Jessica Reznicek is a 40-year-old land and water defender who has worked with and lived in the Des Moines Catholic Worker Community. After being charged with a "terrorism enhancement," she was sentenced to 8 years in 2021 for taking action to protect the water along the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) route by disabling construction machinery during the Standing Rock uprising. 

No one was injured by Jessica and her fellow Catholic Worker’s actions, and the land was protected from the flow of oil for an additional six months.

On this episode, we share an update on her legal case, and encourage our listeners to support her team and consider writing to her. More information can be found at http://supportjessicareznicek.com/.

The Green Flame is honored to rebroadcast our interview with Jessica in the second part of this show. We conducted an interview with Jessica and Ruby Montoya on July 26th, 2017 — after they had admitted publicly to sabotaging the pipeline but before they had been arrested or charged with these crimes.

The two activists set fire to heavy machinery and used blow torches to damage the oil pipeline and valves in an effort to decisively halt the project. While the DAPL was ultimately finished, their actions singlehandedly delayed construction for weeks or months.