Shell’s Peat Haulage Has Begun… And Been Disrupted !

Shell is removing peat bog from the tunnelling compound in Aughoose, Co. Mayo, Ireland, and replacing it with stone and gravel from nearby quarries. The increased truck movements has not gone unchallenged.

Following the peat truck protest last Wednesday that resulted in 4 people being arrested – https://earthfirst.org.uk/actionreports/content/campaigners-block-shells-peat-haulage-morning-after-taisce-faces-local-community – protests have been happening almost every day.

On Saturday 19th November, around 12pm, 4 people stopped peat and quarry trucks along the haulage route. By the time Gardai arrived, most of the workers in the compound had gone home and work had stopped for the day.

On Monday the 21st , 8 people entered into Barrett's Quarry in Bangor and tried to get onto diggers to stop work. One campaigner reached one of the diggers, but was dragged down by security before climbing on top. The IRMS security grabbed everyone and held them down until they could drag them out of the quarry. This is the first time entering Barret's Quarry that no-one succeeded in getting on top of machinery. If there had been a couple more people on the action, it may have succeeded (i.e. come up to Mayo!)

On Tuesday 22nd November around 12:15pm, 2 people locked their arms into a concrete barrel; blocking the main haulage route. This happened after the weekly Tuesday morning protest with locals and supporters from 8 to 11am. The morning was very effective in its own right as over 20 people spread out along the Bellanaboy refinery road and stopped many of the peat and quarry trucks at several points. The Gardai present were stretched in dealing with the situation at hand.

The lock-on was put in place an hour after the end of the morning protest. At one stage Gardai briefly attempted to pull out one person's arm while they were screaming that they were locked into the barrel, which required some angry reminders from others present that cutting them out was going to be the only acceptable way. The lock-on was highly effective and lasted from 12:15pm until 5:30pm. There was local support for a while before the Gardai proceeded to close down the road. Up to 12 trucks were sat waiting in the Aughoose compound and diggers and other machinery therefore had nothing to do. The 2 campaigners were arrested and released later that evening.

Also worth mentioning were several trucks being stopped or slowed down throughout the week for half an hour or so when the opportunity arose. No arrests were made on those occasions.

If you and/or your friends are interested in coming down to the ongoing campaign and being almost certain of halting work for all or most part of the day, then now is the time !

Show your support – the battle goes on !

www.shelltosea.com

www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org

Timber Barons are the 1%: Occupy Eugene Meets Forest Defence

18th November 2011

Cascadia Forest Defenders and marchers with Occupy Eugene shut down Umpqua Bank yesterday from noon to close. Activists raised a banner reading “Stumpqua funds clearcuts,” and soft blockaded both customer entrances. Umpqua, which was the first stop in a series of N17 Occupy Eugene bank closures, chose to lock its doors rather than call on law enforcement.

Umpqua Bank has a long history of providing low interest loans to Oregon’s timber barons. The bank is most infamously tied to Roseburg Forest Products’ sole owner, Allyn Ford, who is also the chairman of Umpqua Bank’s board of directors. Over the last year RFP logged hundreds of acres of Cascadia’s ancient temperate rainforests and laid off over 200 Oregon mill workers. In targeting Stumpqua, activists hope to thwart attempts of green and local washing on the part of bank executives.

After the Umpqua action, marchers proceeded on to U.S. Bank, Bank of America, and Chase. Between the three banks, law enforcement arrested 17 activists for similar soft blockades.

East Gippsland forest protests & background

Logging East Gippsland old growth forests destroys wildlife refuge in a warming climate

17 November 2011

Logging East Gippsland old growth forests destroys wildlife refuge in a warming climate

17 November 2011

Environmental activists have been out in old growth Forests in East Gippsland this week attempting to stop more rape of our natural environment and protecting important refugia habitats for endangered species. Logging operations on Survey Rd on the Errinundra Plateau were halted by a tree-sit attached to five logging machines and suspended 40 metres up in the tree canopy.

"In the face of recent Baillieu government moves to weaken the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act, conservationists have again taken their message to logging sites where important wildlife habitat continues to be logged for woodchips", said Ms Amelia Young, spokesperson for the conservationists of the Goongerah Environment Centre (GECO) (Facebook).

"This site on Survey Road is another controversial logging coupe, in precious, ancient forest right on the border of the national park. Forests on and around the national park have been identified as key refugia – a safe place – for threatened wildlife; that they continue in 2011 to be targeted for short-term logging projects, is inexcusable."

"The future of the logging industry lies in sourcing saw and pulp logs from plantations. Government assistance should be procured immediately to support the industry to make this transition out of our publicly owned high-conservation value forests."

"With waratahs in flower, individual trees expected to be in excess of 500 years old and endangered spot-tailed quolls detected in the area, there’s no question this old-growth forest is worth more standing", concluded Ms Young.

Both sides of traditional politics have supported the logging of old growth forests, even though native old growth forests are so important to preserve for a raft of reasons that rise above the economic exploitation for wood pulp and timber:

Forests play a major role as carbon sink say scientists
Victorian forests are amoung the world’s most carbon-dense which should be preserved and protected.
Logging of Victorian mountain ash forests increases bushfire risk
Intact native Forests mitigate bushfire in a warming climate
Old growth forests provide an important refugia for species biodiversity in a time of climate change.

Earlier this month the State Government quietly announced Logging contractors will be able to seek exemptions from state environment laws protecting endangered species under proposed changes by the Baillieu state government. The Secretary of the Department of Sustainability and Environment would be able to exempt a logging project from the requirements of the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act. Goodbye endangered species habitat!

The Supreme Court of Victoria last year banned VicForests from logging old-growth forest at Brown Mountain in East Gippsland after activists released a video of a long-footed potoroo filmed in a logging coupe on Brown Mountain.

More recently, the Victorian Supreme Court has stopped logging of old growth forests at Sylvia Creek in Victoria's central highlands because it threatens the habitat of the endangered Leadbeater's Possum. A court injunction presently prevents logging old growth forests in this area till 2012, while the case is heard. The changes by the State Government seek to undermine the Supreme Court rulings to protect endangered species.

The Wilderness Society has attacked the Baillieu Government for undermining Victoria's environmental laws.

"Decades of overlogging and three major fire events in Victoria's forests have pushed many species closer to extinction. Our unique wildlife, including Victoria's endangered faunal emblem, the Leadbeater's Possum, need their native forest homes protected, not betrayed to the Baillieu government bulldozers. It is not too late to turn this decision around." says the Wilderness society.

The State Government has no electoral mandate for making these changes. Liberal MP Mary Wooldridge told an environment forum held at Melbourne Town Hall on 18 November 2010 during the Victorian state election campaign, of the importance of protecting forest that contains threatened species such as Leadbeaters Possum.

"Some concerns we can address are issues about pre logging assessments and making sure the areas we are logging don't have protected species or different issues with the Leadbetter's possum in relation to in terms of the catchment areas. Making sure we are doing those assessments, making sure if areas are logged they don't have those assets, insuring those assessments are done and those areas are protected before hand." said Mary Wooldridge MP.

It seems this is just another broken promise from a Government marching backwards on climate and the environment, as well as general social conditions in public hospitals and health, and in education in Victoria.

Background: Coalition’s 2km wind farm veto sets a risky precedent | Retreating on climate policy – Victorian Government stops discussions on Hazelwood closure | Victorian Government needs to come clean on plan to achieve 20 percent emissions cut by 2020

Image Source: GECO – Logging machinery, awesome cabling and trees that once stood tall – Survey Rd blockade November 2011

Campaigners block Shell’s peat haulage morning after An Taisce faces local community

Friday 18th November 2011

On Tuesday 15th November, An Taisce board member Attracta Uí Bhroin travelled to Belmullet Civic Centre to defend the withdrawal of An Taisce’s legal challenges to the validity of consents for the Corrib Gas project. An Taisce have claimed that their settlement is a 'victory for the environment' despite the fact that the State remains in breach of European environmental directives in proceeding with the Corrib project. The next day campaigners stopped Shell’s peat haulage outside Bellanaboy refinery site to demonstrate that despite An Taisce settling with the State, local campaigners will continue to defend the safety of the community.

“We'll have to fight for another day, the whole community. Ye might settle for money with them, but we are not going to.”

The next morning, peat extraction trucks were spotted for the first time travelling from the Aughoose compound to the Srahmore peat deposition site in Bangor Erris. Shell’s use of these very large trucks signals the start of their attempts to remove peat from Aughoose and haul stone in order to begin the process of tunneling through Sruwaddacon estuary.

Shell plan up to 475 truck movements a day through the affected route and villages in this period of construction. Members of the local community and Rossport Solidarity Camp responded by gathering at 12.30pm outside the Bellanaboy refinery to show their continuing opposition to the project. A peat truck was stopped at 12.45pm, as three campaigners climbed inside. A fourth campaigner locked on underneath the lorry at 2.30pm. With campaigners occupying the peat truck, local residents recorded that ten further trucks were prevented from either leaving the Aughoose compound and or leaving the refinery. The peat lorry blocked all Shell trucks to and from the Aughoose compound until 3.20pm.

Last Friday over 80 local residents and supporters came to Bellanaboy to demonstrate their opposition and honour eleven years of resistance. Banners were hung at the gates of Bellanaboy gas refinery which stated that the State is violating the European habitats directives in proceeding with the Corrib project. Local campaigners are asking people to travel to Erris and help to defend the safety of this community and place.

Mass environmental justice uprising engulfs Damietta on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast

Nov 15, 2011

The popular movement against a Canadian petrochemical plant has forced the Egyptian government to shut down the Agrium-Mopco gas-fertiliser factory, after residents shut down highways, bridges and a deepwater port, and battled the Egyptian military in the street.

Grainy photos and video-clips tweeted out – especially by Al-Jazeera’s @Mansourtalk – show locals standing up to military forces using live ammunition and tear gas. After 25 were arrested, fellow protestors besieged an army unit and APC until their friends were released. At least one local – Islam Abdullah – was killed by police or military and many others injured.

Twitter: Protestors besiege APC demanding release of their comrades @mansourtalk

Following the repression by the Egyptian state, the Damietta uprising has escalated its demands, calling for closure of other polluting factories in Damietta (including Methanex and SEGAS LNG – financed by RBS), and banning the construction of similar factories and complexes.

Repression threatens the uprising in Damietta @mansourtalk

The popular campaign against Agrium’s plant – using local gas to produce urea fertiliser – already scored a victory in 2008, forcing the Canadian company Agrium’s plans for a new petrochemical factory to merge with Egyptian Mopco. People in Damietta – and especially the Ras El-Barr island designated as the site – were worried about pollution destroying their health, the fish, the natural environment and potential for tourism. Fertiliser-producing plants are known to make local communities sick, with Agrium specifically facing controversy in several countries. Opposition to the new factory was strong across the town – including lawyers, fisherfolk, political activists, families and tourism developers. Black banners against the ‘factory of death’ were draped from homes and across streets: “Against Resource Drain and Pollution in Damietta…and No to Pollution in Ra’s al-Barr.”

Public unhappiness with the pollution from the existing factory and continuing construction grew since January, using the political space generated by the revolution. Newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm quotes a statement from the protestors:

“They told us Agrium factory was moved out of Damietta. In 2011, after the revolution, we found out that we were deceived and that the factory wasn’t moved. The committee formed to mull the region’s environmental status proved that this factory had caused people many diseases and dangerously affected man, animal, plant and fish resources.”

The paper also quoted a local resident, Mohamed Hassouna, as saying

“We are choking from the toxic fumes coming out of the garbage dumped close to residential areas. The fumes are causing serious respiratory problems among the elderly and the ill.”

The uprising – in which the local community successfully shut down Damietta’s massive deepwater port and blockaded the highways and bridges for days – has touched a nerve in Egypt. There is already widespread unhappiness about the collusion between foreign multinationals, military-controlled companies and private Egyptian elite interests in using Egyptian resources (land, natural gas, etc) – frequently subsidised – to make outrageous profits. The role of the military in attacking the Damietta community physically enacts this co-operation against the people.

Pollution and dumping of waste in Egypt – such as in Idku by BG and BP – is increasingly being publicly challenged as a political decision, that prioritises profits for those in charge over the lives and rights over fenceline communities. The language of the revolution is being used to describe environmental injustice.

The militarisation of the Susa Valley: final act & Brief History of the No TAV movement

12.11.11

Berlusconi’s moribund government has finally managed to pass a decree – with the opposition’s approval – that formalises the current state of militarisation in the Susa Valley. The construction site in La Maddalena will become a “site of strategic national interest”, that is, a military area. The consequences for those who trespass will be the same imposed by law for any other military area trespass: a prison sentence between 3 months and one year, or the payment of a fine between 51 and 309 Euro. That’s not it, though! The rock extracted on the site will become a legal construction material, even if contaminated by uranium, asbestos and other chemical products released by the excavation process. This will have a huge impact on the industry of the “great useless public works” beloved by the current government; and it’s a huge present to the construction mafia. Also, it’s another heavy attack to freedom of protest and dissent, and a clear message for the people of the Val Susa: don’t disturb the construction!

In the meantime, a couple of weeks ago a public youth hostel managed by an organisation close to the NO TAV movement was attacked and vandalised. The building is often used by NO TAV protesters coming from the surrounding areas. The attackers stole money and damaged the furniture. Special attention was reserved to the books, magazines and original materials about the Antifascist Resistance which the building makes available to the public. Just in case it wasn’t clear who was behind the attack.

Nevertheless, the state of permanent mobilisation declared last May by the NO TAV carries on; the national tour that started in October in Bologna will conclude in the next few days in Genoa, and more initiatives have been announced to protest against the new decree.

Sources: this article, and various other things borrowed and recycled from Italy Indymedia.

Written/translated by Italy Calling.

NO TAV (No to the High Speed Train) is a movement based in the Susa Valley in Piedmont that opposes the creation of the new high speed railway line between Turin and Lyon in France. This line is part of a EU project which plans to connect Lyon to Budapest and then onto Ukraine. Similar protest movements were active in the early 90s in Florence, Bologna and Rome, but their militancy and the brutal repression that this triggered in the Susa Valley has made the Piedmontese movement the most talked about.

The simple principle behind the movement is that a new high speed railway line in the Valley is completely useless and not needed, its only purpose being the profit of the many private companies that have shares in it. The NO TAV think that the current railway line between Piedmont and France is more than sufficient, considering that traffic in the area has never been incredibly high. More importantly, the construction of the line would utterly and irreversibly destroy a huge part of the Susa Valley, causing not only an environmental but also an economic and social disaster, with businesses closing down and villages being completely disfigured or disappearing.

High speed railway lines in Italy are considered to be of “strategic interest”, which translated from political bullshit language means that the law allows this type of works WITHOUT consulting the local population and institutions whatsoever. At a time of economic collapse such as Italy is going through, the works require billions of Italian taxpayers’ money, at the expense of primary services like education and health. It would mainly be construction and other private companies profiting from it, but when finished and in use, the low demand for the line would end up making it a loss-making burden on the taxpayers. Like in Rossport, Ireland, the locals’ concerns and proposals are being completely ignored in the name of the only Modern God: money.

The NO TAV came up with their own plan for the area which would include:
– changing the production and distribution processes to decrease transport of people and goods, especially on long distances
– supporting local sustainable trades instead of big industries
– creating or improving local means of sustainable and green transport for workers and students
– supporting and incrementing the use of the already existing local railway line

The main source of this article is Turin’s NO TAV website.

Solidarity Call ANTI-HSL DEFENDANTS for pie throwing on Mrs Barcina

Call of the movement Mugitu! to publish press releases, notes or letters of solidarity with the opponents to the HSL prosecuted for pieing the Navarrese president Yolanda Barcina:

From the movement of disobedience to the HSL of Euskal Herria Mugitu! we call all the groups and people defending the civil disobedience as a way of struggle to express your solidarity and support of the three opponents to the HSL prosecuted in the Spanish Special Court “Audiencia Nacional” as a result of the action of pie throwing against the HSL carried out on the Navarrese president Yolanda Barcina last 27 of October in Toulouse. The action of pieing, which in any place of the western world is merely a humorous action of protest that has very few legal consequences, is in our case, however, object of a political and media criminalization that borders on ridicule: so much so that the three authors of the protest may be sentenced to jail sentences as they have been prosecuted under the accusation of “attack” against the authority in the Special Court “Audiencia Nacional” of Madrid, the exceptional court which mostly deals with crimes described as “terrorism” and before which they will have to make a statement on 16 of November.

For this reason, we want to call you all to express your solidarity with the defendants publishing a press release, a brief note in the media or a letter of support in terms of denunciation of the manipulation and political criminalisation, rejection of the HSL and support to disobedience; that is to say, denouncing the clear manipulative and criminalising spirit of the process driven by the Government of Navarre and defending civil disobedience as a way of fighting the imposition of great infrastructures that bring about serious ecological, economic and social impacts, as it is the case of the HSL in our country.

The call is framed within the initiatives of support and solidarity with the defendants which have been decided in an assembly of last Sunday 6 of November in Pamplona under the motto “I would do also it! HSL STOP: Disobedience”.

Looking forward to your solidarity, we also want to invite you to spread this call around you and to send any manifestation of support that is made public to the following address. Thank you very much…

Movement Mugitu!

@mail: mugituaht@gmail.com

Tel: (0034) 654480589

http://mugitu.blogspot.com/

Account of what happened between the anti-HSL pieing in Toulouse and the transfer of the case to the Spanish Special Court “Audiencia Nacional”:

The movement Mugitu! of disobedience to the HSL –in fight against the imposition of the “Basque Y” and the “Navarrese corridor of High speed”–, supported by the Occitan movement Libertat, made a protest action on 27 of October interrupting the 29th Plenary Council of the CTP (Community of Work of the Pyrenees) that was being held in the Occitan city of Toulouse and throwing three meringue pies in the face of the president of the Foral Community of Navarre Yolanda Barcina, with the aim of denouncing the imposition of the HSL in our country. Indeed, the Basque Government and the Navarrese are determined to impose these disputed projects at a time when the construction of new lines of High speed is questioned in many countries because of its ruinous and destructive character. At the same time of the pieing, we demonstrators explained the reasons of the action in the meeting room, showed posters and shouted slogans against the HSL as we threw leaflets demanding the immediate paralysation of the “Basque Y” works and the abandonment of the project of the Navarrese corridor of the HST, infrastructures of high ecological, economic and social impact in our country and characterized by an absolute lack of information and social debate, refusing the participation of the population in the decision making. “In any case – we said–, the solutions must be found in a deep transformation of the present society, because the crisis is becoming worse and it is evident that we must not only reduce and distribute the “pie”, but also and mainly change its recipe”.

In Toulouse , the action of the pieing was made without any other incidents, taking place like anywhere else in the world as a humorous action of protest that has very few legal consequences. There was no intervention from the police or from the agents in charge of the security of the meeting, so nobody was arrested and after the action, the activists even gave a small press conference in the outside of the building explaining the reasons for the protest. Nevertheless, in the Spanish state, the Government of Navarre immediately made a public declaration of “condemnation”, conceived with clear aims of politically manipulating and criminalising the anti-HSL pie throws, finally suspending the activity of the foral parliament and boasting about being a victim, which bordered on ridicule, whereas in the street the action was received with an enormous delight in ample sectors of the population.

In view of the informative poisoning started by the Government of Navarre, those of us who took part in the action quickly decided to call a press conference for the following day in Pamplona, with the purpose of giving all the details about the protest and in order to deny the supposed “violent” character of the pie throws, making clear that this form of action does not mean to cause physical harm to the chosen person, but to damage the image of the authority that he /she represents. But as soon as we arrived in Pamplona in the afternoon of the 28th, the Foral Police arrested the three activists of the group in the street, when they were going to the press conference. The police said that they were accused of “Attack to the authority” and transferred them to police station. When we contacted several lawyers, these showed their surprise about the circumstances in which the arrests were made, as there were apparently no judicial diligences in the country where the protest had taken place. Concerning the arrests, it must be said that the last person who was set free had spent 22 hours in jail and denounced the treatment received since he had been prevented from sleeping during the night. The arrested were forced to give DNA samples as an indispensable condition to be released, although neither is it obligatory nor did it have any justification in this case since the action had been public and the arrested people were going to give a press conference, also public.

Finally, our companions were set free by the Foral Police that charged them for a crime of “attack to the authority”, in addition transferring the case to the Spanish Special Court “Audiencia Nacional”. In other words, the Navarrese president Yolanda Barcina, who considered, in her first declarations, the action of the anti-HSL pieing to be “a very sweet beginning” for her presidency at the front of the CTP, has not accepted the “sweetness” of our protest very well. It is so much so that with the accusation made, these three people may be sentenced to jail by an exceptional court, before which they have been called to make a statement next 16 of November

Occupy Shellanaboy set up at refinery gates in Erris (& solidarity with Ogoni 9)

November 11, 2011

About 40 Shell to Sea campaigners blocked the Aughoose compound this morning – all Shell employees prevented entering compound 7.30 to 9.30. The road was kept open to local traffic by the campaign. There was no Garda presence. Just after 10 Shell to Sea activists started setting up an Occupy Shell Corrib Camp at the gates of the refinery in a show of solidarity with the global Occupy movements!

At 9.30 campaigners started moving from the Aughhoose compound to the refinery site where there will be meet up at 10. This action was part of the day of solidarity called both to remember the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and for people from around Ireland to stand in solidarity with the local community in Erris, Mayo.

Local residents and their supporters will gather at 10am at the gates of Shell’s inland refinery. From there they will walk to Bellanaboy Bridge to commemorate a baton charge by Gardaí on November 10th, 2006. The baton charge resulted in numerous injuries to campaigners and is one of the low points of the 11-year struggle against the inland refinery and high pressure pipeline. They will also be marking the 16th anniversary of the execution of nine activists in Ogoniland, Nigeria. Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others were hanged by the Nigerian government on November 10th, 1995 for their opposition to Shell’s environmental destruction in the Niger delta. The walk which is now (11.20) underway is lead by people carrying the 9 crosses to commemorate the Ogoni 9 executed on this day in 1995. Over 100 people are taking part

anti-shell protest at awards

9.11.11

tomorrow marks the sixteenth anniversary of the killing of ken saro-wiwa and eight other activists in nigeria. today, shell, complicit in their execution, was polishing its image by sponsoring an awards event for young entrepeneurs at the centrepoint building in central london. rising tide organised a reminder of shell's bloody history outside the event, involving grim reapers, sombre drums, and hundreds of leaflets.

after meeting and dressing just round the corner, a dozen or so activists arrived outside the centrepoint building, creating quite a stir with a morbid beat from two huge surdo drums, several ghostly shell logo skull-faced grim reapers, and an excellent banner using the shell and livewire logos and the slogans "shell livewire – supporting bright young business, shell deathrope – hanging outspoken young nigerians".

centrepoint security at first overstepped the mark, pushing people and trying to snatch the banner, but they retreated indoors and closed off the entrance when they realised they were being filmed, allowing the protest to continue right outside.

hundreds of leaflets were handed out to interested passers-by, and police, who arrived after around 40 minutes, waited for instruction up the command chain before deciding to leave the protest alone.

after about 90 minutes, with leaflets running out, and the young entrepeneurs apparently led out of the building via an underground car park, it was off to the pub for a well-deserved drink for the activists.

it was on the 10th november in 1995 that the nigerian government hanged ken saro-wiwa and eight other young activists who were campaigners against the devastation caused by shell and other oil exploiters in their homelands. shell was later shown to have been complicit in the murders. to this day, shell still attacks communities (like rossport in northern ireland, as well as continuing abuses in the niger delta) and destroys the planet through oil extraction, and to offset their destructive image they put tiny amounts of their profits into high profile sponsorship events like 'livewire', a youth business enterprise.

VIDEO
Thanks too to 'You and I Films' for producing a video of our (S)Hell DeathROPE action, and to Kevin Smith of Platform for the informative interview/voiceover, which you can watch online at:

• ‘Shell Death Rope – In Memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa’, at vimeo
» video, 2:29 – http://vimeo.com/31879898

BLOGS
Thanks to Ben Amunwa at Platform, there are also two blog postings about our (S)Hell DeathROPE action:

• ‘Protest Exposes Shell’s Grim Record on Human Rights’
» http://blog.platformlondon.org/2011/11/10/protest-exposes-shells-grim-record-on-human-rights/
» http://remembersarowiwa.com/protest-exposes-shells-grim-record-on-human-rights/

FUTURE ACTIONS
If you are also inclined to acknowledging that the catastrophic climate chaos caused by anthropogenic global warming is the most serious social/economic/political issue humankind has ever faced, and want to join in taking grassroots direct action to influence our civilisation toward climate justice, then do please consider joining London Rising Tide (or your local Rising Tide group).

• Rising Tide, London
» http://www.londonrisingtide.org.uk
• Next action planning gathering: Thu 17 Nov 2011, 19:30-21:00 (and afterwards (optionally) down t’pub), at the London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, Whiechapel, London E1 1ES
» LARC – http://www.londonarc.org

• Rising Tide, UK and around the world
» http://risingtide.org.uk
• see left hand column for links to Rising Tide groups all around the world

How to use a bikelock to save the Great Barrier Reef – protest halts Gladstone dredging

9 November 2011

Derec Davies used a bicycle U lock to attach himself to a dredger in Gladstone Harbour this morning. The direct action was taken to protect the Great Barrier Reef against the development of Gladstone harbour liquefied natural gas facilities on Curtis Island to export Coal Seam Gas. Massive Dredging of the Gladstone harbour is occurring which fisherman and environmentalists say is causing turbidity in the water and causing illness of fish effectively closing down the local fishing industry. Development is endangering the World Heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef.

Related: In 2010 Conservationists criticised government over coal ship grounding on Great Barrier Reef near Gladstone | Capricorn Conservation Council: The LNG invasion of Curtis Island | ABC TV Four Corners: Great Barrier Grief | Getup! petition to Save the reef

Derec Davies, a Friends of the Earth campaigner, was whisked out to a dredger about 9.30am this morning by a fast inflatable boat. He unfurlled a banner on the dredge, which read "Save the reef, halt dredging" and chained himself. All dredging stopped when he locked onto equipment. The police were called and attended to cut him free. Dredging was stopped for over 2 hours.

Derec Davies was released from custody at 3:40pm today with three charges under the Transport Operations and Maritime Safety act. The charges carry a total maximum penalty of $74000 or one years imprisonment.

"The Great Barrier Reef is worth a lot more than $74 000, so I think that it was worthwhile," said Mr Davies. "We shouldn't have to take action like this, but our Environment ministers Vicky Darling and Tony Burke are letting us all down. Hopefully the judge will see that people need to have the right to protest, otherwise this destruction of the reef will go unchallenged." said Mr Davies.

Drew Hutton, a spokeperson for Friends of the Earth said that the purpose of the protest was to call for a halt to all dredging in the harbour until a genuine independent enquiry was held into the causes of the apparent ecosystem collapse in the harbour.

The ABC TV Four Corners current affairs Program on Monday night did an in depth report on port developments in Queensland and their impact on The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and World Heritage Area. (Watch Great Barrier Grief)

In the 12 hours following the airing of the program some 19,000 people signed an online Getup! petition to Save the reef.

There are six major port developments already planned or underway along the Queensland coast to export coal and coal seam gas.

"ABC has reported that the chair of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority expressed ‘extreme concern’ to the Government about the dredging and its unacceptable impacts on marine life within the World Heritage area," said Senator Larissa Waters from the Greens.

“We now have a huge spike in marine animal deaths up and down the coast, a fish disease epidemic in Gladstone harbour and the fishing industry on its knees, after just 1.5 million of the 46 million cubic metres have been dredged. The turbidity conditions imposed by the federal Environment Minister for the dredging are being continually breached, and now we learn that three heavy metals – aluminium, copper and chromium – are exceeding the national safety guidelines. And still the dredging continues." Senators Waters said in a media release.

Mr Hutton said the disproportionate number of marine animal deaths and diseased fish in Gladstone harbour reflected an ecosystem under extreme stress and his organisation had no faith in the Queensland Government's preparedness to look seriously for the causes.

"This is an issue of concern to all Australians who believe the Great Barrier reef should not be sacrificed for fleeting economic development. The coal seam gas industry, once again, has demonstrated what a detrimental impact it is having on rural and regional Queensland." said Drew Hutton.

According to Drew Hutton in a report on Lock the Gate, neither the Queensland government nor the federal government were trusted by most people to get to the bottom of the problem because they had too strong a vested interest in seeing these projects go ahead.

"So far all we have seen from the Bligh government is flawed water quality monitoring, constant assertions that the problems of marine species’ deaths and fish disease have nothing to do with developments in the harbour and the desire to see developments proceed at breakneck speed."

"The Gladstone Port Corporation’s dredging program is one of the biggest in our history and we need to know if dredging up historic layers of industrial pollutants as well as the acid sulphate soils that are known to be in the area are linked with this catastrophe."

Drew Hutton has highlighted the links between the reckless pace of development in Coal Seam Gas wells, with the port expansion threatening major impacts to fisheries and tourism industries associated with the Great Barrier Reef.

"Coal seam gas is, in all likelihood, linked with the problems in Gladstone harbour but you can follow the trail of destruction and possible catastrophe back to the tens of thousands of hectares of bushland being cleared for gas pipelines and the long-term destruction of underground water." he said, "It is only people power that will force recalcitrant governments to act responsibly to bring the coal seam gas industry under control and to act to protect the Great Barrier Reef from high-impact development.."

Friends of the Earth is calling for a dredging halt, independent testing in Gladstone harbour, and the current enquiry announced by Federal and State Governments to widen its terms of reference to include all aspects of industrial development in the region.

Australia failed to notify the World Heritage Committee earlier this year regarding the port developments and their possible impact on the World Hertiage status of the Great Barrier Reef. They have called for a strategic assessment of all coastal assessments impacting on the reef. The reef may be in danger of losing its World Heritage status.

“Australians have to ask right now – are we prepared to lose one of our greatest national assets so we can turn the Great Barrier Reef into a coal and gas highway?” concluded Senator Waters.