The No Bayou Bridge coalition is launching a 2018 Year of Prayer for Cancer Alley, starting with an opening service on Saturday, January 27th, at the Mount Calvary Baptist Church  St. James, LA.  Faith communities can sign up to be a Year of Prayer Partner, receiving resources and a toolkit in the coming weeks.

No Bayou Bridge is a broad coalition of community members and climate justice organizations in Louisiana coming together to oppose another pipeline project by Energy Transfer Partners, the company responsible for the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and the violence against Earth and water protectors that occurred last year in order to install DAPL.

The Bayou Bridge Pipeline includes a repurposed pipeline already in operation from Nederland, Texas, to Lake Charles, Louisiana. New construction, which has just begun, will install pipeline between Lake Charles and St. James, Louisiana. Opponents to the project are concerned about impacts on wetlands, drinking water, the climate, and the many Louisiana communities already heavily inundated with cancerous industrial pollution. L’eau est La Vie Camp has established to directly oppose the pipeline construction.

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What’s Cancer Alley?

“Cancer Alley” refers to a 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River inbetween Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana, where communities are surrounded by around 150 chemical plants and refineries. Here are three videos to give you context about existing environmental injustices in the communities that the Bayou Bridge Pipeline will cross through:

Here are first-person stories from residents of St. James, the end-point of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline:

UU Ministry for Earth recognizes that environmental justice is fundamental to upholding the worth and dignity of every person, one of Unitarian Universalism’s key principles.