UPDATE: Protesters leave coal mine after successful demonstration
Press release
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Successful protest exposes ‘black hole’ in climate change policy
Tuesday, 1st April, 2008: At the finale of today’s occupation of Ffos-y-Fran opencast coal mine, Merthyr Tydfil, south Wales, a group of protesters unfurled a 36 metre banner across the main building stating “Coal: the black hole in UK climate policy.” Thirty-six metres is the distance between the mine and local residents’ homes.
Protesters occupied the mine since 6am this morning, barricading the main entrance to the site, climbing on the roof of the coal washery and chaining themselves to machinery. The action halted work at the mine, one of the biggest in the country, before protesters left this afternoon.
Protester Esther Tew, who sat on top of an eight metre high Komatsu digger for most of the day, said: “We just want the Government to take its own climate policies seriously. By supporting opencast mining at Ffos-y-Fran and encouraging the building of new coal power stations, Gordon Brown is undermining any chance the UK has of making the 60% cuts in emissions the Government is currently committing to, let alone the 80% target the climate change committee is likely to recommend at the end of the year.”
The protest at the Ffos-y-Fran site highlights the hypocrisy of the UK Government, which claims to be taking climate change seriously while approving new coal mines and coal-fired power stations.
Coal has the biggest climate impact of any fuel - despite opposition from the world’s leading scientists, the Government is supporting an outdated and dangerous technology that has no future.
Local residents have opposed the scheme for many years, and invited protesters to Merthyr last December to support their campaign. In England and Scotland, the scheme would have been rejected due to legislation requiring a 500 metre buffer zone between opencast mines and residential areas.
As the team leave the mine for the pub after a hard day’s work, others around the world are picking up their banners and getting ready to expose the ‘fossil fools’ making a mockery of climate change policy. In the US there are at least 100 ‘Fossil Fools’ protests planned later today.
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