Worcester Coal Train Activists Due In Court Tuesday

WORCESTER, MA — Climate activists blocked a coal train headed for New Hampshire on Saturday night in the Green Island area. Some 20 protesters stopped a train for about 30 minutes, and 10 were taken into custody by Worcester police, according to the Climate Disobedience Center.

The 10 people arrested have been charged with disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, and walking on railroad tracks. They are set to be arraigned on Tuesday morning.

According to Jay O'Hara, co-founder of the Climate Disobedience Center, the trains blocked on Saturday were transporting about 10,000 pounds of coal to a plant in Bow, N.H. The 1960s era Merrimack Station coal plant has been targeted by climate protesters because it does not have a closing date, although it only runs a handful of days during the year, according to the Concord Monitor.

Climate activists have targeted coal trains running in the Worcester area before. On Dec. 16, activists from the Climate Disobedience Center, 350 Mass Action, and 350 New Hampshire Action, gathered on tracks in West Boylston in front of a coal train. The train did not stop, and no one was arrested.

The Climate Disobedience Center was founded in 2015 by O'Hara and another activists following a victory blocking a coal shipment headed to a plant near Fall River. O'Hara and activist Ken Ward, used a lobster boat to block coal going to the Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, which was shut down in 2017. But right before the case went to trial in 2014, former Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter dropped the charges citing the need to fight climate change.