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And why risking arrest was the right thing to do. An account from the railway tracks.
Coal train blockers in White Rock. Photo: George Hoberg.
Premier Clark touts mining as her jobs machine. But a lot of those hires may be foreign say eager firms and concerned unions.
Find more environment reporting on The Tyee.
On Saturday, May 5, I was one of 13 British Columbians who engaged in an act of civil disobedience by blocking coal exports on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) railway line in White Rock, B.C. We did this to draw a connection between coal exports and climate change and to make a statement about the need for morally-conscious individuals to do all they can to stave off a looming climatic disaster. We hope it inspires our fellow citizens to undertake similar actions before it is too late.
"Putting myself in a situation where I may be accused of civil disobedience is not something I have ever done before. It is not something I ever expected to be doing or wanted to do. But the current willingness of especially our federal government to brazenly take actions that ensure we cannot meet scientifically and economically sound greenhouse gas reduction targets for Canada and the planet leaves me with no alternative. I now ask myself how our children, when they look back decades from now, will have expected us to have acted today. When I think about that, I conclude that every sensible and sincere person, who cares about this planet and can see through lies and delusion motivated by money, should be doing what I and others are now prepared to do."
-- Statement by Mark Jaccard, SFU energy-environment economist, pledging his support for the citizen action to stop BNSF coal trains at White Rock, B.C. on Saturday, May 5.
We gathered at dawn on the White Rock waterfront on Saturday, but the hours passed and the five coal trains scheduled to pass mile 122 on the BNSF line enroute to Westshore Terminals never arrived. At 5 p.m., having been given word by spotters in Washington State that a sided train was now in motion there, we physically occupied the rail line. Shortly after 6 p.m., that train braked to a stop 50 metres away from our group.
BNSF staff read a court injunction, granted to them late Friday afternoon, which ordered us not to interfere with their work. Those who were not willing to risk arrest left the tracks. The RCMP asked if those of us remaining would obey the injunction. When we said no -- regrettably, as none of us wished to violate the court's order to make our point -- the RCMP gave us a few minutes to make final statements before we were arrested and taken into custody.
'Respectful, candid, ongoing'
Nothing prepares you for having your hands locked together behind your back, in public, in front of dozens of people. As were led off, several onlookers had tears in their eyes. One woman whispered thank you as I walked by. Others stared at me with contempt. It is a humbling experience to be placed in custody, one made more bewildering by the varied reactions of others.
Those arrested were taken to the White Rock RCMP detachment, processed, issued a federal ticket for violating the Railway Safety Act, and released.
There was never any risk to anyone's physical safety, because the action was planned out carefully and announced in advance. Freight trains moved as usual. Amtrak service was cancelled because of a landslide near Seattle. We were in communication with the police and, to a lesser degree, with BNSF all day.
Our interactions with the police were incredible -- respectful, candid and ongoing. The White Rock detachment of the RCMP worked hard all day in the interest of public safety while also acknowledging our right to peacefully stand up for what we believe in. I felt grateful to live in a country that values and protects free expression. It was a good day to be a Canadian citizen.
We were all stunned by how beautifully the day unfolded. It all seemed a bit unreal after our release -- but that may have been because of the sunburn, dehydration and overall exhaustion. Still, the next day, on a sunny Sunday morning, anything seemed possible.
What made it happen
Here's what was involved in making it happen: a small number of people willing to risk arrest to stand up for what they believe in. The support of prominent people like Bill McKibben, James Hansen and Marc Jaccard, who were ready to speak up in advance and say this is the right thing to do. A stoked-up group of supporters who, through their actions, helped set a tone for the day that was peaceful, creative and hopeful, but also focused and determined. A network of people in Washington State keeping us abreast of train movements. One Twitter account.
That 125-car coal train we stopped in White Rock did reach the port eventually, carrying 13,000 tonnes of coal that will release 26,000 tonnes of CO2 when burned. However, it did so under the gaze of hundreds of onlookers and media crews. The deal between Warren Buffett (owner of BNSF) and Jimmy Pattison (owner of Westshore Terminals) to ship dirty Wyoming coal out of B.C. is now firmly in the public eye. We've started to connect the dots between coal exports and climate change.
[Tags: Environment, Energy, Rights + Justice.] ![[Tyee]](http://thetyee.cachefly.net/ui/img/ico_fishie.png){kind=small}
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Forest_Lover
1 year ago
Good on you
If people don't start standing up for the environment and what is right then we are all doomed because its the only tool left in the box.
pwlg
1 year ago
two thumbs up
Those who live along the BNSF Semiahmoo and Boundary by shoreline rail corridor are wondering about the 6 coal trains expected to pass by on Saturday. On average there is only one loaded coal train running north on the BNSF tracks to the coal terminal at Roberts Bank, Delta, BC a day!
Is BNSF trying to inflate the number of coal trains to show in court at a future date the value of their corporate 'injuries'?
Not only were protesters at Mile 122 of BNSF's rail corridor (White Rock pier) but so were 4 vehicles full of BNSF officials including lawyers and plain clothes security personnel loaded with cameras from Washington State.
I watched them review their digital camera files in the White Rock parking lot after the protesters were arrested to make sure they had pictures of all who were involved.
I wonder what they told our border officials what their reason for coming to Canada was? To collect evidence for a potential civil action? Is this a permissible reason for entering Canada?
Funny if it is, because it seems our federal government is wanting to put refugees fleeing from death and destruction in detention for up to one year without representation or cause.
Which brings me to another thing the feds piss me off about...a law to prevent protesters from covering up their faces.
If the federal Conservatives are short on laws to pass perhaps they may consider a law for bare-face lying.
pwlg
1 year ago
BNSF coal shipments to Westshore coal terminal
BNSF delivered 3 million tonnes of coal to Asian customers from the Powder River Basin coal fields in Wyoming to Westshore in 2010.
This equates to 230 trains a year. So where did BNSF come up with the 6 coal trains on Saturday?
Westshore has a mechanical limitation to the number of coal trains it can unload in a day. With both CN and CP delivering coal from Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC coal fields to Westshore as well as BNSF one would have to wonder if BNSF lined up its coal trains to inflate their 'injuries' to gain public sympathy.
Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway owns 100% of BNSF. Bill Gates owns 20% of CN. Rail profits are greater than Canada's bank profits. Oh, how the 1% have to make a go of it these days.
rantnic
1 year ago
IT ALL GOES TO HELL
A simple thing from a simple man starts the ball rolling.
Thank you Mr. Mulroney for the NAFTA Agreement, that is one of the major things that allows corporate America to sue our citizens for standing up to protect the rights of the rest of us.
Hail Loony Mulroney and the rest of the demagogalgia that are raping our country and the rights of our people with a big corporate c%@#.
realisticman
1 year ago
Perspective.
Warren Buffet has also invested in electric car manufacturing, among many other things.
The 13,000 tons of coal on that train represent less than the approximate 15,000 tons of coal used worldwide each and every minute of every day.
China alone digs up 6,000 tons of coal each and every minute, or almost 9 million tons per day.
Australia exports ten times as much coal as Canada. As does Indonesia. Canada exports 30 million tons of coal a year. The European Union mines nearly 600 million tons.
Coal has been mined for human use for over 2,000 years and will continue to used for some time yet. Particularly considering that even at the current rate of extraction there's enough around for over a hundred years.
Alternatives are being developed but even green-Germany went back to coal after Fukushima.
A billion or more people around the world have no electricity and they want it. Privileged western developed nations are practicing a form of colonial repression if they will not allow these developing nations to have electric energy.
Coal is overwhelmingly the choice until there are viable alternatives.
Hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars have been lost in solar experiments in Ontario and the USA. Solar companies have also gone bankrupt in Spain and Germany. Change will come. Solar and other options will become increasingly viable.
Coal is not called King for nothing. 8 billion tons a year.
jimmmmy
1 year ago
Good work
I commend you for your efforts Kevin.
jimmmmy
1 year ago
Excellent
I enjoyed all the posts on this article . Informative and on point.
Steve Hetherington
1 year ago
pats on the backs for all
Thanks for bringing this to light Kevin and a huge thankyou to the people who were arrested.What a great prelude of things to come.I can see it now with the pipeline----too damn many people to arrest.
It's starting Stephen-------gett'n worried yet moron?
Luck
1 year ago
STOPPING AND START VOTING
HELLO PEOPLE
YOU START AT THE TOP OF THE HEAP NOT A THE BOTTOM OF THE HEAP
THE TRAIN DRIVERS ARE JUST DOING THERE JOB
THE REAL PEOPLE YOU NEED TO CONFRONT IS YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND UP THE CHAIN OF POLITICIANS.
LET POLITICIANS KNOW THAT BURNING FOSSIL FUEL IS NOT GOOD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
GET THEM ON SIDE OR
PUT THE HEAT ON POLITICIANS BY GOING TO THEIR OFFICES UNANNOUNCED IF THEY ARE IN BC AND DO A SIT IN AND CALL YOUR LOCAL MEDIA TO ATTEND THEY WOULD LOVE THE STORY.
THEN RUN FOR OFFICE, EVEN IF YOU ARE A SENIOR, ANY LEVEL TO HONE YOUR ADVOCACY SKILLS
HOWEVER,
WE KNOW THE BEST WAY IS TO GET OUT AND VOTE THAT IS WERE THE REAL GOOD CHANGES HAPPEN.
Emmanuel Goldstein
1 year ago
protests
I know one of the protesters, an expert in his field, having been involved with successful resistance to another polluting and corrupt fossil fuel project.
A conservative professional, I'm surprised to see him arrive at the point where he is ready to be arrested to highlight his concerns.
I have also arrived at the point where I'm ready to put my body on the gears that threaten my grandchildren's future.
I think we'll be seeing many more blockades in the coming years.
ireckon
1 year ago
Look up
Look up, look waaaay up, Do ya spose coal is causing solar flares and warming all the planets up? Look around, look all around, do ya spose any of those dedicated carbon fighters might have a secret agenda?
freebear
1 year ago
The paradigm has to fail
before enough of us will (be forced to) create the change.
johnyappleseed
1 year ago
The why seems pretty clear
The question people should be asking themselves is why would you not want to stop a coal train. What is going to take to shake people awake and get them out in the streets.
The fossil fuel industry is reeking havoc on our environment and the argument is over.
The evidence is in and the science is sound, the only thing missing is the will of those few, who are holding all the cards. We need to start the transition to greener technology's now.
No more new pipelines and super tankers and tar sands expansion and mega coal plants.
Why did 13 people feel compelled to take a stand and be arrested? I would ask why was there not 100 more people willing to do the same. In fact If there had been 1000 people in attendance there would of been no arrests at all.
The time for standing on the sidelines has come and gone, It's time to stand up and be counted.
pwlg
1 year ago
Buffet investments
Actually, or realistically, Buffet's $39 billion in personal wealth did not invest in electric vehicles, it was funds from a subsiduary of Berkshire Hathaway a company Buffet has some control over.
The investment in electric vehicle manufacturing by Berkshire Hathaway was in a start up company in China, BYD, which is a leading manufacturer of cell phone batteries. This company intends on producing an electric vehicle for sale in China and North America using technology it has copied from innovations from around the world.
Hardly an ethical investment when you consider that BYD, without any respect for patents or to compensate those who have put in decades of hard work to get electric vehicles to market, will flog their product based on theft of technology, cheap labour, human rights abuses and few environmental regulations.
The Bluewash investment by Berkshire Hathaway of $232 million in BYD is dwarfed by their investment in acquiring the remaining shares in BNSF which cost them $44 billion.
It is interesting to note that BNSF has been shipping refinery diluting agents or diluents such as natural gasoline and butane along the same route the protesters were arrested on for the last two years. These diluents are shipped to the tar sands to blend with tar sands crude which allows the crude to flow through pipelines on their way to BC's coast.
And what railroad was lobbying the US government to stop the Keystone XL pipeline? Yup, BNSF. Why? Because Bluewash Warren claims his railroad can carry 1,000,000 barrels of tar sands crude a day on its rail corridor. Truly electrifying!
Mr. Buffet and the companies he commands believes his small stake in electric vehicle manufacturing will offset his and his company's massive carbon footprint. Is it no wonder why he is a strong advocate of turning our atmosphere into a commodity to be traded?
Want to pick up a few Class A shares in Berkshire Hathaway? Dig deep, one (1) share will cost you more than $120,000! Only the 1% can join Warren's playhouse.
OwlRol
1 year ago
More than just climate change
By the way, just for the climate change deniers, of which we have several at this Tyee site, there is another concern.
Coal burned in Asia, apart from CO2 and as far away as that is, also releases NOx (that combines with water droplets to create more acidic precipitation) and other very harmful particulate matter.
This heavily polluted air (think Beijing, Shanghai, et al) is transported and somewhat dissipated by the prevailing westerlies that blow to our coast. It is then deposited on our glaciers and in high alpine lakes, among other places. (Alberta and U.S. coal burning only occasionally comes our way to B.C.)
Although the alarm bells are still a bit premature on this one, as coal burning increases in Asia, it will surely affect our major rainwater, snowfall and glacial sources of drinking water here in B.C., still some of the very best in the world.
So we export the very resource that can come back to haunt us.
Clean coal is an oxymoron, there is only cleaner coal, and that process is significantly limited. Asia is surely not there and won't be for some time.
Besides, shipping these resources half way around the globe is also quite energy intensive and wasteful.
Don't recall who said it, but "oil and sour gas burning is a crisis but coal burning is a catastrophe."
judycross
1 year ago
Maybe if we didn't make such a fuss about harmless CO2
China would get serious about SO2 and NOx....both of which can be controlled by things like scrubbers and selective catalytic reduction systems (SCRs) which remove most NOx emissions from treated flue gas.Electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) remove 99 percent of the fly ash from power plant emissions.
Real problems get real solutions.