A nine-boat protest armada led by the Rainbow Warrior is heading for Britain's most controversial power station, carrying dozens of campaigners who intend to enter the site at Kingsnorth in Kent.
The Greenpeace volunteers will attempt an amphibious incursion from the Medway before walking onto the site earmarked for the construction of Britain's first new coal-fired power station in decades. They will then hold a sombre and dignified ceremony for the victims of climate change.
Within the past few minutes Greenpeace executive director John Sauven has telephoned the German utility giant E.ON - which operates Kingsnorth - to inform the company that the flotilla will arrive in two hours (noon).
The planned incursion comes a month after six Greenpeace campaigners were cleared by a crown court of causing criminal damage the last time the environment group entered the Kingsnorth site. A Maidstone jury concluded the activists were justified in shutting the power station in order to prevent emissions because coal is such a significant contributor to climate change.
The campaigners will seek to board a 700 metre long coal jetty and a massive conveyor before passing through the existing power station and onto the site of a planned new coal plant, where they will plant the flags of the world's 30 least polluting countries. The proposed new plant would emit the same amount of carbon dioxide as those 30 nations combined.
In a letter faxed to E.ON boss, Paul Golby, minutes ago, Greenpeace said:
"I am writing to inform you that our ship the Rainbow Warrior is now sailing towards your power station at Kingsnorth in Kent, where we intend to undertake a short and peaceful commemoration service at the site of your proposed new coal-fired power station. We will be carrying flags representing thirty countries, the combined emissions of which are equal to the expected carbon dioxide emissions from the new coal power station that your company has applied to build and operate."
Greenpeace press office: 020 7865 8255.
Download the Greenpeace ‘case against coal' at: www.greenpeace.org.uk/caseagainstcoal.
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