On Thursday, the NZ Herald reported:
Sentenced to community service for doing the community a service.
The Greenpeace activists boarded the Noble Discoverer in February 2012 in an effort to raise awareness of climate change issues and ultimately stop Shell from using the vessel for oil drilling in the previously protected and pristine Arctic, and in many ways their activism has been a resounding success.
But it was nature that ultimately forced Shell to halt its Arctic drilling plans last year... The accident prone company drilling ship left the area to avoid a massive slab of slow-moving ice. There was also the lowest sea ice conditions on record for the North Pole region and slow retreating ice floes in the Alaska's Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas that inhibited Shell's destructive plans.
This was after many public relations disasters and particularly when the same drilling ship slipped its anchor in Dutch Harbor and ran aground. In November 2012, the Noble Discoverer also involved in Shell’s hapless first attempt at exploring the Arctic for oil caught fire while birthed at an international port in Alaska.
It's no wonder many people are now treating Shell Oil as a hostile and dangerous force and taking legal and other actions necessary to defend the environment against them.
Clearly the $600,000 is a complete joke and was rightly dismissed by Judge Roberts. Such an overinflated amount would have initially been requested by Shell, and has more in common with their claims that there's huge oil reserves to be had in the Arctic. However there's no evidence of this, as most estimates show that Shell's $4 billion investment will be wasted.
So for being an invaluable spokesperson, raising awareness of climate change issues and being active at deterring further environmental destruction by one of the worlds worst oil companies, Lucy Lawless wins this week's Hero Award... Keep up the good work.
Actor Lucy Lawless says her sentence for boarding a drilling ship while protesting against Shell's oil exploration plans is "a total victory".
Lawless and seven other Greenpeace activists were sentenced today (Thur) to community work and ordered to pay reparation after earlier pleading guilty to being unlawfully on a ship.
The group were arrested last February after they boarded the Noble Discoverer at the Port of Taranaki and spent 77 hours up a 58-metre tower in protest against Shell's oil exploration operation in the Arctic.
Sentenced to community service for doing the community a service.
The Greenpeace activists boarded the Noble Discoverer in February 2012 in an effort to raise awareness of climate change issues and ultimately stop Shell from using the vessel for oil drilling in the previously protected and pristine Arctic, and in many ways their activism has been a resounding success.
But it was nature that ultimately forced Shell to halt its Arctic drilling plans last year... The accident prone company drilling ship left the area to avoid a massive slab of slow-moving ice. There was also the lowest sea ice conditions on record for the North Pole region and slow retreating ice floes in the Alaska's Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas that inhibited Shell's destructive plans.
This was after many public relations disasters and particularly when the same drilling ship slipped its anchor in Dutch Harbor and ran aground. In November 2012, the Noble Discoverer also involved in Shell’s hapless first attempt at exploring the Arctic for oil caught fire while birthed at an international port in Alaska.
It's no wonder many people are now treating Shell Oil as a hostile and dangerous force and taking legal and other actions necessary to defend the environment against them.
In New Plymouth District Court this morning, Judge Allan Roberts sentenced each of the activists to 120 hours of community work and ordered them to each pay $651.44 in reparation to the port.
But the protesters avoided paying more than $600,000 in reparation to Shell Todd Oil, the joint venture between Shell and Todd Energy which contracted the ship.
The reparation to Shell Todd Oil had been sought by police but was dismissed by Judge Roberts.
Clearly the $600,000 is a complete joke and was rightly dismissed by Judge Roberts. Such an overinflated amount would have initially been requested by Shell, and has more in common with their claims that there's huge oil reserves to be had in the Arctic. However there's no evidence of this, as most estimates show that Shell's $4 billion investment will be wasted.
So for being an invaluable spokesperson, raising awareness of climate change issues and being active at deterring further environmental destruction by one of the worlds worst oil companies, Lucy Lawless wins this week's Hero Award... Keep up the good work.
