Shortly after the controversial Bayou Bridge pipeline received its final major permit to begin construction in Louisiana, the head of the state’s Homeland Security office forwarded seemingly benign details on the activities of an environmentalist group opposing the pipeline to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the State Police, and the National Guard. The FBI also received a copy.

The January 4 email, authored by an intelligence officer with the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, pulled information from the social media page and email list of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. It highlighted a local pastor’s planned participation in an anti-pipeline Facebook livestream and described the fundraising efforts of Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who coordinated military relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina and now runs the environmental justice group GreenARMY.

A similar email that GOHSEP Director James Waskom forwarded to Department of Environmental Quality head Chuck Carr Brown on December 20 pulled quotes from an article published by the news site Inside Sources describing the visitor vetting process used by the anti-pipeline L’eau Est La Vie Camp.

The emails were among a larger set turned over by the state’s environmental protection department in response to a public records request filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights. Taken together, they suggest that while Louisiana saw the oil company behind Bayou Bridge as a partner, officials increasingly viewed pipeline opponents as a security threat. Additional emails also indicate a close working relationship between the oil company, Energy Transfer Partners, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which issued the permit that allowed construction to go forward.

Buren “Ric” Moore, the intelligence officer who authored the emails forwarded by Waskom, included a quote after his signature, stating, “In the case of terrorism, to wait for an indication of crime before investigating it is to wait too long. There is no guarantee of success, but there has to be a guarantee of effort. Let’s make it hard to hurt us. If you see something suspicious, report it.”

“I was strictly shocked to think that that would be of intelligence interest to the governor’s staff that I supported the movement,” said Honoré, who added that neither sufficient regulations nor effective regulators exist to safely construct pipelines through Louisiana’s wetlands.

“I’d be more interested in them tracking the people who are doing the polluting. They seem to be closer to terrorists than I am,” Honoré said. “Looks like you’re watching the wrong people, all based on the scenario of what happened in Standing Rock.”

Anne Rolfes, head of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, called the emails from the state Homeland Security office “a clear attempt to intimidate opponents and to harass us and to chill other people for being involved.” She said some of the content came from a newsletter sent to members and other information came from the group’s social media page.

Greg Langley, a public affairs officer at the Department of Environmental Quality, said the agency had held a hearing on the night of January 4, and the communications from the Homeland Security office would have been used “just to see if we might need extra security. We have an obligation to keep everybody safe and keep state property safe.” Langley added, “We’re happy for people to come, happy for people to express their opinion, to protest if they want.”

A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Mike Steele, downplayed the emails’ significance. He explained that Moore is GOHSEP’s single liaison at the state fusion center, where police, the FBI, and other agencies exchange information. “His job is to keep everyone aware,” Steele said, noting that, although most of the fusion center personnel work for law enforcement, GOHSEP does not have any law enforcement or investigative authority, and would share the same type of information about Mardi Gras or sporting events. “This was for situational awareness. It doesn’t necessarily mean any actions will be taken,” he said.

Steele added that the Louisiana Bucket Brigade has been on GOHSEP’s radar for a while. “They’ve had events at the gates of plants and industrial sites in the past, and I know we’ve kind of tracked some of that, but again, it was more we may get called in to provide resources to help out,” he said.

Asked about the quote at the end of Moore’s email, Steele said, “He is an ex-military, so that’s something that was a tagline for his emails.” He added that “it in no way meant that there was anything terrorist-related with what’s going on with the pipeline fight. We probably need to talk to him about that because I can see how that would be misunderstood.”

“In an effort to protect the infrastructure of Louisiana, the FBI New Orleans Field Office routinely coordinates with federal, state, and local agencies across the state on a variety of issues, to include oil and gas matters,” the FBI special agent in charge, Eric J. Rommal, said in a statement.

Spokespeople for the Louisiana State Police and National Guard did not respond to requests for comment.