A judge has sentenced a trio of environmental activists to probation for their role in an oil pipeline protest near Stockbridge last July.
The protesters attached themselves to heavy equipment at the Enbridge pipeline work site. They were convicted of trespassing and obstruction in January.
The protesters could have faced up to two years in prison.
Protester Vicci Hamlin says she remains committed to the fight against Canadian tar sands oil.
“I think that the more people that risk going to jail the more that things will change,” says Hamlin.
Before her sentencing, Hamlin told the judge that Enbridge officials are the ones who deserve to be in jail.
An Enbridge oil pipeline ruptured in 2010 near Marshall, spilling nearly a million gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River. The cleanup continues.
Hamlin and fellow protester, Barbara Carter, walked free from the Ingham County Jail this afternoon. The third protester, Lisa Leggio, remained in the jail reportedly because of an unrelated warrant.
