17 December 2024
CoalTrain8 to Be Sentenced Today. Biggest Criminal = Fonterra – still free
Six New Zealanders from across the South Island, supporters of the climate movements Extinction Rebellion and Climate Liberation Aotearoa, will face sentencing this afternoon at 2:30pm in the Dunedin District Court for their part in blocking a coal train at Dunedin Railway Station in 2021.
The KiwiRail train was carrying around 500 tonnes of coal from Bathurst Resources’ Nightcaps mine in Southland to Fonterra’s Clandeboye dairy factory in Canterbury.
In his reserved decision in August, Judge Robinson accepted that the CoalTrain8 were acting in good faith. He acknowledged the necessity of community activism, saying that movements like Extinction Rebellion are seen as a positive development in the fight against climate change. He accepted renowned climate scientist Dr Greg Bodeker’s dire warnings, acknowledging “the existential threat that climate change poses to the planet, the inadequacy of the New Zealand Government’s response, the effects of climate change on the population and the implications of climate-driven disasters.”
Owner of the coal, Fonterra, recently announced that it is switching two of its coal boilers at its giant Clandeboye factory to wood pellets.
“That is Greenwash,” said CoalTrain8 spokesperson Rosemary Penwarden
“That switch is due to massive taxpayer help via the EECA (Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority) fund. Two boilers are a tiny portion of the Clandeboye’s monster death machine. Fonterra still plans to burn coal for another 12 years, signalling a death knell for so many of the living creatures we care about.
“Fonterra is not only the biggest contributor to the destruction of our land, air and water. The coal burnt daily in its factories directly causes the death of human beings, according to “The Mortality Cost of Carbon”, a peer reviewed scientific paper by Daniel Bressler.
“The CoalTrain8 are the heroes for our future history books.
“These people are not criminals. Fonterra – and this enabling government – are the criminals in this important case.”