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The Manchester offices of environmental consultants ERM were occupied
on Monday (13/01/03) by concerned local people, in protest against
the proposed Baku-Ceyhan oil
pipeline (see 1 and previous Networking Newsletter).
The campaigners, wearing various approximations on the theme
of "smart clothes", strolled past the security and up to the eighth
floor of the Salford Quays office tower, where Environmental Resource
Management (ERM) have one of their four UK offices. The concerned
locals then carried out an "Environmental and Social Impact
Assessment" on the office, to investigate the effects of the
occupation. This was based on ERM's real-life assessment of the
pipeline's impacts (2), and asked members of staff whether they
thought that ERM's work on the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline was helping or
damaging people and the environment.
This is the latest action in the growing campaign against the
pipeline, which, according to recent research, would lead to human
rights abuses and climate change disaster (3, 4). ERM are the
environmental consultants to the project, but their assessment of the
potential impacts of the pipeline has been severely criticised (5).
Monday's non-violent direct action aimed to convince ERM to withdraw
their support from the pipeline project.
Protestors locked themselves to office furniture, engaged the staff
in complex ethical debates ("do you think a pipeline that leads to
environmental destruction and human rights abuses is a good or a bad
thing?"), scampered about, sang songs, "helped" with the office
filing, yelled facts about the pipeline very loudly to make sure
EVERYONE COULD HEAR, played hide-and-seek with security guards and
generally made a nuisance of themselves for the rest of the day. The
police sat outside, fuming quietly but prevented from doing anything
by the protestations of the office manager: "it's OK, I'm sure
they'll be going soon...". The invaders also had interesting phone
conversations with ERM's European director and the communications
department of BTC (the consortium, led by BP, who are planning to
build the pipeline). Eventually, having got most of the staff to
promise to complain (or at least enquire) about the pipeline to Head
Office, and after collecting their phone numbers in order to call up
and remind them, the campaigners sauntered out of the office and went
home.
According to one of the occupiers: "One of the most shocking things
about this destructive pipeline project is that, if it went ahead, it
would be paid for by us, the British taxpayer. Our government is
preparing to stump up £65 million of our money to pay for death and
destruction in Eastern Europe. They can't find enough money to pay
for public sector workers, but they seem to have plenty of cash for
oil and war." (6)
"ERM's environmental and social impact assessment of the pipeline is
severely flawed. Independent researchers found a village
supposedly 'consulted' by ERM had actually been empty and derelict
for years. ERM, far from acting to help the environment and local
people, are just one more company profiting from this pipeline.
Monday's event followed a similar action against ERM in London in
December. The campaign is growing - every company involved in this
pipeline will be targeted and shamed, until the pipeline is stopped."
Get Involved!
To find out more, contact The Baku Ceyhan Campaign,
tel: 01865 550200, Email: ilisu@gn.apc.org; or PLATFORM, Tel: 0207
4033738, Email: platform@gn.apc.org
More information: http://www.risingtide.org.uk
Manchester action: contact Manchester Earth First!
(0161 226-6814, mancef@nematode.freeserve.co.uk)
(1) The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline would run from Baku in Azerbaijan, through Tbilisi in Georgia to Ceyhan in Turkey. It would run for 1,750 km (1087 miles), and transport 1 million barrels of oil a day (a daily value of US$ 21 million) for the next 40 years. The pipeline project is being run bya consortium of oil companies, headed up by the British company BP. The final decision on whether to go ahead with the proposal was scheduled for April 2003, but a growing international anti-pipeline campaign has already delayed the planning process by six months. (2) The spoof assessment was based on one written by London Rising Tide, which can be found at www.erm-concerns.com. (3) The vague terms of the Host Government Agreements (HGAs) signed by the oil companies and affected nations would allow paramilitary units to be set up along the pipeline route, to pre-empt "civil disturbance" or "terrorist" activities. Many local people will be evicted from their lands, or forced to tresspass on BP property to live their everyday lives. The pipeline also passes through major conflict zones. Similar situations in other countries (such as BP's oil pipeline in Colombia) have led to serious human rights atrocities. (4) The oil and gas transported by the pipeline would produce 177 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas CO2 (carbon dioxide) every year. This is more than all of the UK's power stations put together, and two and a half times the amount of CO2 the UK has pledged to cut under the Kyoto protocol. (5) 50% of ERM's income in Baku comes from BP. Their survey of local people was carried out after 10 years of work on the pipeline, and presented it as a certainty, with little mention of its potential negative impacts. People were not given the option of voting against the pipeline. More concerns about the assessment can be found at http://www.erm-concerns.com. (6) John Browne, the head of BP, has said that the project cannot go ahead without "free public money". The oil companies plan to obtain around 70% of the US$ 3.3 billion cost of the project from public funds. British taxpayers would contribute an estimated £65 million via the Export Credit Guarantee Department, and more money through the UK's contribution to international funds such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Finance Corporation. The British people would actually be paying to create more floods and storms in the UK, through carbon dioxide emissions from the pipeline and the resulting climate change. (7) Information Source: The book "Some Common Concerns", published in September 2002 by PLATFORM, The Corner House, Friends of the earth International, Campagna per la Riforma della banca Mondiale, CEE Bankwatch Network and the Kurdish Human Rights Project.