17 metre-long wind turbine blade put in place outside IGas oil drilling site at Barton Moss
by Adam Vaughan / The Guardian
Wind turbine blade laid at Barton Moss oil drilling site Photograph: /No Dash for Gas
Anti-fracking protesters have dumped a wind turbine blade at an oil drilling site in Manchester, in the latest step in an ongoing campaign that saw scuffles between police and protesters on Friday.
50 campaigners put the blade in place at around 5.30am at the Barton Moss site this morning, and said it was disrupting vehicle access to the site.
Sandra Denton, one of the protesters, said: “We’ve delivered this early Christmas gift to IGas to remind them that we don’t need damaging, risky and polluting energy sources like oil and gas to power the UK. The government and the big energy companies are planning to build a new wave of gas-fired power stations, partly fed by thousands of fracking wells across the British countryside.”
The 1.5-tonne blade is the same one used by the Liberate Tate group in a stunt at the Tate Modern in 2012, in protest at oil company BP’s sponsorship of the gallery.
IGas, the operator of the site, told the Guardian that operations would not be affected because the site was not blocked and it would be “business as usual” today.
Protester dressed as Santa next to wind turbine placed by activists at Barton Moss drilling site operated by IGas Photograph: /No Dash for Gas
