In a bold and audacious move Greenpeace UK is taking the Government to the High Court in a bid to halt deepwater drilling for oil in UK waters. Lawyers filed a claim at the Royal Courts of Justice on Friday (12th Nov) seeking to stop the issuing of new licences for deep sea drilling until the causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion have been properly established. Greenpeace is no stranger to initiating legal action and has been successful in challenging the nuclear power industry and the bid for Heathrow's third runway. Click here for more information on the reasons why we are taking court action.
Oil Industry Woes
Just a few weeks ago, US oil giant, Chevron, admitted that drilling in the deep waters off Shetland could cause a spill worse than the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Chevron is currently drilling the Lagavulin prospect around 160 miles north of the Shetland Islands in 1,569m of water - deeper than BP's ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico. The video above shows Greenpeace swimmers who hampered Chevron's activities for a week in September.
Another embarrassing admission has come from Cairn Energy who now say they have now pulled the plug on their exploration in the deep Arctic waters after failing to locate substantial oil reserves - this is despite initial wild claims to the contrary from company boss, Bill Gammell.
Let's hope their shareholders get the message that deepwater drilling is simply not worth the investment.
Meanwhile in Bristol ....
Another successful day (Sat 13th Nov) campaigning on the streets of Clifton garnered lots more signatures - a fantastic 129 to be precise. These will be presented to local MPs in advance of the debate on the forthcoming Energy Security and Green Economy Bill. Thanks to Wilf, Fi, Julio, Richard and Carly for braving the 'cool' but thankfully dry weather.
P.S. Why not check out this wesite's new link to Greenpeace's own YouTube site
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