Thankful to Avoid Prison, Acquitted Valve Turners Lament Lost Chance to Defend Planet-Saving Necessity of Pipeline Shutdown
In a victory for three climate activists facing felony charges for their participation in a 2016 multi-state #ShutItDown action that temporarily disabled tar sands pipelines crossing the U.S.-Canada border, a Minnesota state judge dismissed all charges on Tuesday, determining that the prosecution had failed to demonstrate any evidence of damage to a pair of Enbridge pipelines.
“While I’m very glad that the court acknowledged that we did not damage the pipelines, I’m heartbroken that the jury didn’t get to hear our expert witnesses and their profoundly important warnings about the climate crisis.”
—Emily Johnston, valve turner
Although relieved that they will not spend years behind bars, the win was somewhat bittersweet for valve turners Annette Klapstein and Emily Johnston, and their support person Ben Joldersman, who all had planned to present a “necessity defense,” arguing their coordinated civil disobedience to shut down tar sands pipelines was necessary because of the imminent threat that fossil fuels pose to the planet and those who inhabit it.
“While I’m very glad that the court acknowledged that we did not damage the pipelines, I’m heartbroken that the jury didn’t get to hear our expert witnesses and their profoundly important warnings about the climate crisis,” defendant Emily Johnston, a Seattle resident and poet, said in a statement. “We are fast losing our window of opportunity to save ourselves and much of the beauty of this world. We turned those valves to disrupt the business-as-usual that we know is leading to catastrophe, and to send a strong message that might focus attention to the problem.”
In a series of tweets, Johnston reiterated frustration that Judge Robert Tiffany, in a “stunning” reversal last week, had ruled against long planned expert testimony about the global climate crisis and civil disobedience. Some experts still were slated to testify for the defense as the landmark trial began on Monday, but she noted that the decision had been a “big” blow.
Dr. James Hansen, a former NASA scientist who has been called “the father of modern climate change awareness,” was one of the expert witnesses who planned to testify for the defense.
“It’s great that the defendants were found not guilty, but we missed an opportunity to inform the public about the injustice of climate change. Now we need to go on offense against the real criminals, the government,” he declared. “The government, especially the Trump administration, is guilty of not protecting the constitutional rights of young people. They should have a plan to phase down fossil fuel emissions, but instead they aid and abet the expansion of fossil fuel mining, which, if not stopped, will guarantee devastating consequences for young people.”
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