climate change

A coalition of environmentalists and investors from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, have combined to challenge BP Amoco's oil expansion plans in the Arctic and the company's lack of action on climate change.

Beaufort Sea, Alaska, 7pm (UK time) - In an effort to protect the Arctic from the dual threats of climate change and oil spills four Greenpeace activists attempted to stop the controversial pipe-laying operation at BP's Northstar project, the first offshore oil project to be built in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast. One activist managed to climb onto the backhoe laying the pipe and displayed a banner reading "Stop BP's Northstar". The pipe-laying operation is currently stopped. Police have now arrested all four Greenpeace activists.

Beaufort Sea, Alaska, 1700 BST, -- For the second day running, Greenpeace activists confronted the construction of BP's controversial Northstar offshore oil project. Braving wind chills of minus 50 degrees F (-46C), activists towed a fiberglass dome into the construction area with two Greenpeace activists locked inside, while UK activist Martin Cotterell and one other protestor made for the man-made gravel island to display banners reading, "Stop BP's Northstar, Save the Climate".

Four Greenpeace volunteers have occupied a second oil exploration rig in Cromarty Firth, Scotland, as part of a campaign to stop dangerous climate change and protect marine life in the north east Atlantic. The occupation comes just days after two Greenpeace climbers occupied the Jack Bates exploration rig in the same area. Both rigs are due to begin drilling operations in the deep waters west of the Hebrides (the so called "Atlantic Frontier") which is Europe's most important habitat for whales and coral reefs.

Police are still searching for two Greenpeace volunteers who vanished after abandoning their occupation of an oil rig.

The protesters had tied themselves to Enterprise Oil's Jack Bates platform in the Cromarty Firth on Sunday and spent the night there before coming down at 1600 BST on Monday. Grampian Police then lost sight of them.

The protesters left the rig after being ordered to come down by a judge in Edinburgh who granted Enterprise Oil an interdict.

Britain's leading environment and conservation groups are calling on John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, to prevent further oil exploration in the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Hebrides (the 'Atlantic Frontier'). The joint letter comes from the following organisations:

Environmental Investigation Agency
Friends of the Earth England and Wales
Friends of the Earth Scotland
Greenpeace
Marine Conservation Society
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
The Wildlife Trusts
Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

A Greenpeace protester hangs a banner from an oil rig in Cromarty Firth, Scotland

Enterprise Oil has sought an interdict (a Scottish injunction) against Greenpeace to remove two climbers that are currently occupying the Jack Bates oil rig on the Cromarty Firth.

Greenpeace occupies the Jack Bates oil rig in bid to protect wildlife and the climate