'No Coal, No Gas' climate activists plead guilty to Newington Station banner protest
PORTSMOUTH — Five climate activists charged for a protest at Newington Station last year all pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges this week, seven months after dropping a 175-foot-long “No Coal, No Gas” banner from the gas plant’s smokestack.
The five defendants from a regional initiative avoided trial in Portsmouth District Court and were ordered to pay fines on Class B misdemeanor charges.
In August 2024, the five protesters — Elliot Cooper, Lena Greenberg, Nathan Phillips, Leif Taranta and Talia Trigg — were arrested by Newington police for hanging the banner. The banner noted the regional organization’s plan to advocate for all fossil-fuel fired peaker plants in New England to be permanently closed.
Five climate activists are pleading guilty to charges stemming from their August 2024 arrests in Newington for hanging a banner off Newington Station power plant that read “No Coal, No Gas.”
All five were originally charged with criminal trespass, according to state court records. They pleaded guilty to Class B misdemeanor trespass charges and paid a total of $2,976 in fines.
Taranta is an organizer with the Climate Disobedience Center.
“We are proud to be part of a community of resistance, especially when the people in charge of how electricity is made and delivered to us, law enforcement, and the courts keep prioritizing corporate profit over our collective wellbeing,” Taranta said in a prepared statement after the pleading.
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The five defendants are all represented by lawyer Kira Kelley, a staff attorney for the Climate Defense Project, a free legal support service for climate activists and movements practicing law in Colorado, Maryland, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Washington state and Washington D.C.
Kelley has previously represented defendants affiliated with the “No Coal, No Gas” movement, including some within the group of 60-plus protesters arrested at the Merrimack Station coal power plant in Bow in 2019.
“As I suspected based on past experiences with ‘No Coal, No Gas’ arrestees, these five individuals have been thoughtful about their impacts on each other and the community, engaged in their legal proceedings, and altogether great clients to work with,” Kelley said in a prepared statement.
Clean energy is the goal for protesters
The “No Coal, No Gas” movement looks to have peaker plants like Newington Station converted into clean energy outlets.
“Although the environmental, public health, and climate damage from fossil fuels becomes more stark year by year, corporations like the one that owns Newington Station continue to operate with no end in sight,” Phillips added in his own prepared statement. “I am dedicated to continuing to build community with those who refuse to accept that status quo and are instead showing what’s possible, working to transition every fossil fueled power plant in New England to healthy, affordable and reliable energy for all.”
Newington Station, part of the Granite Shore Power portfolio, is a 400 megawatt power plant on Gosling Road. Granite Shore Power officials did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Coal plant shutdowns announced last year
Granite Shore Power announced that it will permanently cease coal-fired operations at Schiller Station in Portsmouth, seen here, and Merrimack Station in Bow. Schiller Station has not been operational since 2020 but will be converted into a battery energy storage system facility named the Jacona II, an homage to pre-World War II power generation in Portsmouth.
In 2024, Granite Shore Power announced Merrimack Station and Schiller Station in Portsmouth would be phased out and shut down in a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency. The two facilities are the last coal plants operating in New England.
Schiller Station, opened in 1949, has not been in use since 2020. The Portsmouth plant is planned to be converted to a battery energy storage system known as Jacona II. The future facility’s name is an homage to the 396-foot-long Jacona ship, a 20th century non-self-propelled floating power barge once anchored to Schiller Station to provide power on land in Portsmouth.
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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: ‘No Coal, No Gas’ protesters plead guilty to Newington Station sign