Reporting

Defend Big Bend: Indigenous Resistance to Texas Trans-Pecos Pipeline Growing

On Sunday, November 20, members of Defend Big Bend, the Society of Native Nations, and several tribal groups, marched from the Marfa Mystery Lights Viewing Area outside Marfa, Texas, to the construction site of the Trans-Pecos Pipeline.

The Standing Rock solidarity march targeted Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, the force behind the contentious crude oil Dakota Access Pipeline being fought at Standing Rock and two natural-gas lines in West Texas, and its CEO Kelcy Warren.

Once there, many of those roughly 100 self-described water protectors crossed onto the pipeline easement chanting “Defend Big Bend” to allow members of Kalpulli Ameyaltonal to perform El Cazador, a warrior’s dance in which the hunter makes agreement with the earth for the provisioning of their people.

More actions are planned in the area to continue to resist destructive oil and gas development over sacred sights and to protect limited water supplies and fragile ecosystems across the region.