Candidate Jess Spear Arrested Protesting Oil Trains in Seattle

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Jess Spear, Candidate for WA State House in Seattle’s 43rd LD, put herself on the line to protect Seattle. Every day, trains carrying oil through Seattle put ordinary people at risk. While Washington State government considers the dangers of oil trains after the recent derailment, Jess Spear and two others blocked the tracks at Broad St and Elliott Ave and were arrested for trespassing.

“Oil and railroad companies are gambling our lives and our environment for the sake of ever greater profits,” said Jess Spear to supporters and media. “If an oil train crashed and exploded here in the downtown core or near the stadiums, it could kill tens of thousands of people. Every day two of these bombs on wheels travel through our city.”

Seattle city councilmember Kshama Sawant, also present, said, “These oil trains are a state issue, who do you see here standing up for people? You see Jess Spear, you don’t see her opponent, Frank Chopp, speaking out against oil trains, he takes money from BNSF and BP.”

Spear, Sawant, the Green Party, and UW Divest announced a September 20th action in Seattle on climate change and fossil fuels. This action will be in solidarity with the Sept 21st climate action in NYC expected to be the largest environment protest ever.

Also present were Green Party activists, 350.org activists (involved in planning the Anacortes blockade), people from SAFE, and Socialist Alternative.

Click here for a video of the TV news coverage.

Check out Jess Spears full remarks below, and to donate to the campaign, click here!

One week ago Seattle dodged a bullet when an oil train derailed under the Magnolia bridge.

It thankfully did not spill its contents, but it was a stark reminder that we are all at grave risk from these oil trains.

Oil and railroad companies are gambling our lives and our environment for the sake of ever greater profits.

The danger isn’t just from oil spilling on the ground, or into the Puget Sound.

The oil contained in the cars is highly flammable. Last year near Quebec an oil train exploded, incinerating everything within a 1 kilometer radius, including half the downtown area It killed 47 people.

If an oil train crashed and exploded here in the downtown core or near the stadiums, it could kill tens of thousands of people. Every day two of these bombs on wheels travel through our city.

In addition, BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) is attempting to make these trains less safe by moving to 1-man crews on their trains, which means only 1 person would be on these mile long trains.

I was proud to stand with railroad workers yesterday to protest this dangerous and reckless policy pushed by BNSF in their quest for profits.

The railroad workers are not only fighting for their jobs, but to keep our communities safe.

But even if railroad cars could be made impenetrable, I would still be here today demanding we stop the oil trains.

Because even if they don’t spill into the environment today, the oil will still end up in our environment, warming our planet, acidifying our oceans, causing the sea level to rise, and threatening the lives of billions of people on the planet.

In short, these oil trains inherently are threat to us all.

You don’t have to be a climate scientist to understand that continued use of oil, coal, and gas puts the entire global civilization at risk.

We all know the facts.

Burning fossil fuels has already changed our climate – the superstorms, drought, heatwaves, and rising sea level attest to that – and allowing big oil and railroad companies to not only continue business-as-usual, but to increase fossil fuel activity, is just reckless.

We need to rapidly move away from dangerous fossil fuels toward renewable energy.

In my election race, I’m calling for a fossil fuel free Washington state, massive public investment in clean energy and for a just transition of all fossil fuel energy workers into clean energy jobs.

We already have all the technology necessary to power society on clean, renewable energy, but private industry refuses to invest and their servants in government cower and continue to drag their feet.

This is the logic of capitalism.

The market isn’t interested in abandoning highly profitable, but deadly fossil fuels in favor of clean, renewable energy.

And the political establishment in Olympia has shown no leadership on climate change.

That is why working people need our own representatives, who don’t take money from BNSF, BP & Shell – as my opponent Frank Chopp does. Frank Chopp has accepted more than $17K from dirty fossil fuel companies and railroads.

He has been silent on the issue of oil trains and coal trains – that is the way his sponsors like it.

But we also must build a powerful movement.

On September 21, the largest climate march in history will take place in New York City, to pressure world leaders at the UN Climate summit to take the steps urgently needed to stop global warming and move global society towards a sustainable future.

Socialist Alternative, the Green Party of Washington, and Divest UW are calling for a solidarity rally here in Seattle on Saturday, Sept 20th to highlight the specific fossil fuel projects threatening us here in the Pacific Northwest and to show that people everywhere are demanding action.

We invite other environment organizations, community groups, and activists to join us in this endeavor.

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