Reuters reports that Canadian police broke
up an occupation by environmental activists of an oil sands processing facility
under construction in Alberta, majority owned by Royal
Dutch Shell Plc, arresting 16 activists recently. Environmental group
Greenpeace and the company said that the protest began at an expansion of
Shell''s Scotford facility in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta.
It was the third such action in recent weeks to target facilities linked to oil
sands production. Greenpeace said 19 activists
moved on to the site of an under-construction upgrader expansion to protest
"the climate crimes of the tar sands." Upgraders are part of the process that converts tar-like bitumen
mined from the oil sands into usable crude. Shell had said that production at
the rest of the plant was not affected. A statement from the environmental
group said police had arrested the last nine activists and 16 in all were taken
into custody. Greenpeace said charges might include breaking and entering,
trespass and mischief. Shell confirmed in a separate release that Canadian
police took activists into custody, ending the protest. The company said it was
concerned about the security breach and would
tighten site access. The energy giant had previously said that no construction
was going on when the protesters entered the site. Marathon Oil Corp and
Chevron Corp also own the upgrader. The protest comes after environmental
activists canoed into Suncor Energy Inc''s oil sands
operation in northern Alberta, blocking
equipment. In another incident, protesters chained themselves to equipment at a
Shell oil sands mine in northern Alberta to
highlight what they view as excessive greenhouse gas
emissions from the region''s oil production operations.
