Thank You, Climate Hero

*This was originally published in The Ithacan on April 26, 2015

On April 20th, Heather Doyle plead guilty to her actions at Dominion’s Cove Point LNG export terminal in Lusby, Maryland on Feb. 3, in which she trespassed onto a construction site and scaled the arm of a crane to drop a banner that read, “Dominion get out. Don’t frack Maryland. No gas exports. Save Cove Point.”

Doyle, 31, did not accept probation and instead chose to go to jail. Judge John E. Nunn of the Calvert County Court sentenced Doyle 40 days, which she is now serving. In his statement the judge said he was sympathetic to the environmental movement, but did not understand why Doyle and her fellow crane-climber, Carling Sothoron, needed to scale construction equipment to make their point.

Writing letters and signing petitions only go so far, and in some cases, like Seneca Lake and Cove Point, our only remaining option is to speak with our bodies.

The following is a letter I wrote to Doyle. I wanted to share it on my blog to bring attention to her valiant efforts to protect what she loves, and her self sacrifice for a greater good. I hope sharing this will also bring attention to Dominion’s ill-fated intentions to construct the first LNG export facility on the East Coast.

Learning the Jails

I've never had much experience with jails. I was briefly introduced to a holding cell in Washington D.C.'s Anacostia police station in March of this year after refusing to move from the White House sidewalk while protesting the KXL Pipeline. I stood in there for ten minutes with five other female college students before I was processed and released.

However, I now find myself quickly becoming familiarized with the procedures and expectations of Schuyler, Chemung, and Yates County Jails as the We Are Seneca Lake civil disobedience campaign continues into December.