SLATE HILL — A Wawayanda judge ordered Oscar-nominated actor James Cromwell and two other environmental activists to serve a week in Orange County Jail next month after they refused to pay fines related to a protest over a natural gas power plant being built in the town.

Cromwell, of Warwick, Pramilla Malick, of Westtown, and Madeline Shaw, of Slate Hill, are three of six protesters who were arrested by state police on Dec. 18, 2015 after staging a sit-in at the site of the Competitive Power Ventures' natural gas-fired power plant on Route 6. All were charged with the violation of obstruction of traffic.

The six, dubbing themselves the "Wawayanda Six," took the case to trial in April with defense attorney Michael Sussman. They argued that their actions, which caused a traffic jam on Route 6, were justified because carbon emissions that the CPV power plant would emit pose an imminent threat to the local environment and would accelerate climate change.

Wawayanda Town Justice Timothy McElduff Jr. found all six guilty and on June 7 fined each of them $250 plus a $125 surcharge, due to be paid by Thursday. Three of those convicted - Terri Klemm of Branchville, N.J., Naomi Miller of Wawayanda and Maureen Murphy-Smolka of Sparta, N.J. - previously paid their fines.

But Cromwell, Malick and Shaw refused to pay. Sussman sent a letter to McElduff telling him of his client's intentions and the judge ordered them to court on Thursday afternoon. He called each defendant up individually.

"Are you refusing to pay the fine?" McElduff asked Cromwell.

"I am," Cromwell said.

McElduff sentenced Cromwell to seven days in Orange County Jail. He gave Cromwell until 3:15 p.m. Friday to change his mind and first ordered him to report to the jail by 5 p.m. Friday. But after Sussman asked for time to appeal for a stay to the jail sentence, he suspended the ruling until 5 p.m on July 14. Shaw and Malick received the same order.

"I cannot pay this fine and feed the corruption that is trampling on the lives of so many people," Malick said after court.

Cromwell said he hopes people realize the injustice of the jail sentence and hoped it would mobilize more people to join their pickets in front of the power plant. The plant is under construction and scheduled to go online in February 2018.

"If we don't stay together, nothing will change," Cromwell said. "Power to the people."

jnani@th-record.com