17
November 2008 - Konin, Poland — Our team
at the Climate Rescue Station in Poland
joined 400 local people who live close to
an open coal mine for a mass demonstration.
Seven mayors from nearby villages and towns,
which are facing destruction because of
the mine's expansion, also attended.
Our Climate Rescue Station
- a four-storey-tall planet Earth - is sitting
on the edge of the vast open pit mine in
opposition to the expansion of coal-fired
power plants, in Poland and the world. The
station contains exhibitions and information
about coal and its impacts, and visitors
can learn such suprising facts as this:
one third of CO2 pollution comes from coal,
making it the single biggest cause of climate
change.
Poland uses coal for
over 90 percent of its electricity production,
more than double the world average, and
is a major contributor to global warming.
Poland is one of the top 20 states in the
world for CO2 emissions.
Mayors and politicians
supported action against the mine
"My people and I oppose the expansion
of the mine because it will destroy the
village we live in and force us to move,"
said Jozef Imbiorski, mayor of Tomislawice
village.
Jozef Drzazgowski, leader
of a local opposition group added, "Lakes
are disappearing, forests are drying up
and farmers are complaining that they do
not have enough water to irrigate their
lands. Expansion of the mines is not an
option for thousands of inhabitants of this
area."
Polish potential
Climate change is the biggest economic,
humanitarian and environmental threat mankind
is facing. Our Energy [R]evolution scenario,
a detailed study of future energy pathways,
shows how Poland can help solve the climate
crisis by moving away from coal, using clean
energy sources and implement energy efficiency.
By 2050 Poland could produce 80 percent
of its electricity from renewable energy
resources.
On 1 December, 2008,
a crucial UN climate conference will open
in Poznan, Poland. On 8 December, a week
into the talks, the Climate Rescue Station
will be moved to Poznan Wolnosci Square
where it will continue to send a message
to delegates attending the climate talks
to get serious about climate change, quit
coal and work towards a meaningful deal
to save the climate.
In Poznan, governments
must agree a vision for climate action that
should include the goal of global emissions
peaking by 2015 and which contains emissions
cuts of 25-40 percent by 2020 for developed
countries. They must table a draft text
for negotiations to begin early next year,
so that they can be completed by the conclusion
of the talks, taking place in Copenhagen
at the end of 2009.
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Rainbow Warrior impounded
by Dutch police
17 November 2008 - Netherlands
— The Rainbow Warrior has been impounded
and the captain arrested after it was boarded
by the police three times over the weekend.
The ship was part of a protest against the
new coal fired power station that E.ON is
building next to their existing climate-changing
coal plant. The Rainbow Warrior together
with one of our other ships - the Beluga
II - were blocking the coal port of Rotterdam
to stop any coal ships from entering. After
spending the day surrounded by police boats
they were eventually forced to leave the
coal port in the evening.
The police aggressively
took control of the ship, forcing the captain
to end the blockade and leave the coal port.
The captain arrested and taken for questioning
by the police. Our other smaller ship, Beluga
II, maintained its position to continue
blockading the coal port. But her captain
was also arrested and the ship has been
impounded along with the Rainbow Warrior.
If only the Dutch government
would deal with climate change so aggressively.
Instead - the big polluters get a free reign
and protesters are silenced immediately.
But we wil not remain silent. The Quit Coal
Tour continues and the campaign against
E.ON and new coal in the Netherlands will
only strengthen.
E.ON switched OFF
Before the ship blockade,
nearly 100 activists from 18 different countries
occupied the construction site where E.ON
is building a new climate-changing coal
plant. They remained at the site for the
whole day before being removed by special
police.
Burning coal is the
single greatest cause of climate change.
Our flagship, the Rainbow Warrior, has been
sailing across the Mediterranean and Europe,
together with the Arctic Sunrise - calling
for this region to quit coal and save the
climate.
Governments need to
get serious
We're taking this message
all the way to Poland where UN climate negotiations
will take place in December. We're asking
governments to get serious and start phasing
out coal. This is essential in order to
achieve the emissions reductions required
to avoid catastrophic climate change.
Our societies – industries,
schools, homes – can use energy more efficiently,
reducing pollution and saving money. Clean
renewable energy such as wind, wave and
solar power can and must be harnessed to
provide global energy needs and cut carbon
emissions. Our energy [r]evolution blueprint
for Europe demonstrates that phasing out
nuclear power and massively reducing CO2
emissions is possible.
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Activists demand nuclear
plant closed
20 November 2008 - Spain
— Sixty activists are at the Garoña
nuclear power plant in Spain to demand that
the Spanish government makes good on its
commitment to start phasing out nuclear
power plants, starting now with the immediate
closure of the Garoña power plant.
Activists worked quickly
to set up camp inside a shipping container
at the main entrance of the plant. Meanwhile,
another group of activists chained themselves
to the nuclear plant's main gate with banners
reading: Garoña, cierre ya (Garoña,
immediately closing).
Nuclear? No thanks!
Earlier this year, the PSOE (Spanish socialist
party) committed to the “gradual replacement
of the nuclear energy in Spain for secure,
clean and less expensive energies, closing
nuclear power plants (…) promoting energy
saving, energy efficiency and renewable
energies, as well as distributed generation
and local transport and distribution frameworks.”
We are calling on the Spanish government
to fulfill its promise to the people of
Spain and start phasing out nuclear power
immediately.
1001 cracks
Opened in 1971, Garoña
is an obsolete plant with serious safety
problems. Its licence is due to end in July
2009. However, in its zeal to obtain more
benefits, the owner company, Nuclenor (50
percent Endesa-50 percent Iberdrola), has
asked for a 10 year extension. That’s ten
more years of unsafe nuclear power, even
after the people have called for a closing
of the plant.
Garoña’s contribution
to the Spanish electric system in 2007 was
only 3.478 Gwh, which is only 1.28 percent
of the entire electricity generation of
that year in Spain. Renewable energy's contribution
in the same year was 62.081 Gwh, 9.61 percent
more than 2006. This increase in renewable
energy between 2006 and 2007 is close to
double the annual contribution of the Garoña
nuclear power plant, making the plant obsolete.
Garoña, known
as the "1001 cracks plant", is
“out of the legal requirements” regarding
security because of its multiple cracks
and corrosion around different parts of
the reactor's jar (the heart of a nuclear
power plant, where the uranium is sheltered.)
This problem affects 70 percent of the pipes
that cross the reactor's jar and which drive
the control bars inside of it, allowing
them to work as the stopping system of the
nuclear reaction. This is clear evidence
of the depletion of Garoña's safe
and useful life. Even more worrying, as
the Nuclear Safety Council recognised to
the Parliament, is that the cracking process
is continually deteriorating with time.
Nuclear free Spain
There is no economic,
energy, environmental or social warrant
for the Spanish government to break its
commitment to close Garoña and phase
out nuclear energy in Spain completely.
Garoña’s small contribution to energy
production is more than compensated by the
annual increase of renewable electricity
in Spain. The plant has serious and dangerous
cracks and corrosion problems and the government
has already agreed to an end to this dangerous
and insufficient form of energy.
