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Protesters invade BAM Nuttall office
5 June, 2009
Anti-coal power demonstrators glued locked themselves to furniture to campaign against firm's bid to build new powerstation
Thirteen climate protesters have invaded the offices of BAM Nuttall in protest of the firm's bid to build a new coal power station at Kingsnorth in Kent.
The campaigners, from Thames Valley Climate Action locked themselves to furniture, glued themselves to desks and demanded to speak with the chief executive Martin J Rogers about the “disastrous implications of building more coal-fired power stations”.
Several protesters also positioned themselves on an exterior ledge above the building's entrance with a banner reading: “No New Coal: Build a Greener Future”. Staff and passers-by are being given leaflets and information about the protest.
Bam Nuttall are bidding for the contract to build the power station for giant energy company E.ON. This would be the first new UK coal power station for 30 years, and campaigners say would produce about seven million tonnes of CO2 per year - equivalent to the entire emissions of a country such as Ghana.
One of the protesters, Xavier Perez, said: “BAM Nuttall point to the introduction of low energy lighting and improved heating at their head office as examples of how they are reaching their sustainability goals.
“This conveniently overlooks the fact that they are hoping to construct a power station reliant on the filthiest fossil fuel in existence. This would be laughable if it were not for the fact that millions of lives, livelihoods and species could be lost,” he added.
Readers' comments
Interesting. It's tough times so we've got to chase any contract we can, but maybe we need to keep out of all this. Once the recovery starts it'll just be a headache.
Presumably the glue they used was an oil-based derivative, or did they use organic flour and water?
I praise BAM Nuttall having previously employed them on several projects. The protesters are clearly unaware of BAM Nuttall's involvement in waste to energy and other renewables projects. Nuttall are clearly driven towards a sustainable future for all.
Building firms that bid for contracts to build new fossil fuel infrastructure are leaving themselves open to protests of this kind, which is going have a knock-on effect on their share values. We should all think twice before bidding for this sort of contract.
Hmm, I googled BAM Nattall and sure enough it comes up with "BAM - Sustainable construction" which seems contradictory when trying to build a coal-fired power station. Jobs obviously important but I can't help but see this contract as bad news for me.