UK - Climate protesters hijack coal train

[John Ashworth]

From Times Online
June 13, 2008
Climate protesters hijack train on way to largest UK power station
Hannah Strange

Climate change protesters today hijacked a train taking coal to a Yorkshire power station as part of a campaign to close the plant, one of the largest in Europe.

Around 20 protesters began shovelling coal out of the trucks after ambushing the train on a bridge over the River Aire. Other members of the group attached lines to the wheels and were hanging off them over the river to prevent the train moving, one of the activists said.

The train was stopped with a red flag just short of Drax power station in North Yorkshire, the smoking towers of which loomed in the distance as police gathered at the scene.

Most of protesters were dressed in white overalls with hoods and wearing white masks. One was dressed as a yellow bird.
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As well as shovelling coal from the load inside, the group unfurled a 15ft long yellow banner with the slogan “Leave It In The Ground!”

In front of the train a number of police officers gathered, apparently waiting to see what the protesters did next. A larger contingent of officers was stationed further down the track.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said: “We’ve been made aware of a number of protestors at Rawcliffe.

“British Transport Police and North Yorkshire Police are responding to the scene. No further details are available at present.”

The climate change campaigners are attempting to prevent the train — which they say is carrying 1,000 tonnes of coal to Drax — reaching the power station.

They claim that to tackle the threat of global warming effectively, Drax should be shut down immediately, as it is the largest single greenhouse gas polluter in the country.

The protesters said they would not leave the train until Drax’s chief executive, Dorothy Thompson, explained how the company’s emissions of 20 million tonnes of CO2 a year is compatible with tackling climate change.

One member of the group, Ben Tennyson, said: “We’ve stopped this train to prevent it delivering 1,000 tonnes of coal to be burned at Drax and then released into the atmosphere.

“If we’re serious about fighting climate change, we have to leave this dirty fuel in the ground and invest in clean, renewable energy sources instead.”

Managers at the power plant insist that they are working hard to tackle climate change, saying they are spending £180 million to cut emissions by three million tonnes a year through efficiency improvements and by “co-firing” the coal with renewable biomass fuels.

Melanie Wedgbury, head of external affairs at the plant, said: “We are the largest, cleanest, most efficient power station in the UK.

“For every unit of electricity we generate, we generate less CO2 than any other of the coal-fired stations. It’s purely because of our size that makes us the biggest CO2 producer.”

She said the action by the protesters had not had an impact on operations at the power plant, and there was no immediate danger of it doing so.

Drax produces enough electricity to power six million homes, supplying as much as 7 per cent of the country’s power needs.

[John Ashworth]

Coal train ambushed near power station in climate change protest

· Demonstrators unload contents on to railway line
· No effect on output, say plant management

* Martin Wainwright
* The Guardian,
* Saturday June 14 2008

Climate change campaigners halted a coal train yesterday outside Drax, Britain's biggest power station, and shovelled its contents on to the only line into the plant.

More than 20 tonnes of coal blocked the tracks as protesters strung ropes between the train and the girders of a river bridge as police watched from a distance. More than 30 protesters swarmed aboard the 21-wagon freight service. Hidden in banks of cow parsley beside the line to Drax, North Yorkshire they struck at 8am after watching two empty trains arrive to collect ash in the previous two hours.

The train had halted after unwittingly obeying an exact copy of railway emergency procedures. Posing as rail staff in fluorescent jackets, a small group of protesters waved red flags in a precise sequence to stop the EWS freight train on an iron girder bridge over the river Aire.

Most of the group then clambered up the bridge and dropped food, water and bedding for at least 24 hours from its overhead beams on to the flat tops of the trucks. "We've enough for at least two days," said Ben Tennyson, one of the Climate Camp activists, as a mobile lavatory was swung aboard by a woman campaigner dressed as a canary - coal-mining's traditional warning of danger. A banner was then draped along one of the trucks reading Leave it in the Ground - the slogan of the group's "total war" on mining and burning coal.

"We're stopping the train because it's absolute nonsense to be burning coal when we should be tackling climate change," another protester told a woman commuter, late for work, who was one of a jam of motorists blocked at nearby Hirst Courtney level crossing.

After a standoff which lasted all day, dozens of police officers - some in riot gear - surrounded the train last night and removed several of the protestors.

The protest was meticulously planned, with mobile phone Sim cards altered to avoid intercepts and shovellers given anti-pollution masks to avoid dust. Some of the demonstrators chained themselves to the train, forcing police to cut them free before they could be led away.

The campaigners promise more protests later this summer. This year's campaign will climax in August with the Climate Camp moving to the Kingsnorth power station site in Kent, from last year's base outside Heathrow airport.

Drax power station said output had not been affected and there was no immediate risk of any fuel shortfall. Drax supplies 7% of Britain's electricity.

The plant was unsuccessfully besieged by the Climate Camp two years ago, and the rail entry to the site is ringed with barbed wire.

Its head of external relations, Melanie Wedgbury, said: "We are the largest power station but also the cleanest and most efficient. It's only because we are the biggest that we produce the most CO2.

"For every unit of electricity we generate, we generate less CO2 than any other of the coal-fired stations."

The protest was criticised by Charles Hendry, the shadow energy minister, who said: "This disruption won't help save the planet. Whatever our concerns about the environment, we must be careful not to jeopardise our current energy security. Coal does have a role to play in the future but only if the carbon is captured and safely stored."