earthfirst – Page 74 – Earth First!

Statement from No Dash for Gas on today’s court appearance 20th Feb

Today, 21 No Dash for Gas activists appeared in court, to face charges of aggravated trespass following the week-long occupation of EDF's West Burton power station last October/November. All 21 chose to plead guilty, because they felt their time will be better spent campaigning against the government's insane dash for gas, rather than being tied up in a protracted court case.

The activists have issued the following statement:

"We undertook our carefully considered protest action last October out of a sincere belief that companies such as EDF, in collusion with government, are unaccountable, unrepresentative and wrong in pursuing gas as a dominant fuel in our country's energy system.

We have no influence over where and how our energy is sourced, priced and delivered in this country. We believe that these decisions should be made democratically and in the public interest.

Six large multinational corporations have a monopoly over our domestic energy supply and some of their personnel write policy at the Department for Energy and Climate Change. These companies set the energy agenda in this country, to the detriment of the public interest and legally binding carbon reduction targets. We do not have the power, access or capital that these companies have. Civil disobedience is one of the only means we have to intervene in this agenda.

The majority of people in this country want clean, renewable, cheaper energy. We acted out of necessity and, we sincerely believe, in the public interest – to prevent an escalation in the crisis of climate change that threatens the safety and security of millions of people and ecosystems in the UK and around the world."

Blockade at Fracking Waste Storage Facility

This morning 19th Feb, protesters blockaded a Fracking Waste Storage Facility in New Matamoras, OH. Truck traffic to the facility was disrupted for 2.5 hours. As of this posting, a monopod is still in place on the site.

In an unprecedented show of unity against the extraction industry members of Appalachia Resist!, Tar Sands Blockade, Radical Action for Mountain Peoples’ Survival (RAMPS), a coalition of indigenous leaders including representatives from No Line 9 and the Unis’tot’en Camp, Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance, and Earth First! chapters from across the country have gathered in Southern Ohio to participate in and support this action. This is the latest in an ongoing and escalating campaign of resistance to the dangerous and exploitative resource extraction industry that is threatening the existence and survival of the earth and all of it’s inhabitants world-wide.

“Cancel Keystone Pipeline:” Largest Climate Protest in U.S. History

Between 35,000 and 50,000 people rallied in Washington, DC on Sunday, Feb 17th in the largest global warming protest in U.S. history. The primary demand: ditch the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Read some testimonials here from women who traveled to DC to protest the pipeline.

Meanwhile, in spite of vague promises to take action to avert catastrophic global warming, Obama’s administration is gearing up for a big fracking push to accelerate natural gas mining.

Just another manic monday.

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.

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

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.

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.

——-

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.

“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

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.

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."