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MV GP leaves Stornoway 7am Excellent coverage, with photos, in 3 national newspapers (the FT, the Times and the Independent) of the Silvertown solar installation yesterday. New Scientist publish "Cold comfort for coral as oil wells advance" in which the Director of the Scottish Association for Marine Science says forging ahead with oil development at the same time as studying its impact on the coral "seems to be rather hasty ... in the ideal world we would collect the data, which should take about two years, before we took the next step". Monday 9th June Heliogoland day 1 is delayed until 10 June Tuesday due to poor Weather but it is improving so Tuesday looks likely. Peter Melchett received a reply from the EC Commissioner, Ritt Bjerregaard regarding the failure of the UK to comply with the EIA Directive, which states: "the Commission has pointed out to the UK authorities that all offshore oil and gas activities are included in ANNEX II of the mentioned Directive". And "The Commission recently has been informed at a meeting with the UK authorities that the mentioned regulations are expected to be in force within a short delay." More interesting responses from MPs: Tim Yeo (ex Con Env Minister) says: "I was extremely interested to read the summary of your report (etc - wants full copy) ... In any event I am delighted that you are now effectively launching a debate about this issue. I am confident that in view of the steadily increasing interest and concern with climate change this is an opportune moment to promote discussion about the urgent need to switch away from present consumption of fossil fuels, and in turn this clearly has far reaching implications for future exploration". ..."The scientific arguments in favour of cutting exploration for more fossil fuels should provide further substantial impetus in the same direction". Our letter to one of the new Labour MPs on AF has solicited the response that he is already a FoE member and was so "stimulated" by reading the report (!) that he would like to consider joining GP. They are certainly a different breed these new MPs. The AF Web site has made it through to the final round of the Best Non Commercial Site section of the Yell (Yellow Pages) internet site awards! Tuesday 10th June Today "Greenpeace Threatens UK Government with Legal Action" over its failure to apply European Law in the AF. "In a letter sent today to the President of the Board of Trade, Margaret Beckett, Greenpeace has given the DTI ten days in which to respond before the matter is lodged before the High Court requesting leave for a judicial review" Also, letter went from Chris to John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister & Secretary of State for Environment, regarding the EU Environment Council meeting next week and requesting a meeting to discuss the Govt's position. THEN, AT SEA, THE WIND CHANGED AND THE SEA FLATTENED AND AT 16.30 HRS, WITH 35 MILES STILL TO GO TO ROCKALL, THE PREPARATIONS OF THE HELICOPTER, CREW AND EQUIPMENT BEGAN. At 17.45 hrs they made the first of eight helicopter journeys with The first two 'campers', Al and Peter, and at 21.40, joined by Meike, they were on! They are in a "Solar Survival Capsule" equipped with solar/wind powered communications gear etc.. Rockall is a rock less than 100 feet high, further from land than any other rock in the world (nearly 300 miles from mainland Scotland) and is surrounded by oil provinces disputed by UK, Denmark, Ireland, and Iceland. We are calling for jointly agreed non-development of the region and a halt to the Atlantic Frontier development of which Rockall is a geographic and political linchpin. Meanwhile, there was a brilliant piece on Channel 4 news all about The Atlantic Frontier and how can Britain claim sustainable development when they are opening up another oil field - this was before they knew anything about the Rockall occupation! Wednesday 11th June Well, lots of people were up all night last night getting the story out and today was solid media interviews all day. Matthew doing interviews from the ship and pod interviews happening every 15 minutes plus Chris and Robbie doing stuff from here. First pix of Rockall on Channel 4 News - with a nice voice over from Peter in the Pod! Thursday 12 June Here's some idea of the media coverage___.. We were in all the major papers - even the subject of Pass Notes in the Guardian! Big pictures on Front and Back pages of Scotsman. Big pictures in Independent; Guardian; Times. Big colour pic in Daily Telegraph, half a page with big colour pix of rock, capsule and crew in Express. Exlusive - (a bit small) in the Mirror. Smaller column and pic in Daily Star. Peter was on the Today programme this am ... Al and Peter shared interviews with Radio Dublin, PA Glasgow, BBC Southern Counties, and Radio Murray Firth BBC Radio Newcastle set up for 10 am. and Liberty Radio doing a slot with Matthew at 9.40. Chris wrote to Tony Blair today - just in case he hadn't noticed the Rockallites! - to point out before he sets off for UNGASS and G7 that the Government's present sustainable development policy is hypocritical and that we believe that the AF oil province is a clear and disastrous case of unsustainable development and one which sends entirely the wrong signal to all other nations. Also today - here's a bit from the press release - Greenpeace today delivered a 'message in a bottle' to Margaret Beckett, President of the Board of Trade, urging her to protect the world's climate and oceans by stopping oil development in the Atlantic Frontier. The message came from the three Greenpeace activists who, since yesterday, have been occupying Rockall, in the heart of the Atlantic Frontier. The bottle, which is sixteen feet long, 'washed up' outside the offices of the Department of Trade and Industry, Victoria Street, London. A rolled up scroll, containing the 'No New Oil' message, was stuck in the end of the bottle and was signed by Al, Meike and Peter, the activists on Rockall. People from all over the UK also sent messages in bottles through The post to the Government, demanding that oil development in the Atlantic Frontier be stopped. Friday 13th June First day of the AF Cinema ad's one-week run in 89 cinemas countrywide. Letters have been sent from GPI political unit to the countries disputing ownership of Rockall (UK, Eire, Iceland & Denmark) calling for a joint non-development agreement. The DoE rang today in response to Chris's letter of the 10th to Prescott to say that GP are invited to come along to a pre-meeting (which happens before each Env Council Meeting between the Govt & NGOs but GP is not usually invited) to discuss this.
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