Greg Toppo

USATODAY

Authorities in northwest Washington state arrested more than 50 climate activists Sunday morning after the group shut down railroad tracks near two oil refineries north of Seattle.

About 150 people had spent the night in tents and sleeping bags on tracks leading to the refineries near Anacortes, Wash., said BNSF Railway spokesman Gus Melonas. When asked to leave around 5 a.m. PT, most gathered their belongings and left, he said.

But others — 52 in all — were arrested for trespassing, the Skagit County Department of Emergency Management said. One protester was also cited for resisting arrest, the Associated Press reported.

Climate protester bids for oil, gas land in Utah

Emily Johnston, a spokeswoman for the protesters, said she expected that the protesters would be released Sunday and that protests would continue, but she didn’t expect people to return to the railroad tracks.

The rail line had been closed since Friday, with rail traffic rerouted to avoid the area. The railroad spur provides rail transportation for the nearby Shell and Tesoro oil refineries, as well as animal feed and other products. Officials with Shell and Tesoro earlier said that they respect the right of people to demonstrate peacefully, and that safety is their highest priority.

Melonas said trains would begin running again Sunday afternoon.

Animation shows how global warming is spiraling out of control

Hundreds of protesters in kayaks, canoes, on bikes and on foot converged on the area, around 70 miles north of Seattle, to demand action on climate and an equitable transition away from fossil fuels such as oil and coal. A smaller group blocked the railroad tracks, AP reported.

The protests are part of a series of global actions calling on people to “break free” from dependence on fossil fuels. Similar demonstrations were held nationwide over the weekend.

In upstate New York, climate activists gathered Saturday at a crude-oil shipment hub on the Hudson River in an action targeting crude-by-rail trains and oil barges at the Port of Albany. A group of activists sat on tracks used by crude oil trains headed to the port.

Albany is a key hub for crude-by-rail shipments from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale region.

In Washington state, organizers targeted two refineries that are among the top sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the state. Tesoro has started shipping Bakken crude oil to its refinery, and Shell is proposing an expansion project that would similarly bring in Bakken crude oil by train.

Many of the nearly 40 groups involved in organizing the event also participated in large on-water kayak protests against Shell’s Arctic oil drilling rig when it parked last year at a Seattle port.

Bud Ullman, 67, who lives on nearby Guemes Island, participated in the protest, which he described as good-spirited, peaceful.

“The scientists are right. We have to get away from our dependence on fossil fuels, and it has to be done in a way that takes into serious consideration the impact on workers, families and communities,” he said.

Follow Greg Toppo on Twitter: @gtoppo