Today, 21 No Dash for Gas activists appeared in court, to face charges of aggravated trespass following the week-long occupation of EDF's West Burton power station last October/November. All 21 chose to plead guilty, because they felt their time will be better spent campaigning against the government's insane dash for gas, rather than being tied up in a protracted court case. They are due to be sentenced on 20th March and 2 April.
The activists have issued the following statement:
"We undertook our carefully considered protest action last October out of a sincere belief that companies such as EDF, in collusion with government, are unaccountable, unrepresentative and wrong in pursuing gas as a dominant fuel in our country's energy system.
We have no influence over where and how our energy is sourced, priced and delivered in this country. We believe that these decisions should be made democratically and in the public interest.
Six large multinational corporations have a monopoly over our domestic energy supply and some of their personnel write policy at the Department for Energy and Climate Change. These companies set the energy agenda in this country, to the detriment of the public interest and legally binding carbon reduction targets. We do not have the power, access or capital that these companies have. Civil disobedience is one of the only means we have to intervene in this agenda.
The majority of people in this country want clean, renewable, cheaper energy. We acted out of necessity and, we sincerely believe, in the public interest – to prevent an escalation in the crisis of climate change that threatens the safety and security of millions of people and ecosystems in the UK and around the world."