A mistrial has been declared in the case of environmental activist Ken Ward, who was facing three felony charges and one misdemeanor charge after he shut off a valve on the Trans Mountain pipeline in Washington state to stop the flow of tar sands oil coming into the United States from Canada in October. His action was part of a coordinated protest during which the valves on pipelines in Minnesota, Montana and North Dakota were also shut off. The mistrial was declared after a Skagit County, Washington, jury couldn’t reach a verdict.