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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><b>On </b><span style="line-height:150%"><b>Saturday, May 13,</b> from 5 to 9 <span style="font-variant:small-caps">p.m</span>., at Harmony Stables, 35<span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">00 Duncan Drive in Missoula,
350 Montana will introduce</span></span><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"> Leonard Higgins, an ordinary hero, at an <font size="2">educational fundraiser to support Leonard's legal defense through the Climate Disobedience Action Fund. <b>Please join us for a barbecue, good local brews, music by
<span>“Ellie Nuno and the Tynellies,” and the story of good people taking action to avert the climate crisis.</span></b></font>
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%">There are many kinds of heroes. We
know the swashbuckler, the Hollywood alpha who bests his adversaries. We
know the anti-hero, the Don Quixotes, who manage their quest in spite of their misbegotten
selves. Our favorite at 350 Montana, given the current state of the climate and
our Deniers-in-Chief, is t<i>he everyman</i>, the average American who steps
forward with great moral courage.<i><span style="line-height:150%"></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%;color:black">"Missoulians have an opportunity to meet one
of these brave souls," says 350 Montana leadership team member Jim Parker. "Leonard and the other valve-turners took personal risks to defend our planet,
our environment, our quality of life … and, <i>if you read the scientific
literature,</i> maybe all life as we know it."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%;color:black">The background is that, on October 11,
2016, five ordinary citizens chose to act commensurate
with the science of the climate crisis. In the face of the abject failure of elected officials and public
policy to deal with climate change, they closed valves on the five pipelines
carrying Alberta tar sands crude oil into the United States.</span><span style="line-height:150%;color:black"> </span><span style="line-height:150%"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%">Higgins, Jay O'Hara, Ken Ward, </span><span style="line-height:150%;color:black">Emily Johnston, </span><span style="line-height:150%">and </span><span style="line-height:150%;color:black">Annette Klapstein</span><span style="line-height:150%"> shut five major
cross-border pipelines in four states carrying millions of barrels of tar sands
crude. The valve turners simultaneously entered valve stations in remote
locations 1,600 miles across four northern U.S. states.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%">They were supporting the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe,
which was trying to protect its water and land from the $3.7 billion Dakota
Access pipeline carrying oil to the Gulf Coast. Consistent with the climate movement, their actions were completely nonviolent.<br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%">Fifteen minutes before shutting the valves, the valve
turners called operating companies and emergency services. The
firms shut off the oil. There were no injuries to others nor, except for the cutting of some chains, to property. The simple plan highlighted the vulnerability of energy
infrastructure and stunned policy makers and energy executives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%">Higgins must have drawn the short straw because he
turned off a pipeline in Chouteau County, Montana, </span><span style="line-height:150%;color:black">near Coal Banks
Landing.</span><span style="line-height:150%"> He
awaits trial on July 18 in Fort Benton and faces up to 10 years in prison. After his December 6, 2016
arraignment he said the possibility of incarceration paled in
comparison to the prospect of climate change. "Bottom line: we're facing a
far greater threat than prison," he said.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%">Retired after a 30-year career as an IT specialist for
the State of Oregon, Higgins’ Montana
speaking tour will take him to Missoula, Bozeman, and Whitefish. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%">"Montana is as good a place as any to have this conversation," </span><span style="line-height:150%">Jay O'Hara</span><span style="line-height:150%"> says. "It's a conversation we need to have in the heart of America with
average, everyday citizens."</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"><br></span>
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><span>Dave
Harmon, host of the event up the Rattlesnake and a member of 350 Montana's leadership team, says, “The five ordinary
activists laid their personal welfare and freedom on the line for the rest of
us, and we’re going to have their back. <i>They
are our ordinary heroes, and they deserve our support.”</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%">350 Montana wants to bring folks together to learn
about the moral grounds for climate actions, pay tribute to their bravery, and
raise money for their legal defense. Because . . .</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in;line-height:150%"><span style="line-height:150%;color:black">Every once in a while—not often enough, mind
you—some very brave souls put themselves in harm’s way to right the wrongs of
our time. </span><i><span style="line-height:150%">They are our ordinary heroes.</span></i><span style="line-height:150%;color:black"> Sometimes their
bravery is rewarded by arrest, trial, and threats of jail.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><i><span> </span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0.1pt 0in"><b><span>For more information please visit:</span></b><span> </span><a href="http://www.350montana.org"><i><span>www.350montana.org</span></i></a><b><span> </span></b><span>or<b> </b><i><a href="http://www.facebook.com/climatedirectaction/">www.facebook.com/climatedirectaction/</a></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center"><b><i> </i></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>NOTE TO MEDIA: </b><span>Leonard Higgins is available for interviews via
telephone or in person. Please schedule interviews with <i>350 Montana</i> by calling 406-880-8320 or sending email to <a href="mailto:yswolfhowl@gmail.com">yswolfhowl@gmail.com</a> <br></span></p>
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