Shell drilling stopped for an hour and a half

mayo | environment | news report Friday August 06, 2010 16:24 by RSC - Rossport Solidarity Camp

Campers go out before 7am and successfully prevent workers from accessing the drilling platforms.

9 Campers wadded and kayaked out to the platforms this morning and halted work for 1 and half hours. IRMS workers eventually secured the area by pushing people away and dragging their kayaks down the estuary. Kayaks were deflated by security and some people were dangerously forced to swim in high currents. There were no arrests.

The drilling platforms are currently in a vital part of the SAC; close to bird feeding and nesting sites. At this time the estuary is also used as a migration route for Atlantic Salmon which are an Annex 1 species (the most protected EU category). They are very vulnerable to suffocation by suspended solids in the water clogging their gills and today we saw evidence of sediment spewing into the estuary from the boreholes. Movement of the platforms will also release suspended solids; endangering the supposedly protected salmon.

Please come and help us stop shell's work.