EDF Energy announced this week that the company has decided to drop a £5-million lawsuit (roughly $7.5 million) against 21 British climate activists.
The civil lawsuit was brought against activists who occupied the company’s West Burton gas-firing power station in Nottinghamshire, England last year.
The activists from the group No Dash for Gas had scaled the plant’s smokestacks and climbed inside, delaying the scheduled opening of a new chimney. The group was protesting new gas-fired power stations.
While the power company says it calculated the £55 million based on staff, security and other costs, critics decried the civil suit as a tactic to discourage protest and dissent.
The decision to drop the lawsuit came after considerale public pressure. An online petition drew some 64,000 signatures including celebrities like Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Klein and Noam Chomsky, according to the British press.
More importantly, customers of the British subsidiary of Electricité de France threatened to switch power providers.
The end of the civil lawsuit, however, does not spell the end of the protestors’ legal troubles. The activists still face criminal charges in Nottingham Magistrates Court for aggravated trespass.
While no one knows how many environmental activists around the world have run afoul of the law during protests, their numbers are growing.
In Australia last month, Greenpeace activists were arrested after they unfurled a giant banner at the company’s Sydney headquarters. The previous week, some famous climate activists got themselves arrested in front of the White House in Washington.
Join our sustainability conversation. Have you ever broken the law in pursuit of environmental activism Have you ever been arrested or charged Do you think such civil (but sometimes criminal) disobedience is acceptable in the pro-environment fight
