Washington State Judge Denies Climate “Necessity” Defence in Ecoterrorism Case, by Sam Levin.

Controversial statements angered environmentalists who insist courts have an obligation to recognize the science about manmade climate change.

A Washington state judge has sparked outrage for remarks questioning the existence of climate change and the role of humans in global warming.

During the high-profile trial of Ken Ward, a climate activist facing 30 years in prison for shutting down an oil pipeline, Judge Michael E Rickert said: “I don’t know what everybody’s beliefs are on [climate change], but I know that there’s tremendous controversy over the fact whether it even exists. And even if people believe that it does or it doesn’t, the extent of what we’re doing to ourselves and our climate and our planet, there’s great controversy over that.”

The Skagit County judge made the comments on 24 January while addressing Ward’s request to present a “necessity defense” in court, meaning he would argue that the grave threat of climate change justified civil disobedience.

Here are the activists closing down a pipeline, in their own view:

 

This is a crime. It reveals the religious zealotry in the environmental movement. This action may have endangered people — closing an emergency shutdown valve on an oil pipeline can cause the pipe to rupture.

The Democrats fully embrace the environmental movement. Perhaps some of these zealots are educated, but they have no wisdom and are delusional. They are emotionally driven, and logic does not have anything to do with their decisions.

hat-tip Eric Worrall, Charles