The following is a press release sent by the “No Coal, No Gas” Coalition which is organizing actions around fossil fuel infrastructure in New Hampshire, an integral part of the New Hampshire Climate Strike actions taking place the week of September 20. This press release was sent out after five painter’s buckets of liberated coal were dumped on the courtyard of the New Hampshire State House on August 20 signaling a series of escalating actions to be taken against the Merrimack Generating plant in Bow, New Hampshire.
Concord, NH — On Saturday, August 17 2019, eight determined New Englanders, supported by a team of more than a dozen others, removed over 500lbs of coal from the fuel pile at Merrimack Generating Station in Bow, New Hampshire. This facility is the largest coal-fired power plant in New England without a shutdown date. Says Tim DeChristopher, co-founder of the Climate Disobedience Center: “With the global climate crisis having advanced this far without a dramatic change in U.S. carbon emissions, we have a responsibility to remove this fuel from the fire. Indeed, it is now a necessity to take matters into our own hands and safely shut down this facility.”
The following Tuesday, supporters from across the region gathered on the State House steps in Concord in solidarity with these actions. They pledged to join the effort to safeguard their futures by physically carrying coal away from the burn pile. Immediately following the media event, the activists proceeded to upend five large buckets of coal onto the steps of the building.
Emma Schoenberg, also of the Climate Disobedience Center, stated, “The coal industry and the larger fossil fuel industry have been reaping profits by stealing from our future for generations. Any nonviolent act that prevents fossil fuels from being burned is an act of reclaiming a small piece of the future that is being stolen from us.” She added, “Meanwhile, those occupying positions of political and economic power have consistently refused to act, so regular people are increasingly taking matters in our own hands.”
These coal “Diggers” believe that it is immoral to suggest that an economic asset is in any way comparable with the human lives that are lost to coal.
Twenty-two year old Quincy Abramson, a 2019 UNH graduate and lifelong resident of Bow, “I am so grateful that these people have taken action – Bow doesn’t deserve this, no one and no where does. We’ve seen that we can’t rely on elected leaders to ensure our and our planet’s safety, and so it’s up to us. That is why I ask the people of New England to join me in signing a pledge of resistance to continue the work.”
Lila Korman Glaser of 350 New Hampshire Action — On Saturday September 28th, following a week of climate action around the globe, hundreds of people from across New England will descend on the Merrimack Generating Station to end the burning of coal in NH.”
DeChristopher finished saying, “If a building is on fire and a child is trapped inside, no one would claim that it is immoral to break down the door of that building to save the child, with or without the permission of the property owner. Likewise, it must be understood as a moral act to remove fuel from the fire that is burning our future.”
At the end of the event at the State House, activists dumped five of the buckets of coal that were removed from the Merrimack generating station on the ground, saying they were laying the responsibility for ending coal in New England at the doorstep of the government.
For more information and to sign the pledge of resistance visit http://nocoalnogas.org and Follow @ the hashtag #bucketbybucket
Press contact: Jay O’Hara, 774-313-0881, [email protected]
