Climate Activists Stage Resistance at Rail Yard to Protest 'Fossil Fuel Takeover'

commondreams.org/news/2014/09/03/climate-activists-stage-resistance-rail-yard-protest-fossil-fuel-takeover

Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Climate Activists Stage Resistance at Rail Yard to Protest 'Fossil Fuel Takeover'
“People in the Northwest are not going to allow this region to become a fossil fuel superhighway”

Andrea Germanos, staff writer

Activists thwart work at a rail yard in Everett, Washington to protest the "fossil fuel takeover" threatening their communities and the climate. (Photo: Rising Tide Seattle)

Climate activists in Everett, Washington on Tuesday offered a "sampling of the resistance" that could be on its way if the fossil fuel industry continues to threaten the future of communities in the Northwest.

Working with the environmental and social justice group Rising Tide Seattle, five Everett and Seattle residents staged a protest at the Burlington Northern Santa-Fe rail yard in the city by erecting a tripod-structure over the tracks, according to a statementfrom the group.

Abby Brockway hung from the top of the tripod, while the other four, Jackie Minchew, Patrick Mazza, Liz Spoerri and Mike LaPoint, locked themselves to the legs.
Their action, which successfully stalled a train carrying crude, led to the arrest of the five.

“People in the Northwest are not going to allow this region to become a fossil fuel superhighway,” LaPoint said in a statement. “This is just a sample of the resistance that will happen if any large fossil fuel project is permitted.”

The group is urging Governor Jay Inslee to stop new fossil fuel projects in the state, and cited "an explosion in proposed fossil fuel infrastructure in the Northwest." These proposals, Spoerri said, would put "our future...on the chopping block."

“If elected officials won’t stop the fossil fuel takeover," LaPoint added, "we’ll have to do it for them.”

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