Leave it in the Ground: Drax Coal Train Halted
imc-uk-features | 13.06.2008 12:55 | Climate Chaos | Sheffield
On 13th June 2008 protestors halted a coal train carrying fuel for Drax power station in Yorkshire, the single biggest source of CO2 in the UK. Dressed in white overalls and canary outfits, the protestors used safety signals to stop the train on a bridge overlooking the power station, before climbing on board and dumping coal off onto the tracks.
The train was stopped on a branch line used exclusively for delivering coal to Drax. Protestors used a network of climbing ropes to suspend themselves under the bridge from the train to prevent the train from moving. After a number of hours, police began evicting the protestors. 29 arrests were reported.
The protest comes six weeks before the 2008 Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth power station - which will also highlight how using coal to supply energy will be a disaster for the planet. Meanwhile the UK Government has "eviscerated" the Climate Change Bill and abandoned 2°C maximum target for global temperature rise as scientists warn that a safe CO2 level might be a maximum of 350ppm — we are already at over 380ppm, the Arctic permafrost is melting and "we're seeing events predicted for the end of the 21st century happening already", according to Barry Brook.
Photos: 1 | 2
Reports: 1 | 2
Links: The Coal Hole | Climate Camp
Last September James Hansen, spelt out the situation with coal in a letter to Gordon Brown:
“The single greatest threat to the climate comes from burning coal. Coal-fired generation is historically responsible for most of the CO2 in the air today - responsible for about half of all carbon dioxide emissions globally”
Last month activists protested on proposed open cast coal mine site in Derbyshire under the banner Leave it in the Ground
imc-uk-features
Additions
Next public event - noise demo at UK Coal, 14th July
13.06.2008 16:14
More details to follow...
Check out our website
make coal history
Homepage:
http://leaveitintheground.org.uk
Comments
Hide the following 4 comments
Activists arrested...?
14.06.2008 14:23
Does anyone have any info on where they are being held, if anyone has been bailed and if they are all ok?
barefoot stomper
Section 35 Malicious Damage Act 1861
14.06.2008 19:00
penalises the placing of wood, etc, on a railway, taking up rails, turning points, or showing or hiding signals, and requires evidence of an intent to obstruct, upset, overthrow, injure or destroy any engine, tender, carriage or truck.
Indictable only; punishable with life imprisonment.
The BTP
oh please
15.06.2008 14:10
A giant Indian company that has bought up famous British firms such as Jaguar, Land Rover and Tetley Tea is to get hundreds of millions of pounds in “green” subsidies to build one of the world’s biggest coal-fired power stations.
Tata will receive huge sums from the West for building the power station in India, thanks to the carbon trading system established by the Kyoto treaty. Critics say the system makes a mockery of attempts to combat climate change.
When the plant near the port of Mundra, in Gujarat, becomes operational in 2011 it will emit 25.7m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year – more CO2 than any power station in Britain.
Yet it will be classed by the United Nations as a source of “clean power”. That means Tata will be able to sell surplus “carbon credits”, established under the Kyoto treaty, to firms in the West. Energy groups will be able to buy the credits as an alternative to reducing CO2 emissions.
Related Links
* Drax to burn imported wood to cut CO2 emissions
* EU signals retreat over green pledges
It is estimated Tata could earn £30m a year from such sales. It has already received more than £230m in soft loans from the World Bank to build the plant.
Tom Picken, head of international climate at Friends of the Earth, said: “This plant exposes how the World Bank’s attempt to get involved in combating climate change is nothing but a farce.
nosey
Homepage:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/natural_resources/article4138295.ece
Re: Section 35 Malicious Damage Act 1861
30.07.2008 11:08
The more probable offence is s36 of the same Act, as used against DSEi protesters:
"Whosoever, by any unlawful act, or by any wilful omission or neglect, shall obstruct or cause to be obstructed any engine or carriage using any railway, or shall aid or assist therein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years."
streetlawyer