In the middle of a cold, damp night last week, anti-coal protesters blocked the railroad tracks near the end of Depot Road, stopping a train carrying coal from West Virginia to a New Hampshire power plant. State, local, and railroad police all responded to the protest, as did the Harvard Fire Department. After a standoff that lasted into the small hours of the next morning, four protesters were arrested and the tracks were cleared.
Two dozen climate activists parked at the end of Depot Road in Harvard about 9 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 2. Then they carried aluminum scaffolding half a mile to the old Boston and Maine (now Pan Am Railways) freight tracks. There they built a 16-foot, three-level tower right above the railroad line. Four protesters, clad in orange safety vests, stationed themselves on the upper levels of the structure, posting a sign that read, “Stop fueling climate chaos.” The rest of the group stood along the tracks, singing and stamping their feet to keep warm, as shown in some of their online postings.
Similar protests have taken place in Ayer, West Boylston, and Worcester over the past month, blocking coal trains as many as 80 cars long, according to news reports. The activists, from groups including the Climate Disobedience Center and 350 Mass Action, are asking Granite Shore Power to set a shut-down date for its coal-burning Merrimack Generation Station in Bow, New Hampshire.
Activists take up positions on aluminium scaffolding that straddles the railroad tracks. (Photo courtesy of #nocoalnogas)
As in their previous demonstrations, the protesters at Depot Road called the railroad’s emergency dispatch center to notify an officer of the track blockage. In Ayer and Worcester, the coal trains stopped while police cleared activists off the tracks. But on Dec. 17 in West Boylston, the train never halted, forcing protesters to jump from the tracks when it was about 50 feet from them; no one was hurt.
Harvard Fire Department Lt. Tony Shaw, who was in command of the firefighters at the Harvard protest, said this time the freight train stopped well down the line in Still River. Harvard police say two women from the protest group had flagged down the train there near a bridge across the Nashua River in the Oxbow National Wildlife Center.
Police Chief Ed Denmark said in an interview that the Boston and Maine railroad police informed Harvard police of the situation about 10:30 p.m. Thursday. Sgt. James Babu and Officer Timothy Miner joined the railroad officers at the scene of the protest and, because of the number of protesters, also called in state police. About 1:15 a.m. Friday, Babu and Miner called the Harvard Fire Department, as the railroad police said firefighters had been helpful at a New Hampshire protest where demonstrators had taken positions high on a bridge.
A call to negotiate
Denmark himself received a call about 2 a.m. to come negotiate with the four protesters on the makeshift tower, in hopes they would come down on their own. He said he talked with them for more than two hours, at one point offering them the chance to hold a press conference at the police station to get their message out in a safer, warmer location. He said he told them he supported their right to protest, “but this is unsafe.” Denmark’s impression, he said, was that the demonstrators were well schooled in nonviolent resistance, but they also “had a sense of desperation.”
When the protesters remained adamant, the District 8 technical rescue squad went up the tower, which had been reinforced and stabilized for safety by the Harvard firefighters. The squad lowered the passively resisting demonstrators down from the scaffold structure.
Then Harvard firefighters dismantled the scaffolding and cleared the tracks. The train was able to get underway again around dawn, having been delayed about eight hours.
Because several jurisdictions had been involved in these protests over several weeks, Denmark said, Massachusetts state police took custody of the four occupants of the tower. All four were charged with trespassing, walking on railroad tracks, and obstructing a train. Two of those charged were from Massachusetts: Cody Pajic, 21, of Pembroke, and Gia Neswald, 50, of Turners Falls. Timothy DeChristopher, 38, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and Adam Rice, 30, of South Portland, Maine, were also arrested. All four were arraigned in Clinton District Court when court opened Friday morning, Jan. 3. Police say the protesters may also face federal charges.
‘A deliberate escalation’
Dana Dwinell-Yardley, who took part in the protest as a member of the Climate Disobedience Center, said in a later phone interview that the group’s primary goals are to build community and solidarity for climate action and to show that such action can be effective. She said the Depot Road protest was the first time the group had built a structure over the tracks, and she called it “a deliberate escalation” of their efforts. The specific aim of these recent demonstrations, she said, was to shut down the Merrimack power station.
“It’s well past time to stop burning fossil fuels in New England,” Dwinell-Yardley said, “because of the climate emergency we’re in.” She said the climate groups want to meet with officials from Granite Shore Power and ISO New England, a nonprofit company with federal authorization to coordinate the regional electricity grid and plan for future energy needs.
Coal supplies only about 1% of New England’s electricity now, down from 18% in 2000, according to Earthwhile, WBUR’s environmental reporting program. But it remains one of the dirtiest sources of energy, releasing carbon dioxide, mercury, lead, sulfur dioxide, and other harmful substances into the air.
The Merrimack station is one of only three coal-burning plants still operating in New England. (Of the other two, one is scheduled to convert to natural gas soon, and the other is rarely in operation.) Earthwhile reports that Merrimack is a “peaker” plant—that is, it runs only when demand for electricity peaks. But when it does run, it triples the amount of coal-produced power in the region.
Looking back at the protest, Chief Denmark pointed out the cost to Harvard will top $20,000, given the expense for the technical rescue squad, the firefighters, and police overtime. He said the town will seek restitution from the protest organizers either when the criminal case goes to court or through a civil suit. No one is trying to stop the group’s messaging, he emphasized, but the protest’s cost is high for a small town.
