September 2010

As you probably know by now, the ship our climbers are currently sitting on is the Stena Carron, a 228m drill ship operated by US oil giant Chevron. Texaco, its petrol station subsidiary, is perhaps the name you may be more familiar with, but here are a few facts about the company that you might not know.

Chevron's boss, John S Watson, is a director and member of the executive committee of the American Petroleum Institute (API). The API is a major lobby group funding research which seeks to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.

Slideshow of the latest images from the action

It’s been a hectic day - but a successful one.

We heard at our ship’s briefing this morning at 0800 that our friends were going to attempt to get on Chevron’s massive Stena Carron rig in the next couple of hours and stop it from moving.

A short but sweet clip of Greenpeace climbers Anais (from Germany) and Victor (from Sweden) in their Portaledge on the anchor chain of the Chevron drilling ship, the Stena Carron, off the Shetland coast.

According to Victor the weather is fine, both he and Anais are "very happy", and they have enough food to stay for two weeks!

Whilst they remain in position, the giant ship cannot move. It was due to leave anchor to drill for oil in the deep waters of the Atlantic off Shetland's west coast.

Listen!

I just spoke to Victor, one of the climbers currently hanging on the anchor chain of the Stena Carron drilling ship. Operated by Chevron, it was due to head out to a deep water site off the Shetlands, but not any more.

Despite the wind and having to manoeuvre their portaledge tent into position, Victor sounds extremely chirpy and pleased to be there!

Deputy leader Simon Hughes opposes Trident replacement: "the case is winnable and we must not yield."

Monday and Tuesday at conference have been a bit of a rollercoaster for Team Trident.

Political conferences, stuffed as they are with politicians and media types, are always awash with rumours. And as we followed the speeches, the press coverage, the tweets and just plain old chatted to people we swayed between pessimism and optimism.

Greenpeace activist Victor, hanging off Chevron's Stena Carron rig

A few moments ago, our activists started taking action against a massive oil platform, stopping it from drilling a deep water well off the Shetland Islands.

Using speedboats to reach the huge 228m long drill ship, they climbed up the giant rungs of the anchor chain, and are now preventing the ship from moving to its drill site.

It all started two days ago, when a handful of activists slipped off the Esperanza - which we knew would be monitored - and boarded a ferry in Aberdeen bound for Lerwick in the Shetland Islands.

Then this morning, at a sign that the drill ship was about to move, they started the action.

Victor, one of the climbers, describes what it's like on the Stena Carron's anchor chain

The ship is operated by oil giant Chevron, and was due to sail for a site 200km north of the Shetland Islands and drill a well in 500 metres of water.

More than 10,000 of us have sent an email to Chris Huhne - the Energy Secretary - calling for a moratorium on deepwater drilling in UK waters.  On top of that, last month we sent a letter to the government threatening legal action in an effort to stop the granting of new permits for deep water drilling.

But it's not enough. Deepwater drilling is continuing unabated.

We saw what happened in the Gulf of Mexico only a few months ago. The world's biggest oil spill - a direct consequence of reckless deepwater drilling. It's time we go beyond oil and stop gambling with our environment and the climate.

Follow the latest at GoBeyondOil.org and find out how you too can take action.

Under pressure: Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne © CC/David Spender

Climate campaigner Louise Hutchins reports from the Liberal Democrat party conference:

Here in Liverpool amongst the Lib Dem faithful, there is a mood of embattled determination to give their leaders the benefit of the doubt – for now. There's also a keen awareness that delivery on some of the party's touchstone issues is urgently needed to stem the haemorrhaging of support seen in opinion polls.

Greetings from a bustling Liberal Democrat party conference in Liverpool! Team Trident (aka Simon, Zoe and me) are here to talk to people about one of the big issues of the day – whether or not the coalition government proceeds with hugely expensive plans for a new generation of nuclear weapons in the midst of the biggest cuts to public spending in living memory.