By Becky Gillette – If you look around at environmental meetings in Eureka Springs and beyond, one thing is missing: young people. Perhaps they are too busy working three jobs to survive while raising families. But now young people inspired in part by the Dakota Pipeline protest in North Dakota, have organized a branch of Arkansas Water Guardians, called Arkansas Rising, working with other groups to focus on direct action opposing the Diamond Pipeline. DP is proposed to transport crude oil from Cushing, Okla., through Arkansas to Memphis, Tenn.
Kearia Perry, 24, the owner of Little D’s Crystal Mine in the Gaskin Switch Shopping Center, said she decided it is time to get involved after years of talking about protecting the environment. She was inspired by the work of her friend, Simon Cummings, who quit his job in Eureka Springs to join the effort to protect the environment from the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.
“Seeing someone who was so dedicated to a job and security throw that away and go up there was pretty inspiring,” Perry said. “Everyone at Standing Rock led the way and put it into perspective. They showed it is realistic for all of us to stand up and say, ‘no,’ and make things the way they should be done instead of the way they have been done the past couple of decades.
“There has been plenty of sitting around and complaining about how things like this Diamond Pipeline are destroying the earth, but before now there have never been enough people standing together. Personally, I never tried to engage or be an activist in a cause until now. I was always outdoorsy and adventurous, and now Standing Rock has had a lot to do with my getting involved in Arkansas.
“It is really important that a lot of young people get involved fighting for our children and grandchildren to sustain the type of environment we grew up in,” she said. “We don’t want to see it get any worse. We have a very good chance of stopping this.”
Arkansas Rising is described on its Facebook page as “a collective of guardians protecting the natural state against the Diamond Pipeline through civil disobedience.”
“I went to an auction fundraiser in Fayetteville, and asked, ‘What can I do? Put me to work’,” Perry said. “I was asked to organize a branch of Arkansas Rising for Eureka Springs. We just wanted to do our part. Jan Schaper and Zackery Scheurich are two key people working on this issue. We are so drawn to the cause. The more you research it, the worse it looks for all the flaws with the pipeline that could leak and destroy Arkansas.”
A group of about 50 primarily young members of Arkansas Rising held a protest in Fayetteville Dec. 10. Perry said the group has regular calls to discuss actions.
Perry, who has a two-year-old daughter, Dicia, said some of those involved are single mothers like her who can’t afford jail time because of parenting responsibilities.
“There are people who do want to attach themselves to equipment, putting themselves physically in the way of the project,” Perry said. “We aren’t asking people to put themselves in harm’s way and go to jail. There are people who are willing to do that, it is that important.”
It is a lot different situation than Standing Rock where there was one main campsite. In Arkansas, there are different groups spread along the route, and most of the land is private. She said a decision has been made to focus on four or five water crossings.
“We are doing research on those individual counties and figuring out where a large mass of people can stand without all of us getting arrested,” Perry said.
Perry is soliciting donations for a silent auction at Caribé on Jan. 26 to raise money to stop the pipeline, including support for a legal challenge and legal and educational support for non-violent action. Anyone with items to donate can drop them off at her shop in Gaskin Switch [US62E] Thursdays through Mondays, or can arrange a donation by calling her at (615) 939-5943. She is also planning a concert fundraiser headlined by Mountain Sprout at Chelsea’s in mid-February.
Meanwhile, she continues to spend a lot of time learning about the project. “I’m educating myself about it every single day, which increases confidence in myself and my stance,” she said. “About 88 percent of faulty pipes reported due to expansion anomalies have been with Welspun pipe. The way they make the pipes folding layers of steel over each other and the putting a seam down the pipe is really quite absurd. That is a 440-mile seam. It is not going to be double or tripled seamed.”
The pipeline would go under the White River, Arkansas River, Illinois Bayou, St. Francis River and the Mississippi River. Perry said constructors have no intention of doing any environmental impact studies on those major water crossings.
“That is probably going to be our biggest legal battle,” Perry said. “If we can force them to do environmental impact studies, we can probably close it down. Every day we stall costs the Plains All American Company money. That is where we are going with direct action, trying to stall as long as possible.”
She said the company has already cut a lot of corners trying to get the $900-million project built. As a result, they are building it cheaply.
The pipeline doesn’t come near Eureka, but Perry said there is good reason to be involved anyhow.
“It would be selfish to say, ‘It is below us so I don’t care about it’,” she said. “It is all Arkansas. Arkansas is the Natural State. In Arkansas, land and rivers are our culture. It is really important that we protect that. I want my baby to be able to swim and fish in these rivers, and above all to be able to drink clean water.”