Also by jamess

Cairn fails to find Arctic oil

Posted by jamess - 26 October 2010 at 3:41pm - Comments

One of Cairn's tugs, towing an iceberg out the way of its Arctic oil rig

Bing. Email received. Cairn Energy sent its “Greenland Operational Update” this morning at 7.05am with news to investors of its Arctic drilling. Despite its best efforts to put a positive spin on the news, the important words stood out:

“Plugged”, and “abandoned” for its first two drill sites. “Primary objectives were not reached” for number three, with “further re-entry work depending on the results of further evaluation”.

The media were more blunt, with headlines saying “Cairn Energy fails in Arctic oil drilling”.

Article tagged as: arctic, bill gammell, cairn, cairn energy, go beyond oil, oil spill

BP funding climate change deniers in US elections

Posted by jamess - 25 October 2010 at 2:18pm - Comments

In 2009, our US campaigners protested against Big Oil-funded spin which aimed to nobble the climate change debate

If you ever wanted to witness the grimy political hand of Big Oil, now's your chance: it's US mid-term election time.

The web of dirty money is global, with BP and other European companies complicit in funding climate change denier candidates for the US senate.

Article tagged as: climate change, go beyond oil, lobbying, us elections

Another victory over dirty coal as Kingsnorth plans scrapped

Posted by jamess - 21 October 2010 at 3:42pm - Comments

Emily Hall - one of the Kingsnorth Six - on the coal station's chimney stack

Crack out the balloons and the (recycled) paper hats - it's party time.

Kingsnorth is shelved. Again. Yesterday the news came out that Eon, the company behind the plans for the first new coal plant in the UK in over 30 years was scrapping its proposal to build another climate-wrecking monster to replace its current power station in Kent.

Article tagged as: coal, kingsnorth, success

George has yet to live up to his promises

Posted by jamess - 20 October 2010 at 6:06pm - Comments

So at least we know they got the message. Giving his speech on the government cuts today, George Osborne said:

“Yesterday, protestors scaled the Treasury urging us to proceed with our idea for a Green Investment Bank. Mr Speaker, it's the first time anyone has protested in favour of a bank.”

The Chancellor went on to say the government was going to setup the bank. But only with £1bn. And even that only comes in 2013.

So there's still a long way to go until we have a green bank that has the power and independence to support low-carbon programmes across the country.

Article tagged as: climate change, csr, george osborne

George's top 10 green promises

Posted by jamess - 19 October 2010 at 6:44am - Comments

A few moments ago, four of our activists scaled the Treasury building where George Osborne works to deliver him a reminder: Green Bank = New Jobs

Right now he’s finalising the package of government cuts and spending that’s going to be released tomorrow, but we don’t want to see the potential for a green economy and new jobs squeezed out by the spending review.

Article tagged as: climate change, george osborne, green investment bank, jobs

Oil companies answer to who?

Posted by jamess - 12 October 2010 at 5:55pm - Comments

Now that I'm out of the water, off the Esperanza and back on dry land, I've been thinking about what it takes to stop not just one oil rig but all of them.

There's no dodging the fact that the oil industry is immense. In the North sea, where we confronted Chevron, companies have spent more money on extracting oil in the region than NASA spent putting a man on the moon. In the Gulf of Mexico, where BP's Deepwater Horizon platform exploded this summer, there are over 3,500 other rigs ready to bore away at the seabed.

Article tagged as: BP, chevron, climate change, drilling, financial risk, go beyond oil, legal & general, oil, pension, UN

Are you a secret superhero?

Posted by jamess - 4 October 2010 at 1:34pm - Comments

Scrubbing the toilets this morning a bizarre thought crossed my mind: I’m going to miss this. The squeaky whiteboard, with our names for the 8am cleaning rota, reads: Messroom/Leila, Lounge/Frank, Showers/Victor, Alleyways/Elena, Laundry/Ben and Toilets … James.

A strange thing to miss perhaps, cleaning the ‘heads’ – my ship lingo is rapidly expanding – but it’s another part of the daily routine that has defined the communal life on board our floating Esperanza.

This is a working ship and everyone is busy pretty much all the time. Whether it’s in the engine room, the galley, the fitter’s workshop, the Radio Operator’s room, up on the bridge or out on deck, there are always things to do, just to keep a ship going.

Article tagged as: cairn, chevron, climate change, go beyond oil, oil spill

Going beyond oil is also about peace

Posted by jamess - 2 October 2010 at 4:11pm - Comments

Everyone’s got their personal reasons for taking action. For me, deciding to jump in front of a moving drill ship was not only about protecting the environment and stopping climate change, it was also about peace. Our addiction to oil fuels conflict, corrupts governments and destroys lives.

Article tagged as: BP, climate change, go beyond oil, oil spill, peace, war

BP's got a new boss - can he fix it?

Posted by jamess - 1 October 2010 at 4:01pm - Comments

Today BP’s got a new boss, Mr Bob Dudley. Like anyone who starts a new job, he could do with a bit of advice.

Taking over from the gaffe-prone Tony Hayward - who headed the company during the Deepwater Horizon disaster - Bob’s hoping to draw a line under the world’s biggest oil spill and start again.

And we want to help him. We want to like BP. We believe it could be the kind of company that pioneers clean energy technology and doesn’t invest in dirty fossil fuels. It could be a company that deserves a green sunflower as its logo.

Article tagged as: bob dudley, BP, climate change, go beyond oil, tar sands

We're out of the water, but it's not over

Posted by jamess - 29 September 2010 at 7:01pm - Comments

After a mammoth 50 hours in the water in front of their drill ship, following 100 hours on Chevron's anchor chain, the oil giant's lawyers have again stopped our protest.

Last night we received news over the ship's radio that Chevron had gained another injunction against us, preventing us from interfering in any way with their operation - otherwise face massive daily fines.

We pulled our last swimmers out of the water yesterday afternoon at about four, all of us exhausted after round-the-clock shifts to block the 228-metre Stena Carron from reaching its drill spot.

Article tagged as: chevron, deepwater drilling, go beyond oil, oil, shetland, stena carron, swimming

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