Several of Maryland’s top environmental leaders today called on the state police to release all files related to a former spying campaign on activists and called on the state government to redouble its effort to fight the real terror and violence facing the state: rapid global warming.

PRESS RELEASE  For October 23rd

Contact: Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838
Anne Havemann, 202-997-2466

Environmental Activists Deplore Police Abuses, Call on State to Focus on the Real Terror and Violence of Climate Change

Pictures available: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chesapeakeclimate/sets/72157608308586857/

SILVER SPRING, Md – Several of Maryland’s top environmental leaders today called on the state police to release all files related to a former spying campaign on activists and called on the state government to redouble its effort to fight the real terror and violence facing the state: rapid global warming.

Environmental leaders stepped forward after news came out that three current or former paid staff members of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network – one of the largest environmental groups in the state – had their names put in the Maryland State Police criminal intelligence database as “suspected terrorists” as part of a larger police program of collecting information about political activists in 2005-2006.

“It is a sad day in Maryland when honest, nonviolent defenders of the environment must defend their civil liberties against spying of this sort,” said Mike Tidwell, CCAN Executive Director. “We need a strong and open democracy in order to focus on the true threat of violence in Maryland: climate change and our over reliance on fossil fuels.”

CCAN is calling on the Maryland State Police to release printed copies of all database files kept on activists, a step the police have so far refused to take. CCAN also calls on Governor Martin O’Malley and the General Assembly to support upcoming legislation that would make such violations of civil liberties impossible in the future in Maryland.

“Gov. O’Malley has been a great friend of clean energy and the environment during his administration,” said Tidwell. “So we call on him to order all police records released and to support legislation that will strengthen environmental protections by strengthening our democracy.

Several other environmental leaders attended the press conference to show support for CCAN, including Cindy Schwartz, director of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters and Dave O’Leary of the Maryland Sierra Club. Not attending were leaders of Environment Maryland and 1000 Friends of Maryland, both of whom have expressed support for CCAN in this matter.

Tidwell was involved in a single act of peaceful civil disobedience outside a coal-fired power plant in Dickerson, Maryland, in November 2004. The protest led to his arrest on a trespassing and loitering misdemeanor charge and a brief court appearance where the presiding judge called Tidwell an “exemplary citizen” for standing up for his principles. However, the two former CCAN staffers placed on the state police database of “suspected terrorists” have never been arrested on any charges of any kind anywhere. They have never engaged in civil disobedience.

More info on spying available from ACLU-MD: http://www.aclu-md.org/Index%20content/NoSpying/NoSpying.html

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