This actually happened.
Two climate activists were set to go on trial in Massachusetts on Monday for blocking the shipment of 40,000 tons of coal to the Brayton Point power plant, a 51-year-old facility that is one of the region’s largest contributors to greenhouse gases. But in a surprise move, a local prosecutor dropped the criminal charges and reduced three other charges to civil offenses, calling climate change one of the gravest crises our planet has ever faced.Days after they were to square off in court, the activists, Ken Ward and Jay O’Hara, joined the prosecutor, Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter, for an interview with Democracy Now!'s Nermeen Shaikh and Amy Goodman.
They stated the reasons for their actions rather matter-of-factly.
O’Hara talked about what possessed inspired them to block a freighter carrying 40,000 tons of coal with a lobster boat.
Well, I think the inspiration for this is many of us have this huge weight on our hearts, knowing that this crisis is bearing down on us. And almost two years ago in October, Ken and I both ended up at a vigil in downtown Boston, kind of on the eve of Hurricane Sandy, and Ken proposed the idea that it was time to take direct action to stop coal from being burned in Massachusetts. And it seemed—my heart kind of leapt with joy at that first mention of it, and it was clear that that was the work that, for us, we needed to do. (bold emphasis mine)Ward elaborated on why they thought they had no other choice.
Well, nothing else is working. I mean, a lot of us have been doing this through—I mean, one of the things we had to argue—or, would have argued, had we gone to trial—is that we’ve pursued all legal available means to try to address the problem. I mean, we’ve been doing lobbying and public education and a whole set of things for a long time. None of those things have worked. It’s just as—I mean, the trajectory hasn’t changed. So, in terms of how do we change politics, the thing that seemed needed is this, is direct action (bold emphasis mine).
The clip of DA Sutter speaking outside the courthouse is almost Bulworthian in its shocking, refreshing, emperor-wears-no-clothes directness.
The decision that Robert Kidd and I—that’s the assistant district attorney who handled this case—reached today was a decision that certainly took into consideration the cost to the taxpayers in Somerset, but was made with our concern for their children, the children of Bristol County and beyond, in mind. Climate change is one of the gravest crises our planet has ever faced. In my humble opinion, the political leadership on this issue has been gravely lacking. (bold emphasis mine)To be sure, the DA didn't renege on his duty to enforce the law, but rather than — excuse the pun — going overboard with conspiracy charges that would have sent O'Hara and Ward to prison for months, he struck a deal with the defense and reduced the remaining charges to civil infraction fines of $2,000 each, to be used to pay for the police response to their action.
What's remarkable here (but shouldn't be) is that the DA used his moral compass as an educated citizen and caring human being to determine that O'Hara and Ward's action of blocking a planet-destroying load of coal from getting burned (and raising awareness about climate change) was of far greater benefit to his district (and humanity) in the grand scheme of things than the inconvenience that was caused the coal company and Brayton Point Power Station.
Really, the only thing crazy about this is that it's breaking news headline-inducing! (Though most of the MSM missed it, but for the wrong reasons)
The great thing is that O'Hara, Ward, and District Attorney Sutter plan to march together in the upcoming People’s Climate March in New York City. As Sutter replied to a reporter during his courthouse press conference when asked whether he'd be a model across the country:
Well, I certainly will be in New York in two weeks, how’s that? And I’m walking around with Bill McKibben’s article from Rolling Stone a couple of months ago. How do you like that? So, you know where my heart is.Speaking of Bill McKibben, here's an excerpt from his latest essay co-written with Eddie Bautista of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance and La Tonya Crisp-Saurayon of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 on why they will march:
We’re tired of winning the argument and losing the fight. And so we march. We march for the beaches and the barrios. We march for summers when the cool breeze still comes down in the evening. We march because Exxon spends $100 million every day looking for more hydrocarbons, even though scientists tell us we already have far more in our reserves than we can safely burn. We march for those too weak from dengue fever and malaria to make the journey. We march because California has lost 63 trillion gallons of groundwater to the fierce drought that won’t end, and because the glaciers at the roof of Asia are disappearing. We march because researchers told the world in April that the West Antarctic ice sheet has begun to melt “irrevocably”; Greenland’s ice shield may soon follow suit; and the waters from those, as rising seas, will sooner or later drown the world’s coastlines and many of its great cities.And... saving the best for last!
These three climate heroes will be joining our upcoming People's Climate March Blogathon this Friday right here on Daily Kos. First, Ken Ward and Jay O’Hara will co-post at 1pm PDT about their experience of lobster boating themselves in the way of a fossil fuel behemoth. Then DA Sutter will post at 3pm to tell his side of the story, hopefully inspiring DAs and judges across the country to use our legal system for the maximum protection of the only planet we've got.
So log in and help us kick off our blogathon that will run September 19-23.