Skip to content or view screen version

Aberthaw power station succesfully blockaded this morning

alex | 03.04.2008 05:32 | Climate Chaos

Members of bristol rising tide are succesfully blockading Aberthaw power station, Wales worst polluter, 10 bristol activists have done a joint action with Bath, Cardiff and Oxford activist as part of a nationwide prostest against some of the worst polluting compaines in the uk.

Today members of Bristol Rising Tide, a group of climate activists [1], are participating in an action that has stopped normal work at Wale's biggest polluter, Aberthaw Power Station in the Vale of Glamorgan. The power station, also condemned by workers for its poor safety record, last year pumped out more than 7.4million tonnes of CO2 (carbon dioxide), the major contributor to climate change. It also emitted 28,000 tonnes of nitrogen dioxide and 31,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide – two chemicals that contribute to acid rain.

This action comes after the successful closure by activists of Ffos-y-Fran open cast mine in Merthyr Tydfil, on Tuesday 1st April. Ffos-y-Fran is the biggest mine in Europe and has been forced upon the people of Merthyr Tydfil in-order to fuel the dirtiest of all power stations and big business's greed for profit.

As the world acknowledges the need for a substantial reduction in carbon emissions the government and the Welsh Assembly have given their backing for the mining company Miller-Argent to spend upwards of 17 years extracting 11 million tons of coal from the nearby Ffos-y-Fran open cast mine in Merthyr Tydfil to continue feeding this power station.

As fossil fuels go coal is a serious contender for the dirtiest known. But despite the fact that coal-burning generators produce twice the carbon emissions of gas burners [2], the government intends to build £20 billion worth of new coal-burning generators by 2020.

Gordon James, director of Friends of the Earth Cymru, described the power station as a “dirty dinosaur” that should not be allowed to stay open in its present form. But RWENPower, the generating company that runs Aberthaw, said, “It is true Aberthaw Power Station is a large emitter of CO2 and that there are other emissions involved in power generation.”

Bristol Rising Tide believes that it is crucial to highlight the concerns and issues surrounding the development of Aberthaw and the proposed new investments into Coal powered generators such as Kingsnorth power station in Kent. The site of the next Camp for Climate Action.

Ciara, a member of Bristol Rising Tide states: “The burning of coal at Aberthaw and the new power stations across the UK such as Kingsnorth will only exacerbate the problems of climate chaos. People need to know that the government is hell bent on returning us to the dark age of fossil fuel.”

alex
- e-mail: bristol@risingtide.org.uk
- Homepage: http://risingtide.org.uk/bristol

Additions

Activists Close Welsh Power Station

03.04.2008 08:34

Just heard that all activists are in the cafe. No arrests were made, and Aberthaw's RWEnpower staff were sent home.

Coal Mole
mail e-mail: oxfordautonomists@googlemail.com
- Homepage: http://thecoalhole.org


update on the update

03.04.2008 09:48


There are still 11 activists in attandance at the plant - four locked on and seven in support. Although it is true that the workers have been sent home for the day. Big up westside massif!

(A) Sab


Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Well done!

03.04.2008 08:44

Brilliant action guys.. fully excited to hear about this one this morning.. :-)
Show them what your made of!

Give'em'ell


aberthaw protest

03.04.2008 23:46

all above coments are rubbish power station production was not affected and only one idiot locked on and they should leave the lock round his neck.

a. nominous


proof of blockade

04.04.2008 07:06

To see pictures of the blockade, the backed up work traffic etc and photographic evidence that many were locked on, go to www.coalhole.org. There may have been only 1 locked on inside the plant, but the front and back entrances were blockeded by over 20. I was in contstant phone contact with 2 people who were locked on at the front entrance.

(A) Sab x


Here's Hoping For Clearer Skies

04.04.2008 16:04

Hey, the blockade at the front entrance finished, one lock-on cleared up after 7 hours, eventually letting traffic through, and the second lock-on after 8 hours. Not bad going. 15 arrests for aggravated trespass, 6 facing charges. surprise, surprise, police and management lying to us and saying tht operations weren't affected... it seemed pretty affected from where i was lying, with the tail-backs stretching as far as the eye could see

Led Astray