Two New Orleans area environmental activists associated with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade were cleared of all charges by the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s office a year after the event.
Anne Rolfes and Kate McIntosh, in December 2019 after a protest against the Formosa plastic manufacturing plant in St. James Parish, were arrested and charged after putting a box of “nurdles” on the front porch of a chemical industry lobbyist with a note saying: “These are just some of the billions of nurdles that Formosa Plastic dumped into the coastal waters of Texas.” This harmless act was done only to bring to the attention of the lobbyist what was being produced as waste by the plant and was being found along the Texas Coast. Charged as terrorists, the two faced lengthy prison sentences if found guilty. An uproar resulted especially with the terrorism charges. First Assistant District Attorney Tracey Barbera said the decision was made after a review of the facts of the case and the applicable laws. The two activists, though, were told that a repeat act would result in being charged again.
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