Below a few mobile phone snaps of the events today as the Hampshire Constabulary in large numbers helped Vestas to move wind turbine blades from the blockaded factory at Newport, Isle of Wight. They had broken up the protest camp at the Marine Gate in the morning, and controlled the cyclepath from Newport to East Cowes to help Vestas load a number of blades onto a Blade Runner barge. What you can see in the first picture is just one part of the police presence. More like these were beyond the fence that you can see, stopping people coming from East Cowes to Newport. Many more were on the jetty and on the river. Many more were stationed at the roundabout. Many more were patrolling the area.  Some of the police on the cyclepath as Vestas blades were removed from the Newport factory, Isle of Wight  Save Green Jobs; protest as Vestas remove blades, 22nd September 2009  Vestas blade borne along the jetty; Newport, IoW, 22 Sept Posted by: vickim57 | September 22, 2009  Blade crosses the cyclepath at Vestas, Newport, Isle of Wight; 22nd September 2009 The police operation here today has been massive. Police boats patrolling the river, filming anyone that took their interest on the banks of the Medina. Strolling police cameramen filming and photographing the protestors. Dozens of ‘ordinary’ Hampshire Constabulary police with the policeman’s helmet and the big hat badge posted on the cyclepath to deal with the public, and lots of more shady looking characters wearing baseball caps stationed on the jetty to deal with anyone foolhardy enough to try some direct action. All this in addition to the company’s security guards who, I’ve been told, were on £45 an hour throughout this campaign. In truth, short of flinging ourselves into the river, clambering up the jetty, wrestling several police to the ground, we could not have stopped the blades getting out today. But they did not get them all. Only one barge came at high tide at noon; we think there are more blades and some equipment to go. The cyclepath was closed while the blades were moved and was re-opened afterwards, but the police remain and the riverside footpath has been shut down completely for two days. So we think Vestas will be back for the rest. It seems likely that the barge will come tonight at high tide or tomorrow again around noon at high tide. We did not watch the sorry spectacle without protest. All the workers and supporters who have not been warned off going on the footpath (they were the ones who were turfed out of their tents at 6am this morning) ran down and protested on the path. We’ll meet this afternoon to discuss what next. A planning meeting of the council tonight that will deal with the Vestas plant should have some workers in attendance. VickiSome press coverage of today’s sorry events:BBC news online hereVentnorBlog herePosted by: savevestas | September 22, 2009 Ed Maltby reports from the Isle of Wight: Arriving from London at 4am on 22 September, I went to bed in one of the tents at the marine gate of the Newport factory. There were about a dozen people there, including some workers. Two hours later, at 6am, we were woken up – and the few who were awake, on watch, were surprised – by the sound of 120 booted police officers’ feet. The police quickly had control of the area. They told us that the Isle of Wight Council had removed the public right of way on the cycle path which runs between the factory’s marine gate and the jetty, and so we were “trespassing” on council land with a view to stopping Vestas from carrying out their lawful business. If we continued to do so, we would be committing the criminal offence of “aggravated trespass”. Citing the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, they told us to leave the area immediately. We didn’t have much choice about that. The police have allowed us to collect most of our stuff from the marine gate area, though some of our stuff has been taken away as “evidence”. The police have also given a map to all of us, showing an area which, they say, we are now not allowed into for three months. We have came to the roundabout at the factory’s front gate. Together with the people who were already at the roundabout and other workers and local people who have arrived since 6am, we have about 20 or 25 of us at the roundabout. Police have blocked the path along the riverbank to seal off the area around the jetty, and we are told that it will be blocked for two days. The cycle path which runs immediately past the marine gate is open and being used, but there are lots of police on it, and people are being told that they can use it to travel in one direction only. There are more police, and Vestas security people, on the jetty. There are also police vans at the roundabout, and police camera-people taking photos of us. We understand that the barges which carry blades for Vestas have left Southampton, where they are usually docked, and we assume they are on their way to collect the blades. We’re discussing what we may be able to do now to stage some final protest against the blades being moved. Click here for the aggravated trespass law. Some press coverage of the camp clearance:Isle of Wight Country Press here [the picture with this report conveys the idea that the roundabout camp has been cleared; that is not true - it is the camp at the marine gate that has been cleared - the roundabout camp is still up and functioning - come for supper!] VentnorBlog here Newport-East Cowes cyclepath before it was closed to move Vestas blades. People were told they could only walk one way along it. To walk back again would be aggravated trespass. Posted by: savevestas | September 22, 2009 Today, 22 September, is the day when Vestas bosses will try to move blades from the Newport factory.
Police forcibly cleared workers and supporters overnight from the camp at the marine gate. The barges to carry the blades are expected at noon.
Join us on the cycle path outside the marine gate to protest!
Posted by: vickim57 | September 21, 2009 Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, My name is Chris Ash I was one of the Vestas occupiers. We have just been tipped off that tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12 noon the blade runner is coming down the river Medina to the Vestas factory in Newport from Southampton to pick up some of the remaining blades still inside the factory. We are expecting a big police presence along with big support from other supporters and activists. We will do anything and everything to stop Vestas from shipping these blades or from getting anything into the factory if that’s their plan. It would be great if you could either contact me or come down to the marine gate to see for yourselves. Chris Ash 07768 816899
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 Vestas occupiers Mark Smith (left) and Chris Ash (right); East Cowes, 12 August 2009 Posted by: vickim57 | September 21, 2009 We have been maintaining a 24 hour picket-camp at the marine gate of the Newport Vestas factory since the eviction of the workers’ occupation in August. This is to block Vestas management shutting down the factory while 11 of the occupiers remain sacked and hundreds of islanders out of work. It looks like they will try to break the picket tonight or tomorrow (21st/22nd September).
We have said to Vestas management, the Isle of Wight Council, the local police, the government – to our own labour and environmental movements – that we are fighting for the factory to stay open; we need socially useful jobs now, we want renewables now, and Vestas and the government cannot be allowed to treat workers and a community with such contempt.
At the Trade Union Congress last week, in a question to Ed Miliband, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, one trade unionist said, you’ve pronounced the Congress slogans, “Jobs, Justice, Climate”, incorrectly: you should have said “Vestas”.
Too right. The fight over Vestas on the Isle of Wight has been a beacon (and a wake-up call) to very many people on the Isle of Wight and around the world, summing up what we’re working for – and the powers that stand in our way.
You couldn’t hope to know all the countless ways that people everywhere have acted in solidarity with this campaign. As one signboard cartoon by the oak tree reads: out of tiny acorns grow mighty revolutions.
It might have been the same speaker at the TUC that quoted Ed’s much more principled dad Ralph Miliband: “Rhetoric is easy, the truth is concrete.”
Last week, and again today, our bits of concrete to block the path of the crane were removed by the police, Vestas security and scab labour. This has been an inspiring kind of picket line: in the next 12 hours it will be a good group of people that will stand in the way of these blades on the picket – with one Vestas worker on the tripod; workers and their friends and family, socialists, climate activists, trade unionists, local working-class people. This has been, and is, everyone’s fight.
We have been clear, in our words and our actions, that this is our factory and our blades. There is no financial or rhetorical subsititute now for direct action on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere around the country. This is a live fight, with its frontline in Newport. It has been many a year since our movement has put up a real picket of a corporation. At midday tomorrow, the Blade Runner barge which was boarded in Southampton a week ago will move to clear the factory of the remaining blades. Our banner then said “Our Blades, Our Power”. It is still true.
We hope people will join the picket line tomorrow and in the coming days. The Council, the police, Vestas think that support has waned, they are trying to say that it is protestors that are putting jobs at risk, that the Isle of Wight might get a bad reputation for not rolling over obediently for employers – basically, a reputation for standing up and doing what is right.
What has been most inspiring about this campaign, exemplified by the occupation of management’s offices by a group of dedicated workers – is that it is through our direct action that we will take back control of the world we live in, in order to save it.
Posted by: vickim57 | September 21, 2009  Help stop the blades - come to the Vestas plant, Newport, Isle of Wight Police are searching tents at the marine gate camp at the Vestas plant, Newport, Isle of Wight. The company is setting up generators at the jetty. This seems like a preliminary to try to move the remaining blades in the factory tonight or in the next couple of days. Please mobilise to stop Vestas moving the blades out: they are the best leverage that the workers who occupied the factory in the summer have for getting their redundancy pay or getting the factory re-opened – with or without Vestas – making wind turbine blades. If you can go to the plant but need more information, ring Anna on 07804 497 014 . We deterred them once before - we need to do it again! Posted by: vickim57 | September 21, 2009 The four protesters arrested on Tuesday 15 September for occupying cranes at Southampton docks, that were loading Vestas blades onto the BBC Ohio for shipping, will be in court on Tuesday 29th September. They are asking supporters to come and demonstrate outside Southampton magistrates’ court from 9.30am.
Posted by: vickim57 | September 21, 2009 On Sunday 27th September there is a protest outside the start of the Labour Party conference. Coaches are booked from all around the country for what organisers are calling “Rage Against Labour”*.
Vestas workers and supporters will be among those joining the demonstration. For details of transport from the Isle of Wight telephone 07854 982 366 .
P.S. We could have done with a few more resources going into “Rage Against Vestas” and transport booked down to the Isle of Wight but, hey, don’t want to rain on people’s protest march.
Plans for the UK's first electricity producing geothermal power plant have been announced. The project, a joint partnership between the Eden Project and EGS Energy, could potentially produce enough carbon neutral electricity from hot underground granite to supply 10% of the UK's electricity requirements. The plant would be built in Cornwall and initially be used to power Eden's site near St Austell. Engineers believe that the vast quantity of geothermal energy stored in Cornish granite would eventually enable them to also make a significant contribution to the national grid. Tim Smit, Chief Executive of the Eden Project, said: "Powering the Eden Project site from a renewable source of energy is clearly a priority for us and we are very pleased to have the opportunity to bring our unique vision and environmental skills to the project alongside EGS Energy's experience and skills in engineering geothermal systems." There is currently a geothermal plant at Southampton which supplies heat, but engineers at Eden say they hope to become the first working power plant that could potentially supply up to three megawatts of electricity. The Eden power plant would consist of a two borehole system, both up to four kilometres deep. Water would be circulated between the two wells, being heated by the hot rocks in the process and returning to the surface at approximately 150ºC where it would drive a binary turbine to create electricity. Eden spokesman David Rowe said further development of the plant would see the hot water being used for other purposes such as community heating. He said the project, subject to planning permission and funding, could be completed and producing power by 2012. Roy Baria, Technical Director of EGS Energy Limited, said: "With the geology in the vicinity of the Eden Project being ideal for creating our power plant and its reservoir, we would not only expect to be able to supply virtually all of the Eden Project's power and heat requirements but generate surplus power that could be fed into the grid to help meet the Government's CO2 reduction and renewable generation targets." Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/plans-for-uks-first--geothermal-power-plant-14322487.html?r=RSS#ixzz0QnThiCRY
Carbon emissions threaten 'underwater catastrophe', scientists warnRoyal Society calls for CO2's effect on seas to be included in climate change talks in Copenhagen  Increasing acidity in the seas could damage fish, corals and shellfish – leaving fishing communities facing economic disaster. Photograph: HO/AFP/Getty Images Changes to the ocean caused by carbon dioxide emissions could lead to an "underwater catastrophe", damaging wildlife, food production and livelihoods, scientists warned today. The world's scientific academies – including the UK's Royal Society – issued a warning that ocean acidification must be on the agenda when countries attempt to forge a new global deal on cutting emissions in Copenhagen in December. And a separate paper in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters warned that increasing acidity in the seas could damage fish, corals and shellfish – leaving fishing communities facing economic disaster. The researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts, said emissions from deforestation and burning of fossil fuels had increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere by almost 40% above pre-industrial levels. Currently around 30% of the CO2 put into the atmosphere by human activities is absorbed by the oceans where it dissolves, altering the chemistry of the surface sea levels making it more acidic. The acidity can damage wildlife, particularly shell-forming creatures and the species that feed on them, with knock-on effects on people who rely on the oceans for food and livelihoods. Damage to corals could also reduce the coastal protection from storms that reefs currently provide. According to the US researchers, there were almost 13,000 fishermen in the UK in 2007, who harvested £645m of marine products, almost half (43%) of which were shellfish. In the US, domestic fisheries provided a primary sale value of $5.1bn (£3.1bn) in 2007, they said. The statement from the science academies of 70 countries, warned that despite the seriousness of the problem, there was a danger it could be left off the agenda at Copenhagen. The joint statement calls on world leaders to explicitly recognise the dangers posed to the oceans of rising CO2 levels, which it warns are irreversible and could cause severe damage by 2050, or even earlier, if emissions carry on as they are. Martin Rees, president of the Royal Society, said the effect of rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere on the oceans had not received much political attention. But he said: "Unless global CO2 emissions can be cut by at least 50% by 2050 and more thereafter, we could confront an underwater catastrophe, with irreversible changes in the makeup of our marine biodiversity. "The effects will be seen worldwide, threatening food security, reducing coastal protection and damaging the local economies that may be least able to tolerate it. "Copenhagen must address this very real and serious threat."
Isle of Wight: occupation of Vestas wind turbine factory ends The occupation of Vestas Wind Systems wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight, which is to close with the loss of 625 jobs, has ended when workers left the building after an 18-day protest.
Published: 1:08PM BST 07 Aug 2009
The six men were greeted with cheers and applause by hundreds of supporters outside the plant in Newport on the Isle of Wight on Friday. One of the workers jumped 20 feet from a balcony before being led away by security guards, waving and smiling at the climate change activists and trade unionists.
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