Street roots., March 30, 2018, Page 9, Image 9

News
Page 10
Street Roots • March 30-April 5, 2018
Portland ‘Valve Turner’ spared prison
Leonard Higgins will pay restitution
for his climate activism in 2016
BY EM ILY GREEN
S E N IO R S T A F F R E P O R T E R
eonard Higgins, 66, is not going to
prison for his role in the most
expansive takeover of fossil fuel
infrastructure ever attempted in the United
States.
On March 20, a district court judge in
Chouteau County, Mont., handed Higgins a
three-year deferred sentence, along with a
$4,280 bill for restitution and court fees.
It’s welcome news to Higgins, who was
convicted of felony criminal mischief and
misdemeanor trespass in November for
crimes he traveled from Oregon to Montana
to commit in 2016.
Higgins and four
other climate
activists, known as
the “Valve Turners,”
stopped the flow of
Alberta Tar Sands
oil from coming into
the U.S. when they
will
manually shut off
Radical,” a documentary
five pipelines in four
about Leonard Higgins* fellow Valve
states bordering
Turner Ken Ward, of Seattle, at 7:30
Canada the m o rn in g
p.m. April 21 as part of Portland
of Oct. 11, 2016.
EcoFilm Festival.
The prosecutor in
Higgins’ case was
seeking a 10-year
sentence, with all
but 60 days
suspended, for the
felony and a six-
month sentence,
with all but 30 days
suspended, for the
misdemeanor. The
prosecution also sought $25,630 in
restitution to cover the damage caused to
Enbridge Inc.’s property (Formerly Spectra
Energy), as well as labor associated with
Higgins’ actions.
FILE P H O T O BY E M IL Y GREEN
Higgins, a retired state IT manager and
Leonard Higgins, convicted on felony and misdemeanor charges fo r his p art in the shutdown
lifelong Oregonian, said he arrived in court
o f five oil pipelines in 2016, has received a deferred sentence that spares him from prison time.
with nothing more than his driver’s license,
his insurance card and some cash for
commissary in his pockets, expecting he
m eet tne toilowing criteria:
each of the energy companies that operate
would be going to jail for anywhere from 30
• The harm that would have resulted from
the pipelines moments in advance, giving
days to several years.
obeying the law would have significantly
them the opportunity to turn off the valves
“I’m finally starting to wrap my arms
exceeded the harm caused by breaking
remotely before locks were broken and
around the fact that I’m not in jail,” he told
the law.
manual shut-off cranks were engaged. In
Street Roots as he traveled by train to
• There was no legal
each case, the company declined.
Eugene three days after his sentencing
alternative.
All five of the Valve Turners live in
hearing.
"T in fin a lly starting to
• The respondent must be
Oregon and Washington, and all had become
The presiding judge, Daniel Bouche, was
in danger of imminent
wrap my arms around the
increasingly frustrated with the failure of
not available for comment. However
physical harm.
fact that Fm not In ja il/"
the U.S. government to take actions to steer
Higgins’ fellow activist and accomplice Ken
•
There
must
be
a
direct
the country away from the impending
LEOaARO H iooias
Ward reported live from the courthouse via
causal connection
V A L V E T U R N E R C L IM A T E A C T IV IS T
climate
catastrophe.
social media that Bouche said he handed
between breaking the law
The activists wanted to escalate their
down a light sentence because the crime
and preventing the harm.
actions to bring more attention to the
was nonviolent in nature, and Higgins had
The Valve Turners lined
climate crisis. Part of their plan all along
no prior criminal record.
up a host of scientists to testify about the
was to take their cases to trial using the
The Valve Turners’ synchronized pipeline
- effects of Earth’s climate crisis and
necessity defense. This defense strategy can
shutdown was a highly orchestrated and
prepared to demonstrate how they’d been
be used when a judge allows a jury to
publicized event, with documentarians on
advocating for action on climate legally for
consider it in their deliberation. To qualify
site at each valve to film the closure. A
See HIGGINS, page 11
for this defense, the crime committed must
command center in Seattle made calls to
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