Nora Collins statement following West Roxbury, MA #ClimateTrial Verdict
Channel: Peter Bowden
Date: 27/03/2018

March 27th, 2018 Boston, MA: 13 defendants appeared in court for their acts of civil disobedience resisting the construction of the West Roxbury Lateral Pipeline. This fracked gas pipeline was opposed by the local community and local, city, and state elected officials.   After the state prosecutor reduced criminal charges for the defendants to civil infractions — basically the equivalent of a parking ticket -- today 3/27/18 the defendants called on the judge to find them not responsible for the charges by necessity.  After hearing statements from the defendants they were found to be not responsible by necessity.  

About this trial and defendants from the Climate Disobedience Center:
http://www.climatedisobedience.org/west_roxbury

In the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Spectra Energy was building a fracked-gas pipeline off of their existing AIM pipeline. Beginning October 7, 2015, Resist The Pipeline began a campaign of climate disobedience, getting in the way of active pipeline construction. Climate Disobedience Center founder Marla Marcum provided training, logistical and jail support for Resist the Pipeline.

The campaign grew, and eventually 198 people were arrested over the course of a year. The tactics escalated as well, beginning with just a few individuals in front of equipment and ending with large days of mass occupation, and other more disruptive actions.

13 activists from the campaign, including 6 who participated in the June 29 "Mass Graves" action pictured above are taking their defense to trial. Their cases are currently scheduled for trial March 27th. The activists are committed to mounting a climate necessity defense, arguing that they had no reasonable alternative to putting themselves in the path of the pipeline's construction. If the jury is allowed to decide whether the defendants' actions were necessary in order to prevent a greater harm, we'll have a legal precedent that communities across the country can use in their own resistance to pipelines and other infrastructure.