Five climate activists who temporarily blocked a train from delivering coal in New Hampshire stood trial from March 22 through 24 at the Merrimack Superior Courthouse. The jury found Daniel Flynn, Dana Dwinell-Yardley, Jonathan O’Hara and Johnny Sanchez guilty on two trespassing charges, while Emma Schoenberg was acquitted on both counts. One charge of resisting arrest could not be sufficiently backed by the prosecution — Sanchez was found not guilty on that charge.
Merrimack Station — the coal plant at the center of this crisis — is located in Bow, New Hampshire, and is the last remaining coal plant in New England. It has faced repeated calls for closure for its contributions to environmental damage and climate change.
In December 2019, following a string of coal train blockades in Massachusetts, a group of around 100 activists rallied on a rail bridge in Hooksett, New Hampshire to block a coal train from delivering its load to the Merrimack Station. Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in collaboration with 350NH and the Climate Disobedience Center supported the action by showing up early in the morning that day to sing and rally for the activists. Law enforcement arrested about 20 of the peaceful protesters, including the five No Coal, No Gas campaign activists who stood trial last week.
Judge Andrew Schulman did not allow the activists to use a “competing harms” defense, which allows justification for conduct if an action was carried out to avoid harm upon oneself or upon others. In this case, the harm would be the present state of climate change, intensified by the burning of coal at the Merrimack Station.
Sanchez testified that “this is an unmitigated disaster and we should be doing everything in our power to stop it.”
Merrimack Station’s dangerous impact
Merrimack Station is polluting the water, the air and the ecosystem that it sits on. People who live near the plant have higher rates of asthma than in other communities. Families living in the surrounding area are concerned about the health of their children.
The practice of dumping hot water into the river has raised its temperature and thrown the wildlife out of balance. The plant delivers its toxic waste downstream to Manchester and Nashua, two of the biggest cities in New Hampshire with the state’s largest populations of Black, Latino and immigrant communities.
“New England is warming faster than the rest of the country,” Jennifer Dube, a climate organizer with 350NH, told Liberation News. “We are a great state with mountains, lakes and the ocean but the winters are getting shorter, the seacoast region floods heavier every year and we’re spending billions of dollars cleaning up after these storms when we could be investing in clean energy.”
“It’s not just hurting us in New England by burning,” Dube continued, “the coal is being dug up somewhere where miners are at risk for black lung disease. They’re leveling mountaintops to extract coal. Then they have to ship the coal here, which burns fossil fuels along the way. In my opinion, it’s almost like racketeering — it affects everyone along the way.”
Outpouring of support for the climate activists
Over the course of the three-day trial, over 80 people appeared both in-person and remotely to offer their support for the climate activists. Some volunteered housing and transportation for people who traveled from Vermont and Maine to watch the trial. New Hampshire Peace Action and 350NH lent their office spaces near the courthouse to provide company, food and a place to convene for the supporters.
Rebecca Beaulieu, communications director for climate justice organization 350NH, told Liberation News she got involved with the No Coal, No Gas Campaign in 2019. “The campaign came out of the need to stop burning coal in New Hampshire and beyond. We’ve been building to step up when our government and politicians aren’t stepping up, and to get the fossil fuel industry out of our politics and out of polluting our water and air… it’s way past time for coal to be off the grid completely.”
Granite Shore Power and the state keep dirty energy alive in New England
The Merrimack Station receives millions in tax subsidies from the state to offset the increasing costs of burning coal — despite the plant providing around only 1% of the energy on New England’s grid. Over $188 million is subsidized to allow Granite Shore Power to keep the Merrimack Station in operation.
According to the No Coal, No Gas campaign, the Merrimack Station “generates as much carbon in one hour as 26 years of the total carbon emissions for an average American,” when operating at full capacity.
“Money, corporate greed and profiteering are all the reasons why plants like the one in Bow are still operating,” Beaulieu said. “Politicians are getting paid by fossil fuel lobbyists to pass laws that favor them and to make sure they get millions of dollars in subsidies to keep them open, while renewable energy doesn’t get those subsidies. It’s very entrenched in the system and it needs to be completely changed.”
The way forward to clean energy
To battle excessive warming and the many severe environmental threats that are caused by the burning of fossil fuels, it is necessary to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources like sun, wind, and hydro.
Tina Landis, author of Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism, previously wrote, “What needs to happen to stem the climate crisis is clear, and could quickly be achieved under a socialist system. But under capitalism we fight for piecemeal solutions and minor changes to environmental regulations, wasting increasingly precious time, when what is needed is a societal transformation.”
Capitalist politicians and corporations refuse to take these necessary actions to combat the climate crisis. Changing this system will continue to take bold actions from everyday people like these climate activists did in New Hampshire in 2019.
Currently, the Merrimack Station is set to keep operating until at least 2026. Sentencing for the climate activists is set to take place on May 13.
