Wilderness Defence – Page 63

Sinixt Slhu7kin-Perry Ridge Protection Camp Re-established

On March 1 2011, the Slu7kin – Perry Ridge Protection Camp was re-established by Slocan Valley locals and supporters of the Sinixt Nation. The camp was first established by the Sinixt Nation and supporters on October 26, 2010. The Sinixt recently had their legal challenge for their rights to consultation dismissed by BC Supreme Court Judge Willcock.

Sunshine Logging Ltd, of Kaslo BC, responded within a few days after the ruling by beginning to plow the snow from the road. Locals responded quickly and moved in to prevent the machine from operating. Jeff Mattes of Sunshine Logging has been eager to get in and begin road building. The Sinixt have yet to receive court documents and are planning an appeal, today they asked the Attorney General to prevent Mattes and company from road building until they have had a chance to appeal.

Sunshine logging did not show up to work Thursday.

The camp is growing everyday. This is a community action to protect the community watershed. It is encouraged for people to bring their families, friends, prayers, food, camp supplies, building supplies, a love for the land and their humbled and honest warrior spirits. There is no threat of arrest by attending the camp.

The camp is located just south of the town of Slocan BC, 7km up the Little Slocan South Forest Service Road. Take Hwy Six to Gravel Pit Rd and follow the signs to the Little Slocan Lodge. You can’t miss it.

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=201748262749215460026.00049daae0331cd323924&ll=49.741233,-117.492428&spn=0.050586,0.169086&z=13

More info:

http://sinixtnation.org

http://perryridge.org

http://territoriesoffreedom.wordpress.com

Watch the video:
http://www.youtube.com/v/rWkQ8MFVHU8?fs

Indigenous Protesters Blockading Mine Owned by Goldcorp Assaulted, Taken Hostage in Guatemala

Update:
they’ve since been released.

On February 28, 2011, approximately 50 Indigenous men and women from Mayan communities affected by Goldcorp’s Marlin Gold mine in San Marcos, Guatemala, were attacked and taken hostage by a group of individuals said to have “strong ties” to the Vancouver-based mining company.

Update:
they’ve since been released.

For Immediate Release

San Miguel Ixtahuacan, San Marcos, Guatemala, February 28, 2011.
by San Miguel Ixtahuacan Defense Front

TO THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

THE SAN MIGUEL IXTAHUACAN DEFENSE FRONT

REPORTS

FIRST: Today, on February 28, 2011, communities took action to pressure the government of Guatemala to carry out the Precautionary Measures MC-260-07 granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which include the temporary suspension of the Marlin mine. The action consisted in peacefully blocking the main routes used by the company* in a way that respects the Constitution of our country, in which we have the right to protest.

SECOND: When the blockade began, a group of approximately 20 people assaulted Miguel Bamaca, despite the fact that the Presidential Human Rights Commission has granted him protectiv measures. Miguel Bamaca was beaten mercilessly by a family known as the Mejia family, together with neighbours who work for the company. These people have strong ties to the company and also to illegal business activities. This incident occurred at four thirty in the afternoon in a location known as Siete Platos.

THIRD: On the way back, near the community of San Jose Ixcaniche, approximately 70 members of this community intercepted the bus and began to assault various people who were travelling in the bus. Among them, our comrade Aniseto Lopez and others were beaten without being able to defend themselves. The attackers came armed with guns, stones, knives, sticks, and other weapons. Right now, approximately 50 people are kidnapped and being threatened by the community of San Jose Ixcaniche and the Mejia family.

Day of Action against Extraction, April 19/April 20 – 2011

Communities around the world are under attack from extractive industries that poison our families, kill our loved ones on the job, and destroy the ecosystems we cherish. The BP oil spill was unfortunately just one of an endless string of disasters born of an economic system that must endlessly consume the Earth’s resources.

Extraction is the act of taking without giving anything back. Extraction takes workers lives so corporations can make a few more bucks.
Extraction takes clean water and air and gives us blackened oceans and a climate in chaos. Extraction takes the natural wealth of communities and ecosystems and leaves behind poverty and ecological wastelands.

For a stable climate, clean air and water, we must stop the extraction of fossil fuels and other “resources.” From the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf Coast, people are fighting back against the extractive industries that have declared war on our planet. Rising Tide is calling for a day of direct action against extraction on the 1 year anniversary of the BP oil spill. On April 20th take it to the point of production.
Shut down a well site, occupy a mine, take over an office, blockade a bank. Nobody’s community should be a sacrifice zone. For climate justice and a liveable planet.

Rising Tide (North America)

ZAD, the story so far…

4 November 2010

A community fights on against the invasion of the bulldozer empire….

And as the empire grows, the community must also grow, and look for those to join the fight….

4 November 2010

A community fights on against the invasion of the bulldozer empire….

And as the empire grows, the community must also grow, and look for those to join the fight….

For over 40 years, a storm cloud has been gathering, 25km north of the city of Nantes, France, over a rural area of farms, fields, houses, marshlands and forests. As an integral part of the massive expansion of the so-called “eco metropole” of the grand-ouest, the local government has been buying up an area of over 1860 hectares of land to make way for the construction of a so-called “high quality environmental” project a new airport, highway bypass and tgv train line. This zone is officially known as the “ZAD”, “Zone d’Amenegment Differè, and by us who resist as the “Zone A Defendre”.

Since the announcement of the plans, local residents and farmers have organised their resistance through petitions, demonstrations and a tractor occupation in the centre of Nantes. In spring and autumn ’09, the area was in a state of military guard, as 150 military cops were sent out to protect machines involved in the early works of core drilling and soil sampling. This is not a normal course of action; rather it was the response of the local government to acts of sabotage that occurred earlier on during the works.

In September ’09, after a climate camp in the ZAD, a call was made to occupy the abandoned houses and threatened areas of the ZAD, with support of local people in resistance to the airport. This call has been answered, and already there are some 13 occupied areas on the ZAD, including empty farmhouses, caravans on abandoned land, forests and collective gardens. On July 15th 2010, authorities delivered papers to 5 occupied areas, warning the occupiers that they should vacate these places by the 30th July or face legal proceedings and evictions. Earlier that day, an agreement was signed by 5 unimportant bureaucrats to finance the construction of the airport. On 29th July 2010, about 40 people occupied the council offices in Nantes. The next day, it was made public that the multinational construction company Vinci had been awarded the contract to build the airport. Already the first works have begun on the Barreau Routier, a highway bypass being built to serve the airport. In August 2010 the city of Nantes made public their search for a security company to be on constant guard on the construction sites and areas around the ZAD.

But we won’t be moved so easily. Busily growing food to support us over the next years, looking for further areas to occupy and building defences within the ZAD, we are digging our heels in even deeper and preparing for the fight.

If you would like to join, or even come and visit, we are always open. There are many houses, fields, trees, caravans that are to be occupied and defended when the time comes. If you have your own project to contribute, like setting up a new space, garden, action ideas, or any other useful resources or talents, even better. We are encouraging people to try and be as self sufficient as possible within this space, as well as wanting to be inspired to become part of this ever growing struggle against the machine of progress. Or if you can’t come and visit us, maybe you feel the wish to visit some sites or offices of Vinci in your area……

Wish list / ideas of stuff to bring…. bicycles and trailers, tarps, tools, building and barricading materials, climbing materials, computer and technical skills, wheelbarrows, rope of all kinds, books, vans/trucks, media resources, ideas, inspiration, fighting energy, donkeys, dragons and dentists…..

map/directions to the zad
email – zad@riseup.net
to sign up to our list, please email zad-occupation@lists.aktivix.org
Website coming soon

+ An update
This week (yesterday the 2nd of November) they started the drilling for testing soil where the highway is supposed to be build. Lets stop it!

Sinixt Nation Establishes a Protection Camp on Their Ancestral Land

The Sinixt Nation, declared extinct by the Canadian government more than 50 years ago, has set up a protection camp on their ancestral land, halting all commercial logging in the area known to the Sinixt Nation as “Slhu7kin”.

On October 26th 2010, the Sinixt Nation asserted their sovereignty by initiating the Sinixt Slhu7kin (Perry Ridge) Protection Camp on their ancestral lands. The Sinixt, by declaration, have established the “Sinixt Slhu7kin – Perry Ridge Wilderness Preserve to protect the rich bio-diversity on Perry Ridge and the collective domestic watershed interests of the Perry Ridge community.”

Sinixt Nation members, local residents, and supporters are gathered at the beginning of the Perry Ridge Forest Service road near the town of Slocan, BC. The camp has halted all commercial logging in the area.

After a complete refusal to consult with the Sinixt Nation, BC Timber Sales via BC Ministry of Forests and Range sold the logging rights to 4 controversial cut-blocks on Perry Ridge to Sunshine Logging LTD of Kaslo, BC. Sunshine Logging purchased the 2 year contract for approximately $330,000 after BC Timber Sales dropped the auction bidding price because no companies wanted to touch the highly contentious contract with a ten foot pole.

This isn’t the first time people have taken a stand to protect the area known as Slhu7kin to the Sinixt. In 1997 local residents, the Perry Ridge Water Users Association, and Sinixt members took both legal and direct action and successfully halted road building on the ridge. Over 300 people blocked the road demanding protection for the area.

Known as the Arrow Lakes Indian Band under the Indian Act, Canada officially declared the Sinixt extinct in 1956. This left Sinixt members living on the Colville Reservation (in the USA) or scattered among other nations in BC without recognition.

Many Sinixt returned to the Northern part of their territory to protect their ancestral burial sites in Vallican, BC in the late 1980’s when a BC Ministry of Transportation road development project desecrated their burial sites, removed bones and artifacts and placed them in museums. After a tremendous amount of effort from the Sinixt and supporters, remains of their ancestors were returned to them and were reburied at the site. The Sinixt to this day continue to live peacefully and re-occupy their land in Vallican making it the longest re-occupation in Canadian history.

Sinixt territory spans from the headwaters of the Columbia River north of Nakusp, to Kaslo in the West, Revelstoke in the East, and down into what is now known as Washington State. Over 80% of the territory lies on the “Canadian side” of the 49th parallel.

In BC alone, 15 dams were built on Sinixt Territory. In 1954, Kaiser Aluminum proposed a dam on Arrow Lake. The Keenleyside Dam flooded 140 Sinixt cultural sites. The Cominco smelter at Trail built a dam on the Kootenay River near the ancient Sinixt village of kp’itl’els. The zinc and lead smelter has since dumped over 13 million tonnes of toxic slag, including mercury, into the Columbia River.

“A visitor to the Columbia Basin will be unlikely to see any indication that there was ever a native culture that thrived for so long in this region. Most of the Sinixt traditional villages and burial grounds were flooded with the damming of the Arrow Lakes. We know of only one monument to the Sinixt. In the town of Edgewood, there is a totem pole that was erected in the late 1960’s. It was commissioned by B.C. Hydro as a commemorative to an extinct race.”

But the fact of the matter is that the Sinixt never had totem poles and they aren’t extinct.
What You Can Do

The Sinixt Nation and their supporters are encouraging people to help out any way they can.

Financial donations can be made payable to the Sinixt Nation Society. Mail well concealed cash, money orders and cheques to: The Sinixt Nation Society, RRI G-I6 C-2, Winlaw, BC VOG 2JO.

Contact the Sinixt Nation:

Marilyn James (Official Appointed Spokesperson)
Bob Campbell (Headman)
Phone: 250 226 6726
Fax: 886 685 7376

For more information and background, visit: http://sinixtnation.org, http://www.firstnations.eu/invasion/sinixt.htm, http://sinixt.kics.bc.ca, http://www.aaanativearts.com/colville-tribe/lake-indians.htm

More photos and updates can be found on the Sinixt Nation’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sinixt-Nation/255421804460

Note sure how to say “Sinixt”? Want to know why the government says they don’t exist? Listen to the one-hour radio documentary: Keeping the Lakes Way: The Past and Future of the Sinixt

Update from Coal Action Scotland & THWAC

30th October 2011
Hello all,

Here’s a brief update of what’s been going on with Coal Action Scotland and what’s coming up. There’s a week to go before the Autumn Gathering and lots has been happening!

1. New THWAC! short film
2. THWAC Gathering 6th-10th November
3. Coal Action Scotland October Newsletter
4. Action Roundup
5. Recent News

*1. New THWAC! short film*

30th October 2011
Hello all,

Here’s a brief update of what’s been going on with Coal Action Scotland and what’s coming up. There’s a week to go before the Autumn Gathering and lots has been happening!

1. New THWAC! short film
2. THWAC Gathering 6th-10th November
3. Coal Action Scotland October Newsletter
4. Action Roundup
5. Recent News

*1. New THWAC! short film*

A short film about the Happendon Wood Action Camp and fighting Scottish Coal in the Douglas Valley, and publicising the gathering next week can be watched here: http://politube.org/show/3075 and http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2206

*2. THWAC Gathering 6th-10th November*

The Happendon Wood Action Camp (THWAC) was occupied on 12th September 2010 to resist the destruction of the Douglas Valley by Scottish Coal and SRG Estates.

Join us for our five day autumn gathering in the woods!

As part of what they’re calling their “forward strategy”, Scottish Coal have begun the process of closing the circle of open cast mines around the communities of the Douglas Valley by announcing three new open cast applications.

For too long now Scottish Coal, (with the help of rich landowners and corrupt councillors) have been shitting all over the Douglas Valley, causing ill health to the local communities in the area and contributing to climate change. This has got to stop.

The eviction at Mainshill was not an end but just a beginning. We’re back to finish what we started. If Scottish Coal want to obliterate what’s left of the Scottish countryside, we will obliterate them.

We’re calling for affinity groups to come to the site with energy and ideas for action to destroy Scottish Coal’s plans.

There will also be the usual skillsharing, including action workshops, information-sharing and opportunities to get involved in the campaign and day-to-day life on camp.

**WHAT TO BRING:**

* warm clothes, boots and waterproofs, a tent, sleeping bag and mat
* tools for building work and action materials if you can
* Most importantly bring yourself and friends.

FOOD:
There’ll be communal vegan food for a donation, so come prepared to help with chopping veg.

GETTING THERE:
>The camp is near junction 12 of the M74, which runs from Carlisle to Glasgow. The nearest train stations are Lanark and Hamilton and there are frequent direct buses to near the site. Email us or call the sit phone if you need a lift from the train station.

MORE INFO AND CONTACT:
Email: contact [at] coalactionscotland.org.uk
Site phone: 07806926040
Post: Happendon Wood Action Camp
Wolfcrooks Road
South Lanarkshire
ML11 9PA

Check out the brochure of coal targets in Scotland plus Digger Diving for Beginners here <http://coalaction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Oct-10-first-three-pages.pdf

back page:
http://coalaction.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Oct-10-back-page.pdf

*4. Action Round-up*

Borehole Drilling Machine sabotaged in solidarity with The Happendon Wood Action Camp <“>http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2185>

“Nae Coal at Hunterston”: Action against Ayrshire Power and Peel
Holdings <“>http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2166>

Beginnings of a new wave of direct action in the Douglas Valley against Scottish Coal <“>http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=2197>

Scottish Coal given a slap on the wrist for environmental damage in Ayrshire < Author earthfirstPosted on October 30, 2010Categories Climate Chaos, Scotland (Central & Southern), Squatting / Free Spaces / Protest Sites, Wilderness Defence

Kayford Mountain, USA – dozens march onto “reclaimed” site and plant trees

KAYFORD MTN., W.Va.–Forty-four people risked arrest yesterday on Kayford Mountain by trespassing on a Patriot Coal Company “reclamation” site to plant trees. “The coal companies sure as hell aren’t going to do anything about it – someone’s got to,” said Junior Walk, 20, of the Coal River Valley.

“The coal industry does not attempt to return the landscape to its previous biodiversity – leaving it up to the citizens to reclaim it themselves. Fixing the ruined landscape will provide long term jobs for those put out of work by the abolition of mountaintop removal” said John Johnson, a forester and environmentalist.

…

People in the front of the march included Ken Hechler, Larry Gibson and two Colombian union coal miners, National President of Sintramienergetica Raul Sosa and Jose Brito of the SintraCarbon union. The Colombian Network Against Transnational Large-Scale Mining sent letter of support to Appalachian Rising. The two Colombians joined the march to the mine’s edge as part of a solidarity tour that included a meeting with the Matewan local UMWA and people working to save Blair Mountain. Free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) hurt workers, communities and environments both here and in Colombia.

Leaders in their unions have been assassinated by paramilitaries, and the union says Alabama-based Drummond Co. is behind them. The tour is the result of work by Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, and possibly others.

Don’t miss the video from the day!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2010

Hundreds rally on Kayford Mountain; dozens march onto “reclaimed” site and plant trees

Contact:
Charles Suggs or Josh Graupera: 304.854.1937

NOTE: Information, Photographs, & Video will be updated on www.climategroundzero.org. Banners: Reclamation Fail; Over 500 Mountains Destroyed, Reclamation Jobs Now; EPA, We’re Doing Your Job

The standard reclamation practiced by mining companies is inadequate, which involves regrading high walls into gentle, highly-compacted slopes and seeding the rocky soil with grass. Some companies plant trees but rarely return to tend them–most trees don’t survive long. The extremely diverse mixed mesophytic forests of Central Appalachia, which rely upon the micro-climates created by the area’s folded land, cannot regrow on reclaimed surface mines. Native plants like ginseng require the steep north-facing slopes of Appalachia that retain moisture, and will never grow on the gentle slopes of a reclaimed strip mine.

The coal industry defends mountaintop removal by touting the flat land of reclaimed mine sites as prime for development. According to a recent report by the Natural Resoures Defense Council, however, “only about four percent of mountains in Kentucky and West Virginia, where the vast majority of this mining is occurring, had any post-mining economic activity.”

The day’s rally began in the Stanley Heir’s Park, a small island of green surrounded by 12,000 acres of mountaintop removal, much of which is in some state of reclamation.

“I am a 6th generation West Virginian from Mercer County and I’m a granddaughter and great granddaughter of coal miners. And they’d be mad about mountaintop removal,” Wendy Johnston said. “The battle of Blair Mountain lives on in my and my fathers’ spirit.”

The rally and action comes on the heels of the EPA’s recommendation to veto the Spruce No. 1 mine’s permit and Appalachia Rising, the largest national gathering of people in opposition to mountaintop removal coal mining to date. Appalachia Rising culminated with a march to the White House of over 2,000 people and 114 arrests for non-violent civil disobedience at the White House, PNC Bank, Department of Interior and Army Corps of Engineers.

Ken Hechler, a long-serving West Virginia statesman said at the rally, “I may be 96 but there’s a fire in my belly. I’m here to help save these beautiful mountains of West Virginia and put people back to work doing useful things.” Ken Hechler has been a vocal opponent of mountaintop removal since the early 1970’s.

Appalachia Rising: end mountaintop removal mining!

22.9.10

Appalachia Rising is a mass mobilization in Washington, DC, September 25-27, 2010, calling for an end to the devastating practice of mountaintop removal mining.

22.9.10

Appalachia Rising is a mass mobilization in Washington, DC, September 25-27, 2010, calling for an end to the devastating practice of mountaintop removal mining.

Mountaintop removal has already destroyed over 500 of the world’s oldest mountains and more than 2,000 miles of streams, and has contaminated our nation’s waters. Together, we will bring Appalachia’s cry to our nation’s capital: We must end mountaintop removal and transform the economies of Appalachia away from destructive mining practices and toward clean-energy jobs and a sustainable and healthy future.

The weekend includes two full days of strategizing workshops, learning, featured speaker panels and discussions, cultural events, and entertainment. On Monday, September 27, we will march, rally, and support individuals taking part in dignified non-violent civil disobedience against mountaintop removal mining.

Join thousands of Appalachian and national leaders, policymakers, coalfield residents and miners, concerned citizens, activists, mountain groups, environmental justice organizations, and Americans from coast to coast for this momentous movement-building summit, gathering, and call to action. Hear the voices of those most impacted by mountaintop removal coal mining, and let your voice be heard in this movement to offer America hope for a better future.

Shell to Sea campaigners target Shell executives in Ireland

The folks in suits finally got a taste of the conflict they’ve been orchestrating in Co. Mayo, Ireland for the past decade.

The folks in suits finally got a taste of the conflict they’ve been orchestrating in Co. Mayo, Ireland for the past decade. Representatives from Shell and their team of expert witnesses who are presenting the planning application for the Corrib Gas onshore pipeline to the Irish planning board were prevented from leaving the oral hearing Thursday night by protesters from the Rossport Solidarity Camp.

Thursday was a long day for Shell’s expert witnesses, bosses, and executives. The planning board’s oral hearing into the Corrib Gas pipeline has been ongoing in Co. Mayo for the past four weeks, and local residents have been questioning Shell experts on details surrounding the proposed onshore pipeline.

At 10pm, exhausted and with long journeys ahead of them Shell delegates exited the front doors of the hotel to discover that protesters had boarded their bus, holding placards and banners with messages reading “Energy shouldn’t cost the earth”and “Shell: destroying the world, one community at a time.”

At one stage when four high up Shell people tried to leave in a car, two protesters met them at the road and blocked their car with a banner reading “Shell’s lies cost lives.” The annoyed driver attempted to drive through the banner and in the process ran over one person’s foot. No serious injury was sustained and the driver refused to make any apologies for his actions.

After delaying the Shell suits for over an hour, one member of the protest explained that “it was so satisfying to finally see these people at the top, who are never held accountable suddenly be confronted with their own responsibility for this project and the devastation it has caused to the community”

Happendon Wood Occupied! New Direct Action Camp Against Scottish Coal

Early evening on Sunday 12th September a group of autonomous individuals successfully occupied a new site in Happendon Wood, South Lanarkshire!

Coal Action Scotland are inviting people to join The Happendon Wood Action Camp (THWAC) to help defend the wood from destruction by Scottish Coal, and to take action in solidarity with communities in the area resisting the expansion of the coal industry in the Douglas Valley.

You can find out more about the camp at http://happendon.coalactionscotland.org.uk — and more information about why we’re at Happendon and what we’re doing there will be coming very soon.

In the meantime, check our press advisory, for immediate release, below:

Contact:
Sam Macdonald (Off-site Contact: Information and Photos) 07984706188
Jo Reed (On-site Contact: Visits and Interviews) 07806926040
media@coalactionscotland.org.uk

Scottish Coal’s
Happendon Wood Occupied

Last night (12/9/10) a group of people occupied areas within Happendon Wood, South Lanarkshire (1) to defend it from destruction by Scottish Coal, part of the Scottish Resources Group. They have begun to build shelters and defences on the site, with large banners hung from trees at the front of the site that say: “Defending the Douglas Valley” and “No Opencast Here”. The Happendon Wood Action Camp has come out of a long-term struggle by the local community and Coal Action Scotland (2) to halt coal expansion in the Douglas Valley which is already one of the most heavily mined areas in Europe.

The Scottish Resources Group have applied for planning permission for a mixed use development (3) on this land (which is in an area of Great Landscape Value) in the Douglas Valley, but they intend to opencast the area first. The South Lanarkshire minerals plan highlights areas within the new development as having recoverable coal deposits that can be excavated during the current local plan. Scottish Coal actually wouldn’t be allowed to build on the land without open casting it first, otherwise this would be “sterilising the nations asset” and therefore illegal. (4)

Scottish Coal have not yet publicly declared their interests in opencasting Happendon Wood but many members of the local community have expressed deep concerns that they will be blighted with yet another opencast coal mine. In a recent meeting about the development, MSP for Clydesdale Karen Gillon told local residents that she did not doubt that they would remove the coal, in spite of the fact that the area that SRG wish to develop takes in the opencast workings at Poniel, which are currently due to be restored. Local resident and Douglas and Glespin Community Council Chairperson Lindsay Addison is enraged by the behaviour of Scottish Coal in South Lanarkshire:

“We have serious concerns that this is an excuse for another opencast. We do not want this development, let alone another mine. We will fight it all the way and support the efforts of the wider community in its opposition to new coal in the Douglas Valley.”

SRG’s application for planning permission for this development is ongoing; the decision by the council will likely be made in the coming months. Questions have been raised about the close relationship between Scottish Coal and South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) resulting in SLC issuing each member of the Douglas and Glespin Community Council legal notices stating that proceedings against them are to begin at Lanark Sheriff Court over alleged libel claims. This move is seen by the community as an attack on their freedom of speech. (5)

Notes to Editors:

1. Location: In South Lanarkshire, about 30 miles south of Glasgow, Happendon Wood is an area just off the B7078, surrounding the Dewers warehouse site and Poniel Opencast workings. To reach the site, driving south along the B7078 from Lesmahagow (running alongside the M74), take the first left after Happendon Services onto the C-road; the site front is on your left after about half a mile. A map is available at http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?page_id=1974#Where

2. Working with and supporting communities across Scotland, the Coal Action Scotland collective exists to challenge the advancement of coal as an energy source by informing people about the dangers posed by new coal, promoting alternatives, working with those involved, and directly challenging new coal exploitation from source to point of use. Mainshill Solidarity Camp was set up just along the road from Happendon Woods last year where people stayed for over seven months, ending in a five day eviction and a total of 45 arrests. See: http://coalactionscotland.noflag.org.uk/

3. This application is Poniel / Happendon Mixed Use Development application from the Scottish Resources Group (Scottish Coal). It is for “Mixed use development comprising industrial and storage and distribution warehousing, business units/office accommodation, hotel with conference and commercial leisure facilities, retail/restaurant floorspace, landscaping, open space and associated infrastructure (planning permission in principle)”, but it is expected that once they get permission for this they will actually be bound to opencast the area for coal. The planning reference for the application is: CL/10/0180.

4. The Coal Authority issue licences to coal companies. The following was discovered in correspondence between them and Scottish Coal:
‘Where development is proposed over areas of coal and past coal workings at shallow depth, The Coal Authority is of the opinion that applicants should consider wherever possible removing the remnant shallow coal. This will enable the land to be stabilised and treated by a more sustainable method; rather than by attempting to grout fill any voids and consequently unnecessarily sterilising the nation’s asset.’

5. For articles and quotations on the legal threats to the Community Council see:
http://www.lanarkgazette.co.uk/news/South-Lanarkshire-Council-copyright-threat.6526004.jp
http://coalactionscotland.org.uk/?p=1966
http://www.jonathanmitchell.info/2010/09/02/whats-wrong-with-south-lanarkshire/