Charged
“filed” for a year; no other penalty
On
August 13, Curt Nordgaard, a resident pediatrician at Boston Medical Center,
and Peter Nightingale, a professor of physics at University of Rhode Island and
a member of Fossil Free Rhode Island, were arrested after locking themselves to
the front gate at the site of Spectra Energy's compressor station in
Burrillville, Rhode Island in a direct action organized by Fighting Against
Natural Gas (FANG).
“Natural”
gas has been touted as a bridge fuel by both the industry and the Obama
Administration, but evidence has been mounting since 2011 that, independent of
the use to which it is put, it is more dangerous for the climate than coal or
oil.
This
development, along with a growing awareness of local impacts such as air and
water pollution, threats to public health, earthquakes, etc. are continuing to
draw unexpected activists into increasingly defiant acts of civil disobedience
against fracking and gas-related infrastructure.
Nightingale,
who was arrested last December during a sit-in in U.S. Senator Sheldon
Whitehouse's office in Providence, has kept the promise he made at the time:
"This pipeline is immoral and unjust, and we will keep taking action until
this dangerous project is stopped."
Today,
Associate Judge William C. Clifton of Rhode Island's District Court handed down
his verdict in the case. Charges of disorderly conduct were dismissed; charges
of willful trespass resulted in a one-year "filing," which means that
these cases will be dismissed if the defendants come into no further conflict
with the law.
Nightingale
stated: "Under the Public Trust Doctrine, government has a duty to
preserve Earth's gifts for present and future generations. The fact that we
cannot use this argument to justify our actions in Burrillville [in Rhode
Island's courts] is but one symptom of the environmental injustice that
pervades our system of government."