Two protesters climbed into the 3-foot-wide entrance of the Sabal Trail pipeline early Wednesday morning, remaining for about six hours.
At about 7:32 a.m., the Marion County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call that protesters attached themselves to the inside of the pipe at 12500 SW State Road 200, said Lauren Lettelier, an MCSO spokesperson. They heard a man and woman talking inside the pipe and told them to come out.
Protests have erupted across North Central Florida since plans became public about the Sabal Trail, a 515-mile natural-gas pipeline planned to run through Alabama, Georgia and Florida, including Alachua County.
Nicholas Rasmussen SegalWright, 25, and Karrie Kay Ford, 29, refused to stop their protest, and continued to post videos and photos from inside the pipe, according to their arrest reports.
“We are locking down and not going anywhere,” Ford said in a video. Outside, about 17 protesters held up a banner that said, “Solar power not pipelines.” One of the protesters standing in the rain was Taylor Ashley Crowe from Jacksonville.
“They are going at incredibly high speed to get this pipeline built,” she said. “It will make our drinking water not viable.” Firefi ghters pulled Segal-Wright out at about 1:06 p.m., according to an MCSO press release.
Less than an hour later, Ford was pulled from the pipe. Both protesters were arrested on charges including trespassing, larceny and damage of property. Authorities took them to the Marion County Jail, where as of press time SegalWright is being held on a $9,000 bond, and Ford is being held on a $10,000 bond.
Contact Meryl Kornfield at mkornfield@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter at @MerylKornfield
