Montana is about to become the latest state to follow Oklahoma after it adopted tough criminal penalties in 2017 against environmental protesters who trespass on oil and gas properties in their protests of pipelines.
The measure won approval in Montana’s House of Representatives and Senate where Republicans are in the majority. Sent to GOP Gov. Greg Gianforte, the bill is expected to be signed into law and if that happens, Montana will become the fourth state this year to target protesters.
Arkansas, Kansas and Ohio adopted similar laws earlier this year.
Since Oklahoma first created the get-tough law, Louisiana followed with a similar measure in 2018. In 2019, the states of Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin passed the same kind of laws.
A year later, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Dakota and West Virginia followed suit and created their anti-protest laws.
Clearly, the laws are not supported by environmental groups and their supporters. The journalism group Grist headlined Montana’s pending entry to the list of the states by declaring, “Montana, Kansas and Arkansas enter the arms race to criminalize protest.”
Click here for Grist story.