Legal

Coal: the Kingsnorth Six on trial

Posted by bex — 28 August 2008 at 8:13am - Comments

Kingsnorth coal-fired power station

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On Monday, six brave Greenpeace souls will be appearing at Maidstone Crown Court for the start of a trial centring around Kingsnorth, coal and climate change.

In October last year, they took a personal stand to protect the environment and climbed to the top of the smokestack at Kingsnorth coal-fired power station in Kent.

Now, the Kingsnorth Six (Ben Stewart, Emily Hall, Huw Williams, Kevin Drake, Tim Hewke and Will Rose) are being prosecuted for criminal damage.

Article tagged as: climate change, coal, kingsnorth, kingsnorth six, legal, trials

Final findings for the Faslane Five

Posted by bex — 16 May 2008 at 11:49am - Comments

No new nuclear weapons

A Greenpeace volunteer on the boom at Faslane nuclear submarine base in Scotland

I don’t know if your remember our Trident Tour last year - that five week frenzy of Faslane blockading, crane climbing, arrests, solitary confinement, losing a ship, getting it back again, bearing witness, gigs, press conferences, political events and rallies.

Well, it’s been a long time coming but, over a year after the event, I can give you the final results of the legal wranglings that ensued.

Article tagged as: faslane, legal, nuclear weapons, peace, ships, trident, videos

Kingsnorth, court cases and climate scientists - an update on our coal campaign

Posted by bex — 12 February 2008 at 11:09am - Comments

Greenpeace volunteers at the top of Kingsnorth's chimney

Jubilant climbers on top of the chimney at Kingsnorth power station in October

I've been so busy with the launch of EfficienCity (our blueprint for a climate-friendly town) that I haven't had a chance to update you on all the goings on in our coal campaign since we delivered our alternative energy speech at the government / industry shindig last Wednesday.

On Friday morning, listeners of Radio 4's Today programme heard a withering attack on the proposed new coal plant at Kingsnorth from top Nasa scientist (and the world's most eminent climate scientist) James Hansen. The plans for the UK's first new coal plant in 30 years were, he said, a "terrible idea" which “will destroy the efforts of millions of citizens to reduce their carbon emissions”.

Article tagged as: climate change, coal, james hansen, kingsnorth, legal

Injunction ruling due on Monday

Posted by bex — 3 August 2007 at 4:13pm - Comments

Just a very quick update. The Heathrow injunction hearing has closed and Mrs Justice Swift will be ruling at 10am on Monday.

If you want some weekend reading to keep you going until then, The Times has a piece on the legal basis of the injunction attempt (an anti-stalkers law), the BBC has a round-up of yesterday's happenings at the High Court and Sian Berry mulls over what it all means in the New Statesman.

Article tagged as: airport expansion, aviation, BAA, climate change, heathrow, injunctions, legal

Heathrow injunction update: confusion all around

Posted by bex — 1 August 2007 at 6:40pm - Comments

The hearing on BAA's Heathrow injunction began today and, so far, it mostly seems to have involved debate about whom BAA did and didn't intend to injunct.

From PA (snipped for length):

Article tagged as: aviation, BAA, climate change, heathrow, injunctions, legal, transport

Heathrow injunction: Transport for London joins the fray

Posted by bex — 27 July 2007 at 2:06pm - Comments

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone has just joined the fray, speaking out against BAA's injunction. (If BAA wins its case next Wednesday, five million people would be banned from Heathrow airport, parts of two motorways and the entire Picadilly Line on the London Underground.)

Article tagged as: aviation, BA, climate camp, climate change, heathrow, injunctions, legal

Aviation industry takes five million people to court

Posted by bex — 26 July 2007 at 6:15pm - Comments

Planes on the runway

Update - 1st August: The hearing is underway.

Here's a doozy for you: on Wednesday, the aviation industry is taking five million people - including a lot of their own staff - to court. If you're a member or supporter of a group that's concerned about climate change, the chances are you're a defendant too.

The industry seems to want to ban five million of us from Heathrow and all routes to the airport, including the Piccadilly line, parts of the rail network, and sections of the M25 and M4.

Article tagged as: airport expansion, aviation, BAA, climate camp, climate change, heathrow, injunctions, legal, the queen

Brown lets the nuclear cat out of the bag

Posted by bex — 6 July 2007 at 4:06pm - Comments

Gordon Brown"We have made the decision to continue with nuclear power."

With those ten words, Gordon Brown managed to break the law, sabotage an ongoing public consultation and do a U-turn on his promise to listen to the people - all during his first Prime Minister's Question Time.

As head of government, Brown's meant to be abiding by a high court ruling that says the government can't legally make a decision on whether to build new nuclear power stations before a proper public consultation has been carried out.

The last consultation, said Justice Sullivan, was "seriously flawed"; the process was "manifestly inadequate and unfair" because insufficient information had been made available by the government for consultees to make an "intelligent response".

It now looks like this consultation is as much of a sham as the last one; the government seems to have already made up its mind on nukes, before the consultation's even really underway.

Here's a pdf of the letter our lawyers sent Brown this morning.

Article tagged as: gordon brown, judicial review, legal, nuclear power, public consultations

Government's key energy review on trial

Posted by bex — 8 February 2007 at 11:34am - Comments

Green groups gather outside the High Court as the government's energy review goes on trial

The government's decision to back a new fleet of nuclear power stations in the UK was "legally flawed", the High Court has heard.

In the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Greenpeace will argue that the government's recent energy review was not the "fullest public consultation" it had committed itself to before making a decision to back new nuclear power stations. The commitment had been made in the earlier energy white paper in 2003.

Article tagged as: climate change, energy review, government, judicial review, legal, nuclear power, tony blair
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