seren - amgylchedd_-_environment

New camp to stop the LNG gas pipeline

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 10:22:49 +0000

Little coverage so far of this new camp near Milford Haven, where a footpath is being used to block work on the 120-mile LNG pipeline across south Wales.

Plans are also afoot for a similar LNG exercise at Amlwch on Ynys Môn - although this pipeline will run under the sea to Lancashire. The initial idea was to land the LNG at Fleetwood, Lancashire, but local opposition was too fierce. The multinationals must see Welsh communities as a soft touch - or is easier to buy off Welsh councils with the promise of jobs?

Safety lapses in gas pipeline exposed

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:20:00 +0000

Protesters who took over a section of the 120-mile gas pipeline across south Wales have exposed potentially disastrous safety lapses. Tonight's Y Byd Ar Bedwar (the World on Four) programme on S4C had exclusive footage of campaigner Jim Dunckley revealing what they found while down the pipeline.

Welders have confirmed that marks on the exterior of the pipeline indicate pinholes that have been repaired - a concern given that the gas will be pumped through the pipe at 94 bar. This is higher than any other major pipeline in the UK.

Inside the pipes, welds were flaking and badly corroded with rust eating away at the inner casing.

On a normal engineering project this would not be such a concern, but the pipeline has the capacity to blow. Indeed one engineering expert Dr Richard Furness estimates that over 30 years one serious accident will occur.

The pipeline's owners, National Grid, have carried out an Environmental Impact Assessment that shows no danger to the public, even from blasting away at rock at Trebanos in the upper Swansea valley. Local people were horrified because the land is prone to subsidence due to previous mining - 10 houses in the village have been demolished due to subsidence. In addition, local people are unable to have gas pumped to their homes because the land is deemed unstable. But a 48-inch pipe could be placed in a 15-metre trench in the same area without risk apparently.

However, during the protest, the Department of Trade and Industry announced that it was suspending blasting and insisted that the trench was dug manually to avoid possible landslips - a minor victory but a symbolic one for the campaigners.

National Grid has a track record of poor safety - in 1999 it was fined £15m for a gas pipeline explosion in Scotland that killed four people. That was with 2-bar pressure.

A larger explosion in Russia killed 650 people when odourless LNG seeped out of a pipeline and was sparked by a passing train.

Do we have to wait for a disaster to occur before we say "enough", as with Aberfan? Or do we insist that the people's voice is heard and the pipeline is halted? This has not been approved by local councils, it has been pushed through by big business interests and the DTI. The protesters spoke for the people and highlighted the need to move away from finite fossil fuels towards renewables.

A pain in the gas for Transco

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 11:18:38 +0000

Eight days on and the pipeline protesters are still there - causing Transco many headaches.

They've been joined by another group of protesters down in Pembrokeshire and have done a lot to highlight the doubts many people have about the pipeline. Here's a video of the activists explaining their actions.

Company's shellfish decision

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 08:58:50 +0000

Here's a company relocating its business to save money - cutting 120 jobs in Scotland. But there's a twist. Young's the seafood company is moving work to Thailand, where low wages mean that prawns caught in Scotland can be hand-peeled before making the 12,000-mile round trip back to Scotland to be turned into breaded scampi.

Currently the prawn shells are removed mechanically at Young's plant in Annan but the company said that shelling by hand produces a superior quality scampi and cannot be carried out in Scotland because of prohibitive wage costs.

The plan to ship more than 500 tonnes of the shellfish around the world will generate a weight of carbon dioxide which is almost half the weight of the seafood itself.

Duncan McLaren of Friends of the Earth Scotland said transporting the langoustines over such a distance would He added: "This for us sums up the madness of contemporary globalisation. It makes economic sense but makes absolutely no environmental sense."

It may make "economic sense" under free-market capitalism because it boosts profits but socialists and environmentalists must make common cause to show the harm such moves do to workers and the environment.

Protesters halt gas pipeline work

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 13:48:17 +0000

A dozen campaigners have halted work on the 120-mile LNG pipeline across Wales with a sit-in on diggers and pipes. Construction work, which means tearing a 20-metre ditch across Wales from Milford Haven to Gloucester, has been stopped at Trebanos in the Swansea Valley and the protesters are talking of sleeping in the pipes overnight.

There have been numerous concerns about the pipeline's safety, especially in the Trebanos area where there are fears of landslips similar to Aberfan due to the blasting that takes place on site. There are also fears that the pipeline will be too close to a school and housing.

The size of the 48" pipe and pressure of the gas is a first in the UK. Campaigner Jim Dunckley said: "The companies involved seem to have spent more on spin doctors than on safety."

He also pointed out on the live BBC Wales news coverage that this is a fossil fuel and that money should be invested in renewable energy rather than tearing up the Welsh countryside for a finite energy product.

Local councils appear to have made some strange planning decisions regarding the pipeline - Neath Port Talbot's planning committee was apparently counted wrongly and Swansea council refused to hear an amendment put by Plaid Cymru's group leader against the pipeline.

The campaign so far has been a localised grassroots affair but there seems to be added momentum now to highlight the bigger picture.

Tax the rich (for their flights)

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 10:20:25 +0000

A chilling report that says that the British Isles could lose the benefits of the Gulf Stream due to climate change. Call me parochial, but cooling of up to 4-6 degrees in the next 20 years is astounding and very worrying. That's on top of the more devastating side effects of global warming - such as the flooding of low-lying areas and increased weather extremes.
Which is why the reaction to talk of moderate "green" taxes by the Tories and Lib Dems is so bizarre. The "right" to have cheap flights to Europe now apparently outweighs the quality of life for billions of people.
While many benefit short-term from the flying cattle trucks masquerading as Ryanair and EasyJet, the real winners are the affluent upper and middle classes who can afford to fly regularly. A third of people in the UK don't have holidays - abroad or otherwise - but the rich have made the most of the cheap airlines to buy holiday homes in France and Spain. Taxing them would be a pleasure.
As someone who's done more flying than ever this year (partly due to low prices), there may be an element of hypocrisy in this. But can someone explain to me how it's cheaper to fly from Liverpool to Barcelona than catch a train from North Wales to Cardiff?

Labour u-turns over Hafod

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 12:34:39 +0100

Labour's performance over the Hafod landfill scandal has veered from the inept and apathetic to the condescending and panicky. Local AM Karen Sinclair and MP Martyn Jones managed all these yesterday as a busload of Hafod campaigners went to the Assembly to demand the landfill is stopped by Labour minister Carwyn Jones.
A fuller report can be found at the scurrilous Hafod blog but suffice to say that Carwyn Jones has now performed two u-turns on Hafod.
After saying he would not meet protesters in case they "prejudice" his findings, he found time to meet six of them.
He had also said that he would not visit Hafod because he was aware of the situation. But yesterday he u-turned and agreed to pay a private visit.
The fact that Martyn Jones could come from London to Cardiff for the day (but still can't find the Hafod picket line) showed how desperate he is to align himself with the protesters. Karen "it's THAT thick" Sinclair also tried to win over the campaigners but it's way, way too late for these Bisto kids, who are too in love with the gravy train to understand the real anger and concern people have about the abuse of democracy and the threat to their health and the environment from this landfill site.
Mersey Waste are dumping all sorts of waste at the site without proper paperwork and supervision, which is why Carwyn Jones has one last u-turn to perform - to stop the landfill and listen to an entire community.
Otherwise he will find that the community will punish him and his party at next May's elections.

Murkyside faces £30m fine over landfill

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 22:07:59 +0100

New Hafod information blog here - latest news is that Mersey Waste is facing a £30 million fine if it doesn't reduce its landfilling by 2010... so it's trying to get other councils interested in dumping their waste in Johnstown.
Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans was at the site today and more than 150 local campaigners turned up to support her call for the site to be closed down.
The local press are still bottling it over "naming and shaming" the Dirty Dozen. Sorry that's not news, it's just the sad reality of the mainstream media.

Hafod's dirty dozen

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 11:30:00 +0100

A dozen councillors decided Hafod's fate this week. Eleven voted to allow Mersey Waste to carry on dumping while Andrew Bailey went home early. This Dirty Dozen will not be forgotten:

Andrew Bailey, Gresford

Neville Price, Minera

Barbara Roberts, Dyffryn Ceiriog

David Broderick, Llay

Gerry Craddock, Garden Village

Gwyneth Roberts, Grosvenor

Howard Moysen, Cefn Mawr

Lloyd Kenyon, Overton

Mike Edwards, Marford and Hoseley

Mike Morris, Holt

Ron Davies, Little Acton

Terry Evans, Chirk S

Protesters stop landfill lorry

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lewis JONES) — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 11:02:13 +0100

More than 70 protesters gathered outside the Hafod quarry entrance this morning and stopped a landfill lorry by lying in the road.

The protest against Liverpool councils dumping their waste in Wales was called by local councillors Dave Bithell and Mark Pritchard and was supported by local activists as well as campaigners from Plaid Cymru, Cymuned and Balchder Cymru (Pride of Wales).

More protests are planned for tomorrow and Friday, with campaigners also planning to take their message to Liverpool on Friday, where Mersey Waste Disposal Authority is meeting at the Pierhead building at 2pm.

Campaigners are also focussing on Wrexham Council's planning committee meeting at 6.30pm on Monday, which can decide to modify or revoke the planning permission for the landfill site.