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July 2010

The launch of Beat the Boreholes in Mayo!

By: 
Rossport Solidarity Camp

[Reminder - Come to welcome Pat O Donnell home at 2pm outside Castlerea Prison this Saturday 17th July] 

Yesterday saw the launch of "Beat the Boreholes"; a campaign of mass civil disobedience to stop Shell works in Mayo this Summer. At 7am in the morning campaigners entered the water in Broadhaven Bay in kayaks and a safety rib in a peaceful attempt to prevent Shell from bringing in a second borehole drilling platform. They were met with 5 Garda water unit boats, with approximately 16 Gardaí on board and 10 security boats. Campaigners attempted to approach the platform but were prevented from doing so by Gardaí who overturned their kayaks. Gardaí arrested 2 campaigners for minor Public Order offences and seized three kayaks, the safety rib & several paddles.

Link: 

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/97217&comment_limit=0&condense_comments=...

What Happened on the BP Oil Rig?

By: 
Rex Weyler - The Tyee

After the Deepwater well blew out, the first announcement from British Petroleum (BP) assured the public that "we have the best engineers in the world." Then they announced that the damaged well flowed at a rate of "one thousand barrels per day" (b/d).

Estimates now range between 50,000 and 150,000 b/d.

How do the "best engineers in the world" get this wrong by two orders of magnitude?

Link: 

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/06/18/WhatHappenedBP/

Hearing into Corrib gas pipeline to reopen

By: 
Lorna Siggins - Irish Times

AN BORD Pleanála is to reopen its oral hearing into the latest Corrib gas pipeline route application, which involves tunnelling under the protected habitat of Sruwaddacon estuary in north Mayo.

Link: 

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0715/1224274738797.html

Beat the Boreholes Launched!

By: 
Rossport Solidarity Camp

Following yesterday evenings water protests, in which one Shell to Sea campaigner was attacked by Gardaí, campaigners again took to the water this morning in an attempt to block Shell from putting in place a drilling platform which will be used to drill approximately 80 boreholes.


Today saw the launch of "Beat the Boreholes"; a campaign of mass civil disobedience to stop Shells boreholes. Up to 80 boreholes are planned in the Sruth Fhada Chonn estuary in the next 3 months. They are to provide a survey for the tunnel which Shell are proposing to build under the estuary to house the raw gas pipeline. Beat the Boreholes are asking people to pledge to "adopt" a borehole & take action to stop it being made. Groups are signing up fast with various actions planned such as mass walk outs on the sand, picnics on the beach & boarding the drilling rigs.

Shell to Sea campaigner attacked at sea last night

By: 
Shell to Sea

Garda tells campaigner, “I have your last breath in my hands”

At approximately 7pm last night a number of Shell to Sea campaigners entered the water in Broadhaven Bay in kayaks and rafts in a peaceful attempt to prevent Shell from bringing in a borehole drilling platform. They were met with 5 Garda water unit boats, with approximately 16 Gardaí on board.

Campaigners attempted to approach the platform but were prevented from doing so by Gardaí who overturned their kayaks.

One of the campaigners, Eoin Lawless managed to get close to the platform. When Gardaí overturned his kayak, he swam under the platform. A Garda then jumped into the water after him, and without giving any instruction proceeded to drag him from the water into the near by Garda boat.

Court Orders Shell to Pay N15.4 Billion for Oil Spill

By: 
Trading Markets

Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria has been ordered to pay the sum of N15.4 billion to the Ejama - Ebubu community in Tai Elema Local Government Area of Rivers state for polluting its environment through oil spills.

A Federal High Court ruling in Asaba ordered Shell to pay the sum as compensation for polluting the community after a case was instituted against the company in 2001 by the locals.

Link: 

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/rd_court-orders-shell-to-...

The Pipe Wins Major Award at Galway Film Fleadh

By: 
Michael Gallagher - Photographer - Indymedia

A documentary film four years in the making, The Pipe tells the story of the people of Rossport in the West of Ireland and the efforts of the Shell oil company to lay a pipeline through their community. The discovery of gas off this remote coastal village has led to the most dramatic clash of cultures in modern Ireland.

Link: 

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/97195

THE HOLE TRUTH

By: 
SchNEWS

AS SCHNEWS REPORTS FROM THE NEW ROSSPORT FRONTLINE..

Link: 

http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news7301.php

Shell to Sea Fisherman Pat “The Chief” O’Donnell to be released Saturday 17th July

Event Notice: Protest at Castlerea Prison, 14:00, Saturday 17th July.

Mayo fisherman Mr. Pat O’Donnell is due to be released after 158 days in prison on July 17th. Mr. O’Donnell was sentenced to 7 months imprisonment on relatively minor charges as a consequence of his opposition to Shell’s proposed inland refinery and experimental raw gas pipeline. Mr. O’Donnell is now the longest serving Shell to Sea prisoner. The Rossport 5 served 94 days in prison in 2005.    

 

Mr. O’Donnell possesses fishing rights along the pipeline route which are constitutionally protected and cannot legally be extinguished. He refused Shell’s offers of money to drop his opposition, opting instead to protect his livelihood.

 

[See a clip of Pat standing up to the Solitaire: http://www.thepipethefilm.com]