Wilderness Defence – Page 48

Broken Cross Open Cast Site blockaded – police act as Scottish Coal security

This morning Broken Cross opencast site in the Douglas Valley was blockaded for an hour and a half before Scottish Coal workers lifted three people in heavy concrete lock-ons out of the road, all overseen by Inspector Whip (photographed) of Strathclyde Police. This isn’t the first time that Inspector Whip has hurt people by lifting them out of the road. He’s reckless and deliberately put people’s safety at risk, all to protect the profits of Scottish Coal.

COAL ACTION SCOTLAND MEDIA RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE USE 16th July 2012

Activists disrupt coal haulage and police take unacceptable risks of injury at Lanarkshire mine

At 6:00 this morning a group of 20 environmental and social justice activists blockaded the only entrance to Scottish Coal’s Broken Cross Open Cast Coal Site [1] in the Douglas Valley. This prevented all access to the site by coal lorries for one and a half hours before police ordered workers to dangerously carry activists out of the road. Concrete “lock-on tubes” were used to prevent three activists from being removed.

In an act of extreme recklessness, Inspector Whip of Strathclyde Police ordered Scottish Coal employees to drag protesters out of the access road, while they were still attached to their lock-on tubes, each weighing around 50kg. One of those moved was injured in this incident. The three have been arrested and are currently being held in custody.

Rob Hearne, one of the activists supporting the protest at the mine said: “This is not the first time that Inspector Whip and Strathclyde Police have shown such utter disregard for the safety of anti-coal activists. This kind of behaviour is totally unacceptable, where untrained workers are allowed to assault people in such a way, breaking all health and safety regulations and committing criminal offences. Strathclyde Police are acting as Scottish Coal’s private security.”

The protest was intended to stop coal from being transported from the mine to railheads and to oppose Scottish Coal’s extension to the mine as part of their “forward strategy” [2]. In particular, it aimed to stop coal HGVs from being routed through Douglas and Glespin, an issue of particular importance for local communities.

Glespin resident David Grey said: “A top traffic police officer has been quoted in the past as saying that someone will have to be killed on Lanarkshire’s roads before something is done about the haulage of coal in this area. HGVs pass right through Douglas and Glespin, past two primary schools with no level crossings, something that Scottish Coal, South Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Ministers all said would never happen. And now Inspector Whip endangers the lives of people trying to make the roads safer for local residents! It’s outrageous. Inspector Whip should be ashamed for putting the profits of coal above the safety of people in the valley.”

Today´s protest follows Saturday’s invasion of Mainshill Open Cast Coal Site [3] where 45 activists stopped work on the site for the day. This is part of a week-long action camp and occupation of Scottish Coal’s intended new mine in the area, Glentaggart East [4]. The camp called “Take Back the Land!” [5] has attracted activists from across Scotland, the UK and Europe to take direct action against the blight of opencast coal mining.

Coal Action Scotland are preparing a formal complaint to Strathclyde Police about this incident.

For interviews and comment please contact:

Roger Wilkins on 07917141720 or email contact@coalactionscotland.org.uk

Photos can be emailed upon request.

Notes to editors:

[1] Broken Cross is the larger of Scottish Coal’s two operating open cast coal mines in the Douglas Valley, South Lanarkshire, producing around 15,000 tonnes of coal a week

[2] South Lanarkshire Council approved Scottish Coal’s North (East) Extension to Broken Cross, the third such extension, despite huge community opposition to it. The extension will see the life of the mine extended until 2024, way beyond what Scottish Planning Policy considers an acceptable cumulative impact and something that local residents find totally unacceptable.

[3] Mainshill Wood was occupied by the Mainshill Solidarity Camp on 12th June 2009. It was eventually evicted on 25th January 2010 in an eviction that lasted 5 days. It involved 45 arrests and was the largest protest site eviction in the UK since Manchester Airport 11 years previously. There was huge community opposition to the mine locally, with 654 objections being lodged against the application. Despite Lord Home, the land owner, telling local residents that he’d safeguard the area from mining, he did the opposite and is now being paid by Scottish Coal for lease of the land. Since the start of coaling operations at the site in February 2010 local residents have complained of noise and dust impacts and danger on the roads as coal HGVs are routed through Douglas and Glespin.

Lord Home owns Douglas & Angus Estates. He is the son of the former prime minister Alec Home, a peer in the House of Lords and chairperson of Coutts Bank. He lives in London but has a stately home at Castlemains in the Douglas Valley.

Scottish Coal currently have two operational sites in the valley, Mainshill and Glentaggart, down from 5 in 2010.

[4] Scottish Coal have been given approval by South Lanarkshire Council despite 232 letters of objection to mine 4 million tonnes of coal from the Glentaggart East site, adjacent to the existing Glentaggart site which was in operation between 2001 and 2011. RSPB objected to the application because of the ecologically important blanket bog and protected bird breeding habitats on the 350 hectare site. The mine will be 1.5km away from two primary schools and continue the encirclement of Douglas Valley villages with opencast mines.

Glentaggart East is part of Scottish Coal’s “Forward Strategy”, unveiled in September 2011. It included 3 new opencast mine applications. One of these, Auldton Heights, was withdrawn following a substantial campaign against it. A further extension to Broken Cross, an existing site, was granted permission by the council, despite opposition from local residents.

[5] for more information about Take Back the Land! please see the following website: http://takebacktheland.org.uk/

Residents Blockade Injection Well One Week After 1,000 Gallon Fracking Waste Spill

16.7.12

[For updates check ohiofracktion.com]

16.7.12

[For updates check ohiofracktion.com]

Concerned residents blocked access to an injection well in Trumbull County this morning, protesting the failure of Ohio regulators to adequately test and monitor dumping of toxic fracking waste. At least one protestor has been arrested and at least two others have been detained.

Trumbull County residents, along with supporters from Frack Free Mahoning and Ohio Fracktion, are gathering at the well site on Sodom Hutchings Road in Vienna Township, to express concerns about the contents of the 1,000 gallons of fracking wastewater that spilled along five miles of road in Fowler Township, a nearby residential area on July 7.They are demanding that Ohio’s Division of Natural Resources (ODNR) begin systematically testing out-of-state frack waste that is injected into over 170 wells throughout Ohio. One supporter has locked himself to the gate to prevent all trucks carrying fracking waste from entering the site.

According to spokesperson Mike Settles, emergency responders from Ohio’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted only a simple pH test of the spilled frack waste lining the roads of Fowler Township. As far as further testing for radiation, heavy metals, and other chemicals, Settles explained that EPA doesn’t “have the resources” to perform testing unless there is a “legitimate concern” of environmental damage. Thick, rust colored residue was still visible on the road over a week after the spill.

Liberal Township Trustee Jodi Stoyak expressed her frustration with EPA’s response in a July 12 letter to Mr. Settles, noting “many of the chemicals used in [fracking] and contained in the waste are officially classified individually as hazardous…. This, in my opinion, is a huge environmental concern.”

ODNR officials have ignored numerous written and oral requests from Ohio residents to order testing of the countless gallons of out-of-state frack waste injected underground into Ohio each year. In response to a recent public records request asking ODNR to release all testing relevant to fracking waste, ODNR Geologist Tom Tomastik provided no results taken after 1989.

Mainshill Open Cast Coal Site shut down for the day!

July 14th, 2012

At 10:00 this morning a group of 45 activists invaded Scottish Coal’s Mainshill Open Cast Coal Site near Douglas, South Lanarkshire, and occupied machinery and prevented coaling operations on the site and shut it down for the day. Machines including a “prime mover” were occupied and all work was stopped completely. This is the first action at Take Back the Land! – the action camp in the Douglas Valley will be up and running until the 18th July. Updates and photos to follow

Fracking On Trial: call out

THE TRIAL

The trial for the first fracking rig occupation in Lancashire last November kicks off next week. Starting Tuesday 10th July and scheduled to last till Friday 13th July… so four full days at Preston Magistrates Court.

THE TRIAL

If you're against fracking and want to see it stopped, it'd be great to have your support, both inside and outside the court room! If you can't make it down you can still help out by spreading the word (see below for social media details), and solidarity actions are always welcome.

Three protesters have been charged with aggravated trespass and are pleading not guilty based on 'necessity'; asserting stopping fracking is necessary in the context of run-away climate change and the damage it will cause the environment and local communities. Defendants will also be challenging the 'lawfulness' of the extractive process.

The defendants will be backed up by a number of witnesses, both 'experts' and from the local community, who will testify about the consequences of climate change and hydraulic fracturing, the damage it causes to water contamination, air pollution, severe health risks, earthquakes etc. The defence aim to totally rebuke industry claims that fracking is a harmless 'environmentally friendly' way to extract fossil fuel… and instead put the industry on trial.

THE ACTION

Protesters stormed the gas rig in Banks, Lancashire on 2nd Nov 2011, with one team climbing the derrick (drill) and a second team scaling the pipe handling system, occupying the rig and stopping work at the site for a day, decorating the slimy machinery with anti-fracking banners while they were at it.

The occupation of the rig was timed to coincide with an industry sponsored “Shale Gas Environmental Summit” in London, a farcical event where industry and government regulators meet to collaborate on greenwashing PR to cover up the damage done by the fossil fuel industry.

The rig occupation also coincided with the release of a report by Cuadrilla admitting that the hydraulic fracturing of its first well had caused several earthquakes.

Since fracking came to the UK last year there have been mobilisations of local community groups and environmental activists across the country rising up against the industry. Including another occupation of the site in December 2011 [1] and a blockade at PR Marriot Drilling in Chesterfield, where the rig was being serviced, last month. [2]

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Halting the extraction of more fossil fuels is essential at a time when the planet is warming exponentially. Compared to 100 years ago the climate is 0.75 degrees warmer and now, in 2012, the International Energy Agency warn we are on a trajectory to warm by 6 degrees Celsius in the next 100 years. [3]

For the younger generation this means the world will become largely uninhabitable in their lifetime, certainly for their kids, if emissions are not cut. The immediate period, now, is regarded as a tipping point and despite a lot of rhetoric about ‘tackling climate change’ from governments, financial institutions and industries alike, in recent years we have seen the highest emissions ever. [4]

Extracting resources on this scale to feed the industrial system is destroying the environment that our lives depend on.

As conventional oil and gas production peaks, government and industries continue to steam roll ahead developing destructive practices that will provide profitable new markets to line their pockets.

Fracking is part of a recent boom in more extreme methods of extraction, described as ‘unconventional energy sources’; Tar Sands, Mountain Top Removal, Deep Water Drilling, Coal Bed Methane, Underground Coal Gasification and Nuclear expansion.

Extractive industries notoriously deny damaging the environment and negatively effecting humans, animals or the environment. However there is a long history of these industries causing wide-scale destruction, and also long history of cover ups.

Its time to put fracking on trial!

You can keep up to date with proceedings on Twitter @frack_off or
#frackingontrial, on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/frackoffuk or at
http://frackingontrial.org (available soon).

NOTES

[1] [http://risingtide.org.uk/node/428]

[2] [http://frack-off.org.uk/fracking-protesters-lay-siege-to-cuadrilla-drill-rig]

[3] [http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/world-on-track-for-nearly-11-degree-temperature-rise-energy-expert-says/2011/11/28/gIQAi0lM6N_story.html]

[4] [http://www.iea.org/index_info.asp?id=1959]

Anti-fracking Blockade in Moshannon State Forest

9th July 2012

Nearly 100 Earth First! activists, friends and allies forced a 70-foot-tall EQT hydrofracking drill rig to suspend operations for 12 hours yesterday in Pennsylvania’s Moshannon State Forest. This is the first time that protesters have shut down a hydrofrack drilling operation in the US. A tree sitter hung above the access road, with their anchor ropes blocking it. A second person was also in a tree to support the sitter while dozens of supporters guarded ten large debris piles that were across the road. Another group of 50 activists blockaded the entrance to the access road. The State Police, with the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, dispersed the blockade around nine p.m. And removed the tree sitters with a ladder truck. Three arrests were made for disorderly conduct, but protesters were cited and released on-site.

There are a limited number of actual drill rigs in operation in the state which are ferried around from site to site on a tight schedule. By halting operations for a day on this site, the blockade has likely created a costly disruption for a handful of wells in the area which EQT apparently planned to drill in succession.

The activists reported that the police were reckless with the sitters’ safety, such as being quick to cut their anchor ropes. The supporting sitter’s safety and descent ropes were cut by the police as he climbed higher in the tree. The police in the ladder truck had no radios and communication to the ground was difficult over the noise of the diesel engine; at one point the ladder hit one of the sitter’s support lines. Police were seen taunting the sitter by waving around one of their anchor lines and making jokes at them while shaking the hammock.

The site is part of a high concentration of wells in Moshannon State Forest, one of the most heavily drilled state forests in Pennsylvania. Over half of the forest’s 190,000 acres have been leased for Marcellus drilling using hydraulic fracturing. Despite widespread public opposition, the former PA secretary of Conservation and Natural Resources predicts 12,000 Marcellus wells will be drilled in state forests in the coming decade¹. A recent poll showed that the majority of Pennsylvanians are opposed to fracking on public lands².

Local farmer Jenny Lisak, whose own property has been impacted by fracking, describes the devastation she has seen in the Moshannon, “Having grown up enjoying Moshannon State Forest in so many ways, I am absolutely appalled at the ongoing destruction. The once narrow and inviting oak-shaded lanes are now being replaced by dust and traffic choked roads for chemical laden trucks – there are no words to describe the injustice of taking public land, meant to provide a source of beauty and wilderness for all and turning it into an industrial zone.”

Drilling in the area has a troubled history. In June 2010, a major blowout at another well in Clearfield County spewed 35,000 gallons of toxic drilling waste into the Little Laurel Run watershed and caused the evacuation of Moshannon State Forest³. Since 2008, only 24 of EQT’s 198 Marcellus wells in the state have been inspected and violations were found at every single inspection. When they have been cited, they’ve refused to change their practices. On May 9, 2012, in Duncan Township, Tioga County, EQT was cited for faulty construction on a flowback water impoundment; three weeks later the pit failed, contaminating a nearby spring⁴.

“This is part of an escalating direct action campaign against fracking in the Marcellus Shale region,” said Danielle Dietterick, an activist affiliated with Marcellus Earth First! from Benton, Pa. “People from all around the country have joined with Pennsylvania residents to put their bodies on the line to stop fracking.”

The action comes on the heels of a 12-day blockade to stop the displacement of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park, in Lycoming County, and the shutdown of a fracking wastewater injection well near Athens, Ohio. Groups across the country are planning more anti-extraction interventions like RAMPS in West Virginia and the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas, later this month. All these independent, grassroots-led actions show perhaps a coalescing national uprising against exploitative extraction.

Susan Riley, another supporter, cheered on the bold action, “The state government has sold off our public lands and, with Act 13, stripped us of our rights to local self-governance. The fracking industry has free reign in this state and no one’s gonna stop them unless we do.”

8th July 2012

Activists from Marcellus Earth First! have erected a slash pile blockade and two tree sits blocking an access road to an EQT hydro-fracking site in Moshannon State Forest in Clearfield County, PA., halting drilling operations set to begin this week. The blockaders were joined by 40 supporters and concerned citizens, who turned around a Halliburton truck. The blockade is trying to stop the further destruction of Pennsylvania’s state forests—more than half of which have already been leased for drilling—and call attention to the devastating effects of hydrofracking on the state’s communities. The sitters’ anchor lines are blocking the road by crossing each other and the road, and if an anchor line is cut a sitter will fall. This action has been coordinated as the post-Rendezvous action. Each Summer Earth First!ers and allies come together to skill share, take part in discussion workshops, and keep it wild in our last remaining wilderness places in the US. Following a week in the woods, we take part in an action in support of the local organizers hosting the camp out, also know as the Round River Rendezvous, or Rondy.

Today’s blockade is the latest in a series of escalating actions of resistance to the destructive impacts of hydrofracking in the Marcellus Shale. Last May, residents of Butler County occupied the office of State Representative Brian Ellis, demanding accountability for widespread contamination caused by horizontal drilling. In June, seven families, along with dozens of supporters, blocked the entrance to the Riverdale Mobile Home Community to prevent their imminent eviction at the hands of Aqua America PVR. Aqua sought to destroy their homes and construct a water withdrawal facility permitted to extract up to three million gallons of water from the Susquehanna River daily for use in fracking. Residents were able to maintain the blockade for 12 days. On June 17, 1,000 Ohioans stormed the statehouse in Columbus and passed a “people’s resolution” banning hydrofracking. Most recently, a 31-year-old landowner from Athens County, Ohio chained herself to concrete barrels and shut down operations at one of Ohio’s 170 injection wells, which contain about 95% of the toxic and radioactive fracking waste generated from Pennsylvania drilling.

Momentum in the anti-fracking battle will continue to build across the Marcellus and Utica shale regions throughout July. Next weekend, residents from Ohio and beyond will gather at an anti-fracking action camp in Youngstown and prepare to enforce the “people’s resolution” against fracking. The upcoming months show the beginnings of a national rebellion against extractive industry across the board. On July 28, anti-frackers from across the nation will gather in Washington D.C. for “Stop the Frack Attack,” the largest mobilization against fracking ever. In West Virginia, Appalachians and allies will stand together at the “Mountain Mobilization” and shut down an active strip mine the last week of July. In Montana,the “Coal Export Action”, a ten-day campaign of civil disobedience at the beginning of August will target coal shipments from strip mines in the Powder River Basin, overseas. And later in the month, Texas residents have called for the “Tar Sands Blockade” to block the recently approved southern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Where the government has failed to act to protect communities and the earth from the ravages of an out-of-control energy industry, the people are rising up to resist. No matter where you live, you have the opportunity to join the fight for our future. Find your place, stand your ground, and in the words of Mother Jones, “Boogie Chilluns.”

UPDATE, 11:53 am:
Police making vague threats at blockade about assault rifles going off and wandering through blockade with assault rifles. However, at the rally they said there’s a sick bear up the road that needs to be put down, and not to freak out if a gun shot is heard.

Police initiated another round of negotiation with the rally insisting folks move the debris that’s in the road because it’s a safety risk, making veiled threats about things escalating if that doesn’t happen. Police have informed people it’s illegal to block the road, but have not given any order to disperse, they said “if it doesn’t happen [dispersal] they don’t want things to escalate.” Otherwise, situation unchanged.

UPDATE 10:14 am:
State police on scene at supporting rally.

UPDATE 10:10 am:
Two tree-sitters blocking the well pad access road–their anchor lines are crossing the road and each other, and if an anchor line is cutter a sitter will fall. There’s also a slash pile in the road. No police on seen and apparently no security either.

UPDATE 9:30 am:
Marcellus Earth First! and supporters have set up a blockade at an EQT well pad in the Moshannon Pennsylvania State Forest. An additional group of 40 supporters are holding a rally down the road, and have blocked a Halliburton truck. The activists plan to stay as long as they can. Stay tuned for more updates as information becomes available.

State Of Emergency In Cajamarca Follows Four Deaths in Mine Protests

6th July '12

A state of emergency has been declared in three provinces in the Andean department of Cajamarca, located in northern Peru, following the deaths of four people during protests against the multi-billion dollar Conga gold project.

6th July '12

Peru’s Executive branch approved the measure, which curtails civil liberties, in the provinces of Cajamarca, Celendin and Hualgayoc. The state of emergency came into force on Wednesday and will be valid for 30 days, the government said.

The measure follows the death in Celendin of three people and more than 30 injured on Tuesday, during clashes between police and demonstrators. One of the persons killed was 17 years old. More than 15 people were arrested. On the same day, a man was killed during protests in Bambamarca, capital of the province of Hualgayoc.

This week’s protests, with Minas Conga still in focus, are against the mayors of 65 districts who last week were in Lima with President Humala at the Government Palace to accept government investment in a series of infrastructure projects in their provinces.

It is the second time since last December that Peru has declared a state of emergency in Cajamarca to control escalating protests against the $4.8 billion Minas Conga project, which is being developed by gold mining company Yanacocha.

Yanacocha is majority controlled by US-based Newmont Mining (51%), with Peru’s Minas Buenaventura owning 49%.

Protests late last year against Minas Conga, over worries that it would harm the water supply to farmers, resulted in the suspension of the project.

At the same time, the delay in reaching an agreement with protesters pushed President Humala to make a major cabinet shuffle late last year, appointing former Interior minister Oscar Valdes as his new premier to apply a stronger hand in quelling the protests. Those against the mining project have only become more entrenched.

Independent consultants hired by the government have reviewed the Minas Conga environmental impact study, and the government said recently that the company could restart work if it made some changes like building water reservoirs before starting construction of the mine.

However, opposition has remained strong despite attempts by Peru’s government to resolve the dispute. One of the main opponents of the project is the regional government of Cajamarca, led by far-left governor Gregorio Santos.

Santos rejected the state of emergency and called on the government to lift the measure.

Minas Conga is the latest in a number of mining projects that have been targeted by community opposition, largely over environmental concerns. Analysts say some $50 billion in mining investments are at risk due to the social conflicts in Peru, a country where mining has been the lynchpin of economic growth.

Brazil tribes occupy contentious dam site

30th June 2012

About 150 indigenous people are protesting a massive dam they say will dry up the river their livelihood depends on.

30th June 2012

About 150 indigenous people are protesting a massive dam they say will dry up the river their livelihood depends on.

A cluster of 12 men from the Xikrin tribe chant in their native language while marching together, arms interlocked, stomping their feet against the dry red dirt. They say this is their call of resistance from the Amazon.

The Xikrin are joined by about 150 indigenous people from three other tribes – the Arara, Juruna, and Parakana – that are occupying one of the work sites at the Belo Monte dam construction site in what is becoming a high-stakes standoff. The occupation, which is entering its second week, has halted a part of the construction on what will be the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam.

At the site of the protest, visited by Al Jazeera on Wednesday, the tribesmen were carrying clubs and spears and had built rudimentary sleeping quarters in what has essentially become a non-violent sit-in. An anthropologist was with them, typing away at her laptop as the indigenous people articulated their demands.

The tribes are occupying a road, built by the dam builders, which cuts through part of the Xingu River's waterways. The road blocks the natural flow of the waters.

The occupation of the site began at about 11 am on June 21 and played out like something from a fictional Hollywood movie. The indigenous people arrived at the work site in half a dozen small boats, charged the area, and announced that they were taking over. The construction workers, seeing the tribesmen with their faces painted for combat and armed with spears, immediately fled for safety.

"The workers were scared, so they immediately ran when we arrived," said Bepumuiti, from the Juruna tribe. "They probably thought they were going to die."

The tribesmen confiscated the keys to more than three dozen dump trucks and heavy machinery left behind.

What the indigenous people want

Last year, a series of conditions were agreed upon with the indigenous people to reduce the impact of the construction of the dam on their communities. Some of the conditions included the demarcation of indigenous lands, the construction of health facilities and schools, and means of transportation for the tribal people when the rivers dry up.

In exchange for their agreement, the indigenous said they would not forcefully oppose the dam construction.

The problem, the indigenous now say, is that while the construction of the dam steams ahead, the promises made by the consortium building the dam and by government-led Norte Energia – the energy company overseeing the dam – have yet to be fulfilled.

So the tribes decided to invade. This was a historic and significant move, because the decision was made without the assistance or knowledge of local or international NGOs or government rights bodies, who in the past often assisted tribes during protest movements.

"We would not be here today if the builders and the government would have done what they promised us," Bebtok, a tribe elder from the Xikrin tribe, told Al Jazeera. "In my community, nothing has been done. There is no quality health post, there is no school, they have not built a road for us. My road is the river and that is going to be dried up."

Since October, the tribes most affected by the construction of the dam have been receiving a budget of about $15,000 from the government, through which they can request anything they want, such as gasoline for their boats, food or construction material.

But the tribes have been told that the money – called "emergency assistance" in government parlance – will stop later this year, infuriating the tribal people at the very moment they are starting to feel the negative impacts of the dam, they say.

The indigenous people are now also starting to see the impact the construction is having on their lives. Surara, from the Parakana tribe, showed Al Jazeera how a road built on the construction site through a natural waterway of the Xingu river has already started to dry out one side of the river.

"We were always navigating this river because we know this river like the palm of our hands," Surara said. "And today, as you can see, it's very dry. That is sad for us."

Surara predicted that, at the current pace of construction, in two years the tribe will no longer be able to reach their community by boat because of the changes in water levels. The tribes have a new list of demands they want fulfilled before they say they will end their occupation.

Response from government and builders

The tribes' occupation of the dam seemed to catch the dam builders and the government by surprise. In response, Norte Energia has taken what seems like a peculiar approach that involves two very opposite responses, using the carrot and the stick at the same time. Three days after the occupation began, a judge rejected a request to have the indigenous evicted by force from the area.

At the same time, Norte Energia is providing the indigenous people three meals a day at the occupation site. Often times, a representative from the company will show up at the site during a meal and ask the indigenous people for the keys back to their heavy machinery. So far, the tribes have refused to hand them over.

Last week, Norte Energia refused an Al Jazeera request for an interview on the matter. Norte Energia has said in the past that the economic and social assistance packages to help the tribes will be implemented at various points during the entirety of the project, as previously agreed upon.

Behind the scenes, the company is facing a daunting task. Not only do each of the four tribes involved in the occupation have their own set of demands, but there are also as many as 35 different sub-communities within the tribes taking part in the occupation, and each have their own interests and requests they want met.

Activists face arrest

Pressure is building on multiple fronts. Construction of the dam ramped up earlier this year, and there are strict timetables to get the dam up and running by late 2014.

Aside from the indigenous protest, several other tense issues surrounding the dam are coalescing at the same time.

In Altamira, the closest city to the dam site, 11 people – all unaffiliated with the indigenous protest now occurring – are fighting arrest warrants after being accused of helping organise an anti-dam protest earlier in June that the dam builders say led to property damage. Local TV channels have been airing video of broken windows and the burning of office equipment at the construction site.

The activists facing possible arrest all deny they were involved, and say any protests they organised were peaceful and legal. They include, among others, a Catholic priest, a nun, some members of Xingu Vivo Para Sempre – a local anti-dam NGO – as well as a local fisherman featured in an Al Jazeera report in January

Police have an open investigation, and have yet to formally announce if charges will be filed. However, even the threat of jail time has sent a chill through the tight-knit community of local anti-dam activists.

How will it end?

On Thursday, in the city of Altamira, more than 60 of the indigenous occupiers met with a high-level delegation from Brasilia that included the president of Norte Energia.

The meeting lasted nearly four hours, and was closed to the media. The indigenous people discussed their demands to end the protest, but no agreement was reached. Norte Energia said they needed to take the requests back to Brasilia for analysis. A new meeting was set for July 9. In the meantime, the tribes say their occupation will continue. It was also agreed by all sides that work will continue on the parts of the construction site not under the control of the tribes.

"This was a very friendly conversation; the tribe elders are very wise and measured," said Carlos Nascimento, president of Norte Energia, in a brief press conference after the meeting. "There are some young tribesmen that want some improvements, and as much as we can, we will do anything in our power so these kinds of things will not happen again."

The indigenous seemed determined to keep up the fight for as long as it takes. "What we asked for, the dam builders did not give us an answer to, so we will only leave the construction site when they bring an answer to us on paper," Giliardi, from the Juruna tribe, said after the meeting. "And as long as they don't do anything in our communities regarding infrastructure, we are not leaving the occupation."

Meanwhile, more boats loaded with indigenous people are arriving at the protest site every day. It is an indication that this standoff in the Amazon could drag on for days to come.

Earth First! Summer Gathering Update – programme, directions, website and more

It’s only weeks until the Earth First! Summer Gathering begins.
Five days of workshops, info sharing and learning new skills, 1-5 August.

The Earth First Summer Gathering takes place each year to provide a space in which the radical ecology movement can share skills and plan for future campaigns and actions.

Discussions around the importance of community building in inner cities, the state of the anarchist movement and patriarchy in activism.

Skill shares including women's self-defence, researching corporations and navigation.

Campaign round ups from Frack Off! Smash Edo and Luddites 2000 amongst others.

If you have workshops you like to run or discussions you'd like to facilitate then email us at earthfirstsummergathering@riseup.net

Full programme.

Camping is on a sliding scale of £30 to £15, pay what is genuinely appropriate.

Food will be from Anarchist Teapot and meal tickets will be £5 a day.

Kids can have separate meals if they want for £3 a day.

There will be a couple of kids spaces, and special workshops being ran for kids. If you’d like to run any kids workshops get in touch at earthfirstsummergathering@riseup.net.

If you want you dog to come along then you’re going to have to email us at earthfirstsummergathering@riseup.net

And of course there will be entertainment and a bar open in the evenings.

The camp is ½ mile from the Berrington village, and 1 mile from the larger village of Cross Houses.

We encourage non-cycling campers to use public transport if possible as Cross Houses is on a bus route.

BY TRAIN
The nearest train station is Shrewsbury. You can then get the bus to Cross Houses (see below). If coming from a long distance it can sometimes be cheaper to get a ticket to a large station such as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Manchester or Crewe and then a separate ticket on to Shrewsbury. Check national rail for train times and prices. If coming from the London direction, it’s generally cheaper to buy a Super Offpeak Return, specifying “London Midland & Arriva only”.

BY BIKE
See here for directions and a map to the camp from Shrewsbury for cyclists and drivers.

BY BUS
When you arrive at Shrewsbury train station, ask someone to point you to the bus station. It’s only a few minutes walk from the train station. The bus service that runs from town to within a mile of Crabapple is the 436 towards Bridgnorth. It runs every hour from 7.40am to 5.40pm with a “late” one at 7.40pm. The journey to Cross Houses is approx 15 mins. You will need to press the stop button when you see the sign for Cross Houses. Some of the services on this route are low-floor accessible buses. Please note that the last bus leaves Shrewsbury at 7.40pm, Monday to Saturday and there are no Sunday bus services. For the bus timetable see here http://shropshire.gov.uk/bustimes/timetable.jsc?timetable=436mfi0412.
The camp itself is about 1 mile from the bus stop. From the bus stop at Cross Houses, walk back towards Shrewsbury past the petrol station (on your right) and take the first left turn signed “Berrington”. After about ½ mile, the road forks at the edge of the village. Take the right turn signposted “Betton Abbots” and we’re about ¼ mile up the road on the right.
If you intend to come by bus but need help getting to and from the bus stop, you can arrange a pick up with us: details will be available nearer the time.

BY TAXI
There is also a taxi rank just outside Shrewsbury train station. Accessible taxis can be got from here.- but it is MUCH cheaper to book a cab from a local company – Comet Cabs 01743 344444, or Vincent Cabs 01743 367777. Vincents also have a booking office just across the road from the station, which is handy if you don’t have a phone to book a cab in advance.

USEFUL LINKS
See here directions and a map to the camp from Shrewsbury for cyclists and drivers.
See a map of where the site is here
See the bus timetable
Directions from places other than Shrewsbury

Earth First! Summer Gathering Collective
earthfirstsummergathering@riseup.net

http://earthfirstgathering.weebly.com

Frack Off: Activists Blockade Fracking Drill

Update: it has now ended – a successful 7 hour occupation on the gates and no arrests

18.6.2012

Update: it has now ended – a successful 7 hour occupation on the gates and no arrests

18.6.2012

Anti-fracking group, Frack Off, is blockading the site of Cuadrilla Resource’s drilling rig. Twenty people descended on the site at 5am and are blockading the entrance. The site is owned by PR Marriot who is Cuadrilla’s lead drilling contractors.

The action is stopping work on the drill which is being worked on in preparation for more fracking exploration in Lancashire. Frack Off is highlighting the threat posed by the tidal wave of extreme energy extraction methods that are being pushed by the government and a number of mostly US and Australian companies. The action is the beginning of a concerted campaign by people across the country to stop the introduction of these dangerous practices before it is too late.

Despite the mounting evidence from the United States that the exploitation of unconventional fossil fuels such as shale gas and coal bed methane (CBM) threatens to poison the environment, further destabilise the climate and is implicated in rising toll on human health including increasing cancer rates, corporations and governments are doing all they can to push through the introduction of these new energy extraction methods in the face of growing public opposition.

Last month the Energy and Climate Change Minister Gregory Barker announced in parliament that the "Government will continue to seek full economic recovery of UK hydrocarbon resources, both conventional and unconventional", a position which amounts to a declaration of war on the people and environment of the British Isles. Full economic recovery will involve coating the countryside with drilling sites and pipelines while poisoning the air and water and the emission of vast quantities or carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The main justification used for the need for this destructive course of action is that we face an energy crisis and need this gas to "keep the lights on". In reality unconventional fossil fuels are very expensive to extract and the amount that could be extracted is a small fraction of the gas from the North Sea that we have squandered over the last 40 years. The choice we face is between continuing to feed our addiction to increasing expensive and dangerous fossil fuels or putting a stop to the vicious economic system that requires them.

There is a gaping disconnect between the green rhetoric that is thrown around by governments and corporations alike and the dirty, dangerous and impoverished future that they are actually advocating in their quest for a quick buck. This prioritising of corporate greed over the interests of people and ecosystems while pretending to care about them, has no better poster child than the Rio+20 Earth Summit that starts on Wednesday.

Twenty years after world leaders met in Rio de Janeiro and promised to address the environmental and social problems afflicting the planet they will meet again, to promise, again, to do something about the now even worse problems we face. As with twenty years ago they have no intention of actually doing anything that would put a check on the system of corporate exploitation that is destroying the ecosystems we rely on. This is why ordinary people must take a stand to stop the destruction if anything is every going to change.

For more info have a look at:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/frack_off
Facebook: www.facebook.com/frackoffuk
Website: www.frack-off.org
Pictures: http://s.coop/pzid

Carnival of Dirt

On Friday 15 June, London will experience its first ever Carnival of Dirt, a carnival like no other. More than 30 activist groups from London and around the world have come together to highlight the illicit deeds of mining and extraction companies.

Reports and photos from the day: 1 | 2 | 3

http://www.carnivalofdirt.org