On Thursday 8 April, Plymouth Rising Tide and Kernow Anarchist Network blockaded the BP garage in Ridgeway, Plymouth, to highlight the environmental destruction caused by the Tar Sands project. The garage was closed for an hour and two activists who were locked onto petrol pumps were arrested.
The Tar Sands are a vast reserve of oil in the Canadian wilderness. Extracting oil from it produces 3 to 5 times as much greenhouse gases as from conventional oil. (1) The development covers an area the size of England, with toxic ponds so huge they are visible from space, leaking poisons into the local water supply. Indigenous communities, on whose land the extraction has been imposed, are seeing high rates of rare forms of cancer and respiratory disease. (2)
Michelle Roberts from Kernow Anarchist Network said: “The Tar Sands are the most destructive project on earth, fuelling climate chaos and mass deforestation, and trampling on indigenous rights. It would be criminal of BP to go ahead with it.”
This action is part of the BP Tar Sands Fortnight of Shame, a national fortnight of action leading up to BP’s annual general meeting on 15th April, when they will make a final decision as to whether to go into their first Tar Sands extraction project, ‘Sunrise.’ (3)
For further information please contact:
plymouth@risingtide.org.uk
kernowaction@gmail.com
Or go to:
http://risingtide.org.uk/plymouth
http://kernowaction.wordpress.com
Notes for editors:
1 http://stoptarsands.wordpress.com/threats/#a
2 http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/about/
3 http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/bp-fortnight-of-shame/