In 2013 Ken Ward and Jay O’Hara, with the support of a team on shore, blockaded 40,000 tons of coal being delivered to the Brayton Point generating station in Somerset, Massachusetts – the largest single source of climate changing carbon emissions in the northeast.

The two of us headed to trial intending to offer a climate necessity defense, which had been permitted by the judge. But to our surprise the prosecutor, District Attorney Samuel Sutter, dropped the criminal charges and on the steps of the courthouse in Fall River made a breathtaking statement about climate change, and pledged to join us for the People’s Climate March in New York City in two weeks.

Ken and I have gone on to help found the Climate Disobedience Center and were both subsequently involved in the October 2016 #ShutItDown tar sands valve turning action in four states.

Please enjoy reading through this piece of history on this site!

The Quakers of West Falmouth (Jay’s home Meeting) approved the following minute:

West Falmouth Friends Meeting is deeply grateful for the care and support given to Jay O’Hara and Ken Ward at the time of their trial at the Fall River District Court on September 8, 2014. The trial was a consequence of their action to block the delivery of 40,000 tons of coal to the Brayton Point Power Plant on May 15, 2013.

Meeting is grateful to the hundreds of supporters who sent letters, prayers and financial & material support and who filled the courtroom to overflowing at the time of the trial. In particular we raise up the pro bono counsel of attorneys Joan Fund and Matt Pawa. We are grateful to the Better Future Project, and Marla Marcum particularly, for effectively bringing together students, community members and the faith community in lifting up Ken and Jay’s witness. We thank Tim DeChristopher and Bill McKibben for sharing their insights and experience.

We appreciate Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter’s courageous stand of conscience to reduce the charges brought against Jay and Ken, and to make a public statement. Sutter gave voice to the need for change in how our government and policy makers respond to the climate crisis and the need for bold prophetic action.

As one Friend expressed about the trial, “What a journey we have had and a blessed resolution.” For the Inner Light that guided all of us in this witness, we are deeply grateful.

This minute of appreciation was approved at West Falmouth Friends Meeting for Business on September 28, 2014.

True to his word in front of the Fall River courthouse, District Attorney Samuel Sutter, our prosecutor, joined Ken and I in New York City for the epochal People’s Climate March. Sam brought his family and several of his staff from the DA’s office to join him and marched with us for over three hours.

Today Ken testified at 350PM on the EPA’s proposed regulations from coal fired power plants. Below is his testimony. -Jay

Comments on EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan and Carbon Pollution Standard for Modified Sources Rule, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Kenneth Ward

Dear Friends,

This may be a bit different from most invitations, but we hope you’ll bear with us for a moment. The two of us are about to go on trial and have the chance to argue for the necessity of aggressive, science-based climate action in a court of law. This is a rare opportunity for our movement to be heard loud and clear, to break through the clutter and show just how grave the danger is. We hope you’ll consider joining us in Fall River for the trial September 8th and 9th to drive that message home.

Let’s back up a minute and explain how we got here. (Or if you’re ready to go straight to the RSVP, click here.)

Last year on May 15th, the two of us in our little white lobster boat, the Henry David T, blockaded 40,000 tons of West Virginia coal from being unloaded at the Brayton Point Power Station, the largest single source of climate-warming emissions in New England. It was a different sort of action. There was no chanting, and no politicians or legislatures were involved. We placed our bodies (and boat) in the path of a coal freighter, challenging the business-as-usual routine that is pushing us over the climate cliff, demonstrating exactly what it is we’re up against and what needs to change.

To avoid the cliff we need to change course now, so we called for the immediate closure of Brayton and the end of coal. This is the only morally responsible course, given what we know scientifically. The lobster boat blockade launched a summer of action at the plant, including the arrest of 44 valiant folks at the gates of the plant, and last fall the owners announced the closure of Brayton Point in 2017.

As we prepare to go to trial September 8th, it is abundantly clear that 2017 is not soon enough. This summer scientists argued for the first time that the collapse of some of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is now inevitable, guaranteeing 10 feet of sea level rise from those glaciers alone. At the same time, the EPA and the President have put forward new rules on coal power plants — part of the White House’s “all of the above” energy strategy — which are about as good as doing nothing and will keep us charging towards a 6°C future.

As climatologist Jim Hansen (one of the expert witnesses at our trial) has written, if we want to have a chance of getting back to a stable climate, “the principal requirement is that coal emissions must be phased out by 2030.” If it takes us another three years to shut down a plant in Massachusetts that we don’t need, what are the prospects for closing the rest of the country’s coal plants, stopping exports, and ending the mining and burning of the stuff worldwide in the next 13 years? We have to draw the line here.

This is serious business, and we are going to act seriously. Obviously it’s serious for us — we are potentially facing months in prison — but it is more serious for our movement, as we have to make the case that half-measures and superficial victories simply are unacceptable. We hope you will join us as we set about making that case to the jury, backed by our expert witnesses Dr. James Hansen and Bill McKibben.

But we also want you to join us in making the case to the world. People seem to pay more attention to things in a courtroom, and your presence will help communicate exactly how much this matters. And we hope this will be a special time for our movement, a chance to see our work in a new way and to be in fellowship with one another in a new way.

In that spirit, we’d like to keep it classy: dress in your Sunday best, leave the signs and chants at home, and be prepared to sit patiently and to join together in song. This will be a time for serious joy, but not anger.

If you want to be a part of this work, we ask that you RSVP here. We have a stellar organizing team who are helping to put our arrangements together, and we will keep you abreast as event plans, transportation and logistics get sorted out.

Many thanks are due to all who have supported us this far. We know it’s asking a lot to come to Fall River on a weekday for something that’s more than a lunchtime rally. But it is our privilege to be able to keep this fight going in the most serious possible way. We hope you’ll join us.

Ken Ward
and
Jay O’Hara

PS. Please feel free to pass this invitation on to others you know who may be inspired to join in.

What an amazing couple of weeks it’s been. We passed out $10,000 crowdfunding goal on Indiegogo on June 17th – a whole two weeks before our deadline. And last week Ken and I met with our lawyers for the first time to begin the serious trial preparation.

We are so grateful to the 131 people who have thus far contributed to our legal defense fund. This money will enable our team to pay the expenses for our expert witnesses, and make sure that our organizers have the resources necessary to make the trial on September 8th and 9th a serious, colorful and joyous celebration that effectively communicates our message and the message of the climate movement. Thank you to all who have shared our story, passed the link on to your friends and contributed money. We were supported mainly by lots of small contributions (an average of $78), so every little bit helped. THANK YOU SO MUCH for making this campaign a success.

Also, last Tuesday, Ken and I met with our two lawyers for the first time to begin to flesh out our legal strategy going into the trial. One of the biggest pieces of information is that we are certain at this point that the trial will last two days (the 8th and 9th of September). We also talked about honing our list of witnesses, the order of the legal proceedings for the day, and likely consequences. Our criminal attorney let us know that we were potentially facing more jail time than we had thought – just one of our charges (disturbing the peace) carries the potential maximum of 6th months in prison. And that the sentences for other three charges can be added on top of this.

But we aren’t daunted! Our trial organizing team is meeting again this coming Tuesday in Cambridge, and we’ll be making sure that our plans for outreach, media and arts and culture for the event itself are all lined up.

Again, from the bottom of our hearts – thank you all who have helped us get this far.