Chinese protestors have partial success

One of last week’s protests appears to have borne results. The chemical plant in central Hunan that was the focus of protests by local residents has been closed ‘forever’ according to Chinese media. Production at the plant was halted in March but now the plant will not re-open. The Xianghe Chemical Factory was cited in a number of incidents in the region, and after the deaths of two villagers, who were discovered to have high cadmium levels during autopsy, around 500 of 3,000 residents were found to have high cadmium levels during urine tests. As well as the permanent closure of the plant, it seems that its directors have been detained by police and the head of the local Environment Protection Bureau has been dismissed. There is no information yet on free healthcare for those affected by the cadmium, but thirty local residents were hospitalised as a result of the urine testing programme.

Israeli citizens protest against air pollution

On 4 August Greenpeace protestors disrupted the running of a coal-powered electric plant in Ashkelon, Israel in protest at the proposed construction of two further coal-powered electricity production plants. They chained themselves to the plant’s entrance gate and sixteen activists were arrested some of them already inside the plant’s grounds. The protest is high profile within Israel with several well-known Israeli entertainers having taken part in a Greenpeace-sponsored short film that claims that the new plants will increase air pollution in the area, as well as reducing Israel’s chances of meeting its international commitment to reduce greenhouse gases.

Australian activists protest for Pacific islanders

On Thursday, four environmental activists spent the night chained to the coal loader of the BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance’s Hay Point Export Coal Terminal in Queensland, Australia. Six Greenpeace protestors had already been arrested on Wednesday after chaining themselves to lower areas of the loader, but the four remained near the top of the fifty metre tall loader all night. Police had discussed removing the protestors but decided for safety reasons not to attempt a forced removal. The four finally came down voluntarily on Friday evening and gave themselves up to the police.

The protest is both about the failure of the Australian government to take tough enough action on climate change, and in support of Pacific Island groups who have asked for substantial emission cuts from Australia and New Zealand to help protect their land from rising sea levels.

Greenpeace activists courtesy of Greenpeace Media

Environmental Protest or YouTube Stunt?

In New South Wales, Australia on 29th June, wood-chipping company, Eden says that an anti-logging protest was staged on its premises, for reasons that weren’t worthwhile.

Environmental protestors chained themselves to a conveyor belt, protesting that environmental legislation neglected the needs of local wildlife but a spokesman for the plant said ‘… It didn’t affect us in any way and we just left them there until they decided that they felt like going home and they did. These days it’s as much about the show as it is about the reasons, so I guess the show must go on and sometimes the reasons are worthwhile and sometimes they are not.’

If it was worth having, we wouldn’t be getting it, says Judge

In a mordant comment on where polluting substances end up, County Municipal Court Judge Julie Monnin expressed concerns about a plan to sequester carbon dioxide 3,000 feet under Greenville Ohio. She fears the likely decline in property values and pointed out that the plant could lead to people need, and failing to get, man-made earthquake insurance. In her own words, ‘Folks, if it were a good thing, Greenville wouldn’t be getting it.’

The carbon dioxide comes from a nearby ethanol plant and will be injected underground, but before this can happen, large trucks would need to travel local roads, creating seismic shockwaves to test the ground, but these tests have been postponed for fear they would damage local agricultural drainage systems.

Guilty of unlawful protest, campaigners believe they did nothing illegal

In the UK today, 22 environmental protestors have been found guilty of unlawful protest. In June 2008 they boarded a train carrying coal into Drax Coal-Fired Power Station in Yorkshire, after two of their number posed as railway staff to flag it down, allowing others to mount the train and prevent it moving for 16 hours.  During their protest they poured coal on the tracks to stop the train moving.  The campaigners claimed in court that they had not done anything illegal because they were trying to prevent climate change, but the judge—who has said they will not face a custodial sentence—decided that their actions, and the £30,000 clean up operation that followed the protest, were illegal.

Drax power station courtesy of leedsyorkshire at flickr under a creative commons licence