E.ON’s anouncement comes as hundreds of activists prepare for the Great Climate Swoop on 17th October, when they plan to take control of Ratcliffe-on-Soar3, another coal-fired power plant operated by E.ON 4. Activists will be co-ordinating the protests through text messages and twitter, which were also used to plan the G20 protests.

Activist Dennis Stevens said: “This is an amazing victory which shows how ordinary people can take back the power from corporations and government which do not value people and the environment. We need a social movement to develop community control of our energy supply and our society; not our current system which ignores the needs of people and the climate.”

Resistance by Climate Camp activists to the Kingsnorth plan has been widespread, including the Tipping Point shop in nearby Gillingham which works within the local community to expose E.ON’s greenwash, and actions targeting E.ON’s PR firm Edelman and construction firms bidding for the Kingsnorth contract. Climate Camp activists have also dumped coal at E.ON student recruitment events, given out leaflets at FA Cup football matches sponsored by E.ON, and even disrupted a climate change conference sponsored by the energy giant itself.5

Emma Jackson added: “E.ON are finally recognising that the days of building new coal-fired power stations are over. Now we have to start shutting down existing power stations, and that’s why we’re going to Ratcliffe-on-Soar next week. And if E.ON try and bring back their plans for Kingsnorth then we’ll be back there too”.

More information on the Great Climate Swoop at Ratcliffe on Soar is available at thegreatclimateswoop.org

Ends.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

1 Kingsnorth would have been the first coal-fired power station in the UK for more than 30 years.

2 If built, Kingsnorth will emit between 6 and 8 million tons of CO2 every year. If all the coal plants proposed for Britain are built, an extra 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year would be pumped into the atmosphere, almost a tenth of the UK’s current total emissions.

3 Ratcliffe-on-Soar is the UK’s third most polluting power station and emits more CO2 each year than Costa Rica.

4 climatecamp.org.uk/actions/climate-swoop-2009

5 leaveitintheground.org.uk/?p=185


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