US climate activists charged with 'terrorizing' lobbyist over plastic pollution stunt
Original reporting: How a file box full of plastic got two Louisiana women arrested for terrorizing (The Times-Picayune)
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Source: The Guardian
Cancer town
Louisiana
US climate activists charged with 'terrorizing' lobbyist over plastic pollution stunt
Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh face up to 15 years in prison after delivering box of plastic pellets found as pollution
Emily Holden in Washington
Thu 25 Jun 2020 20.08 BST
Last modified on Thu 25 Jun 2020 23.26 BST
Environmental activists opposing a plastics manufacturing facility in Louisiana have been booked with a felony for terrorizing an oil and gas lobbyist by delivering a box of plastic pellets found as pollution in bays on the Texas coast.
Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh, with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, turned themselves into the Baton Rouge police department on Thursday, as first reported by the Times-Picayune.
The charges stem from a plastic pollution awareness event in December called Nurdlefest, which focused on the impacts of an expansive petrochemical and plastics complex approved to be built by Formosa Plastics in St James Parish.
Nurdles are the plastic pellets used to make plastic products. The Guardian has extensively covered the activism in its Cancer Town series from Reserve, Louisiana.
The offenses are punishable with up to 15 years in prison. The advocates lawyer, Pam Spees, with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said the charges have no merit and seem to be meant to discourage protesters.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/25/louisiana-bucket-brigade-arrests-formosa-plastics-protest