Greenpeace Activists Hang from Scottish Bridge to Block Gas Carrier

Scotland’s famed Forth Road Bridge, crossing the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, is closed as Greenpeace activists attempt to block an inbound INEOS gas tanker. The protest is also timed to the arrival of Donald Trump in Scotland and is designed to call attention to the current negotiations for the Global Plastics Treaty.

Police Scotland is on scene and is advising motorists to avoid the area. They received reports of the protest around 1:00 p.m. local time.

Greenpeace reports that 10 experienced climbers “abseiled from beneath the bridge’s service walkway.” The Forth Road Bridge is nearly 2.5 kilometers, over 8,200 feet, in length, crossing one of the main waterways in the east of Scotland. The roadway is about 50 meters (164 feet) above the water. The protestors are reported to be spaced at 20-meter (65-foot) intervals and suspended about 25 meters (82 feet) below the underside of the bridge.

The protestors unfurled large banners reading “Plastics Treaty Now” to call attention to their cause. Greenpeace reports it has a rescue crew on the bridge and a boat team in the river below. It says the protestors plan to remain on the bridge for the next 24 hours.

The INEOS Independence, one of a class of specially-designed gas carriers registered in Malta, diverted into the anchorage. It was completing a 10-day trip from the Houston, Texas area and is reported to be carrying 27,500 cubic meters of ethane to the company’s plant at Grangemouth. INEOS has been importing gas aboard the tankers for nearly a decade. Greenpeace reports INEOS is the UK’s biggest plastics manufacturer, producing 30 to 35 million nurdles (pellets) a day, which is enough to make 60 million plastic bottles.

 

INEOS image showing one of its tankers with the Forth Bridge (INEOS)

 

“Plastic pollution has reached a crisis point: it’s poisoning our land, seas, air, even our bodies,” said Amy Cameron, Programme Director at Greenpeace UK. “The Global Plastics Treaty offers us a once in a generation chance to tackle the problem for good.”

The group highlights that governments are scheduled to meet between August 5 and 14 in Geneva, Switzerland, for the sixth and final round of negotiations for the Global Plastics Treaty. Greenpeace is calling for the talks to agree to a cut in global plastic production of at least 75 percent by 2040, and for the UN to exclude lobbyists from fossil fuel companies from the treaty negotiations. It contends that the plastics producers, including INEOS, have collectively sent hundreds of lobbyists to influence the negotiations.

So far, the police have only reported that they were “engaging” with the protest. A RNLI boat was also dispatched to monitor the situation and ensure safety on the river.