No New Coal – Work Stopped at Rosewell Open Cast
At 9am today a group of eco-activists began to disrupt the operations of Scottish Coal at the Rosewell open-cast coal mine in Midlothian. Some of the 10 activists stopping work today are local
residents.
They climbed onto digging machinery to prevent works and climbed onto trucks to prevent coal from leaving the Rosewell site for 2 hours this morning. Then police arrived but no-one was arrested.
One activist said “the burning of coal to generate electricity is one of the most polluting and destructive of all human activities. We cannot deal with climate change while companies like Scottish coal continue to
profit from coal exploitation.”
A local resident said “With a government committed to expanding opencast, deep mine and new coal power generation across Scotland, asking politicians will achieve nothing. Peaceful direct action is the only way people are going to stop coal expansion.”
Another said. “We are opposed to this climate disaster of an energy policy and to the scarring of Scotland’s countryside with these horrible open-cast coal mines, Rosewell and Scottish Coal’s other operations have and will continue to be met by resistance from local people taking direct action.”
This action was done by individuals who are not affiliated to any particular group.
This is another example of the growing resistance to new coal in Scotland. For more general info on how people are stopping new coal in Scotland, check out. www.coalactionedinburgh.noflag.org.uk
[...] At 9am today (23 Feb 09) a group of eco-activists disrupted the operations of Scottish Coal at the Rosewell opencast coal mine in Midlothian. Some of the 10 activists stopping work today are local residents. They climbed onto [...]
Herehere for local people taking back their land from this polluting industry. It’s about time these companies stopped thinking they can run riot over local communities
Brill action! ‘Mon the Scots Coal Stoppers, amazing work with so many sites…
Nice yellow tractor btw, did you drive it around? And such pretty faces all xx
I am a resident on the farm track at Shewington and witnessed some of your members arrive here on Monday morning.I was upset when I heard what had gone on at the mine that morning as for us any delay in work there delays when the mining finishes and we can get back to driving along our track without having to negotiate 9 inch thick mud and also having the freedom to put our house on the market when we choose to do so.We tried to stop the mine coming by legal means a few years ago and failed and are now just getting on with living through the time they are here.I should point out that Scottish Coal have been better neighbours to us than the local land fill site or the estate who ‘managed’ the land before them.I believe that the type of action carried out on Monday endangers lives and is irresponsible. I care deeply about the Scottish countryside but have had to come to terms with the reality of living in an area which contains a sought after natural resource.