Skip to content or view screen version

BP shut down in Plymouth over Tar Sands oil

Kernow Anarchist Network | 09.04.2010 14:44 | Tar Sands | Climate Chaos | Ecology

On Thursday 8 April, Plymouth Rising Tide and Kernow Anarchist Network blockaded the BP garage in Ridgeway, Plymouth, to highlight the environmental destruction caused by the Tar Sands project. The garage was closed for an hour and two activists who were locked onto petrol pumps were arrested.

The Tar Sands are a vast reserve of oil in the Canadian wilderness. Extracting oil from it produces 3 to 5 times as much greenhouse gases as from conventional oil. (1) The development covers an area the size of England, with toxic ponds so huge they are visible from space, leaking poisons into the local water supply. Indigenous communities, on whose land the extraction has been imposed, are seeing high rates of rare forms of cancer and respiratory disease. (2)

Michelle Roberts from Kernow Anarchist Network said: “The Tar Sands are the most destructive project on earth, fuelling climate chaos and mass deforestation, and trampling on indigenous rights. It would be criminal of BP to go ahead with it.”

This action is part of the BP Tar Sands Fortnight of Shame, a national fortnight of action leading up to BP’s annual general meeting on 15th April, when they will make a final decision as to whether to go into their first Tar Sands extraction project, ‘Sunrise.’ (3)

For further information please contact:
 plymouth@risingtide.org.uk
 kernowaction@gmail.com
Or go to:
 http://risingtide.org.uk/plymouth
 http://kernowaction.wordpress.com

Notes for editors:
1  http://stoptarsands.wordpress.com/threats/#a
2  http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/about/
3  http://tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/bp-fortnight-of-shame/

Kernow Anarchist Network
- e-mail: kernowaction@gmail.com

Additions

Photos

09.04.2010 22:25

BP1
BP1

BP2
BP2

BP3
BP3

BP4
BP4

Here are some photos from the action

Kernow Anarchist Network


Comments

Hide the following 2 comments

D-locks on petrol pumps

09.04.2010 15:14

Unfortunately locking BP pumps together doesn't seem to work - the cops realised after half an hour that they could just about pull the pumps out. I've seen an Indymedia report of this working at Shell but they must have bigger pumps. Still, the garage stayed shut for an hour :)

Kia


shut-off switch

09.04.2010 15:48

All petrol garages have a prominent safety shut-off switch, depending on the exact design of it you can sometimes lock it shut or maybe even smash the end of it so it can't be switched back on again.

As for the pumps, maybe chains are better than D-Locks because you could lock them as tight as possible.

pixy