How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a Fictional Movie, Sets Off FBI Warnings About Eco-Terrorism

The FBI is apparently worried that How to Blow Up a Pipeline, a fictional movie about eco-vigilantism, will inspire actual, real-life eco-terrorism. So they issued a warning.

According to Rolling Stone, the FBI issued a warning about the movie’s threat to the United States fossil-fuel infrastructure, one of at least 35 official notices from at least 23 federal and state entities on the subject.

How to Blow Up a Pipeline tells a fictional, dramatized story based on a 2021 book of the same name by Andreas Malm in which the author argues that sabotage is a form of climate activism.

“A crew of young environmental activists execute a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline in this taut and timely thriller that is part high-stakes heist, part radical exploration of the climate crisis,” reads the description from NEON, the film’s distributor.

Also Read: How to Blow Up a Pipeline Lays Out the Liberal — and Conservative — Case for Eco-Vigilantism

How to Blow Up a Pipeline is directed by Daniel Goldhaber, who also serves as a producer and a co-writer alongside Ariela Barer and Jordan Sjol. The cast includes Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage, Forrest Goodluck, Sasha Lane, Jayme Lawson, Marcus Scribner, and Jake Weary.

Here’s the FBI Bulletin About How to Blow Up a Pipeline

“The film has potential to inspire threat actors to target oil and gas infrastructure with explosives or other destructive devices,” the April 6  bulletin from the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate says, according to RS, which adds that the bulletin advises police, government and other agencies to keep a look out for suspicious activity around fossil-fuel pipelines.

The FBI also warned that the suspicious activity in question, which it deemed a real danger to the country, could include people trying to take videos of this precious fossil fuel infrastructure or — gasp — draw sketches or take notes about its operations.

A March 21 alert from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives obtained by RS reads: “The consensus amongst law enforcement and the private oil sector is that this film may motivate attacks or disruptions on critical infrastructure throughout the country.”

This tweet from NEON pretty much sums it up: “94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. 35 US Law Enforcement Warnings.”

How to Blow Up a Pipeline is in theaters now, from NEON.

Main Image: Forrest Goodluck as Michael in How to Blow Up a Pipeline courtesy of NEON