Within hours of each other two telling decisions were announced which bring some justifiable comfort (but not complacency) to Greenpeace and other environmental groups.
EDF Guilty of Spying on Greenpeace
Firstly, the French courts found the nuclear energy supplier, EDF, guilty of spying on the French Greenpeace offices. Evidence found that they were hacking computers, putting viruses into networks as well as compiling dossiers on UK Greenpeace activists. Those involved have been handed custodial sentences and fines. In addition EDF has been fined 1.5 million Euros and ordered to pay half a million Euros in damages to Greenpeace.
Speaking from alongside the new Rainbow Warrior, currently on its maiden voyage and docked in London, Greenpeace UK's executive director, John Sauven, said: "The evidence presented at the trial showed that the espionage undertaken by EDF in its efforts to discredit Greenpeace was both extensive and totally illegal."
The following links to the story as reported by Channel 4 http://bcove.me/jydnrv66
Earlier this week Bristol Greenpeace members attended a debate on nuclear energy policy and have recently supported protests organised by No New Nuclear against EDF's plans to build new nuclear reactors in Somerset.
US President Delays Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline
Secondly, President Obama, has announced a reassessment of the environmental impact of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that proposes to pump oil from the Canadian Tar Sands development to the US. This will delay any decision on building the pipeline until 2013 and it is thought by some that it effectively kills off the project.
Last weekend, some 12,000 people encircled the White House in protest to the pipeline. This, along with hundreds of thousands of emails, phone calls, tweets, and Facebook messages sent a clear message to the President about the scale of opposition to the reckless pipeline project. It sounds like he and his advisors listened! To coincide with the White House protest, Bristol Greenpeace showed the film Dirty Oil on Tar Sands last weekend.
Comments