Greenpeace banned by courts from boarding oil platforms
Judge agrees with Shell’s lawyers that activists risk injury while staging protests on unmanned platforms in the North Sea, reports James Mulholland
AN energy company has won a court order which prevents environment activists from boarding unmanned North Sea installations.
Lawyers acting for Shell have obtained an interim interdict against Greenpeace at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
The firm launched a legal action after protesters boarded platforms in the Brent field off Shetland last month.
Shell’s legal team asked judge Lady Carmichael last Thursday to pass an order which would prevent protesters from going within 500 metres of the installations.
The campaign group claims that Shell’s plans for decommissioning the installations will cause environmental damage.
Lawyers for Greenpeace claimed that an order would breach human rights law and that the environmental pressure group had a legal right to protest.
Lady Carmichael yesterday ruled in favour of Shell. She concluded that since the installations were private property, Shell had a legal right to prevent protesters from accessing them.
She also ruled that, given the condition of the installations, protesters could injure themselves and in light of health and safety considerations the company has the right to stop Greenpeace from boarding the facilities.
“The defenders have no right or title to enter the installations,” she concluded. Greenpeace can no longer go within a 500m-safety zone around platforms in the Brent field.
Protesters from the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany climbed on board the Brent field installations last month.
They were protesting against the company’s plans to decommission the platforms which are no longer in use at the field, off Shetland.
They claim Shell’s proposals would result in tonnes of “oil water” being dumped into the sea.
Two protesters climbed the Brent Alpha platform while another two ascended the legs of the Brent Bravo. The activists brandished signs and banners that read, “Shell, clean up your mess”.
Activists reached the field 115 miles north-east of Shetland on the charity’s Rainbow Warrior ship.
Greenpeace halted its protest after 24 hours, leaving the graffiti slogan “toxic waste” on the Brent Bravo.
At proceedings last week, Shell’s advocate, Jonathan Barne QC, said protests at the installations could create serious risks to the safety of protesters.
He said the platforms were unsafe and unmanned and that environmentalists could hurt themselves.
Mr Barne, who was acting for Shell, said the company was duty bound to