Jury fails to reach verdict in case of man accused of pipeline disruption near Burlington

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) — A jury has failed to reach a verdict in the case of an Oregon man who tried to shut off an oil pipeline last year north of Seattle.


The Skagit Valley Herald reports (https://goo.gl/rixHXc ) the hung jury in 60-year-old Kenneth Ward's case was announced Wednesday.

Ward, of Corbett, Oregon, faced felony burglary and sabotage charges for the Oct. 11 incident in which he broke through a fence and turned a safety valve along the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline near Burlington.

Ward testified that he targeted the pipeline in an attempt to raise awareness about climate change and that he hoped to inspire a transition off of fossil fuels.

He was among nearly a dozen people arrested that day amid attempts to shut down oil pipelines in Washington, North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana in solidarity with those protesting the four-state Dakota Access pipeline project in North Dakota.