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Greenpeace Does It Again

Activists stormed E.ON's Kingsnorth power plant again

Oct 30, 2008 13:36 GMT  ·  By
A picture of the Greenpeace flagship RainbowWarrior anchored in the harbor near Kingsnorth plant
   A picture of the Greenpeace flagship RainbowWarrior anchored in the harbor near Kingsnorth plant

After the controversial release of 6 Greenpeace activists from arrest this summer, by a court order, the environmental organization strikes again. This time, the flagship of the Greenpeace fleet, the Rainbow Warrior, dropped anchor in the harbor next to the Kingsnorth coal-powered plant and several activists took the smokestack of the factory by assault, preparing to shoot a video on the effects of global warming.  

According to the organization, the police have yet to make any arrests. The last time they did so, it didn't turn out quite the way E.ON representatives and the authorities expected. A British court cleared the six activists that had vandalized the same smokestack of all charges brought against them, on grounds that they were serving the public interest, by averting the effects that continued use of the smokestack would have had on the surrounding environment and ecosystem.

Now, the electric company wants to build another plant next to Kingsnorth, one that would put up the same amount of carbon emissions as 30 (thirty) of the least-polluting countries in the world. That's waste coming from a single factory, somewhere in the UK. Greenpeace members found this to be outrageous and many other worried citizens backed them up in their protests and efforts to stop the construction of the new coal-powered plant.  

Now, they simply occupied the port that serves the existing plant. The ship was used as a "base of operations" by the 30+ volunteers, which carried the flag of the aforementioned 30 nations into the power plant, as protest against plans to build the new one. The volunteers hope that their protests will undermine the efforts E.ON is currently making, to obtain approval for its plans.  

Authorities have not said yet if there are going to be any arrests for these events, but Greenpeace members are confident that, once a precedent is established, all future legal endeavors against their organization will grind to a halt, as other courts will also rule that the activists work in defense of the environment.