| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| Climate activest protest oil refineries -- in Plastic Kayaks. |
| 2016-05-16 |
| See the photos at the link. The kayaks were all made from plastic (a petroleum product) and so were the tents they used to block the railroad tracks. There wasn't a single dugout canoe among them. NACORTES, Wash. - Dozens of "kayaktivists" hit the water Sunday afternoon near the site of two oil refineries in Skagit County, day three of their demand for action on climate change and an equitable transition away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal. An estimated 2,000 protesters gathered near Anacortes over the weekend with the goal of blocking the transportation of oil to the state's oil refineries on land and on water. Fifty-two climate activists were arrested and cited for trespassing Sunday morning after authorities cleared their protest campsite on top of railroad tracks near Mount Vernon leading to the refineries. One person was also cited for resisting arrest. No one was injured. "We’ve been in communication throughout the weekend with protesters to let them know that they risked arrest for trespassing on the railroad tracks," said Skagit County Sheriff Will Reichardt in a released statement. "Prior to making any arrests, we did advise protesters that they could move to designated locations near March’s Point and lawfully demonstrate." A spokeswoman for the protesters says she expected everyone to be processed and released from police custody. Emily Johnston says protests would continue around Anacortes on Sunday, but she doesn't expect people to return to the railroad tracks. About 150 people had spent the night Saturday in tents and sleeping bags on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks west of Mount Vernon. I saw this as I was driving by on my way to Oak Harbor. Most of the tents were of the plastic kind. It was pretty pathetic. However some of the car dealerships in the area were advised to pull their show cars back from the road to risk vandalism. BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas says they were asked to leave at about 5 a.m. and most gathered their belongings and peacefully left the area. The rail line has been closed since Friday because of the protests. Melonas says trains will begin running Sunday afternoon. Personally I would have been tempted to run the locomotives thru them real slow. Take care of the evil plastic tents for them |
| Posted by:CrazyFool |
| #2 An "equitable transittion" I take to mean we all get to freeze in the cold and the dark. |
| Posted by: Cheaderhead 2016-05-16 22:28 |
| #1 They are blocking strategic assets. Load up the troops, clear the obstructions and bet you they won't do it again. (They might still vote, the dead often do.) |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2016-05-16 21:40 |