Climate Chaos – Page 2

Ditch Coal Speaking Tour. The realities of coal mining in Russia. 25th May to 10th June.

“Mining is going on a hundred meters away. When they started blasting, all the dust was brought to our vegetable gardens. Vegetables got covered with the coal dust which is impossible to wash out. Now I don‘t want to harm myself by eating anything from this garden,” a resident of Kazas, Siberia, Russia, describes the impact of coal mining.

The London Mining Network and the Coal Action Network are heading off on tour with a Russian environmental activist who has witnessed first hand the impacts of the UK’s burning of coal on indigenous people.

“The consequences of coal mining in Russia are terrible. There are environmental and economic disasters happening in mining regions, especially in Kuzbass where the most of coal reserves located. Public health is getting worse and worse, indigenous people being forced out of their land, air and water poisoned.” Vladimir Slivyak, Ecodefense.

The UK imports two thirds of the coal it burns in the remaining nine coal fired power stations. In 2015, 24% of our electricity came from burning coal. Just under a third of this coal comes from Russia.

Vladimir, a Russian anti-coal activist is visiting the UK for a speaking tour starting on the 25th May in Brighton before touring around the UK and finishing on the 10th June in London. Full details of the tour can be found www.coalaction.org.uk/tour. He will discuss the problems caused by mining for the UK’s power stations in his home country, while the Coal Action Network discuss how we can act to end the destruction.

The tour is part of the launch of Ditch Coal, a new report from the Coal Action Network released earlier this year. It tells the human and localized environmental story of the coal burnt in UK power stations. The climate change impacts of burning coal are well documented, but somehow hard to relate to in a concrete manner. By contrast the stories of those living in the shadows of the mines are somehow more tangible, being direct human experiences being felt already.

The tour will be joined by local community campaigners fighting opencast coal operations in Sheffield, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Speakers from Colombia Solidarity Campaign will join at Brighton, Newcastle, Cambridge and London.

The problem in Russia
The Siberian village of Kazas was surrounded by opencast coal mines and had a population of predominantly indigenous Shor people. Kazas was entirely destroyed in 2014 to make way for the expansion of the mines although the villagers did not all consent to leave. The problems of this village are not unique. For each tonne of coal produced six hectares of land is disturbed, land which was home and habitat to both people and wildlife before the mining companies’ encroachment.

Prior to the destruction of Kazas, pressure was applied to get families to move. Infrastructure was no longer maintained – roads were not cleared of snow in winter and clean drinking water was no longer provided. With only 6% of water from the mines being treated, filthy water killed the fish and the wildlife dispersed, preventing the traditional economic activities of the Shor people – hunting and fishing.

Communities in the coal mining regions struggle to have their objections heard as the system is stacked against them. Decisions about mining applications are heard away from the ancestral lands which are threatened so those affected cannot attend hearings.
The worsening situation for the residents meant that many agreed to leave. For those who didn’t the outcome was more sinister, their homes were destroyed by arson.

The village of Kazas now only exists in the memories of the people who lived there. “Chuvashka is the Shors’ only village in this area. In the 1990s, about 16,000 Shors were living here. Today, there are just between 4,500 and 5,000 people here” said a Shor woman in Ecodefense’s film Condemned. Eight other villages in the area have been destroyed.

The mining exploits in the Kemerovo region have left many of the indigenous Shor homeless, or displaced to other areas, which severs their spiritual, cultural, and practical attachments to the land. No adequate substitute land, nor compensation has been offered to them. The Kemerovo Oblast, where most of the Shors and Teleut live, produces 60% of Russia’s coal for export.

The Russian coal industry also has the most dangerous working conditions of any industry in terms of risk to life and welfare, with 40-50 fatal accidents each year, killing 180-280 people annually, mainly in the deep mines.

Why is the UK burning Russian coal?
In the year to August 2015, 31% of all thermal coal burnt in the UK came from Russia. Since 2005, Russia has supplied the UK with more coal than any other country – coal is cheaper from Russia than anywhere else, which is why we burn so much of it. There is little transparency in the coal supply chain and large volumes.

Where else does coal come from?
32% of the coal used in the UK was extracted in Britain in the year to September 2015. Here opencast mining operations have continually faced resistance from those living in the shadow of mines and proposed sites. At the end of March 2016 there were 21 opencast mines working, a number which is decreasing. There are no longer any underground coal mines in this country.

Colombia is known for its human rights abuses, yet it supplies 23% of the coal imported to the UK. Over 90% of Colombian coal production occurs in three large-scale open cast mining operations in the northern departments of La Guajira and Cesar. Communities close to the mines suffer the same problems in terms of forced relocations as those neighboring Russian mines, additionally there have been links made to assassination attempts on those who speak out against the mines, mass killings and violence.

Most of the 14% of coal coming to the UK from the USA is from damaging longwall mining systems – where the material over the coal is intentionally collapsed as the mine progresses – or from opencast or mountaintop removal mines. Both of these methods destroy huge areas of land, displace people and damage the water table. During mountaintop removal coal mining is destroying entire mountain ranges in Appalachia.

The Coal Action Network is working with grass roots groups on campaigns to close the UK’s remaining coal fired power stations. Come along to one of our tour dates to find out why we must close these power stations and to see how you can get involved.
Full tour details www.coalaction.org.uk/tour

Germany: Largest Lignite Mine in Europe Shut Down for 2 Days by Sabotage

Germany: Largest Lignite Mine in Europe Shut Down by Sabotage for 2 days.

In the early hours of Monday Morning April 25, in the dark of the night, power corridor with 10 power mains supplying current to the massive diggers, conveyor belts and all other facilities of the Largest Lignite Opencast Mine in Europe have been set ablaze resulting in the whole mine being shut down for 2 days and continuing to operate to this moment in limited capacity. This act of ecotage follows by a week damaging of a power pylon to neighbouring Indien mine. Both mines exploit lignite which with its high moisture and contaminant content and low energy coeficient is only used to supply power generating plants, a series of which surrounds the mines with one power plant exclusively powering the the Hambach mine.

This act of ecotage and destruction of equipment without the injury or loss of life has taken aim at the industry which according to still rather conservative 2015 study of World Health Organisation on the Effects of Airborne Fossil Fuel pollutants is responsible for seven million deaths around the world each year, making it the single greatest environmental health risk, contributing to one out of every eight global deaths. Even more drastic and irreversible effects on climate change(not included in the above mentioned study), to which coal is the leading contributing factor, estimated to reach a run-away effect at 2 degrees centigrade global change by IPCC committee with a new consensus forming placing that point at 1.5 degree annual temperature change on which brink we are presently. Having already caused global bleaching and die-off to the rainforests of the oceans – the coral reefs, the combined temperature change and the increased acidity from carbon absorbtion to worlds ocean is about to make this largest habitat on earth unlivable to the next most sensitive organisms: plankton. Plankton which constitutes the very foundation of the whole ocean eco-system causing in effect unprecedented global die-off and decimation of life, putting one of the largest human-caused planetary extinctions aready taking place into higher gear still.
As this March became the hottest month on record and as Greenland ice cover underwent unprecedented melting a month ahead of its usual time, and as empty non-binding promises are made at more and more policed, militarised world climate summits all of this as the world slides into the future of chaos and instability it is in this case at least that the future generations will be able to know that not all stood silent and complacent when faced with a global hegemony of extreme energy extraction and its not so silent partners of disinformation, apathy and repression. We are however still at a very high risk of these same future human descendants and ecosystems facing a dire reality in which so little has been done.

That is why Hambach Forest Earth-First salutes those responsible for reminding all that it is not a crime to commit a lesser “crime” in order to prevent a much larger one of global destruction, death and ecocide from taking place as it has for so long in full impunity and in broad daylight……

Hambacher Forest EarthFirst!

http://hambachforest.blogsport.de

[Ed: More info here & here]

RWE Stockholders Meeting in ESSEN Germany Disrupted

RWE Energy (Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG Rhine-Westfalia) Stockholders meetings was met with outside protest and constant inside disruptions by over 70 activists from groups ranging from Fossil Free and Greenpeace to groups and projects engaging in anticoal blockades and direct actions such as Hambacher Forest, Robin Wood and Indigenous Groups from Siberia resisting the eviction of their villages by coal mining projects linked to RWE. The protests and actions started a day before and during the night with stencils on the pavement and walls around the headquarters of RWE and the convention center. During the morning tables, banners and inflatables were settup outside of the entrance to the convention hall that was being guarded by both local police on the outside and private security firms inside. Approximately 40 activists got inside as part of the Critical Shareholders action to be at first met with pat down and metal detector searches followed by a large dose of green washing displays and presentations. All the computer stations containing RWE propaganda were promptly changed to the home page of Hambacher Forest occupation http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/information-about-the-forest/ and remained showing an eco/defense response to coal mining info attentively read throughout the meeting by stockholders next to RWE employees happily handing out corporate schwag. Before the actual meeting begun the setting was rather surreal with activist connecting and taking Virtual Reality tours of RWE coal Mines and its diggers as waiters served drinks to an older and more conservative demographic all around.

From the very begging of the meeting and commencement speeches the disruptions begun with several protesters jumping on the stage and unfolding banners, followed by others unfolding larger banners and chanting antiCoal and Climate Justice and pro Hambacher Forest Slogans. One protesters lacked himself with soft lockons to the railing close to the podium and was slightly injured when the security tried to forcefully dislodge him, another protester was also injured by sustaining bruises on her leg. Some of the stockholders also attempted to assault the protesters by pulling their glasses and cameras and yelling insults while others insisted that thez be alowed to protest. With over 25 protesters being taken to a holding room under the stage, the atmosphere turned more festive as confetti flew, and no one watched the official livefeed of the speeches provided on a monitor showing close ups of the faces of the speakers only, yet still punctuated with many additional pauses full of consternation as other protests and disruptions raged on and the ranks in the the holding facility continued to swell. All detained in the convention center were eventually released. Another group which succeeded with a climb of, on this day heavily guarded, RWE Tower and a banner drop was detained for several hours and then also released.

This year meeting had very little to celebrate as RWE for the first time in over 60 years suspended its dividend payments to ordinary shareholders, announced its plan to cut 2,000 jobs over the next two years and predicted that its rating will be lowered even further due to their nuclear waste storage remaining from shut down atomic power plants. NO dividend this year will especially affect many cash-strapped local municipalities in north-west Germany with combined stake of around 24 percent in the RWE group which have remained immune to the message of the vibrant DeInvest movement and the global irreversible effects of the coal mining industry on the climate, and general health and welbeing of the global population and the horrendous effects its horrendous effects on biodiversity.

The sinister overtone of the convention were numerous statements by the member of the board that the turmoil facing conventional energy companies could have devastating effects as it leaves to back up capacity to balance rather “shallow and unreliable” renewable energy. Calling it a “horror scenario” a term rather descriptive of climate change and chaos on the brink of which the world finds itself to to action of climate criminals such as RWE, topic obviously missing from the speeches but not the protests, this above mentioned corporate energy apparatus induced paranoia and verbal gymnastics could hint to the possibility of government financed bailout and even more intensive pro fossil fuel subsidies. It remains more important for the Climate Justice Struggle to keep up the pressure through diversity of tactics and protests such as this one.

System Change Not Climate Change!!!

Join Us At:

https://www.ende-gelaende.org/en/
http://hambachforest.blogsport.de/
http://lautonomia.blogsport.eu/

and at all other local and regional Climate Justice and Extreme Energy Struggles.

—
The Hambacher Forest a millenarian forest on the age of the largest open cast lignite mine in Europe is being defended with tree occupations, barricades towers and tunnels. We call upon all of you to join us under a banner of Eco-justice and Biocentrism.

In Solidarity,
Hambach Forest Defenders

French climate resistance to #StopMCEDD deepwater oil conference

The Oil and Gas companies are holding a conference on deepwater oil and gas and how to be more efficient to further exploit deep sea fossil fuels. About 500 climate activists have blockaded and disrupted the first day of the conference.

8th April 2016

The Oil and Gas companies are holding a conference on deepwater oil and gas and how to be more efficient to further exploit deep sea fossil fuels.

About 500 climate activists have blockaded and disrupted the first day of the conference.

The largest oil and gas companies around the world have decided to meet in Pau from April 5 to 7, less than 4 months after the COP21. There goal is to increase the exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons in the sea. “Forever further, ever deeper and in conditions more extreme is a crime against the Oceans”, denounced climate protection organizations. The coalistion of community, environmental and climate organisations announced they would block the holding of this strategic summit, using non-violent actions and mobilizations. The protests were preceded by a climate action camp, Camp Siren.

Activists say that choosing the climate is blocking the exploitation of new hydrocarbon deposits and protecting the ocean. They ask that the French government: suspend any type of financing of the fossil fuel sector – neither grants nor investment for coal, gas and oil; and to cancel ongoing hydrocarbon deposit boreholes and cancel all exploration and exploitation rights by fossil fuel companies. The money diverted from fossil fuels must go to the transition to fair and sustainable societies. It must also fund the conversion industries and transition of those presently working in fossil fuels.

Total’s executive Arnaud Breuillac articulated that due to the fall in oil prices since 2014 oil company profits have suffered and forcing companies to cut costs and find savings, but that oil and gas was still needed despite the growth in renewables.

“To ensure the right level of profitability, oil companies and services companies must work together to find innovative ways to bring cost down,” Breuillac told other oil industry executives and experts according to Reuters at the conference.
“We need to increase our collaboration, to find better ways to share risks and to collectively find a new balance,” Breuillac said. They are hoping to manage and ride the downturn, even though the climate imperative is that oil and gas development needs to stop.

On the first day protesters successfully disrupted and blockaded the conference venue, both from the inside and outside. Journalist Patrick Piro has put together this storify.

Background storify.
Multinational oil and gas companies are organising to drill ever further, ever deeper into the abyss of the ocean. A summit is planned for the French city of Pau on 5-7 April 2016, organised by the French oil multinational Total, less than 4 months after the Paris climate talks and Paris Agreement.

After 9 hours people are still blockading the entrance to the Palais Beaumont where the conference is being held. Pau is the headquarters of Total’s research and development division.

Yes, teargas was used indiscriminately against non-violent protesters.

Two activists infiltrated the conference and locked themselves to plenary chairs, before being cut free and excorted out by a large number of riot police.

On Day 2 there were climate emergency disturbances at the hotels of delegates. In the morning oil executives they discovered that activists had locked on to the hotel gates preventing them from leaving until the gendarmes had detached the activists.

In the late afternoon about 600 people formed a human chain around Palais Beamont, with music and street theatre. This was followed by a concert in Beaumont Park with light projections on the conference venue.
Meanwhile at Camp Sirene climate activists discuss strategy and prepare for the day to blockade Palais Beamonth where the MCE Deepwater conference is being held.
Climate activists lock on to Hotel gates, preventing police and oil executives leaving for the MCE Deepwater conference in Pau…

Police had to dismantle the grill with the activists locked on..

…and at last the oil executive delegates can get out of their hotel. Patrick Piro writes that it is a Provisional end of the disturbances. Over night there were 3 noisy interventions in the hotels of the delegates.
Waking up the conference attendees in the Hotel Navarre. It is a climate emergency after all….2 groups of @AnvCop21 activists entered in the Beaumont hotel at 2 and 4 o’clock to wake up #STOPMCEDD delegates. Anne Sophie Trujillo put it nicely: #STOPMCEDD is “I will go after your dreams” or I’m your nightmare.
Meanwhile activists lock on round delegate vehicles lie in the road, storm the venue site to blockade entrances including locking-down the car park, and handcuff themselves to delegates’ bags!

“Four months after the COP21, an international summit, named MCE Deepwater Development (MCEDD) will meet at Pau of 5 to 7 April multinational oil companies and offshore operators to “succeed a significant decrease in costs to the industry operating in deep sea to remain competitive.”France Nature Environnment is strongly opposed to the holding of the summit of the energies of polluting and destructive past that does not also pay their “true price” and denounces the industrial provocation months after the Paris agreement on climate.”

“We welcome the closure of three UK coal power stations”

Three coal power stations are to close by the end of the month. A move welcomed by campaigners fighting opencast coal mines in the UK and against climate change.

Longannet is Scotland’s last coal fired power station. This power station has been responsible for one fifth of all of Scotland’s climate change emissions. [1] Coal burnt in Longannet has been imported from Colombia, Russia and the USA, as well as being supplied by opencast coal mines in Scotland. [2] As a result of Longannet’s closure Hargreaves, the main coal mining company in Scotland, has announced it will close all but one of its Scottish mines. [3] This move has been welcomed by local campaigners, the Scottish Opencast Community Alliance, who are now fighting for a full restoration of the sites abandoned by previous mine operators and a ban on opencast mining. [4]

SSE stated that Ferrybridge power station was forecast to lose £100m over the next 5 years, and that the political consensus is that coal has a limited role in the future, meaning that keeping the station open is not sustainable. [5] SSE are also to close all but one unit at their other coal power station Fiddler’s Ferry this year. Ferrybridge is in West Yorkshire.

Eggborough has failed in its attempts to gain support from government to convert the power station from coal to biomass and will now close. [6] Its closure is welcomed by campaigners working to end our addiction to fossil fuels. Eggborough is in North Yorkshire.

Activist who have fought against the opencast mines which have supplied these power stations celebrate their closure.

All, but one, of the UK coal power stations need to upgrade their air quality controls in order to reach new European Union air pollution standards. [7] The remaining 7 power stations need to evaluate whether it is more economically viable to upgrade or to close. The Coal Action Network is pushing for the later. This summer Rugeley power station will also close. [8]

Anne Harris from the Coal Action Network says, ‘We are pleased that this week the UK is moving away from unsustainable coal in shutting three of its 11 coal power stations. This will reduce the extensive damage caused to the communities in the UK, Russia, Colombia and the USA where the coal is mined to provide our electricity. Closing these coal power stations means that we will reduce our contribution to global warming.”

She adds, “Although we are sorry that this means job losses for people working at these sites we feel that in balance this is the best outcome, given that people are being poisoned and their livelihoods attacked to provide the coal to these power stations. Now the Government needs to act to ensure a prompt closure of all coal fired power stations and an end to the misery of opencast coal mining.”

Notes to editor

Contact Anne Harris for further information

info@coalaction.org.uk

www.coalaction.org.uk

The Coal Action Network works with the communities fighting new opencast coal mines, stands in solidarity with people living in the shadows of the mines which supply the UK worldwide, and is fighting to close the remaining UK coal power stations. At present there are five applications to opencast mine coal in the UK and 13 sites which have planning permission but have not started mining. In December there were 25 operating opencast coal mines.

[1] Carrell, S. (23/03/16) Longannet power station to shut next year

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/mar/23/longannet-power-station-to-shut-next-year viewed 24/03/16

[2] Coal Action Network (January 2016) Ditch Coal www.coalaction.org.uk/ditchcoal p81-82 viewed 24/03/16

[3] BBC news (16/02/16) Hargreaves to halt output at most Scottish opencast mines

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-35587858 viewed 24/03/16

[4] Scottish Opencast communities alliance, Demand an end to new opencast coal mines now!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/503/081/878/demand-an-end-to-new-opencast-coal-mines-now/#sign viewed 24/03/16

Hargreaves bought the most profitable coal mining sites in Scotland from Scottish Coal when it liquidated in 2013. Scottish Coal had been the target of a long running campaign against opencast coal mines by the protest group Coal Action Scotland.

[5] SSE (20/05/15) SSE Announces Closure of Ferrybridge Power Station

http://sse.com/newsandviews/allarticles/2015/05/sse-announces-closure-of-ferrybridge-power-station/ viewed 30/09/15

[6] Eggborough Power Ltd (02/09/15) Company Announcement http://www.eggboroughpower.co.uk/About-Us/Our- Values-%281%29.aspx viewed 30/09/15 Eggborough may come back online if there is a shortage in the National Grid during the winter of 2016/2017 under the Government’s Supplemental Balancing Reserve.

[7] The Industrial Emissions Directive requires industrial plants, including the UK’s existing coal power stations, to reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and

particulate emissions which cause air pollution. Power stations can either: comply with the directive; not comply with the standards (known as Limited Life Degradation) and close within 17,500 operating hours after 1st January 2016, and no later than 31st December 2023; or participate in the Transitional National Plan. [Coal Action Network (January 2016) Ditch Coal www.coalaction.org.uk/ditchcoal p83 viewed 24/03/16]

[8] Davies, R (08/02/16) Government denies blackout risk as Rugeley coal plant unveils closure plan http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/08/government-denies-blackout-risk-engie-rugeley-coal-power-station-shuts viewed 24/03/16

Attacking UK’s coal transport system – Severing the lines that feed the machine

Severing the lines that feed the machine is not impossible. When people take up civil uprising in the UK, if people are able to shove their obligations to one side to open up an avenue, they mainly have the ability and possibility to be able to grasp their will for something new. The war is not over when those moments stop, it sparks up in little raptures here and there, showing that we are not crushed, things can be brought to a grinding halt again, even for a split second.

It just takes a few bright spirits and we see it clear, when the smug confidence of authorities is knocked, a few pins get hit out and things can be seen in a different light. Out of synch and off balance, everything no longer appears structurally sound, life feels more up for grabs.

The new horizon peaked through our cloudy day, Sunday 6th March, and we hope this uncomplicated act of sabotage we have undertaken exposes the vulnerability of their complex matrix.

We took a risk assessment and as night just started to close in we entered the 1st railway tunnel, we cut both lines with a portable disc cutter, we didn’t imagine de-railing a locomotive but wrecking disruption and economic damage (time is money). We entered a 2nd and did a further two cuts, marking them all with pink paint, and leaving a banner as a warning.

The line in question runs through the Avon Gorge from Royal Portbury Dock over from Avonmouth, it’s freight only (no passengers), 70% of the UK’s imported coal for power generation comes through these docks. This line is a bottle-neck to the country’s dispersal. Most of it from USA where they blow apart mountains to get it out and Russia from the Shor and Teleut ancestral lands laid waste in Siberia, also places like Indonesia which drive back the forests for sprawling mines and plantations. That’s to keep factories running and city lights on, when we’ve got a feeling for escaping the work prisons and regaining the stars. Other loads carried on the line include construction aggregate and new built vehicles on their way to the show room. More high-speed trainlines are coming to the UK, more roads, more ancient woodland and wildlife wiped out in the frenzy of progress.

After seeing the firey activities against the coal flow in the Hambach forest of Germany since New Years – don’t give up the fight!, or the cutting of the coal belt in Scotland some years back by persons unknown when the battles against coal mining raged, we realise we’re not original. It’s not even the first time for eco-sabotage ambushes on that line from Portbury or the troublesome cargo, over the years. We see attacks following attacks on trainlines in different countries, it’s within reach to hinder the circuits powering the giant, we just have to harness our courage, keep an eye peeled for soft spots, maybe starting small but always dreaming big. Right now we’re reading about economic damage this month from trainline saboteurs in the north of Spain, we affirm our solidarity and respect too for the anarchists there with showcase court cases or police attention otherwise, we laugh to hear about the rowdy spirits that keep up when repressed for the fight to reject dominion. Maybe the sparks kicked up in the train tunnels even reflected over the Alps and beyond to light the sky for those in dark cells for trying to stop high-speed capitalism and also its nano-world technologies.

Joining our strength with the near and distant tribes, refusal and attack! Block the flows, up the fighters!

Toward a life that’s wild and free from coal, quarries, cars or cops. Avon Gorge sabotage group “Sand In The Gears”, signing out…..

Mass action camp: End Coal Now – April/May 2016

As part of the Groundswell year of action and international mobilisations taking on the fossil fuel industry, this May, we’re going to shut down the UK’s largest opencast coal mine – Ffos-y-fran in Wales.

As part of the Groundswell year of action and international mobilisations taking on the fossil fuel industry, this May, we’re going to shut down the UK’s largest opencast coal mine – Ffos-y-fran in Wales. It’s up to us to keep it in the ground – sign up to join us and get updates on plans.

What’s the Plan?

In collaboration with local resistance groups, we’ll set up camp near Ffos-y-fran and the site of the proposed new mine. We’ll build a camp and use this as a base to host a programme of workshops and trainings, and to build the kind of community we want to see – just, democratic and sustainable. We will also be taking mass action to shut down Ffos-y-fran. The camp will take place over the May bank holiday weekend, from Saturday 30th April to Wednesday 4th May and will come just before the Welsh Assembly elections on May 5th. Further information on the practicalities of the camp is coming soon. Sign up to the mailing list for updates.

Why?

For nearly a decade, the 11-million-tonne Ffos-y-fran mine has scarred the landscape and the community in South Wales. Now the corporation responsible for Ffos-y-fran – Miller Argent – wants to crush local democracy and resistance, and dig another vast coal mine just next door at Nant Llesg. Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel and we cannot transition to a just, democratic and clean energy system while we continue to dig it up and burn it. We want to build on the strong tradition of mass action Climate Camps in the UK, and the success of the Reclaim the Power camps over the last few years. We have also been inspired by Ende Gelände and other international coal resistance movements. Last year, the Welsh Assembly voted for a moratorium on opencast coal mining, but the Government have ignored them. Let’s make leaving fossil fuels in the ground a defining political issue in Wales and the UK.

Groundswell year of action for climate justice

Governments have failed to deliver what is needed.

Governments have failed to deliver what is needed. Let’s show them what climate justice action really looks like. Groundswell is a call to escalate climate justice actions in the wake of the Paris climate talks. From fossil fuel to border controls, the arms industry to financial markets. It will link up groups taking action, and create new avenues for people to engage in civil disobedience.

We want to do more for climate justice in one year than our governments have done in the last twenty-one.

It’s going to take a lot of us working together, but it’s going to be great. If this sounds good to you, get involved…

More info on training, support and more

The reality of the UK’s coal industry exposed

Map

A new report from the Coal Action Network exposes the untold human and environmental stories of the coal supply chain. Ditch Coal calls on the government to phase out coal faster than its suggested end of 2025. The extreme situations surrounding mines in Russia, Colombia, the USA and the UK which supply the UK’s power stations show that coal energy is an extreme energy. 24% of electricity generated in 2015 came from coal.

Grass roots group the Coal Action Network has worked with communities and environmental activists from the four major countries supplying the UK’s coal. The report details the ignored social justice issues caused by our addiction to coal.

Mining Impacts Abroad

Russia supplies 42% of the coal imported to the UK. In Russia’s main coal producing region, the Kuzbass area of Siberia, mining is devastating indigenous communities and their cultures. Shor and Teleut peoples are being forced off their ancestral lands, breaking the connection with their spiritual homes, their culture is being attacked and their language is fading from use.

Companies exporting coal from Colombia have been implicated in financing paramilitary mass murders, executions, and disappearances. Whole villages have been forcibly evicted to make way for mines, with insufficient relocation plans. Colombia produces a third of the coal imported here.

In the USA, where 19% of the coal imported to the UK is from, extremely destructive mining operations are destroying huge swathes of land and ecosystems, and poisoning local people. Mountaintop removal and damaging deep mining processes are used by companies exporting coal to the UK.

Although the UK government has announced an intention to phase out coal by 2025 Coal Action Network do not see this as something to celebrate. This time-frame and the phase out’s many caveats show that the government continues to prioritise our high electricity demands over others basic rights such as the safety of ones home, the ability to grow food, rights to health, freedoms of religion and spirituality, and biodiversity.

Mining in the UK

Since the government’s coal phase out announcement Durham based mining company Hargreaves have been granted permission to mine at Field House County Durham. Miller Argent who run the UK’s biggest mine Ffos-y-Fran are appealing a decision against a new mine adjacent to it. Five other coal mine applications are still waiting a decision. We need to stop coal mining in this country.

Communities in the UK are fighting for their areas and against coal power. As environmental activists we should follow their example and stand up to the companies involved and stand in solidarity with front-line communities. We cannot simply wait for the government to sort this out. The coal industry is spread wide across our island. Ditch Coal highlights where the ports importing coal are, where power stations are situated and which companies are mining in the UK. There are nine power stations burning coal without a closure plan.

Coal power used to be a main focus of the UK environmental movement, it still is in Germany and remains an issue here. The Coal Action Network will be touring the UK with a Russian activist in the spring, you can catch a preview at the Earth First Winter Moot. The Coal industry’s currently in a position of change, where new technology needs to be implemented or power stations closed. Join the Coal Action Network in fighting the individual power stations and working with communities, let’s not rely on the government to take these important actions.

The whole report can be viewed at www.coalaction.org.uk/ditchcoal as can the two page summary and infographics. Check out the website to see what we are up to or follow us on facebook.

Upton anti-fracking camp eviction in progress!

12th January 2017 – bailiffs and police have moved in at Upton Community Protection camp, in Cheshire.

The anti-fracking community there has been going strong for a long time now and is at the forefront of community resistance to this national threat. Get along to help if you can, and support people to keep resisting at least until Saturday, when there’s a national day of action there already set.

Updates at https://twitter.com/earthfirst_uk and how to get to the camp here