Massachussetts D.A. drops charges against two climate activists, citing the threat of climate change

On Monday, Bristol County, MA, District Attorney Sam Sutter surprised climate activists when he dropped criminal  charges against Ken Ward and Jay O’Hara, who had blocked a daily shipment of 40,000 toms of coal to the Brayton Point power plant with their boat, the Henry David T. (Thoreau).

Sutter reduced three other charges to civil offenses and called climate change one of the greatest crises the planet has ever faced in a public announcement following his decision that will hopefully set a precedent in linking climate change to legal decisions and policy-making. Sutter, Ward, and O’Hara are now planning to march together in New York City on 9-21 and join the People’s Climate march. Watch all three of them in an interview with Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman here.