Slow walk by Extinction Rebellion activists near Horse Hill oil site in Surrey, 6 July 2020. Photo: Natasa Leoni
Climate change activists walked in front of a tanker this morning due to collect from UKOG’s Horse Hill oil production site in Surrey.
The 20 protesters, wearing Covid-19 face masks, said their action was against continued investment in fossil fuel sites across the UK.
The group, from Extinction Rebellion, slow-walked the tanker to delay its progress along Horse Hill to the site near Horley.
Pauline, who took part in the march, said:
“I’m here because we’ve seen that radical change is possible when governments decide it’s in the population’s wider interest.
“More than that, allowing fossil fuel extraction is public neglect, which is already open to legal challenge – there are currently 14 separate legal actions against the oil industry in the US for their historic lack of honesty about the damage burning fossil fuels does to our survival on this planet.
“I appeal to our local and national governments to halt this extraction right now. This has to change immediately – or it will be too late.’
Activists have called on the government to ‘build back better’ after the coronavirus outbreak by investing in renewable energy rather than fossil fuels.
Surrey County Council voted in September 2019 to allow 20 years of oil production at Horse Hill.
- A civil injunction prohibits certain protests at UKOG sites. In May 2020, the High Court reduced the scope of the injunction, removing protests against UKOG’s supply chain, as well as gathering, loitering and combining together. A hearing due this month will decide whether the injunction should be struck out.
DRILL OR DROP? 
Yes, XR should stop investing in fossil fuels .If they don’t like it, don’t use it. Not the brightest knives in the draw, are they!?
“If 20 people stop using fossil fuels, we’ll avoid the climate crisis!” Sounds like they’re not the ones who need a bit of sharpening…
If you’re genuinely just confused, [edited by moderator] I’ll spell it out – if we want even a slight chance of keeping warming below 2 degrees, let alone 1.5 degrees, we can’t afford to burn the majority of existing reserves of fossil fuels. Drilling for more is environmental/climate suicide. If governments won’t take the action climate science shows is necessary, then ordinary people will.
? sharpest ? drawer ?
dbc-there is no limit upon local sayings. You stick to yours and I will stick to mine. But, if you have difficulty understanding-just look at the picture, and then the reason given for it!
Sandwich short of a picnic?
Ah sure, the ‘local saying’ of ‘brightest knife in the drawer’ 😂🤦
Err…they’re walking. Perhaps you’re not the cuddliest tool in the shed?
Never mind local sayings, just a doubt of the thinking level of those who don’t choose to spell correctly. You carry on having the last word dear boy, you can’t resist.
How much extra diesel was used by that lorry traveling at snail’s pace rather than its usual speed? And fuel by any other vericles that were delayed? The protesters do not think of the damage that they are doing to the environment.