In August 2018, human rights defenders Cynthia Spoon, Sophia Cook-Phillips and Eric Moll, were arrested while in a canoe and kayak on a navigable waterway near the Bayou Bridge Pipeline LLC pipeline in Lousiana, USA. They were charged with violating a law making it a felony to be at or near pipelines or construction sites without permission. That meant environmentalists protesting at pipeline sites could be sentenced  up to five years in prison.  The 162-mile-long (260-kilometer) Bayou Bridge Pipeline began operating in March 2019 and has received criticism by indigenous and environmentalist groups for its environmental impacts.