Author: earthfirst

Just another manic monday.

Glengad compound invaded and work stopped for over 3 hours. Traffic control out of control.

Glengad compound invaded and work stopped for over 3 hours. Traffic control out of control.

On a sunny dawn after a successful national campaign meeting at the weekend, campaigners decided to take to the bog and stop work on the Glengad compound where Shell are currently excavating the reception pit for the tunnel boring machine.

All the protesters managed to breach the ragtag fences and two decided to rest themselves upon a Shell digger.
Work was stopped for over 3 hours on the compound.

Protest continued with a road blockade but when diggers recommenced there work, protesters ran back to the compound and tried once more to breach the fences and stop work.

After a short scuffle with Shell security IRMS protesters moved back to blockade trucks for the rest of the day.
 

Related Link: http://www.shelltosea.com
 

Combe Haven Defenders deliver tree to East Sussex County Council offices

14.2.13

Not deterred by the eviction of the camps on the route over thirty opponents of the £100 million Bexhill-Hastings link road visited East Sussex County Council in Lewes this w

14.2.13

Not deterred by the eviction of the camps on the route over thirty opponents of the £100 million Bexhill-Hastings link road visited East Sussex County Council in Lewes this week.

They didn't arrive empty handed however– they turned up with big bits of tree, left over from the felling at Adam's Farm. They then proceeded to wedge them into the doors of the council offices. The council's doormen seemed remarkably reluctant to take delivery of the boughs which ESCC has compulsorily purchased.

The council came together on Tuesday for a rare meeting of all 49 councillors to agree its 2013 budget, George Osborne will have been pleased to hear that his Tory cronies voted to spend public money on the Road – which will devastatethe Combe Haven valley – at the same time as it is making cuts of £ 70m, which will be borne mainly by children and vulnerable adults.

According to Combe Haven Defenders “Peter Jones, ESCC's bully boy has abandoned claims that the road will relieve congestion, constructing instead a myth of job creation, yet the day before the budget meeting, central Government announced £16m to regenerate seaside towns like Bexhill and Hastings, much of it sustainable and community-based. Westminster expects to generate 4000 jobs. This is more than four times total number of jobs that the Link Road might hope to create at a fraction of the cost.”

In a further development, a Freedom of Information request by Hastings Alliance revealed that the road has yet to receive final funding approval from the Central Government. However, the documents were heavily redacted and campaigners are demanding to know what other embarrassing information has been withheld.

There are an increasing number of autonomous affinity groups committed to resisting by direct action. Combe Haven Defenders are now joined by a Crowhurst residents group and a local Quaker affinity. The battle over Combe Haven is only just beginning.

www.combehavendefenders.org.uk

Protesters continue to frustrate Shell’s work 17th Feb

This last week has been another week of resistance to Shell controversial pipeline, with numerous truck blockades and disruption to workers

This last week has been another week of resistance to Shell controversial pipeline, with numerous truck blockades and disruption to workers

In solidarity with our friend Izzy Ní Ghraidm, we have continued to keep up the pressure on Shell by blocking trucks and workers throughout the day.
Shell workers arrive at 6.30am and there are up to 105 truck movements per day so there's plenty of chance to show your opposition and support the local community.

Shell was forced to admit that they had been experiencing problems with the Tunnel Boring Machine after it was announced on the radio that work on the tunnel had resumed.
However just days after this was announced there are rumours flying of further problems.

As the photo of Glengad shows, the Shell compound has expanded and is now just next to the old camp field. It is a real eyesore on this beautiful landscape but it is not too late to stop it.
Come up and support this community under siege from Shell.
 

Related Link: http://www.shelltosea.com
 

actions against E-On in Nottingham

15.02.2013

Last night the doors to the Nottingham E-on Open House on Lister Gate were d-locked shut in solidarity with anyone struggling to stay warm this winter.

15.02.2013

Last night the doors to the Nottingham E-on Open House on Lister Gate were d-locked shut in solidarity with anyone struggling to stay warm this winter.

Eon and their partners in crime are not only destroying the planet as they extract every last inch of natural resources from the ground, they're also doing their best to fleece each and everyone of us as they raise the prices year in year out. What we did last night was a minor act. Carried out by individuals who are disgusted with the ways in which the corporate power and greed which goes hand in hand with this system. It is destroying the planet, human beings and every living thing. We must fight back.
 
Update: I work across the road from the open house. It had to open two hours later than usual.
 
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Stop G8 Notts hit the streets of Nottingham yesterday distributing a leaflet that made connecting the everyday reality of poverty in the city, where people are forced to choose between eating or staying warm to the capitalist spectacle of the G8 summit taking place later this year.

Individuals were receptive to the message although many people didn't view themselves as empowered to do anything about the current situation. This re-enforced the importance of us being on the streets talking and engaging with as many people as we can, talking about the problems, their causes and how we can tackle them on micro and macro levels.

Starving to Sttay Warm

Fuel poverty protest against E.on.

Eon and the other five big energy companies (EDF, Centrica, SSE, Scottish Power and npower) are a cartel which controls 99% of the domestic energy market. Domestic energy prices for us are constantly rising whilst every year these companies declare record profits.

According to a recent survey, this winter 1 in 4 families have had to face a stark choice between heating and eating. Whilst e.on executives and shareholders spend bumper profits on second homes and holidays
abroad, people in the UK are freezing because they need to eat.

We are starving to stay warm!

On June the 17th and 18th the G8 world leaders will be meeting in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, to discuss how to maintain the capitalist system which enables and justifies this daylight robbery. While we allow our lives to be governed by these crooks profit will always come before people. The only way to achieve real change is to break from this vicious cycle of exploitation, smash capitalism and reorganise our communities in a way which ensures everyone has access to the necessities of life.

From the 10th of June there will be a week of action, workshops and meetings in London to protest against the G8 and to work towards building the sort of world that we want to live in

stopg8notts@riseup.net

 

Tasmanian Activists Challenge Mining in The Tarkine

Two female activists from environmental direct action group Groundswell have taken peaceful action to highlight the detrimental impacts that mining in the Tarkine will have on healthy devil pop

Two female activists from environmental direct action group Groundswell have taken peaceful action to highlight the detrimental impacts that mining in the Tarkine will have on healthy devil populations living in the region.

At 10AM on Saturday, Feb. 2, Groundswell activists deployed a banner reading “FOR DEVILS SAKE, DON’T MINE THE TARKINE” from the Alexandra Suspension Bridge, in Launceston’s Cataract Gorge.  The two climbers– a local law student and a doctor- remained suspended from the bridge for two hours until 12pm.

“The Tarkine region of North West Tasmania contains the last wild populations of disease free devils.   Mining and associated activities are of significant threat to the devils of this region” said Groundswell spokesperson Sarah Van Est.

tasmanian-devil

“Already under direct threat from the deadly facial tumour disease, loss of habitat significantly increases the likelihood of contact between healthy and diseased animals. This has the potential to increase the rate of spread of DFTD.”

“A further threat is the substantial increase of heavy traffic in the area, which would greatly increase wildlife roadkill” added Miss Van Est.

A leading wildlife expert, Prof. Hamish McCallum, head of Griffith University’s School of Environment and former chief scientist of the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program, confirmed that the mines would have a potentially disastrous impact on devils.

“There is sufficient evidence to suggest that it may threaten the survival of populations of Tasmanian devils in the area,” said Professor McCallum.

Miss Van Est said that “Self-regulation and token fines offer no real incentive for wealthy mining companies to take measures to ensure protection for the endangered Tasmanian icon.”

As well as containing significant devil habitat, much of the Tarkine has already been independently verified as high conservation value wilderness. Groundswell is calling on the State and Federal Governments, specifically federal environment minister Tony Burke,  to safeguard the area and the devils by ensuring immediate and ongoing protection in the form of National Park or World Heritage List status for the Tarkine region.

48 arrested in historic act of civil disobedience to stop Keystone XL pipeline

JULIAN BOND, BILL MCKIBBEN, MICHAEL BRUNE, AND OTHERS ARRESTED IN FRONT OF WHITE HOUSE IN CALL FOR ACTION ON CLIMATE

JULIAN BOND, BILL MCKIBBEN, MICHAEL BRUNE, AND OTHERS ARRESTED IN FRONT OF WHITE HOUSE IN CALL FOR ACTION ON CLIMATE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This morning, 48 environmental, civil rights, and community leaders from across the country joined together for a historic display of civil disobedience at the White House where they demanded that President Obama deny the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and address the climate crisis.

Among the notable leaders involved in the civil disobedience were Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club; Bill McKibben, Founder of 350.org; Julian Bond, former president of the NAACP; Danny Kennedy, CEO of Sungevity; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Connor Kennedy, and Daryl Hannah, American actress.

After blocking a main thoroughfare in front of the White House, and refusing to move when asked by police, the activists were arrested and transported to Anacostia for processing by the US Park Police Department.

“The threat to our planet’s climate is both grave and urgent,” said civil rights activist Julian Bond. “Although President Obama has declared his own determination to act, much that is within his power to accomplish remains undone, and the decision to allow the construction of a pipeline to carry millions of barrels of the most-polluting oil on Earth from Canada’s tar sands to the Gulf Coast of the U.S. is in his hands. I am proud today to stand before my fellow citizens and declare, ‘I am willing to go to jail to stop this wrong.’ The environmental crisis we face today demands nothing less.”

 

“We really shouldn’t have to be put in handcuffs to stop KXL–our nation’s leading climate scientists have told us it’s dangerous folly, and all the recent Nobel Peace laureates have urged us to set a different kind of example for the world, so the choice should be obvious,” said 350.org founder Bill McKibben. “But given the amount of money on the other side, we’ve had to spend our bodies, and we’ll probably have to spend them again.”

“For the first time in the Sierra Club’s 120-year history, we have joined the ranks of visionaries of the past and present to engage in civil disobedience, knowing that the issue at hand is so critical, it compels the strongest defensible action,” said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club. “We cannot afford to allow the production, transport, export and burning of the dirtiest oil on Earth via the Keystone XL pipeline. President Obama must deny the pipeline and take decisive steps to address climate disruption, the most significant issue of our time.”

If approved, the Keystone XL pipeline would boost carbon pollution tomorrow by triggering a boom of growth in the tar sands industry in Canada, and greatly increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that this tar sands pipeline will boost annual U.S. carbon pollution emissions by up to 27.6 million metric tons – the impact of adding nearly 6 million cars on the road.

However, new research by Oil Change International (OCI) shows that the government’s estimates of the carbon emissions associated with Keystone XL underestimates the full impact of tar sands because a barrel of tar sands produces significantly more petroleum coke than conventional crude, which is more carbon-intensive than coal. The research can be found at: http://priceofoil.org/2013/01/17/petroleum-coke-the-coal-hiding-in-the-t….

OCI’s research shows that Keystone XL will produce enough petcoke to fuel five U.S. coal plants. The emissions from this petcoke have not yet been included in climate-impact analysis of the pipeline or the tar sands industry and OCI shows that it will raise total emissions by at least 13 percent.

Shell to Sea campaigner jailed for 3 months. 14th Feb

Ms Ní Ghraidm pleaded guilty to a Section 8 and 9 charge and refused to do community service as she felt her protest was a service to a community under siege from Shell. The Judge then sentenced Ms Ní Ghraidm to 3 months in jail.

Ms Ní Ghraidm pleaded guilty to a Section 8 and 9 charge and refused to do community service as she felt her protest was a service to a community under siege from Shell. The Judge then sentenced Ms Ní Ghraidm to 3 months in jail.

Izzy has been a strong supporter of Shell to Sea for years and her commitment to the cause is much appreciated by us here in Mayo.
She has courageously stood up for our struggle to protect our community and is passionate in her fight to reclaim Irish natural resources.

Speaking from the Court, Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway stated "Yesterday in Belmullet District court, we saw a committed environmental campaigner being jailed for a minor public order incident. On the other hand a Shell security guard who was caught dealing drugs is allowed to walk free. Ms Ní Ghraidm has taken a brave stand to support this community's struggle against a greedy multinational that will do whatever it is allowed to by the subservient State institutions".

Mr Conway continued "What we're experiencing is the selective application of the law. Yesterday Providence Resources dropped their Dublin Bay oil drilling licence because the State has not got it's required EU environmental laws in place. The same EU environmental laws apply to Corrib but are being ignored."

Fracking Saboteur Sentenced to 6 Months. 13 Feb

As far as we can tell, there’s been no clear reason expressed about why he did it.

As far as we can tell, there’s been no clear reason expressed about why he did it. But does there really need to be? Anyone who risks their freedom to attack a fracking site in the Marcellus Shale, and in one evening succeeds at delaying operations for three months, is a hero to all who drink water and hate energy corporations.

Tanner Long, 21, from the Trout Run area of Lycoming County, PA, allegedly admitted to an ambitious act of vandalism on August 30, 2012, and was sentenced in late-January to six months of prison (in a “county pre-release center”) and five years probation.

The story was not heavily reported outside the local area, but you can check out a short news clip here, which includes heart warming images of overturned bulldozers at a trashed fracking site on public land. You can also send him a letter here for the time being:

Tanner J. Long #3625
Lycoming County Prison
277 West Third Street
Williamsport, PA 17701

What we know of the story: In September 2012, a $10,000 reward was offered by Brubacher Energy Services for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever vandalized construction equipment in Loyalsock State Forest. 

According to Myron Brubacher, an owner of the Lancaster County company.”They basically cut the trees to block access to the road where our equipment was located.”

The vandals, who had somehow acquired keys, used pieces of equipment to damage other pieces of equipment. In total, the company reported $120,000 in damages.

“They rolled several pieces, one of our machines was rolled over on its side. They did a lot of damage,” Brubacher said. “It took three months to repair the damage.”

He added that the company has increased security since the vandalism.

Lycoming County Judge Nancy L. Butts  told Long to “grow up.” While we at the EF! Newswire could see  the potential for flagrant Bart Simpson-inspired immaturity when facing off with someone named Judge Butts, her honor was apparently referring to Long’s heroic vandalism being immature (as opposed any personal insult  to Butts that one may have easily been tempted to utter, as we were.)

While three others reportedly watched on the night of Aug. 30, Long started heavy equipment belonging to Brubacher Energy, of Bowmansville, at a well site off Route 14 north of Trout Run.

Whaling fleet in chaos as scattered Japanese poachers abandon harpoon ship dangerously low on fuel.

MELBOURNE, Australia  — An anonymous source within Korea has reported that the Japanese whaling fleet is in total disarray, with Sea Shepherd Australia’s ship the SSS Sam Simo

MELBOURNE, Australia  — An anonymous source within Korea has reported that the Japanese whaling fleet is in total disarray, with Sea Shepherd Australia’s ship the SSS Sam Simon tailing the refuelling tanker for the Japanese whaling fleet, the Panamanian-registered and South Korean-owned vessel Sun Laurel.  The Sam Simon plans to follow the Sun Laurel in hopes to track them straight to the Nisshin Maru.

The source detailed that the Sun Laurel was only contracted to refuel the Japanese whaling fleet until mid-February, but because Japan's Whaling Program is so closely connected to their commercial fishing interests, they are using their clout within the fishing industry, attempting to pressure the Sun Laurel to refuel the whalers below 60° in Australia's Antarctic Territory, with the threat of blacklisting the Sun Laurel from future contracts if they don't abide.

Sea Shepherd Australia Director, Jeff Hansen states, "The Yushin Maru is in a desperate situation, quite possibly unable to get to safety in the event of an emergency. The Japanese whaling fleet wouldn't be in this predicament if they weren't pariahs for their illegal whaling; unwelcome to refuel in any land-based port without scrutiny and banned from Australian ports, they must hire a refuelling vessel simply to be fuelled for their illegal poaching.  These poachers are in contempt of an Australian Federal Court ruling and should not be in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary in the first place. The South Korean vessel, the Sun Laurel is supplying fuel to the illegal operations of the Japanese whaling fleet, which is akin to supplying equipment to elephant poachers in Africa."

Operation Zero Tolerance Co-Campaign Leader, Bob Brown stated, “Once again, Japan's whaling fleet is flouting international law. Now it is drawing in the Government of South Korea, which so wisely decided against whaling last year. South Korea should order this tanker to turn around and go home. Otherwise it invites world condemnation instead of the praise it so recently enjoyed.”

The source reported that the Yushin Maru is separated from the fleet by hundreds of miles, very low on fuel and unable to proceed unless refuelled.  This indicates that the Yushin Maru has been totally abandoned by the Nisshin Maru and the rest of the Japanese whaling fleet in their hour of need.

Captain of the SSS Steve Irwin, Siddharth Charkravarty recounts: "While in pursuit of the Nisshin Maru, the Steve Irwin picked up the Yushin Maru as a tailing vessel, riding extremely high out of the water, indicating that they were very low on fuel.  A few days later when the whalers tried to swap the Yushin Maru with a fully fuelled Yushin Maru No. 3, the Steve Irwin instead chased the Yushin Maru in the opposite direction of the whaler's factory ship for 150 miles.  During this chase, the Yushin Maru was unable to reach their full speed of 20+ knots, but was barely able to eke out 16-17 knots, confirming that they were low on fuel and hence running at a more fuel-saving speed."  Since then, this Korean source reports, the Yushin Maru is conserving their meagre fuel stores and is unable to cover the ground between them and the Nisshin Maru.

Rather than remain with their sister ship, or even transfer fuel to them, the Yushin Maru No. 3 instead chose to abandon the Yushin Maru in the treacherous waters of the Southern Ocean in order to chase the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin.

Sea Shepherd Founder, Paul Watson says, "This action shows the negligence of the whaling commander, not only for the sanctity of the whales of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, but an utter and total disregard for the life and safety of the crews who work on these death ships.  Last year, on Operation Divine Wind, when one of Sea Shepherd's ships, the Brigitte Bardot, was compromised, we stopped our entire campaign to escort them to port and ensure their safety.  It's not surprising that the whalers share no such camaraderie for one another, since their entire motive for being in these waters is ruthless greed."

Captain Peter Hammarstedt, aboard the SSS Bob Barker said, "Operation Zero Tolerance has had victories in so many forms, from intercepting the whalers' fuelling vessel, and thus cutting their season, to pulling two-thirds of the fleets' harpoon ships entirely out of operation, and keeping the sole remaining harpooner with the factory ship running, stunting their progress, and severely limiting their ability to poach Antarctica's pristine waters.  We also intercepted the whaling fleet before they had a chance to fire a single harpoon."

The Bob Barker continues to chase and hunt the whalers' butchering ship, the Nisshin Maru, unencumbered by a tail, and aided by a fleet of aerial scouting drones.

http://www.seashepherd.org.au/news-and-media/2013/02/10/japanese-whaling-fleet-abandons-harpoon-vessel-nearly-empty-on-fuel-1491

Lifelong Oklahoman Youth Pastor Locked to Machinery in Protest of Keystone XL 11 Feb

Earlier this morning, Stefan Warner, a youth pastor who was born and raised in Harrah, OK, locked himself to machinery being used to build the toxic Keystone XL tar sands pipeline through Creek land near Schoolton, OK.

Warner is taking action to protect the health of the North Canadian River, communities and land that this pipeline would run through from being irreversibly damaged by diluted bitumen (tar sands) leaks and spills. He is sending a clear message that the current day colonialism and disregard for the health and sovereignty of indigenous peoples in Alberta, Canada, and along the pipeline is unacceptable—from a Christian perspective, as well as a human perspective.

Tar sands pipelines have a horrendous track record: the existing Keystone 1 pipeline leaked 12 times in its first year, and at least thirty times to date. In 2010, the added dangers of tar sands pipelines were demonstrated by Enbridge’s Line 6B pipeline spill of more than a million gallons of diluted bitumen into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The Kalamazoo tar sands spill is the costliest inland spill in U.S. history, draining the oil spill coffers and placing the $800 million and rising price tag onto the backs of local and federal taxpayers. But it is not the monetary burden that weighs heaviest. It is the toll on human life and the health of local ecosystems that is immeasurable, especially the toxicity of the diluted bitumen and undisclosed proprietary chemicals has proven devastating.

In addition to the immense dangers posed by the Keystone XL, TransCanada has been misrepresenting the economic effects of the pipeline. The majority of construction jobs are temporary and have been filled by Wisconsin-based contractor Michel’s, not Oklahomans and Texans. Despite TransCanada and the State Department’s rhetoric of energy independence, the diluted bitumen transported by the Keystone XL is destined for export to foreign markets after being refined in Gulf Coast refineries, and the National Resources Defense Council asserts that the KXL will increase domestic gas prices.

“I grew up in a town where the North Canadian River runs right through, and we can’t let the North Canadian become another Kalamazoo,” said Oklahoman youth pastor Stefan Warner. “I figure folks have to take action to stop our beautiful Oklahoma from being marred by a foreign corporation, and stand up to fight big corporations who think that poisoning people and stealing land is acceptable so long as they make a profit.”

Warner is acting with Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, a coalition of Oklahomans and allies fighting to prevent construction of the Keystone XL which will bring dangerous and toxic diluted bitumen from the biome-consuming tar sands gigaproject to refinery communities in the Gulf. This action comes in the wake of dozens of similar actions which have actively fought construction of the Keystone XL in Oklahoma and Texas. In light of reports of shoddy welding by TransCanada whistleblower Evan Vokes and the recent release of photographs depicting holes in the weld of a pipe buried in Texas, the struggle to keep the Keystone XL from being completed is even more urgent.

Updates

At 8 a.m., direct support for Stefan was arrested without warning and placed in police car. Six other people on site are being detained.

At 9 a.m., six people detained now arrested. Seven police vehicles are on scene. Workers have lowered side-boom in disregard of Stefan’s safety and OSHA regulations. Stefan is still locked to machinery but lying painfully face-down on the lowered arm. Police are obscuring Stefan from view and not allowing anyone within photographing distance.

At 9:15 a.m., another individual arrested. This person was not initially detained but was prevented from accessing her vehicle since 8 a.m. Stefan
is still holding strong. It also appears that this action is also blockading an active frack site.