Ken Ward, left, and Jay O'Hara before sailing to block a coal shipment.
Credit: Ben Thompson
We are perhaps reaching a tipping point in understanding about climate disruption as climate events become more visible and therefore receive more media coverage.
In an extraordinary case,which I wrote about here, prosecutors have dismissed charges against the lobster boat coal blockade citing sympathy for the blockaders, reports Climate Central .
Local prosecutors in Massachusetts expressed alarm about the grave "crisis" of climate change on Monday, as they dropped criminal charges in a high-profile case involving anti-coal campaigners.
Ken Ward and Jay O’Hara were facing the threat of jail time after they anchored a lobster boat in the path of a coal-hauling ship last year, preventing it from unloading at a power plant. The protest was designed to draw attention to coal and other fossil fuels, the primary cause of global warming. Their attorneys planned to use the “necessity defense” – an extraordinary strategy that would have pointed to the urgency of climate change in justifying their clients’ actions. But, in the end, such a defense wasn’t needed.
Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter said the decision to drop criminal charges was made with concerns for “the children of Bristol County and beyond” in his mind. He also announced that he planned to join the People’s Climate March in New York later this month.
We are living in extraordinary and amazing times. This decision could not be better timed coming right before the
People's Climate March in NYC. Let's hope it influences the treatment of protestors in NYC.