Greens welcome Greenpeace deepwater drilling protest
For immediate release 21 September 2010
The Green MSPs today supported Greenpeace's decision to take peaceful direct action against a Chevron oil rig, blocking an attempt by the company to drill a deepwater well off Shetland.
Patrick Harvie MSP said:
"Greenpeace's courageous intervention in Shetland today is a welcome reminder to politicians in other parties that the environmental movement will never stop holding them to account. This new round of deepwater drilling is both environmentally and economically reckless, and it must be stopped.
"Almost every day we see new evidence for the worsening effects of climate change right now, not years into the future. For five months we saw oil from a deepwater well of this sort pour directly into the Gulf of Mexico. The other parties at Holyrood and Westminster will not be forgiven for taking such a risk with our future. It's time instead for a moratorium on all new deepwater drilling in UK waters, and for those companies to redirect their resources towards wave, tidal and offshore wind power."