Above: Community activists, collectively called Olympia Stand, continues its blockade of Union Pacific Railroad tracks in its effort to halt the transfer of ceramic proppants from the Port of Olympia to North Dakota, where the product will be used in hydraulic fracking process to allow for oil extraction.
Port Commissioners Downing, Zita Make Statements about Blockade at meeting Monday night
By
Janine Gates
At about 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, two Union
Pacific Railroad Company police served notice on blockade participants to
vacate the railroad at 7th and Jefferson in downtown Olympia.
The notice of emergency abatement
placed on the blockade site states to vacate the property or risk criminal
trespass in the second degree.
The notice is partially handwritten, saying that
further violations exceeding the notice are subject to violations. The term “ORS.164.255”
is crossed out, which would be a first degree violation, and “second degree” is
written in.
“The
nuisances on this property include illegal camping, debris, scattering of rubbish,
harborage for rats, unclean and unsanitary conditions, and therefore violates
the property rights of the Union Pacific Railroad,” it states in part.
The notice does not give a time or date that trespassers
must vacate the property.
Two members of the National Lawyers Guild arrived
about 9:00 a.m. and identified themselves to Little Hollywood as observers.
At the same time, while standing outside the
encampment, a white truck with two men inside drove by yelling, “Trump!” “Trump!”
“Trump!”
Above: A Union Pacific Railroad notice of emergency abatement placed Tuesday morning at the railroad blockade site at 7th and Jefferson in downtown Olympia. The notice states that it is a notice to vacate the property or risk criminal trespass in the second degree.
Protesters, collectively called Olympia Stand, have
maintained its direct action blockade of the railroad tracks since Friday
afternoon.
On Friday, a train hauling several cars of ceramic proppants was
forced to return to the Port of Olympia’s marine terminal after being blocked
by protesters at the intersection of State and Jefferson Street.
City of Olympia city manager Steve Hall was at the
camp Tuesday morning on his way to work and got there just in time to see the
railroad police put up the notices.
“I just hope there’s a peaceful end to this – I hope
people don’t get in trouble at a higher level while being heard," said Hall. Hall said he
spoke to the railroad police, who were vague about whether or not it was a
felony to block a train.
“I’m hoping this is handled the Olympia way and
people don’t get hurt,” said Hall.
Protesters have visually fortified their barricade
at 7th and Jefferson with white plastic sheeting, but blockade activities
can clearly be seen from Jefferson Street.
At last night’s Port of Olympia meeting, about 17
activists, in addition to those in the audience, peacefully showed up to make
their presence known to the commissioners and stood in the back of the room
during the public comment period.
Several spoke directly to the Port’s complicity in
the degradation of the environment by accepting the ceramic proppant shipments from
China and allowing transport to North Dakota to be used in the process of
hydraulic fracking.
Zoltan Grossman, a professor at The Evergreen State
College, urged commissioners to be on the right side of history.
A student of The Evergreen State College, Colleen
Allen, said that many students care about their future.
“We care about the future – all we ask is that you
care about our future too,” she said.
Above,
left to right: Port of Olympia commissioners Joe Downing, Bill McGregor, and
E.J. Zita at their regular meeting on Monday evening.
The commissioners briefly responded to public
concerns, but did not dwell on the topic.
Commissioner Joe Downing responded by saying that he
did not vote for Donald Trump and has had a sign on his car in support of Hillary Clinton for a couple months.
“I’m choked up, because things are going to get
tough and I’m just seeing the handwriting on the wall….”
How that relates to fracking, he said, is that the
community has to continue to have a dialog about energy production and port priorities.
He said he has spoken directly with protesters and doesn’t personally see a connection
between that conversation and the port's shipping of proppants to North Dakota.
“We need to have rail car safety…I don’t agree with
blocking trains.…Make your voices known, and move on to the next issue,
frankly,” said Downing.
In a statement provided to Little Hollywood on Monday, Commissioner E.J. Zita said:
“I asked last month to be informed of any movements
of fracking proppants at the Port, but was surprised to learn of events last
week. I commend the Olympia Police
Department for their hands-off response to peaceful protest. Public safety and freedom of speech are high
priorities.
“Port Commissioners are responsible for setting port
policy, and the executive director is responsible for carrying out that policy. While the executive director may have played
a key role in securing the Rainbow Ceramics contract to move fracking proppants
through the Port, future decisions on this matter rest with commissioners. We must weigh risks and benefits to people
and the environment as well as to economics.
“The Port's Environmental Director has recently
undertaken an assessment of our direct (Scope 1) greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions. I recommend that we also evaluate
the indirect (Scope 2 and Scope 3) GHG emissions due to fracking proppants
moving through the Port,” said Zita.
For more photos and information about the rail blockade, the Port of Olympia, ceramic proppants, and more, go to Little Hollywood, www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com, and type key words into the search button.
