Missoulians Stop Coal Train

[eridani]

http://resist.org/news/missoulians-stop-coal-train

On Thursday, September 17th, members of North­ern Rockies Rising Tide and Blue Skies Campaign staged a peaceful blockade in order to prevent a coal train from en­tering the Missoula rail yard in an act of nonviolent protest against Montana coal export projects that threaten the health of rail line communi­ties and the global climate. The action is part of a wider na­tionwide movement called Flood the

Sys­tem, which is mobiliz­ing people across the US this fall to call for real climate solutions in the lead-up to De­cember’s UN climate change negotiations in Paris.

Two community members, Lee Van de Water and Shannon Curry, locked their arms together and refused to move for the mile long coal train. With other participants, Lee and Shannon were able to hold space on the tracks for an hour, preventing it from moving to­wards its west coast destination. After refusing to leave and going limp, both were cited and released for trespassing.

“We refuse to let such a beautiful place be com­pletely destroyed,” stat­ed blockader Shannon Curry.Lee Van de Water add­ed, “we’re acting today because no one in power has made a meaning­ful effort to address the extraction and consumption of fossil fu­els.

The groups present were drawing attention to the role that the state of Montana plays in curbing any further rise in global temperatures. The pool of carbon present in Mon­tana coal is a significant portion of the remain­ing coal that needs to be left in the ground, which many world scientists agree is the most important step in minimizing the pre­dicted effects of climate change.

While world leaders continue to fail to agree on a just and effective climate deal, and politicians like Montana’s US Senator Steve Daines deny the scien­tific reality of human-caused climate change, groups
like Rising Tide and Blue Skies Campaign are confronting the root causes of the climate crisis by calling for an end to the extraction and combustion of coal, oil, and other fossil fuels.