Last weekend’s climate change protest at Drax power station in North Yorkshire, England, was called off at the last minute after 27 activists were arrested and equipment including tents, cooking equipment, toilets and wheelchair tracks were confiscated.
symptom: Statement of Solidarity with RECLAIM THE POWER
Reclaim the Power, which organised the event, accused police of spending millions of public dollars to block a peaceful camp in the country’s largest carbon emitter, when resources could instead be focused on preventing violent fascist attacks.
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A statement released by Reclaim the Power, which organised the campaign, read: “Drax is desperate to divert our attention from the fact that the UK’s biggest carbon emitter receives £1.7m a day in public subsidies, and has just announced a £300m windfall for shareholders.
read: EMBER’S LATEST DRAX REPORT.
Draconian
“It is absolutely outrageous that police forces have wasted enormous resources on this massive operation to stop completely peaceful protests, when they could have been focusing on preventing the violence of fascist attacks across the country.
“Police claim they are ‘anti-crime, not anti-protest’, but their actions show otherwise. Yorkshire Police have prioritised identifying and arresting people suspected of organising peaceful protests using tents, toilets and wheelchair tracks, rather than identifying and arresting those organising far-right riots with bricks, knives and other weapons.”
Ariva Hamid, joint executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: “These preemptive arrests are a worrying legacy of the previous government’s crusade to restrict peaceful protest. Their only crime was to stage a peaceful protest camp against one of the UK’s worst polluters.
“The protesters were not throwing bricks or carrying assault weapons. The public’s heartening response to the racially motivated riots of the past few days is a powerful reminder of the vital role peaceful protest plays in our society.”
She added: “We must not give in to political attempts to demonise protesters, refugees and minorities. We have an opportunity to change course by making a clean break and allowing this new government to roll back some of the most vicious laws and create space for all voices to be heard without having to throw bricks.”
It costs a lot of money
Reclaim the Power is a UK-based direct action network fighting for environmental, social and economic justice. We aim to build a broad movement and work with frontline communities to effectively confront environmentally destructive industries and the social and economic forces driving climate change.
Drax Power Station, located near Selby in North Yorkshire, is the world’s largest wood biomass power station and the UK’s largest carbon emitter. Drax sources its raw materials from around the world, primarily the US, Canada and the Baltics. Drax’s wood pellet production facilities, located primarily in environmental justice communities, emit significant amounts of pollutants such as PM10, PM2.5 and VOCs, which affect respiratory and lung health.
The UK government considers wood biomass to be carbon neutral, but burning wood can produce more emissions than burning coal. This allows Drax to receive renewable energy grants (CfD and ROC). Drax has also added £7 billion to its energy bills since 2012 to fund biomass production.
Climate Think Tank, EmberDrax emitted 11.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide last year alone, accounting for around 3% of the country’s total carbon emissions. The power station emitted four times more greenhouse gases than the country’s only coal-fired power station, Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire.
“Burning wood pellets can be as bad for the environment as coal,” said Frankie Mayo, an analyst at Ember. “Supporting biomass with subsidies is a costly mistake.”
This author
Brendan Montague is the editor. Ecologist.
