Greenpeace UK have been served with an injunction in an
attempt to end the organisation’s occupation of a BP oil rig in
the Cromarty Firth, Scotland.
As the standoff between the oil giant BP and Greenpeace
entered its third day, contractors working for BP have taken out
an interdict - the Scottish law equivalent of an injunction - in
a bid to prevent the environmental activists from blocking the
platform.
Rig workers also attempted to lower the injunction via a
bucket and rope to the two Greenpeace activists who remain camped
on the rig.
Greenpeace UK has vowed to continue with the occupation,
despite the legal action, accusing BP of attempting to “silence
peaceful protests” and fueling a climate emergency that will
“threaten the lives of millions”. The rig, which was bound for
the Vorlich oil field, was due to open up a new oil well giving
them access to up to 30 million barrels of oil.
John Sauven, Executive Director of Greenpeace UK
said:
“This injunction has been taken out in an attempt to stop our
action. BP have spent billions lobbying governments to prevent
action on climate change and now they want to try to silence
peaceful protest. But we’re in a climate emergency and they’re
fueling that. We have to act. Companies like BP cannot continue
to drill new oil wells - their actions threaten the lives of
millions and the future of our living planet. We won’t be gagged
by a corporate injunction trying to silence us - the future of
our planet is at stake.”
Greenpeace is demanding that BP immediately end drilling
new wells and switch to investing only in renewable energy. If BP
does not do that, Greenpeace say, it should wind down its
operations, return cash to investors and go out of
business.
Scientists have been clear that we already have more oil
and gas than we can safely burn under the Paris Agreement if we
want to limit catastrophic climate change. Yet BP maintains its
desire to both explore for more and expand its oil and gas
production.
