Local Activists Stop Coal Train In Westford

WESTFORD, MA — A coal train was stopped early Thursday morning in Westford, where local activists gathered to barricade the train as it traveled to refuel Merrimack Station, New England's last coal-fired power plant.

"It is not safe for it to keep rolling toward combustion," the campaign, No Coal No Gas, wrote in a tweet at 6:23 a.m., a half-hour after announcing the blockade.

No Coal No Gas added in the tweet that the train was stopped safely.

Julie Macuga, a representative for the campaign, told Patch that three people blockaded the tracks, with two locked down and one acting as support. According to Macuga, 13 people cheered on the protesters from nearby public beach land.

"The group had an energy of joyful determination; excited, focused, and cheerful," Macuga told Patch.

Westford police escorted the activists out of the park and then collaborated with the fire department and railroad police to arrest the two people who had locked themselves to the tracks, Macuga said.

The campaign describes itself as being made up of affinity groups, partner organizations, and individuals who are dedicated to ending the burning of fossil fuels in New England for the environment's sake.

According to its website, the campaign began rallying to close the Merrimack Generating Station in 2019. At the time, the plant was the last big coal plant in New England without a shutdown date — but now that Schiller Station has closed and the Bridgeport Harbor Station has stopped burning coal, the Merrimack Station is the last remaining coal plant in all of New England.

"We do not need coal in New England," No Coal No Gas writes. "Thanks to steadily decreasing regional energy demand since 2005 and the ample new cleaner energy sources joining the grid, there is energy capacity surplus in the region to handle forecasted maximum loads - even during extreme heat waves and cold snaps - without using coal."

No Coal No Gas is spearheaded by the Climate Disobedience Center, which has organized several coal protests over the last few years, some resulting in the arrests of its participants.