the chain on his wrist broke. Glen doesn’t think anything is broken, but the extent of his injuries has not yet been determined.
UPDATE: 3:00 pm – Charges filed against blockaders
Glen Collins, Matt Almonte, and Isabel Indigo Brooks are all being charged with three misdemeanors: resisting arrest, criminal trespassing and illegal dumping. Show your appreciation for their efforts with a donation to their bail fund!
UPDATE: 1:30 pm – For more photos of the action, visit our Flickr page.
Isabel Indigo Brooks
UPDATE: 1:00 pm – Third blockader arrested
Isabel Indigo Brooks, who was inside the pipe providing assistance for Glen and Matt, has also been removed from the pipe and arrested.
Demonstrate your support with a generous donation to the bail fund for these courageous blockaders.
UPDATE: 12:45 pm – Glen and Matt arrested and loaded into police van
Demonstrate your support with a generous donation to the legal fund for these brave blockaders.
BREAKING: 12:30 pm – Blockaders forcibly extracted from pipe
Police brought an ambulance to the scene and then began pulling on one of the barrels. The crowd surged onto the easement to protect Glen and Matt from this dangerous extraction, but they were chased away by the police. Both barrels and the two blockaders have been removed from the pipe.
Meanwhile, a team of blockaders are stopping a nearby excavator machine from digging the pipeline trench.
Photo Credit: Steven DaSilva, Fredonia Rebel Post, dasilvafoto@gmail.com
UPDATE: 12:05 pm – Two police officers enter the pipe, emerge a few minutes later
Glen and Matt are still locked inside the pipe; the police have been completely unable to extract them but continue to threaten various extraction techniques which would endanger the blockaders’ lives, such as cutting into the pipe.
Join the fight against Keystone XL by coming to our next Mass Action Camp starting on January 3, one month from today!
UPDATE: 11:20 am – Police attempting to block view of pipe and move supporters further from scene
Police have moved several trucks and vans in order to obstruct the view of the pipe in which Glen and Matt are locked. They have threatened arrest and forced supporters off the property immediately adjacent to the pipeline easement, despite the fact that the homeowner gave protesters explicit permission to be in her yard. Police are also forcing protesters to move further along the public road along which they were standing.
Follow the action live on Twitter and Facebook.
Toxic tar sands pipe ready to be installed less than a hundred feet from a home
UPDATE: 10:55 am – Crowd gathers to support blockaders inside Keystone XL pipeline
People driving by the scene are showing their support by honking and stopping to talk to protesters about the dangers of toxic tar sands. Despite threats of violence, spirits are high; the crowd and Glen and Matt are singing together.
Glen inside the KXL pipeline
UPDATE: 10:40 am – Police threaten to lift pipe and dump out Glen and Matt
Police are continuing to threaten tear gas and canine units. They are also saying that they could raise the pipe and dump out the blockaders. Doing so would cause serious harm or even death; Matt and Glen are locked between two barrels of concrete which weigh over six hundred pounds each.
UPDATE: 9:50 am – Officers are threatening to send a police dog into the pipe
Police are saying that they will send a canine unit into the pipe after the protesters. There are no dogs on scene but the police claim that they are having them brought to the scene.
Glen and Matt are wearing respirators to protect themselves from pepper spray and tear gas. East Texas police have regularly used pepper spray on lock downers in past actions.
UPDATE: 9:20 am – Police threaten to use tear gas on peaceful protesters
Several sheriffs are shining flashlights into the pipe and threatening to use tear gas on the people inside. The blockaders are standing strong and remain barricaded inside the pipe. Holding fast to their principles of nonviolent resistance, Matt and Glen respond: “we will not be deterred by threats of violence.”
UPDATE: 9:00 am – Police warn blockaders to leave the pipe or face arrest.
Police are demanding that the blockaders leave the pipe or be arrested. The blockaders refuse to comply.
UPDATE: 8:45 a/m – Sheriffs arrive on site and are consulting with workers and talking into the pipe.
UPDATE: 7:30 am – Workers arrive. Construction is effectively halted.
Twenty-two trucks and over thirty workers are on the scene with nothing to do.
Stop KXL Before It Spills!
WINONA, TX – MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2012 7:30 AM – Several protestors with Tar Sands Blockade sealed themselves inside a section of pipe destined for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline to stop construction of the dangerous project. Using a blockading technique never implemented before, Matt Almonte and Glen Collins locked themselves between two barrels of concrete weighing over six hundred pounds each. Located twenty-five feet into a pipe segment waiting to be laid in the ground, the outer barrel is barricading the pipe’s opening and neither barrel can be moved without risking serious injury to the blockaders.
Matt Almonte
The barricaded section of the pipeline passes through a residential neighborhood in Winona, TX. If TransCanada moves ahead with the trenching and burying of this particular section of pipe, it would run less than a hundred feet from neighboring homes. Tar sands pipelines threaten East Texas communities with their highly toxic contents, which pose a greater risk to human health than conventional crude oil. TransCanada’s existing tar sands pipeline, Keystone XL’s predecessor, has an atrocious safety record, leaking twelve times in its first year of operation.
“TransCanada didn’t bother to ask the people of this neighborhood if they wanted to have millions of gallons of poisonous tar sands pumped through their backyards,” said Almonte, one of the protesters now inside the pipeline. “This multinational corporation has bullied landowners and expropriated homes to fatten its bottom line.”
Recently, over 40 communities worldwide planned actions with Tar Sands Blockade during a week of resistance against extreme energy extraction and its direct connection to the climate crisis. A growing global movement is rising up against the abuses of the fossil fuel industry and its increasingly desperate pursuit of dangerous extraction methods.
“I’m barricading this pipe with Tar Sands Blockade today to say loud and clear to the extraction industry that our communities and the resources we depend on for survival are not collateral damage,” said Collins, another blockader inside the pipe and an organizer with Radical Action for Mountain Peoples Survival (RAMPS) and Mountain Justice, grassroots campaigns in Appalachia working to stop mountaintop removal coal mining.
“This fight in East Texas against tar sands exploitation is one and the same as our fight in the hollers of West Virginia. Dirty energy extraction doesn’t just threaten my home; it threatens the collective future of the planet.”
Glen Collins
“At this late stage, doing nothing is a greater danger than the risks of taking direct action to stop destructive projects like Keystone XL,” said Ron Seifert, a spokesperson for Tar Sands Blockade. “That’s why folks working with groups like RAMPS, the Unist’ot’en Camp fighting a natural gas pipeline in British Columbia and Tar Sands Blockade are willing to use everything including their own hands and feet to ensure we all have a safe climate and healthy, thriving communities.”
Today also marks day 5 of the Houston Hunger Strike in which Gulf Coast activists with Tar Sands Blockade are going without food to demand that Valero divest entirely from the Keystone XL pipeline and invest in the health and wellbeing of the communities it’s poisoning.
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Two People Barricade Themselves Inside Keystone XL Pipe To Halt Construction | Rising Tide North America
December 3, 2012 at 10:59 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Check the live blog for breaking updates and video: http://tarsandsblockade.org/14th-action/ [...]
Police Threaten to Use Tear Gas, Send Dog Into Pipe to Remove Tar Sands Blockaders | BirchIndigo
December 3, 2012 at 11:12 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] to Tar Sands Blockade reports, police threatened to use tear gas at about 9:20 am CST. Sheriffs shined flashlights into the pipe. [...]
Canadian Keystone Protesters Blockade Themselves Inside The Pipeline | TexanPost
December 3, 2012 at 1:35 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Monday two activists protesting the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline blockaded themselves inside the pipeline itself in an unprecedented protest move. The Tar Sands Blockade group has staged a number of [...]
Not on our planet; activists lodge themselves in the KXL Pipeline « ear to earth
December 3, 2012 at 2:16 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] post initially appeared at TarSandsBlockade.org. Click here for live updates. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like [...]
RAMPS Join with TSB to Clog Keystone XL Pipeline « RAMPS
December 3, 2012 at 2:24 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] support the bold fight against the Keystone XL Pipeline. You can follow their struggle on their website and learn more about Glen’s experience on ours as soon as he’s out of [...]
BREAKING! DEC 3- PROTESTORS BARRICADED INSIDE STRETCH OF PIPE DESTINED FOR KEYSTONE XL « Knitting and Sljivovica
December 3, 2012 at 5:41 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] BREAKING! DEC 3- PROTESTORS BARRICADED INSIDE STRETCH OF PIPE DESTINED FOR KEYSTONE XL: [...]
Keystone Protesters Blockaded Themselves Inside Pipeline | The Lonely Conservative
December 3, 2012 at 6:20 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] inside the pipeline.On Monday two activists protesting the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline blockaded themselves inside the pipeline itself in an unprecedented protest move. The Tar Sands Blockade group has staged a number of [...]
Occupy the Tar Sands Pipeline literally | Occupy Portland News
December 3, 2012 at 9:22 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] members of the Tar Sands Blockade have Occupied the pipe itself in an effort to stop the destruction that will result when this [...]
Keystone XL protesters blockade themselves inside pipeline « Occupy The Polls
December 3, 2012 at 9:47 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Also: BREAKING: Two People Barricade Themselves Inside Keystone XL Pipe To Halt Construction – http://tarsandsblockade.org/14th-action/ [...]
Keystone XL protesters blockade themselves inside pipeline « Montana Votes
December 4, 2012 at 3:17 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Monday two activists protesting the expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline blockaded themselves inside the pipeline itself in an unprecedented protest move. The Tar Sands Blockade group has staged a number of [...]
Will you write Isabel a letter? « Occupy The Polls
December 5, 2012 at 1:37 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] more info: http://t.co/C8ZVRkrB and http://tarsandsblockade.org/14th-action/ [...]
Visiting Our Friends in Jail » Tar Sands Blockade
December 10, 2012 at 10:03 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] be heard. Despite the barriers between us, it was a relief to see him all in one piece after being yanked out of a section of the KXL pipe. When I asked how his wrist was doing he told me it was still sore, and that before the chain [...]
Diane Wilson & Bob Lindsey send letter of solidarity to incarcerated Tar Sands Blockaders- Isabel, Matt & Glen » Tar Sands Blockade
December 12, 2012 at 2:45 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] are now enduring their 9th day of incarceration in the Smith County Jail. The impassioned trio barricaded themselves inside a segment of TransCanada’s KXL Pipeline that was cutting through a predominately [...]
Keystone-XL Pipeline: New Battlefield In The Energy Proxy War
December 13, 2012 at 11:38 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Monday, the situation took a headline-grabbing turn when two activists blockaded themselves inside a pipeline in East [...]
Keystone XL: Welcome to the Proxy Energy War
December 13, 2012 at 12:26 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Monday, the situation took a headline-grabbing turn when two activists blockaded themselves inside a pipeline in East [...]
Keystone XL: Welcome to the Proxy Energy War
December 17, 2012 at 10:54 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] Monday, the situation took a headline-grabbing turn when two activists blockaded themselves inside a pipeline in East [...]
Tar Sands Blockaders still in jail, and on hunger strike « Earth First! Newswire
December 19, 2012 at 1:40 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] 20 without food and the three activists who locked down inside the Keystone XL pipe on Dec 3rd are still in jail, facing exorbitant [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Up to the hour news
December 23, 2012 at 11:39 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Finance International
December 23, 2012 at 11:41 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
2013 is likely to be the Most Important Year in Our Lives: LET’S ACT WELL & WISELY | Eslkevin's Blog
December 24, 2012 at 1:12 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] disobedience have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this monthcrawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Finance Assistance
December 24, 2012 at 1:17 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | | DigaNewsDigaNews
December 24, 2012 at 2:19 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Screw Cable
December 24, 2012 at 2:19 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit : Wind And Solar
December 24, 2012 at 2:24 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | WestPenn Journal
December 24, 2012 at 2:42 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | The Bull Report
December 24, 2012 at 2:50 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Best Financial News
December 24, 2012 at 2:59 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Irascible Musings
December 24, 2012 at 3:02 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Elm River Free Press
December 24, 2012 at 3:07 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Breaking News - Ali Office
December 24, 2012 at 3:10 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Political Ration
December 24, 2012 at 3:12 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Top Feeds News
December 24, 2012 at 3:49 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: The Sky’s the Limit | Tiggio Blogs and More
December 24, 2012 at 4:06 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
The Demanding Gifts of 2012 « UKIAH BLOG
December 24, 2012 at 6:19 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Rebecca Solnit: 2013 as Year Zero for us — and our planet — War in Context
December 24, 2012 at 7:46 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
2013 is Year Zero for Climate Change « Rotten Mold Issues
December 26, 2012 at 12:21 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
The Sky’s the Limit | Thought FTW
December 26, 2012 at 12:44 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Addressing global warming: Earth’s New Year’s resolution | Muwaslat
December 26, 2012 at 7:09 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
2013 is Year Zero for Climate Change « The Underground Librarian
December 26, 2012 at 10:42 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
Judge reduces Isabel and Matt’s bail, Isabel free on bond! » Tar Sands Blockade
December 27, 2012 at 2:55 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] and Isabel were arrested on December 3 for barricading themselves inside the Keystone XL pipe. Glen, who was also arrested, was bailed out earlier this [...]
Will the New Year be a profound ‘wake-up’ call? « Learning from Dogs
December 28, 2012 at 2:04 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]
And that gift is now being destroyed for the benefit of a few members of a single species. « Pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie
December 31, 2012 at 9:44 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside [33] a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using [...]
The Sky’s the Limit | "Global Possibilities"
December 31, 2012 at 2:24 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
[...] have been going on continuously since August, including three blockaders who this month crawled inside a length of the three-foot-in-diameter pipeline and refused to leave. People have been using their [...]