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<BR>> Sign up to BEAT THE BOREHOLES!!<BR>> <BR>> Join a continuous mass act of civil disobedience this summer at Sruth<BR>> Fháda Chonn estuary.<BR>> <BR>> Shell plan to drill up to 80 boreholes to survey the estuary for their<BR>> proposed gas pipeline and we plan to stop them! Work will start in the<BR>> coming days & continue till mid-October. The idea is that groups or<BR>> individuals pledge to stop a borehole at a specific time this summer. The<BR>> action you take is entirely up to you & can range from banner holding to<BR>> walking out on the sands to boarding drilling rigs. We will book you into<BR>> our BEAT THE BOREHOLE calendar & host you at the solidarity camp/house if<BR>> needed. The camp will help with equipment/training if any is required. The<BR>> aim is to get each of the 80 boreholes assigned a Beat the Borehole group.<BR>> Between local groups, national Shell to Sea groups, other supportive<BR>> political groups, groups from abroad, student groups, surfers, kayakers we<BR>> might just do it!<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Why Stop the boreholes?<BR>> <BR>> A certain amount of boreholes are needed to provide an adequate survey<BR>> before Shell can build their proposed tunnel under the estuary. Due to the<BR>> tides, & seasonal nature of the job any disruption to work will slow the<BR>> process down & could prevent them getting an adequate survey done this<BR>> year. They have to stop in mid-Oct on the arrival of the Brent Geese. The<BR>> estuary is a Specially Protected Area & part of the Broadhaven bay Special<BR>> Area of Conservation. The operation will damage parts of the estuary &<BR>> disturb the wildlife there. Some machines will be brought on to the<BR>> inter-tidal areas (strand) at low tide which will be particularly<BR>> disruptive to the species of birds found there.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Information about the drilling operation:<BR>> <BR>> Each borehole will take 2.5 days & up to 4 a week could be made. They will<BR>> be drilling from 7am-7pm every week day but not at weekends. There will be<BR>> movement of barges & personnel outside these hours. Two jack-up barges<BR>> will be working at once in the estuary.<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> Ideas for Action:<BR>> <BR>> Groups will need to be a bit flexible as we won't know exactly where your<BR>> borehole will be until nearer the time. However here are some ideas & the<BR>> main thing is to do whatever you feel comfortable doing. If you are coming<BR>> as an individual we can try & match you up with other people doing actions<BR>> at the same time.<BR>> <BR>> Walk out on the sands at low tide to the drilling rigs<BR>> Stop the machines driving over the beach/mudflat areas<BR>> Have a picnic & hold banners on the beach<BR>> Row out to the rigs in currachs & try & get in the way<BR>> Kayak in our inflatables out to the rigs & get in the way ( (training<BR>> session essential, but as long as you can swim anyone can learn)<BR>> Board the drilling rigs<BR>> Block the boats with fishing nets and crab pots<BR>> Disrupt the flow of personnel/equipment from Ballyglass pier<BR>> <BR>> Spread the word!<BR>> <BR>> There will be leaflets & posters available from the camp soon, please<BR>> distribute widely. If you think you would like to pledge to Beat the<BR>> Borehole then please contact us with: the date you'd arrive, how long<BR>> you're staying, number of people, whether you'd like to stay at the<BR>> camp/house & whether you need us to sort out any equipment/training.<BR>> <BR>> Thanks<BR>> <BR>> For flyers and posters see here...<BR>> http://www.shelltosea.com/content/books-leaflets - flyer<BR>> http://www.shelltosea.com/content/posters - poster<BR>> <BR>> For more information or to be sent leaflets/posters:<BR>> rossportsolidaritycamp@gmail.com<BR>> <BR>> The idea for this came from two campaigns; one called Fazlane 365 which<BR>> was a year long continuous blockade of Fazlane nuclear base in Scotland. A<BR>> huge number of different groups took on blockading the base for a day,<BR>> from church groups to politicians to anarchists to musicians. See<BR>> www.faslane365.org. Also in the 1990's in Britain most anti-road campaigns<BR>> used Beat the Bulldozer pledges to enlist thousands of people to pledge to<BR>> take action once the bulldozers came in. There are some case histories on<BR>> the website below. See www.roadblock.org.uk/alarmuk/roadblock.html<BR>> <BR>> http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org/content/beat-boreholes<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> For more information:<BR>> <BR>> http://www.shelltosea.com - campaign website<BR>> http://www.indymedia.ie/mayo - indymedia section on the campaign against<BR>> shell<BR>> http://www.rossportsolidaritycamp.org - The website of the Solidarity Camp<BR>> in Rossport<BR>> <BR>> <BR><BR> <br /><hr />Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail. <a href='http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/197222280/direct/01/' target='_new'>Sign-up now.</a></body>
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