Guest essay by Eric Worrall
A US judge in Anchorage has slapped a massive accumulating fine on Greenpeace of $2500 per hour, rising to $10,000 / hour, for every hour Greenpeace activists block Shell Oil ship MSV Fennica from leaving Portland, to sail for Alaska.
According to Sky News;
A US judge has slapped a $US2,500 ($A3,426.77) fine on Greenpeace for every hour its activists continue to block a Shell Oil ship headed for Alaska on a drilling expedition.
The activists have been hanging from ropes since Wednesday from a bridge in Portland, Oregon’s main city, to prevent the departure of the MSV Fennica, a Shell icebreaker that was in town for repairs.
But federal judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage, Alaska’s biggest city, ruled in the oil giant’s favour on Thursday, imposing the hourly fine until the protesters withdraw, a court official told AFP.
The fine will increase the longer the protest continues, according to the local KGW News.
Starting at 10am on Friday (0300 AEST on Saturday), Greenpeace will be fined $US5,000 an hour, increasing to $US7,500 an hour on Saturday and $US10,000 an hour from Sunday.
Greenpeace is a massive multi million dollar international organisation, with assets in the 10s of millions, so in principle they could laugh off even a $10,000 / hour fine for at least several weeks before feeling the financial strain. My guess is there may be some interesting discussions occurring now in Greenpeace HQ, about how much money they should burn to make their point.
Update
The MSV Fennica made it past the protestors at 6pm Thursday, according to Oregon Live.
Just before 6 p.m. Thursday, the controversial icebreaker MSV Fennica threaded through a hole cut by law enforcement in the wall of protesters suspended from the St. Johns Bridge.
…
A police Special Emergency Response Team officer rappelled over the bridge and cut the lines connecting the protesters dangling from the bridge. Then Portland Fire Bureau technical rescue teams moved in, with some firefighters going over the bridge’s edge and asking the protesters to voluntarily ease themselves down to waiting boats.
The first two protesters came down on their own but the third wouldn’t communicate. Firefighters connected two rope lines to his lines, removed his anchor and lowered him on their attached lines to a boat.
Their work opened a gap just wide enough for the Fennica’s safe passage.
Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/07/greenpeace_protesters_claim_sy.html
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Eric: Do you think Greenpeace will pay these fines or will they get to a liberal judge to overturn the fines?
Leo, doesn’t matter…their money goes to “activists” in the first place
What pisses me off, the judge fined them, so what…and that money will not go to Shell to cover their costs of this…that money will go into government pots and stay there
They broke the law…if the judge was not corrupt he would have had them arrested and it would have been jail time
Agreed. If anyone else were blocking shipping traffic for any other reason, they would have been arrested before they even finished tying off. I’m certain Shell is keeping a tally of the costs from all of this protesting and will take Greenpeace to civil court to recoup the costs, why wouldn’t they?
What time of the summer is it? What year did AGW promoters previously say the Arctic was going to be ice-free in the summer? What exact kind of ship was Greenpeace blocking here?
Icebreaker, icebreaker, icebreaker, icebreaker, icebreaker, icebreaker, icebreaker, icebreaker.
But on the topic of fines, any update of fines paid or voluntary repair gifts given by Greenpeace over the Nazca Lines scandal? They don’t mention any such thing here: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/features/Nazca-Timeline/
Here’s part of GP’s “explanation” for what happened in Peru. These people have descended into clownishness. By way of “apologizing” they go off on climate change. Meandering narrative like this got Barry Bonds indicted for obstruction of justice (recently overturned) because the judge said he was “rambling” in his responses.
“The action took place on the occasion of at a climate conference in Lima, where government leaders had a historic opportunity to tackle the effects of climate change. While the conference was proceeding, our International Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo, was in the Philippines to witness the damage done by typhoon Hagupit. Nearly a million people were evacuated from their homes as Hagupit became the third typhoon in three years to hit the coast. For many people climate change has become a matter of survival.”
So you see, climate change isn’t in the future, it’s already happened. Proof: The Phillipines have never experienced Typhoons before!
Shell won’t do diddly to recover the cost; if they do, they will simply return the funds in donation. Shell donates to Greenpeace and other greeners to lobby legislators regulate against coal so those nasty coal fired generators are converted to “clean” methane – sold by Shell. Duh
Since local police and firefighters risked life and limb (and consumed local resources) to counter these thugs, I would think Greenpeace and these home-grown terrorists will now be subject to local fines and/or criminal prosecution. Hope springs eternal.
With a little luck, Jane Fonda will personally finance their fines with all of her inherited wealth … maybe then, she wouldn’t be able to afford a private jet flying her all over the planet to lecture people about using fossil fuels
Gee, there’s nothing but crap on cable.
http://www.motherjones.com/files/imagecache/top-of-content-main/shell-blockade.jpg
Ha
Oh, for a broadsword and a stroll across that bridge …
+many
++++ rofl 😉
If they’re sitting in climbing harnesses, I can promise them some pretty severe hemorrhoids and possibly blood clots in their lower legs for their trouble. Not smart.
No requirement for smart.
Not smart is a job requirement for them.
Most climate activists aren’t recruited for their smarts, they have to exhibit other personality traits and attributes like, say, narcissism, bad at math, high BS tolerance level, revenge fantasies, resentment, delusions of grandeur, virtue-signalling, projection, irrationality, persecution complex, etc.
The bridge they are anchored to is a landmark, which costs in the millions to repaint (I used to work in the Bridge Engineering Section at Oregon DOT). These goons don’t care how much it costs poor Oregonians, or they never thought of how much damage they do to everything they touch (it seems to me).
That looks superb! I think it adds to the beauty of the area and enhances the architecture of the bridge.
Should be left there permanently. A bit like the human decorations that they used to put on medieval castle….in a cage!!
Speaking of what Max said is on the cable, …uh… I’m sure Mother Nature (not to be confused with Ma’ Gaia) at some point took it’s course.
With the EPA going nuts over air and water nowadays, shouldn’t there be a few additional fines?
Or does that Depends?
‘The activists have been hanging from ropes since Wednesday ‘
Obviously they have the rope attached wrongly.
+100
So true.
After the Ice Breaker gets by, they should be rehung with nooses
Why are they bothering to block the icebreaker? Surely there is no ice left up there anyway 🙂
Good point 🙂
Excellent point.
After all, Al Gore promised an ice free would have happened by now and we all know how you can trust a failed politician seeking fame and glory.
Good news but to a certain extetnt a self-defeating exercise since the fine comes from our money anyway, in the form of NGO backing from birdchopper sellers who are in turn paid via public subsidies. The best answer is to cut the subsidies, then the funding for these pressure groups will dry up. Put it this way, if you want to get rid of the weed you dig up the root, cutting off the leaves is at best a temporary solution.
Far better to cut the ropes.
My first thought also or steer the ice breaker through them. Greenpeace put themselves in danger.
Like the British ferry boxed in by floating ropes from French protestors in Calais, many years ago. The ferry trailed its anchors in the water and steamed through at 15 knots, with the French scattering like pigeons.
Normally I have some sympathy with strikers, but the French port-workers and french airtraffic controllers have spoiled each summer for that last 30 years. They are a parasite on the back of the hardworking holidaymaker.
Or slip nooses about their necks and raise them a little higher, out of the path of the ship
I would have fired up the ice breaker, and then see how fast they could climb up the ropes to get out of the way.
Far better to use slip knots.
They should have just used grappling hooks to pull apart two of the danglers – one to the left and one to the right – just far enough to let the ship pass between them – and then let them go, to swing into each other.
green peas = eco facists thugs. If they fell into the Willamette river, it would only pollute the water.
I would have loved seeing a ‘line cutting’ drone zip through … ” Houston, We have splashdown !”
Displayed intent to
Force the world onto its knees
Time for katana
Unless they were all wearing adult pampers they were polluting the river anyway after 40 hours. Disappointing that here is only one charge being laid. All others go free. And it was a judge in Alaska not Oregon.
If they were wearing Adult Pampers, they were still polluting the river after about 12 hours, Those things don’t hold $H17 even though that was their intended purpose.
Pampers are little more that pee sponges.
For real men and women, you need some “Oops, I Crapped My Pants” adult diapers:
If they happen to “fell” they would probably sue the pants off the Government for building an unsafe bridge….
Fennica headed downstream on Columbia River near Mill Creek … CG Wahoo following 1/4 mile behind (sorry, bad night photo on iPhone) /Users/jim/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2015/07/30/20150730-220604/IMG_2543.JPG
try again
oh, damn …. photo didn’t copy/paste worth a hoot ! Sorry
Religious nut jobs
Neither peaceful or green,
Just naive and left wing,
I suppose you could argue
They’re both the same thing!
” ‘s 😉
Yes, ‘naive’ is a synonym for ‘green.’
This is my part of the world being Vancouver WA just across the Columbia River from Keep Portland Weird OR. This stunt like many from Green Piece is getting more negative response then positive.
At the same time they and local chapters have been involved in trying to block a oil by rail to ship terminal in my city of Vancouver WA. The terminal would be the biggest in the US shortening the rail miles and better delivering 360,000 barrels of Bakkain oil a day to west coast refineries.
For the majority of us we are tired of lame protests that feed Greepiece, Sierra Club and many local groups like Columbia River Keepers. Good thing this was in Portland the other side of the Columbia would have asked for the full extent of the low and cost of dealing with this.
Jon, my guess for a while has been that these type of NGOs (GP, Sierra, WWF, etc.) are getting funded by our competitors, especially the State competitors, such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iran, etc. I have no proof, but think about it. Isn’t that what you’d do if you were a Saudi prince? I know that’s what I’d do if I was. (I’m not.)
They claim to have proof that Russia has been funding Green movements in Europe.
They have proven that Russia funded many of the “anti-war” movements back during the cold war days.
Suppose someone up north needs rescuing using the ice-breaker, and DIES because the icebreaker couldn’t get there.
That would be pretty close to manslaughter, wouldn’t it ??
Is the ice breaker needed to help get food and supplies to ice-bound ports of other places ??
Greenpeace are getting very close to being CRIMINAL organisation. !!
Personally, I think they are already there.
Only improvement on that scenario is if the breaker was on it’s way up to free another trapped “Ship of Fools” doing climate research and getting stuck in the ice 🙂
Jim
That’s stuck in the ice that doesn’t exist any longer.
Mods – of course there is /SARC!
Auto
This is not “close” to criminal activity, it is clearly against the law. They think their lawlessness is somehow justified by appeal to a “higher” morality. Sensible people would say that both their ethics and their legal positions are fraudulent.
I thought that interfering with a ship at sea was an act of piracy. Seems greenpeace are above the law as well as the water.
They don’t care; they think themselves above the law, what’s left of it.
Close?
Talk about air pollution!
The bridge is public property and the local authority using the police should have hooked them off…for their own safety.
But it don’t work like that does it?
Hook each rope to a winch, and start pulling. One way or another, they are coming up, straight into the loving arms of the police.
This has made my day. They’ll fold. Sure they could afford to hang around for awhile (sorry about the pun), but they like money too much and don’t like to spend it. The idiots on the ropes might be willing, but the ones with control of the money won’t like it a bit.
They should be arrested for making the most boring 3 hours of news coverage evah!
A game of chicken would be fun to watch.
Last year the hundred odd paid employees of Greenpeace, who work in a building on one of Amsterdam’s prime locations, were up in arms when it became widely published that two of their bosses were happy to fly in on an almost daily basis from as far away as Luxembourg, where they happily lived. They were afraid that the bad publicity would affect the organisation’s finances and thus endanger their jobs as professional activists.
They must be soiling their pants right now.
When you’re hanging from a bridge there aren’t many places you can go.
@ur momisugly Ed what happened to that story? I believe it was mentioned on WUWT but kinda disappeared, have you got more info? It sure looks like Fonda and her ilk are using the same methods!
Anybody care for piniata game?
I was thinking of taking my pellet gun down there and getting in a little target practice.
Latest: protest cleared. (It’s the Guardian, so it must be true)
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/30/portland-shell-bridge-protesters-greenpeace-fined
Thanks – Just saw the update on Oregon Live.
Man are the Groaniadistas frothing at the mouth!!!!
The shrill cries not use oil, petrol etc etc etc are hilarious given that they’ve used machines made from petroleum derived plastics powered by fossil fuels to make their [very silly] point.
A real Friday funny
Rope-a-dopes.
Certainly no chance of being confused with ‘soap on a rope’
They look more like loofah drying.
Great Spoonerism (nearly), Dawtgtomis: Lying Droofahs!
Eco-warriors or ecoloons?
High profile gimmicks and bad science is what Greenpeace is all about and not much else. However, I do admire their ability to raise huge amounts of funds from the hopelessly gullible.
Hmm, water canon on the ship + a weight dangling from a rope.
That could be a lot of fun.
Or a drone armed with a dremel and a bit of free time…
The drone would be fun but with carbon fiber blades there is no need for a Dremel. The carbon fiber the blades are made of is really thin and they cut very well. My bushes found out the hard way while I was testing my new Hexacopter. The blades were cutting 3/4 inch branches off clean and it didn’t bother the hexacopter at all until it hit the main trunk. After watching that I now stand well away from it when I am taking off. I haven’t seen too many things that are as scary as a three horsepower six bladed flying buss saw, but it does take lovely pictures and video.
Post the vid! Please! And where do I get a hexacopter?
http://alerte-environnement.fr/la-face-cachee-des-ong/la-face-cachee-de-greenpeace/