Category: South West England

South West Eng­land

Reclaim Hinkley — 8 October 2012 — MASS TRESPASS, MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

No New Nuclear — Inter­na­tion­al call out

Join us in an act of mass civ­il dis­obe­di­ence as we tres­pass on the pro­posed site of Hink­ley C nuclear pow­er sta­tion in Som­er­set.

 

No New Nuclear — Inter­na­tion­al call out

Join us in an act of mass civ­il dis­obe­di­ence as we tres­pass on the pro­posed site of Hink­ley C nuclear pow­er sta­tion in Som­er­set.

 

EDF Ener­gy is already trash­ing frag­ile Som­er­set coun­try­side in prepa­ra­tion for the Hink­ley C nuclear pow­er sta­tion – even though it hasn’t got plan­ning per­mis­sion to start build­ing.

SOWING THE SEEDS OF DISSENT

This mass action is for any­one who feels able to pub­licly tres­pass — or bear wit­ness to the mass tres­pass by join­ing us around the perime­ter fence. We need peo­ple who are pre­pared to be arrest­ed.

We also need peo­ple to sup­port those who are tres­pass­ing by gath­er­ing around the perime­ter fence. We will be pro­vid­ing legal brief­in­gs and sup­port for any tres­passers who are arrest­ed.

Our aim is to make the tres­pass as safe and dig­ni­fied as pos­si­ble. All our activ­i­ties are bound by the prin­ci­ples of non-vio­lent direct action. We are hold­ing a camp imme­di­ate­ly before the tres­pass so that every­one involved has a voice in plan­ning the action itself.

On the day of the tres­pass, we will attempt to rein­tro­duce some of the bio­di­ver­si­ty that has been stripped through EDFs pre­ma­ture pre­lim­i­nary works.

Once inside we will scat­ter wild­flow­ers and oth­er species native to this site. By show­ing your sup­port for an end to nuclear pow­er, you are part a grow­ing move­ment that is expos­ing this cor­rupt gov­ern­ment pol­i­cy that puts prof­its before safe­ty.

EDF is Eager­ly Destroy­ing Fields even though it doesn’t yet have per­mis­sion to build the reac­tors — nor does it have approval for the reac­tor design, or even a final invest­ment deci­sion.

The new EPR reac­tor design will pro­duce radioac­tive waste that is so tox­ic that it will have to be stored on site for over 100 years. The dan­gers asso­ci­at­ed with flood­ing, ter­ror­ist attack and acci­den­tal leak­age are total­ly unac­cept­able.

NO MORE NUCLEAR BAILOUTS

The move­ment against the gov­ern­men­t’s so-called ‘nuclear renais­sance’ is winning….but we must keep up the pres­sure. Out of the eight new nuclear pow­er sta­tions sup­port­ed by the coali­tion gov­ern­ment when it came into pow­er, only two are still on the table: Hink­ley in Som­er­set and Sizewell in Suf­folk.

French-owned EDF Ener­gy — the own­er of Hink­ley and Sizewell — is pres­sur­ing the gov­ern­ment to increase the range of hid­den sub­si­dies on offer in a des­per­ate bid to attract inter­est from scep­ti­cal investors. THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN.

If EDF gets its way, it will be a dou­ble wham­my for us — and for future gen­er­a­tions. It will mean we pay twice: once as tax­pay­ers and once as con­sumers through our ener­gy bills.

We say put the £60bn ear­marked for ‘new nuclear’ into a clean­er, green­er, fair­er future. The way for­ward is through ener­gy reduc­tion and greater invest­ment into research and devel­op­ment to make renew­able ener­gy and ener­gy stor­age fit for the 21st cen­tu­ry.

We need to cre­ate a long term sus­tain­able ener­gy plan that is based on meet­ing peo­ple’s needs rather than mak­ing prof­its for investors. In May, ener­gy sec­re­tary Charles Hendry told min­is­ters at a select com­mit­tee hear­ing that the government’s ener­gy pol­i­cy would be robust enough with­out includ­ing nuclear in the mix. It’s time we moved ener­gy pol­i­cy for­wards rather than back­wards.

NUCLEAR IS NOT THE ANSWER

.…Cher­nobyl
The cri­sis is far from over: the sar­coph­a­gus cov­er­ing the doomed Russ­ian reac­tor is falling apart. Only this year, gov­ern­ments final­ly approved the fund­ing for a new one. The human pop­u­la­tion in the most heav­i­ly con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed ter­ri­to­ries is in decline. In Belarus 80% of chil­dren were born healthy before Cher­nobyl. Now, just 26 years lat­er, only 20% of chil­dren are born healthy.

.….Fukushi­ma
Thanks to peo­ple pow­er, all of Japan’s reac­tors have now been turned off. For the first time in over half a cen­tu­ry Japan is nuclear free. How­ev­er, the cri­sis at Fukushi­ma is far from over.

  • The Japan­ese peo­ple are foot­ing the bill. The com­pa­ny behind the pow­er sta­tion, Tep­co, has had to be re-nation­alised because of the spi­ralling cost of com­pen­sa­tion and the ongo­ing attempts to sta­bilise the reac­tors.
  • Many peo­ple are still liv­ing in heav­i­ly con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed areas that should have been evac­u­at­ed.
  • Food across Japan is heav­i­ly con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed and peo­ple are being encour­aged to sup­port the farm­ers of Fukushi­ma by eat­ing it.
  • The triple melt­down is still in full swing.
  • All of the fuel pools in reac­tors 1,2,3 & 4 are in bad con­di­tion.
  • The pool in reac­tor 4 is of par­tic­u­lar con­cern. Thou­sands of high­ly radioac­tive spent fuel rods are at risk of fur­ther explo­sions. If such an event occurs, high lev­els of radioac­tive con­t­a­m­i­na­tion could spread as far as Tokyo and wipe out Japan’s com­mer­cial infra­struc­ture.

WE WANT A FUTURE, NOT A DISASTER

More infor­ma­tion com­ing soon.

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“Extreme gas” project proposal gets heated response in Wells

A packed pub­lic meet­ing at Wells Town Hall on Tues­day night, gave a heat­ed response to the pro­pos­als by UK Methane to car­ry out test drilling for Coalbed Methane in Som­er­set.

A packed pub­lic meet­ing at Wells Town Hall on Tues­day night, gave a heat­ed response to the pro­pos­als by UK Methane to car­ry out test drilling for Coalbed Methane in Som­er­set.

Over a hun­dred peo­ple came to hear about the pro­pos­als from the devel­op­ers and protest groups in a bal­anced debate.  In the event, the devel­op­ers rep­re­sent­ed by Mr. Ger­wyn Williams of UK Methane pulled out just hours before the meet­ing start­ed leav­ing the floor to the oppo­si­tion.  The meet­ing was orga­nized by the alliance of groups under the umbrel­la of Frack Free Som­er­set.

Coalbed Methane is one of a num­ber of inter­re­lat­ed ‘extreme gas’ extrac­tion tech­nolo­gies (includ­ing frack­ing for shale gas, and under­ground coal gasi­fi­ca­tion). Coalbed Methane is a process for extract­ing gas from coal seams fair­ly close to the sur­face.

Som­er­set res­i­dents heard from speak­ers rep­re­sent­ing var­i­ous oppo­si­tion groups includ­ing Tran­si­tion Keyn­sham, Frack Off, and Bris­tol Ris­ing Tide.

Lau­ra Cor­field from Tran­si­tion Keyn­sham detailed how UK Methane are about to sub­mit a plan­ning appli­ca­tion to car­ry out test drilling in the Hicks Gate area of Keyn­sham to Bath and North East Som­er­set Coun­cil.

She said:  “All Som­er­set res­i­dents should be con­cerned about these pro­pos­als and it is vital that they now lodge their objec­tions to UK Methane’s plan­ning appli­ca­tion.  If we don’t stop them now, we can expect drilling rigs all over Som­er­set, endan­ger­ing our water sup­plies and local envi­ron­ment.”

Edward Lloyd-Davies from the nation­al group ‘Frack Off’ relat­ed the mul­ti­ple prob­lems expe­ri­enced in the US and Aus­tralia where coalbed methane has been going on for some years.  These include methane escapes, con­t­a­m­i­na­tion of drink­ing water, huge quan­ti­ties of pro­duced water con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed with tox­ic salts need­ing dis­pos­al and sub­si­dence.  He pro­duced esti­mates of the poten­tial extent of drilling in Som­er­set based on infor­ma­tion from UK Methane’s Aus­tralian par­ent com­pa­ny. This indi­cat­ed up to 2100 drilling sites with exten­sive gas pipelines across the Som­er­set coun­try­side.

A spokesper­son from Ris­ing Tide said: “It is no good this indus­try claim­ing that they will do it dif­fer­ent­ly in the UK because we have tighter reg­u­la­tion.  The licens­ing regime for the ‘extreme gas’ in the UK is based on off-shore oil extrac­tion.  Reg­u­la­tion falls between the Depart­ment of Ener­gy and Cli­mate Change, the Envi­ron­ment Agency, the Health and Safe­ty Exec­u­tive and local plan­ning author­i­ties and is total­ly unco­or­di­nat­ed.  Expe­ri­ence in Lan­cashire has shown one com­pa­ny oper­at­ing out­side its plan­ning per­mis­sion and in con­tra­ven­tion of its plan­ning con­di­tions.”

Wells Town Coun­cil­lor, Chris Briton chaired the meet­ing and heard local res­i­dents express strong con­cerns about pol­lu­tion of drink­ing water and local rivers and envi­ron­men­tal impacts on the Som­er­set coun­try­side.

The audi­ence was over­whelm­ing­ly opposed the UK Methane’s pro­pos­als.

Fracking on trial verdict

An envi­ron­men­tal activist who climbed a drilling rig in a protest against frack­ing in Decem­ber last year was today found guilty under the Crim­i­nal Jus­tice and Pub­lic Order Act at Pre­ston Mag­is­trates Court. She was ordered to pay a £250 fine and £750 costs.

An envi­ron­men­tal activist who climbed a drilling rig in a protest against frack­ing in Decem­ber last year was today found guilty under the Crim­i­nal Jus­tice and Pub­lic Order Act at Pre­ston Mag­is­trates Court. She was ordered to pay a £250 fine and £750 costs.

Yes­ter­day two oth­er defen­dants were cleared of charges of aggra­vat­ed tres­pass as part of the same court case. (1)

On 1 Decem­ber 2011, pro­tes­tors from Bris­tol Ris­ing Tide occu­pied the test drilling rig, at Cuadrilla Resource’s Hes­keth Bank site, Lan­cashire, shut­ting it down for 13 hours. (2) (3)

Dur­ing the tri­al, it emerged that Cuadrilla had con­tin­ued drilling for two months after their plan­ning per­mis­sion had expired.

In her final sub­mis­sion, the defence bar­ris­ter, Far­raht Arshad said of her client:
“As a con­cerned cit­i­zen no oth­er avenues were open to her.”

She jus­ti­fied this state­ment by the evi­dence giv­en in the tri­al by DECC (4) and Lan­cashire Coun­ty Coun­cil. DECC, the licenc­ing author­i­ty, uses the off-shore oil reg­u­la­tions to licence on-shore frack­ing oper­a­tions and
stat­ed that they are not inter­est­ed in polic­ing breach­es of envi­ron­men­tal law which is the job of the local plan­ning author­i­ty and the Envi­ron­ment Agency.

The local coun­cil plan­ning offi­cer made it clear in his evi­dence that he only had lim­it­ed resources and few pow­ers to police devel­op­ers. The gen­er­al expec­ta­tion from these reg­u­la­tors is that com­pa­nies will reg­u­late
them­selves.

It was clear­ly estab­lished dur­ing tri­al that Cuadrilla Resources had flout­ed the peri­od of their plan­ning per­mis­sion by two months, and had failed to com­ply with their own method state­ment relat­ed to the pro­tec­tion
of birdlife from the near­by Site of Spe­cial Sci­en­tif­ic Inter­est. As a result they were poten­tial­ly in breach of the Wildlife and Coun­try­side Act. Nei­ther DECC nor the local coun­cil appeared to be con­cerned about tak­ing action to pre­vent this crime.

Despite these facts, Judge Ward reject­ed the defence’s argu­ment that the activists were pre­vent­ing a crime.

The con­vict­ed activist said:
“This ver­dict con­firms my view that the reg­u­la­to­ry author­i­ties are hope­less­ly inad­e­quate at their job and don’t have the pro­tec­tion of the envi­ron­ment as a pri­or­i­ty. Com­pa­nies like Cuadrilla are allowed to flout their oblig­a­tions with impuni­ty, while con­cerned cit­i­zens are crim­i­nalised.”

Hydraulic frac­tur­ing is a method of extract­ing gas in shale rock. Huge amounts of water mixed with tox­ic chem­i­cals are forced into the ground at high pres­sure, a large pro­por­tion of which are nev­er recov­ered. In the
Unit­ed States numer­ous spills of these flu­ids have con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed irri­ga­tion water, affect­ing food sup­plies, and the health of sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties. (5) (6) (7)

There are twelve licens­es to frack for shale gas in the UK, five of which are held by Cuadrilla resources in Lan­cashire. (8)

*Notes*

1. To have com­mit­ted the offence of aggra­vat­ed tres­pass (sec­tion 68 Crim­i­nal Jus­tice and Pub­lic Order Act 1994) it need­ed to be shown that the defen­dants had:
* Tak­en dis­rup­tive action beyond just tres­pass­ing on pri­vate prop­er­ty. The pros­e­cu­tion failed on this first point.
* Dis­rupt­ed a law­ful activ­i­ty, in this case the drilling oper­a­tions of Cuadrilla.

2.  http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2011/dec/01/fracking-lancashire-hesketh-bank-cuadrilla

3. Pho­tos of the action are avail­able at:  https://secure.flickr.com/photos/71113300@N08/

4. DECC – Depart­ment of Ener­gy and Cli­mate Change is the licenc­ing author­i­ty for frack­ing oper­a­tions and all fos­sil fuel exploita­tion in the UK.

5. ‘Cracks in the Façade: EPA Traced Pol­lu­tion of Under­ground Water Sup­ply to Hydraulic Frac­tur­ing’ (Aug 2011 – EWG)
 http://static.ewg.org/reports/2011/fracking/cracks_in_the_facade.pdf

6. ‘Methane con­t­a­m­i­na­tion of drink­ing water accom­pa­ny­ing gas-well drilling and hydraulic frac­tur­ing’ (May 2011 – Duke)
 http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/cgc/pnas2011.pdf

7. ‘Shale gas: a pro­vi­sion­al assess­ment of cli­mate change and envi­ron­men­tal impacts’ (Jan 2011 – Tyn­dall Cen­tre)
 http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/sites/default/files/coop_shale_gas_report_final_200111.pdf

8.  http://frack-off.org.uk/new-homepage/bad-guys/locations/

*For more infor­ma­tion see:*

www.risingtide.org.uk
www.frack-off.org.uk
www.frackingontrial.org

Fracking on trial: lawfulness of Cuadrilla’s fracking operation remains in doubt

Yes­ter­day, three peo­ple from Bris­tol Ris­ing Tide were on tri­al for a sec­ond day at Pre­ston Mag­is­trates Court fol­low­ing their action (1) which shut down Cuadrilla Resources’ hydraulic frac­tur­ing (2) site beside the Rib­ble Estu­ary in Lan­cashire in Decem­ber 2011.

Yes­ter­day, three peo­ple from Bris­tol Ris­ing Tide were on tri­al for a sec­ond day at Pre­ston Mag­is­trates Court fol­low­ing their action (1) which shut down Cuadrilla Resources’ hydraulic frac­tur­ing (2) site beside the Rib­ble Estu­ary in Lan­cashire in Decem­ber 2011.

Two of the defen­dants went free when it became clear that the charges against them had been poor­ly framed. They had been charged with aggra­vat­ed tres­pass.

A defen­dant from Bris­tol Ris­ing Tide com­ment­ed:
“It’s great to go free but the threat that frack­ing pos­es to com­mu­ni­ties and the envi­ron­ment has not gone away. It is very like­ly that Cuadrilla will be frack­ing at sites in Lan­cashire in the near future. Do we trust a com­pa­ny that is pre­pared to flout its plan­ning per­mis­sion to han­dle a very dan­ger­ous tech­nol­o­gy like frack­ing?”

To have com­mit­ted the offence of aggra­vat­ed tres­pass it need­ed to be shown that the defen­dants had:

· Tak­en dis­rup­tive action beyond just tres­pass­ing on pri­vate prop­er­ty. The pros­e­cu­tion failed on this first point.

· Dis­rupt­ed a law­ful activ­i­ty, in this case the drilling oper­a­tions of Cuadrilla.

On Tues­day in court, the Head of Plan­ning from Lan­cashire Coun­ty Coun­cil, Alyn Peri­go, con­firmed that Cuadrilla were oper­at­ing out­side the peri­od of their plan­ning per­mis­sion. Cuadrilla had in fact con­tin­ued to drill two months beyond their agreed time lim­it. Mr Peri­go also con­firmed that by drilling in win­ter they had failed to meet a key con­di­tion to safe­guard bird life from the adja­cent Rib­ble Estu­ary Site of Spe­cial Sci­en­tif­ic Inter­est. The defence argued that this may have result­ed in a breach of the Wildlife and Coun­try­side Act.

Yes­ter­day the pros­e­cu­tion had hoped to call Pat War­ing, (3) an Ecol­o­gist employed by Cuadrilla Resources, to attempt to demon­strate that Cuadrilla had not been oper­at­ing unlaw­ful­ly at the time of the protest. In the event Mr War­ing was not pre­pared to appear for the pros­e­cu­tion. This left the pros­e­cu­tion with the chal­lenge of try­ing to demon­strate ‘law­ful­ness’ with­out an expert wit­ness. In the event this was left unde­ter­mined as the pros­e­cu­tion had already failed on the first point.

The case against a third defen­dant will con­clude this morn­ing. She faces a dif­fer­ent charge under sec­tion 69 Crim­i­nal Jus­tice and Pub­lic Order Act 1994, which is fail­ing to leave land as soon as prac­ti­ca­ble when direct­ed to do so by the senior offi­cer at the scene.

Notes

1. On Decem­ber 1st 2011, activists from Bris­tol Ris­ing Tide occu­pied a drilling rig oper­at­ed by Cuadrilla Resources at Hes­keth Bank beside the Rib­ble Estu­ary. The action stopped drilling for 13 hours before the occu­piers came down of their own accord. Pho­tos of the action are avail­able at https://secure.flickr.com/photos/71113300@N08/

2. Hydraulic frac­tur­ing is a method of extract­ing gas in shale rock. Huge amounts of water mixed with tox­ic chem­i­cals are forced into the ground at high pres­sure, a large pro­por­tion of which are nev­er recov­ered. In the Unit­ed States numer­ous spills of these flu­ids have con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed irri­ga­tion water, affect­ing food sup­plies, and the health of sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties. There are twelve licens­es to frack for shale gas in the UK, five of which are held by Cuadrilla resources in Lan­cashire.

3. Ear­ly in 2011, Pat War­ing of Ecol­o­gy Ser­vices UK Ltd, was employed by Cuadrilla to pro­duce the doc­u­ment: Method State­ment – Birds, set­ting out how Cuadrilla could min­imise dis­tur­bance to the over­win­ter­ing and nest­ing birds that fre­quent Hes­keth Bank beside the Rib­ble Estu­ary SSSI. The pro­duc­tion of this doc­u­ment, and com­pli­ance with its con­tents, is a require­ment of Con­di­tion 22 of Cuadrilla’s Plan­ning Per­mis­sion for the explorato­ry drilling oper­a­tion.

For more infor­ma­tion see:

www.risingtide.org.uk
www.frack-off.org.uk
www.frackingontrial.org

Twyford Down anti-road protests gathering, September

There is going to be a Twyford Down anti-roads protest reunion to mark that it is 20 years since the protests start­ed.  It’s on 29–30 Sept, when it’ll be the Har­vest Moon.  

There is going to be a Twyford Down anti-roads protest reunion to mark that it is 20 years since the protests start­ed.  It’s on 29–30 Sept, when it’ll be the Har­vest Moon.  

There will be a camp run along the same lines as 20 years ago (bring what you expect to find… water butts, tents, food, etc).  That said, there will be some domes and the @ teapot are going to be doing cater­ing (Sat din­ner and Sun break­fast) — hur­rah!  Camp loca­tion to be on top of St Cather­ine’s Hill, near Win­ches­ter.

There will also be a protest / pho­to oppor­tu­ni­ty about this cur­rent Gov­ern­men­t’s mania of road­build­ing. 

 Please spread this amongst your con­tacts who you think may be inter­estd.  There is a Face­book page if you do such things called Twen­ty Years Since Twyford: http://www.facebook.com/events/344190508996315/

More details and fly­er down­load­able at http://bettertransport.org.uk/blogs/roads/100912-twyford-20

Multiple Arsons: Olympic torch returns to Bristol

On Mon­day 31st we lit up the open­ing week of the Olympics with an attack on two vehi­cles (and all the equip­ment they con­tained) belong­ing to British Tele­com (BT), an “offi­cial Olympic part­ner”.  It’s a small reply to the height­ened repres­sion in Lon­don. 

On Mon­day 31st we lit up the open­ing week of the Olympics with an attack on two vehi­cles (and all the equip­ment they con­tained) belong­ing to British Tele­com (BT), an “offi­cial Olympic part­ner”.  It’s a small reply to the height­ened repres­sion in Lon­don. 

In Long­well Green this week we then sab­o­taged a mast owned by BT’s par­ent com­pa­ny, O2, the mobile phone net­work.  We burnt out the mast by set­ting fire to the cables at the bot­tom.

While the thou­sands who can afford to swell the econ­o­my are wel­comed by the state for the Olympics, O2 prof­its from the exploita­tion of a lit­er­al cap­tive audi­ence of “ille­gal” migrants who are forced to use O2 phones with extor­tion­ate pric­ing in a pilot scheme at Yarl’s Wood “Immi­gra­tion Removal Cen­tre” (prison) which is run by Ser­co.  The author­i­ties can mon­i­tor calls with ease, and the net­work is eas­i­er to shut down in the event of a dis­tur­bance or as pun­ish­ment for rule break­ing.  There are cur­rent­ly mass hunger strikes in Ger­many and the UK (in ?Mor­ton Hall, a for­mer open prison now specif­i­cal­ly des­ig­nat­ed for “for­eign nation­als”), these hunger strikes are an expres­sion against deten­tion, con­trol and iso­la­tion. 

While O2 prof­it from their deal­ings in deten­tion they are also fur­ther­ing the encroach­ment of the mar­ket into the fab­ric of our social lives.  “Giff Gaff” is a mobile phone net­work owned by O2 and a brain­child of their head of brand strat­e­gy.  Their mod­el of oper­at­ing encour­ages con­sumers (or “mem­bers) to par­tic­i­pate in aspects of run­ning the ser­vice such as cus­tomer sup­port, mar­ket­ing and sales in return for mea­gre incen­tives and forms their “hor­i­zon­tal­ly run” busi­ness image.  Under this mod­el your friends become mar­ket­ing tar­gets and your rela­tions are degrad­ed in their val­ue as com­modi­ties, bring­ing us even clos­er to a world where every human inter­ac­tion con­sists of buy­ing and sell­ing.

O2 also sup­ply radio and phone sys­tems for the UK police through a net­work of TETRA masts.  G4S also use O2 sim cards to run their elec­tron­ic tag­ging sys­tems.

BT sup­ply the UK pris­ons (as well as invest­ing mil­lions in the arms trade).  Inmates are charged upto 7 times the aver­age call rate, pay­ing for the priv­i­lege to be spied on.  In BT’s words, “pay­ing for the lev­el of ongo­ing invest­ment in secu­ri­ty”.  BT now run com­put­erise infor­ma­tion points on prison wings, “aid­ing the pris­on­er dur­ing set­tle­ment”.  There’s even employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties upload­ing infor­ma­tion and per­for­mance sta­tis­tics.

Behind the scenes of Olympic grandeur, our dai­ly expe­ri­ence is that mod­ern life becomes more and more like a cage.  Britain jails more adults than any oth­er Euro­pean coun­try, and comes 3rd for jailed young peo­ple, but it’s gold medal is in extend­ing the author­i­tar­i­an man­age­ment of the “inside” to the “out­side” with its induced cul­ture of cow­ardice, con­for­mi­ty and snitch­ing.  The devel­op­ing social con­trol struc­ture has many ten­ta­cles and is always deep­en­ing them through tech­nol­o­gy, psy­chol­o­gy, sur­veil­lance, polic­ing and archi­tec­ture.  In short, the mech­a­nism of jail dif­fused through­out the urban envi­ron­ment.  This soci­ety is already one giant prison for all but a priv­i­leged few and the mod­ern cit­i­zen is already being trained to be the mod­el pris­on­er.

But some cells are still more con­crete than oth­ers.  In April this year Car­la Ver­dugo and Iván Sil­va were arrest­ed in Santi­gao trans­port­ing an explo­sive the night before their com­rade Juan Alistes tri­al prepa­ra­tion hear­ing.  We want to con­tin­ue what they start­ed.  Yes­ter­day the “secu­ri­ty case” tri­al against Juan, Fred­dy and Mar­cel­lo began in Chile. 

Strength to all unpaci­fied cap­tives from last sum­mers riots.  Sol­i­dar­i­ty with all those resist­ing the depor­ta­tion machine.  None of these hostages are for­got­ten.  Sol­i­dar­i­ty is our weapon and we can use it.

We also take this oppor­tu­ni­ty to wel­come ELF Switzer­land pris­on­er Sylvio Guerin back to the streets.

Attacks on com­mu­ni­ca­tion struc­tures are a nec­es­sary part of the mul­ti-formed strug­gle towards the col­lapse of cap­i­tal­ism.  Where soci­ety means mis­ery we chose rebel­lion.  Fire to the pris­ons, bor­ders and deten­tion estate.

Reclaim Hinkley — 8–9 October 2012

When injus­tice becomes law, resis­tance becomes duty.”

MASS TRESPASS — MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

No New Nuclear — Inter­na­tion­al call out

Join us in an act of mass civ­il dis­obe­di­ence as we tres­pass on the pro­posed site of Hink­ley C nuclear pow­er sta­tion in Som­er­set.

When injus­tice becomes law, resis­tance becomes duty.”

MASS TRESPASS — MASS CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

No New Nuclear — Inter­na­tion­al call out

Join us in an act of mass civ­il dis­obe­di­ence as we tres­pass on the pro­posed site of Hink­ley C nuclear pow­er sta­tion in Som­er­set.

EDF Ener­gy is already trash­ing frag­ile Som­er­set coun­try­side in prepa­ra­tion for the Hink­ley C nuclear pow­er sta­tion – even though it hasn’t got plan­ning per­mis­sion to start build­ing.

SOWING THE SEEDS OF DISSENT

This mass action is for any­one who feels able to pub­licly tres­pass — or bear wit­ness to the mass tres­pass by join­ing us around the perime­ter fence. We need peo­ple who are pre­pared to be arrest­ed. We also need peo­ple to sup­port those who are tres­pass­ing by gath­er­ing around the perime­ter fence. We will be pro­vid­ing legal brief­in­gs and sup­port for any tres­passers who are arrest­ed.

Our aim is to make the tres­pass as safe and dig­ni­fied as pos­si­ble. All our activ­i­ties are bound by the prin­ci­ples of non-vio­lent direct action. We are hold­ing a camp imme­di­ate­ly before the tres­pass so that every­one involved has a voice in plan­ning the action itself.

On the day of the tres­pass, we will attempt to rein­tro­duce some of the bio­di­ver­si­ty that has been stripped through EDFs pre­ma­ture pre­lim­i­nary works. Once inside we will scat­ter wild­flow­ers and oth­er species native to this site. By show­ing your sup­port for an end to nuclear pow­er, you are part a grow­ing move­ment that is expos­ing this cor­rupt gov­ern­ment pol­i­cy that puts prof­its before safe­ty.

EDF is Eager­ly Destroy­ing Fields even though it doesn’t yet have per­mis­sion to build the reac­tors — nor does it have approval for the reac­tor design, or even a final invest­ment deci­sion.

The new EPR reac­tor design will pro­duce radioac­tive waste that is so tox­ic that it will have to be stored on site for over 100 years. The dan­gers asso­ci­at­ed with flood­ing, ter­ror­ist attack and acci­den­tal leak­age are total­ly unac­cept­able.

NO MORE NUCLEAR BAILOUTS

The move­ment against the gov­ern­men­t’s so-called ‘nuclear renais­sance’ is winning….but we must keep up the pres­sure. Out of the eight new nuclear pow­er sta­tions sup­port­ed by the coali­tion gov­ern­ment when it came into pow­er, only two are still on the table: Hink­ley in Som­er­set and Sizewell in Suf­folk.

French-owned EDF Ener­gy — the own­er of Hink­ley and Sizewell — is pres­sur­ing the gov­ern­ment to increase the range of hid­den sub­si­dies on offer in a des­per­ate bid to attract inter­est from scep­ti­cal investors. THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN.

If EDF gets its way, it will be a dou­ble wham­my for us — and for future gen­er­a­tions. It will mean we pay twice: once as tax­pay­ers and once as con­sumers through our ener­gy bills.

We say put the £60bn ear­marked for ‘new nuclear’ into a clean­er, green­er, fair­er future. The way for­ward is through ener­gy reduc­tion and greater invest­ment into research and devel­op­ment to make renew­able ener­gy and ener­gy stor­age fit for the 21st cen­tu­ry.

We need to cre­ate a long term sus­tain­able ener­gy plan that is based on meet­ing peo­ple’s needs rather than mak­ing prof­its for investors. In May, ener­gy sec­re­tary Charles Hendry told min­is­ters at a select com­mit­tee hear­ing that the government’s ener­gy pol­i­cy would be robust enough with­out includ­ing nuclear in the mix. It’s time we moved ener­gy pol­i­cy for­wards rather than back­wards.

NUCLEAR IS NOT THE ANSWER

.…Cher­nobyl
The cri­sis is far from over: the sar­coph­a­gus cov­er­ing the doomed Russ­ian reac­tor is falling apart. Only this year, gov­ern­ments final­ly approved the fund­ing for a new one. The human pop­u­la­tion in the most heav­i­ly con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed ter­ri­to­ries is in decline. In Belarus 80% of chil­dren were born healthy before Cher­nobyl. Now, just 26 years lat­er, only 20% of chil­dren are born healthy.

.….Fukushi­ma
Thanks to peo­ple pow­er, all of Japan’s reac­tors have now been turned off. For the first time in over half a cen­tu­ry Japan is nuclear free. How­ev­er, the cri­sis at Fukushi­ma is far from over.

  • The Japan­ese peo­ple are foot­ing the bill. The com­pa­ny behind the pow­er sta­tion, Tep­co, has had to be re-nation­alised because of the spi­ralling cost of com­pen­sa­tion and the ongo­ing attempts to sta­bilise the reac­tors.
  • Many peo­ple are still liv­ing in heav­i­ly con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed areas that should have been evac­u­at­ed.
  • Food across Japan is heav­i­ly con­t­a­m­i­nat­ed and peo­ple are being encour­aged to sup­port the farm­ers of Fukushi­ma by eat­ing it.
  • The triple melt­down is still in full swing.
  • All of the fuel pools in reac­tors 1,2,3 & 4 are in bad con­di­tion.
  • The pool in reac­tor 4 is of par­tic­u­lar con­cern. Thou­sands of high­ly radioac­tive spent fuel rods are at risk of fur­ther explo­sions. If such an event occurs, high lev­els of radioac­tive con­t­a­m­i­na­tion could spread as far as Tokyo and wipe out Japan’s com­mer­cial infra­struc­ture.

WE WANT A FUTURE, NOT A DISASTER

More infor­ma­tion com­ing soon.

Sub­scribe to our newslet­ter and get reg­u­lar updates on the tres­pass plan and the lat­est devel­op­ments in the cam­paign against ‘new nuclear’. Please send any queries to: campaign@stopnewnuclear.org.uk or call our hot­line on: 07527–219476

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.

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

Hinkley Investor Centrica: Action Alert

Cen­tri­ca are hav­ing their AGM this week on Fri 11th May we want to tell Cen­tri­ca loud & clear No to new nuclear. To this end we have a bit of arm­chair activism that every­one can join in with no mat­ter what your time/energy/money com­mit­ments are.

Here’s how to stop the Cen­tri­ca swin­dle:

Cen­tri­ca are hav­ing their AGM this week on Fri 11th May we want to tell Cen­tri­ca loud & clear No to new nuclear. To this end we have a bit of arm­chair activism that every­one can join in with no mat­ter what your time/energy/money com­mit­ments are.

Here’s how to stop the Cen­tri­ca swin­dle:

Step one: Boy­cott Centrica/British Gas…

If you get any prod­ucts from cen­tri­ca or buy your ener­gy from British Gas then switch sup­pli­ers now – make sure and either phone them on 0800 107 0184 or drop them a line at  customercomplaints@britishgas.co.uk or Man­age­ment Team, British Gas, PO Box 4804, Wor­thing, BN11 9QU to let them know why you’re drop­ping them.

If you need guid­ance or advise on how to switch or who to switch to then vis­it our already exisit­ing boy­cott edf web­site for details on how/what to do.  http://boycottedf.org.uk/maketheswitch

Step Two: Spam Cen­tri­ca…

Drop them an e‑mail to pres­sure them to with­draw from nuclear new build we have com­piled an exten­sive data­base of e‑mail address­es which we have pub­lished below The e‑mails are pub­lished in 10 blocks of 25, this means that in just 10 e‑mails you can tell the whole of Cen­tri­ca from the 1% down what you think of them with­out your mails bounc­ing back or your account being sus­pend­ed!

Their office num­bers are includ­ed too why not give them a call and tell them what you think of their dab­bling in dirty nukes?

 brian.gamlin@centrica.com,  darren.miles@centrica.com,  mark.turner@centrica.com,  olga.wilson@centrica.com,  simon.henderson@centrica.com,  alejandro.urizar@centrica.com,  jonathan.press@centrica.com,  peter.pratt@centrica.com,  david.bickerton@centrica.com,  rod.carr@centrica.com,  kirk.downey@centrica.com,  bill.laughlin@centrica.com,  simon.gray@centrica.com,  usmanigbal@centrica.com„  alan.mclaughlin@centrica.com,  sophie.cole@centrica.com,  jessica.parker@centrica.com,  alistair.montgomery@centrica.com,  jan.sangedal@centrica.com,  careers@centrica.com,  cancelinstallation@centrica.com,  thornton@centrica.com,  jon.york@Centrica.com, cardiffc& mfinance@centrica.com,  ir@centrica.com,

 don.lane@centrica.com,  amie.harding1@centrica.com,  natalie.potts@centrica.com,  fred.hardinges@centrica.com,  nina.ringoen@centrica.com,  coordinator@centrica.com,  renewables@centrica.com,  kit.hawkins@centrica.com,  centrica@equiniti.com,  stavanger@centrica.com,  media@centrica.com,  matthew.berry@centrica.com,  views@centrica.com,  responsibility@centrica.com,  centrica.graduates@aonhewitt.com,  diversity.team@centrica.com,  audrey.luksicek@centrica.com,  p2p@centrica.com,  dario.ghazi@Centrica.com,  rodgers@centrica.com,  paul.smart@centrica.com,  kevin.ferrol@centrica.com,  steven.petrie@centrica.com,  martin.bruce@centrica.com,  jim.jamieson@centrica.com,

 carina.travis@centrica.com,  michael.breyaen@centrica.com,  trevor.boyce@centrica.com,  fiona.navesey@centrica.com,  ricky.hill@centrica.com,  iain.bartholomew@centrica.com,  david.byrne@centrica.com,  danny.willder@centrica.com,  ali.hussain@centrica.com,  linda.somerville1@centrica.com,  andy.kingscott@centrica.com,  aberdeen@centrica.com,  customerrelations@centrica.com,  david.holland@centrica.com,  eri@centrica.com,  brianawhitlock@centrica.com,  philip.davies@centrica.com,  alan.mclaughlin@centrica.com,  energy360@centrica.com,  gavin.ward@centrica.com,  gill.rodgers@centrica.com,  proudfoot@centrica.com,  colin.addy2@centrica.com,  hywel.james@centrica.com,  alan.neild-crabb@centrica.com

 chris.ronketti@centrica.com,  john.kimber@centrica.com,  sue.cropper@centrica.com,  richard.hemus2@centrica.com,  anna.wantling@centrica.com,  steve.gapik@centrica.com,  discount.scheme@centrica.com,  angela.needle@centrica.com,  alaister.mortlock@centrica.com,  ivan.olszak@centrica.com,  jill.shedden@centrica.com,  nick.luff@centrica.com,  christopher.bird@centrica.com,  ray.sheldon@centrica.com,  sns0056york@centrica.com,  finbarr.coghlan@centrica.com,  peter.fairhurst@centrica.com,  jon.cooper@centrica.com,  matt.thornton@centrica.com,  rebecca.mcclymont@centrica.com,  richard.cargen@centrica.com,  david.jardine@centrica.com,  cathy.aldwinckle@centrica.com,  ian.mondrow@na.centrica.com,  pjeff@na.centrica.com,

 robert.frank@na.centrica.com,  smith.day@na.centrica.com,  jessica.mahaffey@na.centrica.com,  chuck.moore@na.centrica.com,  rita.morales@na.centrica.com,  ben.lenton@na.centrica.com,  joseph.byars@na.centrica.com,  ray.debock@na.centrica.com,  michael.heselton@na.centrica.com,  anahita.minooee@na.centrica.com,  gary.newcombe@na.centrica.com,  alyce.hibben@na.centrica.com,  priscilla.tinsley@na.centrica.com,  jodi.marshall@na.centrica.com,  kristine.innes@na.centrica.com,  niall.armstrong@na.centrica.com,  michel.do@na.centrica.com,  jeff.parsons@na.centrica.com,  pjeff@na.centrica.com,  glenn.macintyre@na.centrica.com,  cynthia.cordova@na.centrica.com,  adrian.pye@na.centrica.com,  jay.hellums@na.centrica.com,  james.steffes@na.centrica.com,  patty.walton@na.centrica.com,

 juan.pardon@na.centrica.com,  dennis.benevides@na.centrica.com,  brenda.christie@na.centrica.com,  april.woodward@na.centrica.com,  david.zager@na.centrica.com,  felita.gammage@na.centrica.com,  Victor.Ward@na.centrica.com,  lyie.oiiver@na.centrica.com,  dave.purnell@na.centrica.com,  runsi.sen@na.centrica.com,  caroline.kerr@na.centrica.com,  aaron.dobson@na.centrica.com,  steve.entwistle@na.centrica.com,  jillian.conroy@na.centrica.com,  heather.brown@na.centrica.com,  dave.vandenbosch@na.centrica.com,  recruitingnorth@na.centrica.com, eric.stephens@,na.centrica.com,  brenda.pinke@na.centrica.com,  brandon.vanunen@na.centrica.com,  canada.business@na.centrica.com,  mike.visser@na.centrica.com,  vincent.law@na.centrica.com,  yannis.tzamouranis@na.centrica.com,  centricadataprotection@centrica.com,

 david.booty@na.centrica.com,  erin.cuddihey@na.centrica.com,  ben.lenton@na.centrica.com,  liam.johnston@na.centrica.com,  helen.taylor@centrica.co.uk,  contract.renewals@centrica.co.uk,  eservice@centrica.co.uk,  simon.clark@centrica.co.uk,  htam.correspondence@centrica.co.uk,  sam.laidlaw@centrica.co.uk,  media@centrica.co.uk,  barry.neville@centrica.co.uk,  david.johnson@centrica.co.uk,  jane.poxon@centrica.co.uk,  david.rizzo@centrica.co.uk,  russell.coates@centrica.co.uk,  davidm.harman@centrica.co.uk,  veronica.hinchliffe@centrica.co.uk,  emily.harman@centrica.co.uk,  rob.cullender@centrica.co.uk,  gavin.ferguson@centrica.co.uk,  catherine.mcnally@centrica.co.uk,  david.flower@centrica.co.uk,  tony.thornton@centrica.co.uk,  la.ha@centrica.co.uk,

 energy.efficiency2@centrica.co.uk,  ir@centrica.co.uk,  theenergyefficiencyteam@centrica.co.uk,  craig.lawson@centrica.co.uk,  simon.goldring@centrica.co.uk,  jeremy.lockett@centrica.co.uk,  victoria.andenaes@centrica.co.uk,  iain.taylor@centrica.co.uk,  barrie.x.caird@centrica.co.uk,  community@centrica.co.uk,  tim.boycott-brown@centrica.co.uk,  anthony.chmarny@centrica.co.uk,  ghazala.zia@centrica.co.uk,  wayne.brotherwood@centrica.co.uk,  alan.mclaughlin@centrica.co.uk,  kevin.wollard@centrica.co.uk,  tony.johnson@centrica.co.uk,  harry.metcalfe@centrica.co.uk,  mark.agnew@centrica.co.uk,  andy.chern@centrica.co.uk,  fiona.navesey@centrica.co.uk,  mark.clare@centrica.co.uk,  britishgas.prepaymentcustomerrelations@centrica.co.uk,  andrew.latham@centrica.co.uk,  simon.harrison@centrica.co.uk,

 david.viney@centrica.co.uk,  laura.jeffs@centrica.co.uk,  j.johnson@centrica.co.uk,  hqcustomerrelations@centrica.co.uk,  david.crowther@centrica.co.uk,  aan@centrica.co.uk,  linda.sullivan@centrica.co.uk,  meterreadentry@centrica.co.uk,  francis.rottenburg@centrica.co.uk,  matt.graveston@centrica.co.uk,  stephen.dickson@centrica.co.uk,  andy.malicki@centrica.co.uk,  deborah.lamb@centrica.co.uk,  ann.dale@centrica.co.uk,  pressoffice.britishgas@centrica.co.uk,  chris.foster@centrica.co.uk,  steven.briggs@centrica.co.uk,  david.thomas@centrica.co.uk,  rhvs.iones@centrica.co.uk,  eldon.pethybridge@centrica.co.uk,  clive.woodland@centrica.co.uk,  win.wearmouth@centrica.co.uk,  shann.plascott@centrica.co.uk,  jon.kimber@centrica.co.uk,  jean.doran@centrica.co.uk,

 gary.swift@centrica.co.uk,  mark.manley@centrica.co.uk,  danielle.lane@centrica.co.uk,  graham.jack@centrica.co.uk,  samantha.winship@centrica.co.uk,  roddy.mackinnon@centrica-sl.co.uk,  jacopo.vignola@centrica-sl.co.uk,  simon.wills@centrica-sl.co.uk, steve.o’ connor@centrica-sl.co.uk,  glenn.sibbick@centrica-sl.co.uk,  backup.notifications@centrica-sl.co.uk,  darren.oliver@centrica-sl.co.uk,  rebecca.sunshine@centrica-sl.co.uk, sonia.youcentrica-sl.co.uk,  terry.jackson@centrica-sl.co.uk,  bruce.walker@centrica-sl.co.uk,  david.hall@centrica-sl.co.uk, nick.parkescentrica-sl.co.uk,  roland.knight@centrica.com.au,  info@centrica.com.au,  crossmedia@centrica.com.au,

OFFICES

Cen­tri­ca plc
Mill­stream
Maid­en­head Road
Wind­sor
Berk­shire
SL4 5GD

Main switch­board
Tel: +44 (0)1753 494000
Fax: +44 (0)1753 494001

Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Lim­it­ed
Ven­ture House
42–54 Lon­don Road
Staines
Mid­dle­sex TW18 4HF

Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Lim­it­ed – reg­is­tered office and cor­po­rate head­quar­ters
Tel: +44 (0) 1784 415 300
Fax: +44 (0) 1784 415 318

Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Sales and Mar­ket­ing
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 1784 415 304

Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Com­mer­cial Oper­a­tions Desk (24 hours)
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 1784 415 304

Cen­tri­ca Media Rela­tions (on behalf of Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Lim­it­ed)
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 845 072 4649

Alan McLaugh­lin, Cen­tri­ca Media Rela­tions
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 1753 494 086 or 07789 570598

Cen­tri­ca Investor Rela­tions (on behalf of Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Lim­it­ed)
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 1753 494 900

Step Three: Protest!!!

Attend Centrica’s AGM this com­ing Fri­day May 11th. Their AGM starts at 2pm but envi­ron­men­tal and social jus­tice cam­paign­ers will be there from 12:30 onwards. The address is Queen Eliz­a­beth II Con­fer­ence Cen­tre, Lon­don SW1.

Why say no to Cen­tri­ca?

After being advised last year to pull out of nuclear Cen­tri­ca are now demand­ing more mon­ey from the cash-strapped British pub­lic via cor­po­rate owned UK plc. The advice came from cit­i­group and util­i­ties ana­lyst Lakis Athana­siou who said that Cen­tri­ca ‘shouldn’t touch nuclear with a barge pole’.

Near­ly one year on and against the back­drop of the nuclear cat­a­stro­phe in Japan spi­ral­ing fur­ther out of con­trol, Cen­tri­ca is now threat­en­ing to ‘pull out’ if their demands aren’t met. They claim to have doubts over the gov­ern­ments ener­gy pol­i­cy, Cen­tri­ca said “the company’s posi­tion on nuclear new build has not changed and it was still work­ing towards tak­ing a final invest­ment deci­sion on Hink­ley Point by the end of the year. It added “There are a num­ber of areas where we still need absolute clar­i­ty, such as cost, mar­ket frame­work and plan­ning approval and per­mits”

Sub­si­dies already promised by gov­ern­ment to the nuclear indus­try already include -

elec­tric­i­ty reform act, fixed price on car­bon per tonne and fixed price on elec­tric­i­ty pro­duced from nuclear tax­pay­er fund­ed lia­bil­i­ty in the event of an acci­dent (yes folks these guys can nuke you fukushi­ma style then make you pay for the clean up) fixed price of con­tri­bu­tion of the utlilty for the cost of future attempts to manage/clear up the waste (yeah right like that’s gonna hap­pen!)

Part of the elec­tric­i­ty reform acts pack­age of pro­pos­als are the con­tracts for dif­fer­ence that will be announced in the Queens speech this month.

Con­tracts for dif­fer­ence or CFD’s as they are known are noth­ing more than a way of ensur­ing that cen­tri­ca makes pri­vate prof­it whilst social­is­ing the loss­es, or should we say enrich­es the 1% at a cost to the 99%

In this con­text these pro­pos­als are like the banks ask­ing for a bailout in advance of them doing the dodgy deals that made them fail. CFDs are ‘trad­ing on the mar­gins’ or to put it anoth­er way turn­ing shit into sug­ar and are there­fore high­ly risky.

One of the ways CFD’s will like­ly ben­e­fit Cen­tri­ca is by allow­ing them to put up a tiny ‘deposit’ on the con­struc­tion of new nuclear plants whilst we the tax­pay­er loan them the rest, of course they get to keep their prof­its which ever way you slice the pie, they can even make mon­ey out of the project fail­ing with CFDs. It is clear to see that being able to prof­it out of falling mar­kets in this way is a clev­er­ly dis­guised way of social­is­ing the costs of bad invest­ment choic­es giv­ing investors a win-win sit­u­a­tion at an extreme cost to civ­il soci­ety & the envi­ron­ment.

We believe that centrica’s pres­sure on the UK gov­ern­ment to take more tax­pay­ers mon­ey to pay for a project that they them­selves believe will fail in order that their share­hold­ers can prof­it out of us twice (once when they build the plant then again when they bill us for ener­gy) is immoral and uneth­i­cal.

The elec­tric­i­ty mar­ket reform act already promised to these greedy util­i­ties is a pub­lic sub­sidy by the back door. Nuclear pow­er plants nev­er have been and nev­er will be prof­itable endeav­ours which is why in 2006 when the gov­ern­ment tried to cre­ate the nuclear renais­sance they knew it wouldn’t go down well with the pub­lic. Now after a six year cam­paign of lob­by­ing and expen­sive PR cam­paigns to get the pub­lic to swal­low nuclear as a ‘nec­es­sary evil’ they want to dump respon­si­bil­i­ty for financ­ing back on the already skint pub­lic.

South West Against Nulear (SWAN)

Hinkley Investor Centrica: Action Alert

Cen­tri­ca are hav­ing their AGM this week on Fri 11th May we want to tell Cen­tri­ca loud & clear No to new nuclear. To this end we have a bit of arm­chair activism that every­one can join in with no mat­ter what your time/energy/money com­mit­ments are.

Here’s how to stop the Cen­tri­ca swin­dle:

Cen­tri­ca are hav­ing their AGM this week on Fri 11th May we want to tell Cen­tri­ca loud & clear No to new nuclear. To this end we have a bit of arm­chair activism that every­one can join in with no mat­ter what your time/energy/money com­mit­ments are.

Here’s how to stop the Cen­tri­ca swin­dle:

Step one: Boy­cott Centrica/British Gas…

If you get any prod­ucts from cen­tri­ca or buy your ener­gy from British Gas then switch sup­pli­ers now – make sure and either phone them on 0800 107 0184 or drop them a line at  customercomplaints@britishgas.co.uk or Man­age­ment Team, British Gas, PO Box 4804, Wor­thing, BN11 9QU to let them know why you’re drop­ping them.

If you need guid­ance or advise on how to switch or who to switch to then vis­it our already exisit­ing boy­cott edf web­site for details on how/what to do.  http://boycottedf.org.uk/maketheswitch

Step Two: Spam Cen­tri­ca…

Drop them an e‑mail to pres­sure them to with­draw from nuclear new build we have com­piled an exten­sive data­base of e‑mail address­es which we have pub­lished below The e‑mails are pub­lished in 10 blocks of 25, this means that in just 10 e‑mails you can tell the whole of Cen­tri­ca from the 1% down what you think of them with­out your mails bounc­ing back or your account being sus­pend­ed!

Their office num­bers are includ­ed too why not give them a call and tell them what you think of their dab­bling in dirty nukes?

 brian.gamlin@centrica.com,  darren.miles@centrica.com,  mark.turner@centrica.com,  olga.wilson@centrica.com,  simon.henderson@centrica.com,  alejandro.urizar@centrica.com,  jonathan.press@centrica.com,  peter.pratt@centrica.com,  david.bickerton@centrica.com,  rod.carr@centrica.com,  kirk.downey@centrica.com,  bill.laughlin@centrica.com,  simon.gray@centrica.com,  usmanigbal@centrica.com„  alan.mclaughlin@centrica.com,  sophie.cole@centrica.com,  jessica.parker@centrica.com,  alistair.montgomery@centrica.com,  jan.sangedal@centrica.com,  careers@centrica.com,  cancelinstallation@centrica.com,  thornton@centrica.com,  jon.york@Centrica.com, cardiffc& mfinance@centrica.com,  ir@centrica.com,

 don.lane@centrica.com,  amie.harding1@centrica.com,  natalie.potts@centrica.com,  fred.hardinges@centrica.com,  nina.ringoen@centrica.com,  coordinator@centrica.com,  renewables@centrica.com,  kit.hawkins@centrica.com,  centrica@equiniti.com,  stavanger@centrica.com,  media@centrica.com,  matthew.berry@centrica.com,  views@centrica.com,  responsibility@centrica.com,  centrica.graduates@aonhewitt.com,  diversity.team@centrica.com,  audrey.luksicek@centrica.com,  p2p@centrica.com,  dario.ghazi@Centrica.com,  rodgers@centrica.com,  paul.smart@centrica.com,  kevin.ferrol@centrica.com,  steven.petrie@centrica.com,  martin.bruce@centrica.com,  jim.jamieson@centrica.com,

 carina.travis@centrica.com,  michael.breyaen@centrica.com,  trevor.boyce@centrica.com,  fiona.navesey@centrica.com,  ricky.hill@centrica.com,  iain.bartholomew@centrica.com,  david.byrne@centrica.com,  danny.willder@centrica.com,  ali.hussain@centrica.com,  linda.somerville1@centrica.com,  andy.kingscott@centrica.com,  aberdeen@centrica.com,  customerrelations@centrica.com,  david.holland@centrica.com,  eri@centrica.com,  brianawhitlock@centrica.com,  philip.davies@centrica.com,  alan.mclaughlin@centrica.com,  energy360@centrica.com,  gavin.ward@centrica.com,  gill.rodgers@centrica.com,  proudfoot@centrica.com,  colin.addy2@centrica.com,  hywel.james@centrica.com,  alan.neild-crabb@centrica.com

 chris.ronketti@centrica.com,  john.kimber@centrica.com,  sue.cropper@centrica.com,  richard.hemus2@centrica.com,  anna.wantling@centrica.com,  steve.gapik@centrica.com,  discount.scheme@centrica.com,  angela.needle@centrica.com,  alaister.mortlock@centrica.com,  ivan.olszak@centrica.com,  jill.shedden@centrica.com,  nick.luff@centrica.com,  christopher.bird@centrica.com,  ray.sheldon@centrica.com,  sns0056york@centrica.com,  finbarr.coghlan@centrica.com,  peter.fairhurst@centrica.com,  jon.cooper@centrica.com,  matt.thornton@centrica.com,  rebecca.mcclymont@centrica.com,  richard.cargen@centrica.com,  david.jardine@centrica.com,  cathy.aldwinckle@centrica.com,  ian.mondrow@na.centrica.com,  pjeff@na.centrica.com,

 robert.frank@na.centrica.com,  smith.day@na.centrica.com,  jessica.mahaffey@na.centrica.com,  chuck.moore@na.centrica.com,  rita.morales@na.centrica.com,  ben.lenton@na.centrica.com,  joseph.byars@na.centrica.com,  ray.debock@na.centrica.com,  michael.heselton@na.centrica.com,  anahita.minooee@na.centrica.com,  gary.newcombe@na.centrica.com,  alyce.hibben@na.centrica.com,  priscilla.tinsley@na.centrica.com,  jodi.marshall@na.centrica.com,  kristine.innes@na.centrica.com,  niall.armstrong@na.centrica.com,  michel.do@na.centrica.com,  jeff.parsons@na.centrica.com,  pjeff@na.centrica.com,  glenn.macintyre@na.centrica.com,  cynthia.cordova@na.centrica.com,  adrian.pye@na.centrica.com,  jay.hellums@na.centrica.com,  james.steffes@na.centrica.com,  patty.walton@na.centrica.com,

 juan.pardon@na.centrica.com,  dennis.benevides@na.centrica.com,  brenda.christie@na.centrica.com,  april.woodward@na.centrica.com,  david.zager@na.centrica.com,  felita.gammage@na.centrica.com,  Victor.Ward@na.centrica.com,  lyie.oiiver@na.centrica.com,  dave.purnell@na.centrica.com,  runsi.sen@na.centrica.com,  caroline.kerr@na.centrica.com,  aaron.dobson@na.centrica.com,  steve.entwistle@na.centrica.com,  jillian.conroy@na.centrica.com,  heather.brown@na.centrica.com,  dave.vandenbosch@na.centrica.com,  recruitingnorth@na.centrica.com, eric.stephens@,na.centrica.com,  brenda.pinke@na.centrica.com,  brandon.vanunen@na.centrica.com,  canada.business@na.centrica.com,  mike.visser@na.centrica.com,  vincent.law@na.centrica.com,  yannis.tzamouranis@na.centrica.com,  centricadataprotection@centrica.com,

 david.booty@na.centrica.com,  erin.cuddihey@na.centrica.com,  ben.lenton@na.centrica.com,  liam.johnston@na.centrica.com,  helen.taylor@centrica.co.uk,  contract.renewals@centrica.co.uk,  eservice@centrica.co.uk,  simon.clark@centrica.co.uk,  htam.correspondence@centrica.co.uk,  sam.laidlaw@centrica.co.uk,  media@centrica.co.uk,  barry.neville@centrica.co.uk,  david.johnson@centrica.co.uk,  jane.poxon@centrica.co.uk,  david.rizzo@centrica.co.uk,  russell.coates@centrica.co.uk,  davidm.harman@centrica.co.uk,  veronica.hinchliffe@centrica.co.uk,  emily.harman@centrica.co.uk,  rob.cullender@centrica.co.uk,  gavin.ferguson@centrica.co.uk,  catherine.mcnally@centrica.co.uk,  david.flower@centrica.co.uk,  tony.thornton@centrica.co.uk,  la.ha@centrica.co.uk,

 energy.efficiency2@centrica.co.uk,  ir@centrica.co.uk,  theenergyefficiencyteam@centrica.co.uk,  craig.lawson@centrica.co.uk,  simon.goldring@centrica.co.uk,  jeremy.lockett@centrica.co.uk,  victoria.andenaes@centrica.co.uk,  iain.taylor@centrica.co.uk,  barrie.x.caird@centrica.co.uk,  community@centrica.co.uk,  tim.boycott-brown@centrica.co.uk,  anthony.chmarny@centrica.co.uk,  ghazala.zia@centrica.co.uk,  wayne.brotherwood@centrica.co.uk,  alan.mclaughlin@centrica.co.uk,  kevin.wollard@centrica.co.uk,  tony.johnson@centrica.co.uk,  harry.metcalfe@centrica.co.uk,  mark.agnew@centrica.co.uk,  andy.chern@centrica.co.uk,  fiona.navesey@centrica.co.uk,  mark.clare@centrica.co.uk,  britishgas.prepaymentcustomerrelations@centrica.co.uk,  andrew.latham@centrica.co.uk,  simon.harrison@centrica.co.uk,

 david.viney@centrica.co.uk,  laura.jeffs@centrica.co.uk,  j.johnson@centrica.co.uk,  hqcustomerrelations@centrica.co.uk,  david.crowther@centrica.co.uk,  aan@centrica.co.uk,  linda.sullivan@centrica.co.uk,  meterreadentry@centrica.co.uk,  francis.rottenburg@centrica.co.uk,  matt.graveston@centrica.co.uk,  stephen.dickson@centrica.co.uk,  andy.malicki@centrica.co.uk,  deborah.lamb@centrica.co.uk,  ann.dale@centrica.co.uk,  pressoffice.britishgas@centrica.co.uk,  chris.foster@centrica.co.uk,  steven.briggs@centrica.co.uk,  david.thomas@centrica.co.uk,  rhvs.iones@centrica.co.uk,  eldon.pethybridge@centrica.co.uk,  clive.woodland@centrica.co.uk,  win.wearmouth@centrica.co.uk,  shann.plascott@centrica.co.uk,  jon.kimber@centrica.co.uk,  jean.doran@centrica.co.uk,

 gary.swift@centrica.co.uk,  mark.manley@centrica.co.uk,  danielle.lane@centrica.co.uk,  graham.jack@centrica.co.uk,  samantha.winship@centrica.co.uk,  roddy.mackinnon@centrica-sl.co.uk,  jacopo.vignola@centrica-sl.co.uk,  simon.wills@centrica-sl.co.uk, steve.o’ connor@centrica-sl.co.uk,  glenn.sibbick@centrica-sl.co.uk,  backup.notifications@centrica-sl.co.uk,  darren.oliver@centrica-sl.co.uk,  rebecca.sunshine@centrica-sl.co.uk, sonia.youcentrica-sl.co.uk,  terry.jackson@centrica-sl.co.uk,  bruce.walker@centrica-sl.co.uk,  david.hall@centrica-sl.co.uk, nick.parkescentrica-sl.co.uk,  roland.knight@centrica.com.au,  info@centrica.com.au,  crossmedia@centrica.com.au,

OFFICES

Cen­tri­ca plc
Mill­stream
Maid­en­head Road
Wind­sor
Berk­shire
SL4 5GD

Main switch­board
Tel: +44 (0)1753 494000
Fax: +44 (0)1753 494001

Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Lim­it­ed
Ven­ture House
42–54 Lon­don Road
Staines
Mid­dle­sex TW18 4HF

Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Lim­it­ed – reg­is­tered office and cor­po­rate head­quar­ters
Tel: +44 (0) 1784 415 300
Fax: +44 (0) 1784 415 318

Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Sales and Mar­ket­ing
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 1784 415 304

Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Com­mer­cial Oper­a­tions Desk (24 hours)
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 1784 415 304

Cen­tri­ca Media Rela­tions (on behalf of Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Lim­it­ed)
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 845 072 4649

Alan McLaugh­lin, Cen­tri­ca Media Rela­tions
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 1753 494 086 or 07789 570598

Cen­tri­ca Investor Rela­tions (on behalf of Cen­tri­ca Stor­age Lim­it­ed)
Tele­phone: +44 (0) 1753 494 900

Step Three: Protest!!!

Attend Centrica’s AGM this com­ing Fri­day May 11th. Their AGM starts at 2pm but envi­ron­men­tal and social jus­tice cam­paign­ers will be there from 12:30 onwards. The address is Queen Eliz­a­beth II Con­fer­ence Cen­tre, Lon­don SW1.

Why say no to Cen­tri­ca?

After being advised last year to pull out of nuclear Cen­tri­ca are now demand­ing more mon­ey from the cash-strapped British pub­lic via cor­po­rate owned UK plc. The advice came from cit­i­group and util­i­ties ana­lyst Lakis Athana­siou who said that Cen­tri­ca ‘shouldn’t touch nuclear with a barge pole’.

Near­ly one year on and against the back­drop of the nuclear cat­a­stro­phe in Japan spi­ral­ing fur­ther out of con­trol, Cen­tri­ca is now threat­en­ing to ‘pull out’ if their demands aren’t met. They claim to have doubts over the gov­ern­ments ener­gy pol­i­cy, Cen­tri­ca said “the company’s posi­tion on nuclear new build has not changed and it was still work­ing towards tak­ing a final invest­ment deci­sion on Hink­ley Point by the end of the year. It added “There are a num­ber of areas where we still need absolute clar­i­ty, such as cost, mar­ket frame­work and plan­ning approval and per­mits”

Sub­si­dies already promised by gov­ern­ment to the nuclear indus­try already include -

elec­tric­i­ty reform act, fixed price on car­bon per tonne and fixed price on elec­tric­i­ty pro­duced from nuclear tax­pay­er fund­ed lia­bil­i­ty in the event of an acci­dent (yes folks these guys can nuke you fukushi­ma style then make you pay for the clean up) fixed price of con­tri­bu­tion of the utlilty for the cost of future attempts to manage/clear up the waste (yeah right like that’s gonna hap­pen!)

Part of the elec­tric­i­ty reform acts pack­age of pro­pos­als are the con­tracts for dif­fer­ence that will be announced in the Queens speech this month.

Con­tracts for dif­fer­ence or CFD’s as they are known are noth­ing more than a way of ensur­ing that cen­tri­ca makes pri­vate prof­it whilst social­is­ing the loss­es, or should we say enrich­es the 1% at a cost to the 99%

In this con­text these pro­pos­als are like the banks ask­ing for a bailout in advance of them doing the dodgy deals that made them fail. CFDs are ‘trad­ing on the mar­gins’ or to put it anoth­er way turn­ing shit into sug­ar and are there­fore high­ly risky.

One of the ways CFD’s will like­ly ben­e­fit Cen­tri­ca is by allow­ing them to put up a tiny ‘deposit’ on the con­struc­tion of new nuclear plants whilst we the tax­pay­er loan them the rest, of course they get to keep their prof­its which ever way you slice the pie, they can even make mon­ey out of the project fail­ing with CFDs. It is clear to see that being able to prof­it out of falling mar­kets in this way is a clev­er­ly dis­guised way of social­is­ing the costs of bad invest­ment choic­es giv­ing investors a win-win sit­u­a­tion at an extreme cost to civ­il soci­ety & the envi­ron­ment.

We believe that centrica’s pres­sure on the UK gov­ern­ment to take more tax­pay­ers mon­ey to pay for a project that they them­selves believe will fail in order that their share­hold­ers can prof­it out of us twice (once when they build the plant then again when they bill us for ener­gy) is immoral and uneth­i­cal.

The elec­tric­i­ty mar­ket reform act already promised to these greedy util­i­ties is a pub­lic sub­sidy by the back door. Nuclear pow­er plants nev­er have been and nev­er will be prof­itable endeav­ours which is why in 2006 when the gov­ern­ment tried to cre­ate the nuclear renais­sance they knew it wouldn’t go down well with the pub­lic. Now after a six year cam­paign of lob­by­ing and expen­sive PR cam­paigns to get the pub­lic to swal­low nuclear as a ‘nec­es­sary evil’ they want to dump respon­si­bil­i­ty for financ­ing back on the already skint pub­lic.

South West Against Nulear (SWAN)