Climate Protectors Are Not Criminals

Six New Zealanders from across the South Island, supporters of the Extinction Rebellion climate group, will appear in the Dunedin District Court today for blocking a coal train at Dunedin Railway Station in 2021. They face charges of obstructing railway employees in the course of their duty and refusing to leave the railway station after being asked to, which carry a maximum penalty of $12,000. Two others also involved will not appear. Charges against 84 year old Michael Fay have been stayed due to bad health.

The blocked train was carrying around 500 tonnes of coal from Bathurst Resources’ Nightcaps mine in Southland to Fonterra’s Clandeboye dairy factory in Canterbury.

Fonterra, New Zealand’s biggest polluter, burns coal in its South Island factories to make milk powder to send around the world. As a State Owned Enterprise KiwiRail is obliged to make a profit for its government shareholders, and so enables that pollution.

“We’d rather see KiwiRail carry passengers instead of coal” said James Cockle, spokesperson for the group. “But profits come first for KiwiRail’s government owner.”

Extinction Rebellion supporters first stopped the coal train two days after the government declared a Climate Emergency on 2 December 2020.

“They were acting on the Climate Emergency” said Cockle.

“During the following year they tried many ways to get KiwiRail to stop hauling coal. They wrote to the government, they met with KiwiRail bosses and with union delegates, they started petitions and spoke at select committees - while again blocking the coal train - all to no avail.

“More cyclone Gabrielles, more of last year’s Auckland Anniversary and this year’s Wairoa floods are worsened by the government allowing Fonterra to keep burning coal for 13 more years. That’s too long. Coal supports industrial dairy which is also a problem for biodiversity loss, water pollution & methane emissions. That is criminal.

“The people on trial today feel a deep obligation to younger and future generations. They will not stay silent while their future is tossed onto Fonterra’s slag heap.”

A single trainload of coal when burned sends around 1,100 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, and is responsible for one climate-related death somewhere in the world according to an international peer reviewed paper The Mortality Cost of Carbon.

“The Coaltrain8 wanted to prevent more people dying. The climate catastrophe is already bringing death, food shortages, people on the move because their homes have become unlivable. Not just people. They are here because they want a future for all living things”.

“The government is the biggest criminal by not acting on the Climate Emergency. Ordinary people trying to do the right thing are not criminals.”

“How many more have to die before our government, KiwiRail and Fonterra do the right thing?”

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