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Extinction Rebellion Shuts Down UK Coal Mine Operating Without License
"The authorities are missing in action," said one campaigner. "If they won't step in to stop illegal, planet-wrecking coal mining, we will."
Jul 05, 2023
On the heels of the world's two hottest days on record, U.K. climate activists on Wednesday shut down an open-cast coal mine in Wales that has been operating without a license since last summer.
"We have today done what the Welsh government, the U.K. government, and the local council have failed to do—shut down the operations of the U.K.'s largest coal mine which has been operating without a license since September last year," Extinction Rebellion (XR) activist Marcus Bailie of Caerphilly said in a statement.
The 68-year-old is among Extinction Rebellion's Cymru/Wales and U.K. members who locked themselves to the group's pink boat, which was used to blockade the access road between the Ffos-y-Fran mine and its depot early Wednesday. Because of the new "Public Order Act," the activists face the threat of up to 51 weeks in jail.
"We aim to stop operations until at least the weekend and we are calling for as many people as possible to come down to support us and make this happen."
"We aim to stop operations until at least the weekend and we are calling for as many people as possible to come down to support us and make this happen," Bailie explained. "It would be crazy if the mine owner or the government instructed the police to move against us just so the mine owners can continue what is an illegal operation."
While sitting on top of the boat, Liz Pendleton of XR United Kingdom declared: "The authorities are missing in action. If they won't step in to stop illegal, planet-wrecking coal mining, we will."
Permission for coal mining at Ffos-y-Fran was initially granted in 2005. Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd., the company behind the mine, hoped to extend operations until March 2024 and push its promised restoration of the site to June 2026.
A local council in April rejected the proposed extension and in May issued a notice to end coal extraction at the mine. That notice took effect last week, giving Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd. 28 days to stop digging, but the company is now appealing.
As the BBC reported last week:
The Welsh government said on Wednesday morning it understood the company was appealing.
A spokesman added that it could not comment further as it may "jeopardize any future decision Welsh ministers may have to make on the matter."
Mining firm Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd confirmed an appeal had "been lodged with the Welsh ministers" and said it could not comment further while the appeal process was ongoing.
"We are extremely disappointed, and frustrated, to hear that the mining company has appealed the enforcement action," Chris Austin, who lives near the mine and has campaigned against it as part of the United Valleys Action Group, told the BBC. "If accepted, the appeal could take 12 months or more to resolve, so we again urge that a 'stop order' be put in place whilst this appeal is determined."
Mel Price, who also lives near the site and joined XR's action, said Wednesday that "the mine owners have drawn millions in dividends while local residents have to tolerate all the noise and pollution caused by an illegal mine. The carbon emissions continue and the scar on the landscape gets bigger."
"The government and the legal system are prepared to lock up peaceful protesters for trying to stop fossil fuel companies and investors from profiting from the destruction of our planet, yet they are not prepared to stop illegal mining, so we are making a stand," Price continued. "If the police decide to arrest us, they will be acting without probable cause and against their own interests as they are the ones who will have to rescue people from the floods and the fires—is this what we really want?"
"The law of aggravated trespass is quite clear in that it must be obstruction of a lawful activity and it is quite clear that this mine is operating illegally," Price added. "So, the decision will have to be made by the authorities about, 'Who are the criminals here?'"
In addition to XR's boat blockade, a group called No More Coal is organizing a peaceful march on the mine for Saturday morning.
Given that the mining company has kept operating for months and "no one seems able to stop them," Bailie said, "we've had to take matters into our own hands by coming here to demand they stop extracting and shipping coal immediately and for good."
"We encourage hundreds, even thousands, of people to come from all over the country to march on Ffos-y-Fran to tell them that we, the people, say no more," the activist added, pointing to Saturday's event.
The coal protest came after The Guardian reported Tuesday that the Conservative U.K. government plans to drop its £11.6 billion ($14.75 billion) international climate pledge. The newspaper noted Wednesday that "although the Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) said such claims were 'false,' a leaked briefing showed that ministers were being prepared for the target not being met because of government cuts to aid funding, underspending, and new commitments such as aid for Ukraine."
The reporting outraged climate campaigners, including branches of Extinction Rebellion. XR Islington charged that "this is murderous madness" while the Havering group tweeted that "'saving' money is a lie and a false economy when it comes to climate action. The cost is not just in money but in human suffering. Inaction will cost us and the rest of the world far more in the long run."
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UK's Secret TTIP Assessment: No Benefits, Plenty of Risks
'Yet again this toxic trade deal is exposed as being full of harmful consequences for ordinary people'
Apr 26, 2016
The TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) would have "lots of risks and no benefits" for the UK, according to a government analysis released publicly Monday through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the advocacy group Global Justice Now.
The only assessment of the TTIP conducted by the UK government on the risk of introducing a closed corporate court system described as "investor protection" found that:
- There is little reason to think an EU-US investment chapter will provide the UK with significant economic benefits.
- There is little reason to think an EU-US investment chapter will provide the UK with significant political benefits.
- There is some reason to expect an EU-US investment chapter to impose meaningful economic costs on the UK. Based on Canada's experience under NAFTA, we would expect US investors to regularly invoke an EU-US investment chapter against the UK for governmental actions that would normally not be challengeable under UK law.
"All in all, it is doubtful UK investors will find additional protections from an EU-US investment protection treaty beyond those currently provided, and enforced, under U.S. law," according to the 2013 study (pdf), conducted by the London School of Economics and commissioned by the government's Department for Business Industry and Skills (BIS).
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, said, "Introducing a system of secret corporate courts under the TTIP would be a fundamental shift in trade and legal policies, so it's staggering that the government is pushing us into it with almost no assessment of what the risks are for our policymakers or the taxpayers. What's even worse is that the one assessment the government has commissioned shows that there are many risks and no benefit."
"Yet again this toxic trade deal is exposed as being full of harmful consequences for ordinary people, and new powers and privileges for corporate elites," Dearden said.
War on Want campaign director John Hilary told Morning Star, "This confirms that David Cameron has been misleading British citizens when talking up the benefits of TTIP."
"We have challenged the UK government time and again to show us any evidence that TTIP will be good for ordinary people," Hilary said. "Now we know why it has failed to provide that evidence--because they have none."
Opponents of TTIP fear that the investor protection component, formally known as the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS), would give corporations the power to sue governments over national policies that affect the companies' profits.
For example, under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which includes similar investor protections, tobacco giant Philip Morris sued Uruguay and Australia in 2010 and 2012, respectively, over their health warnings on cigarette packages. Australia won its legal battle against the company in December 2015, while the fight in Uruguay remains ongoing.
Monday's revelations came as U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, UK Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi convened in Germany to discuss the deal. Over the weekend, Obama attempted to peddle the TTIP as an "indisputable" benefit to the economy.
TTIP negotiators are in New York now until Friday for the 13th round of talks on the deal.
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UK Privatization Puts Final Nail in Royal Mail's Coffin
Leading trade union decries sell-off, saying Tory party 'has made it abundantly clear that they are only interested in privatization dogma and making the rich richer'
Oct 12, 2015
Workers are decrying the demise of "one of the great inventions of our social history" after the British government announced on Monday that it was completing the privatization of the UK's state-run mail service by selling off its final 14 percent stake.
In a press statement, the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills said that "current market conditions should allow a successful sale," Guardian reporting indicated that banks are hopeful the shares would be sold for less than a 5 percent discount on the Royal Mail's share price.
Since the Royal Mail sell-off was first announced in 2013, it has been criticized by the country's leading trade unions as a deal where only "the rich get richer."
On Monday, the Communications Workers Union (CWU) issued a statement saying the privatization underscores the Tory party's commitment to austerity "ideology" over the interests of the British people.
"This fire sale nails the lie that the Tories stand up for the interests of ordinary people," said CWU general secretary Dave Ward. "By their actions today, they have made it abundantly clear that they are only interested in privatizing dogma and making the rich richer- even when their actions place public services at risk."
In June, the UK government sold half of its then-remaining stake, roughly 15 percent. Ward said this final portion "should have been used to safeguard the public's voice in Royal Mail and ensure the continuation of daily deliveries to every address in the country."
"The Tories have instead chosen and ideological course that puts the fundamental ethos of a centuries old national institution in jeopardy," he added.
The announcement comes one week after the recently-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gave a rousing speech demanding that the remaining shares be kept in public control.
"Our party is committed to opposing austerity, committed to opposing the privatization of Royal Mail, committed to the public control of Royal Mail and other public services," he told a rally outside Manchester Cathedral. "We must demand immediately an end to the whole notion to the sale of the remaining 15 percent that is publicly owned--keep it public, keep it safe, keep it ours."
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After Nearly $20 Million Spent Watching Assange, Scotland Yard Ends 24-Hour Guard Outside Embassy
After charging £12.6 million over three years to stand guard outside embassy, cordon removed in favor of new 'overt and covert tactics'
Oct 12, 2015
UK police have withdrawn from their round-the-clock cordon outside of the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has lived under asylum for the past three years.
Metropolitan police said the stakeout project cost PS12.6 million ($19.4 million) and was "no longer proportionate." However, they said they would still try to arrest Assange, who is wanted in Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations.
Instead of posting uniformed guards at the embassy, police said they would employ "overt and covert tactics" to nab the Australian journalist. However, as Wikileaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told the BBC, the change in operation would not affect Assange. "They will still arrest Julian if he steps outside the embassy, so there is no real change to the situation other than the removal of uniformed police officers," Hrafnsson said.
In remarks to Sputnik News, he added, "I don't think I'd call anything a victory unless the siege was called off and Julian is allowed to enjoy the political asylum that he was granted fully in compliance with international law by the Ecuadorian government. So this doesn't make a huge difference in my mind; it's obvious that the Metropolitan police is somewhat reacting to the outrage among the public for spending over PS12 million on this ridiculous attempt to arrest him."
Assange, who helped publish a cache of U.S. military and State Department documents in 2010, has said he fears his arrest would lead to extradition to the U.S., where WikiLeaks has been under investigation and could face trial for his role in the leaks. He has invited Swedish prosecutors to interview him at the embassy, but they have repeatedly rejected his offers.
The logjam has prompted squabbles between the UK and Ecuadorian governments, each of which has accused the other of blocking progress on the case. Ecuador's acting Foreign Minister Xavier Lasso in August rejected a formal complaint from the UK's Foreign Office over the legal gridlock, stating, "The republic of Ecuador will not take lessons from any foreign government, least of all those that are unaware of the institution of political asylum, its legitimacy, attached and enshrined in international law, and its humanitarian nature based on the sovereign equality of nations."
"The British government has the sole responsibility for such an invasive and unnecessary police deployment," Lasso said.
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New Fracking Licenses in UK Sound 'Starting Gun' of Fight for Climate Future
Government hands out dozens of new drilling licenses after giving ministers more power to undermine local authorities
Aug 19, 2015
On Tuesday, the UK government issued dozens of new drilling licenses to energy companies seeking to launch fracking operations in rural areas. This came just days after officials imbued ministers with new powers to fast-track fossil fuel exploration against residents' wishes.
The Oil and Gas Authority issued 27 new drilling licenses to 12 energy firms, covering roughly 1,000 square miles of northern UK. Another 132 licenses are expected to come later this year.
From here, the companies must apply for drilling permits from local councils. But new rules adopted last week will now make it easier for government officials to step in and approve such bids without waiting for their decisions. That could open up swaths of UK land to harmful and controversial drilling operations like hydraulic fracturing or fracking, which involves shooting water and chemicals at high pressures into rock formations that hold shale gas.
Climate activists fighting the expansion slammed the issuing of new licenses.
"This is the starting gun on the fight for the future of our countryside," said Daisy Sands, head of Greenpeace UK's energy campaign. "Hundreds of battles will spring up to defend our rural landscapes from the pollution, noise, and drilling rigs that come with fracking."
Sands also noted that the move comes just weeks after Lancashire County officials rejected a bid by energy firm Cuadrilla to open up a fracking site in the area. Cuadrilla was one of the 12 companies which received a drilling license on Tuesday.
"It seems clear that the government is responding to the vigorous lobbying from the fracking companies by ignoring both the economic and environmental evidence that clean, renewable energy is a far better bet for investment and the planet," Sands said.
Added Andrew Pendleton, head of campaigns at Friends of the Earth UK, "Offering licenses to frack will cause yet more anxiety for people living under the cloud of fracking. The Government is allowing companies to drill right through aquifers that supply household drinking water."
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Ecuador Accuses UK of Defying Laws of Political Aslyum in Assange Case
Foreign Minister says it is 'not acceptable' for UK to blame Ecuador over WikiLeaks founder's deadlocked legal case
Aug 17, 2015
Ecuador on Monday responded to the UK government over its statements on the languishing legal case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living in asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than three years.
Last week, the UK's Foreign Office lodged a formal protest against Ecuador for blocking Assange's case from moving forward, claiming that giving him asylum prevents Britain from extraditing Assange to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations. The Foreign Office called his extradition a legal obligation.
Ecuador's acting Foreign Minister, Xavier Lasso, rejected those claims. "It is not acceptable to try to place the responsibility for the lack of progress in this area over the last five years on Ecuador," he said Monday. "The republic of Ecuador will not take lessons from any foreign government, least of all those unaware of the institution of political asylum, its legitimacy, attached and enshrined in international law, and its humanitarian nature based on the sovereign equality of nations."
The British government had previously threatened to "violate the immunity of diplomatic premises" and has kept a police cordon outside the embassy around the clock at a sky-high cost to taxpayers, Lasso said. "The British government has the sole responsibility for such an invasive and unnecessary police deployment."
Three of the four investigations pending against Assange were dropped last week after the ability to bring charges expired. The WikiLeaks founder has repeatedly invited Swedish prosecutors to interview him at the embassy, but they have rejected those requests. Assange has said he fears that submission to Swedish authorities will lead to his extradition to the U.S. due to his work exposing classified Pentagon and State Department documents.
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