Erkelenz, 26 September, 2020

About 3,000 activists from Ende Gelaende have been successfully blocking coal and gas infrastructure in the Rhineland mining area since this morning. The action groups reached Garzweiler open-cast mine, Weisweiler coal-fired power station and Lausward gas-fired power station near Düsseldorf.

“We are here today to unmask fossil gas as a climate killer. Clean natural gas is a dirty lie. It is madness to invest billions in natural gas, pipelines and fracking ports instead of renewable energies. Natural gas is a fossil dead end and not a bridge to the future,” says Kim Solievna, spokesperson for Ende Gelaende.

This year for the first time, Ende Gelaende is also blocking gas infrastructure, which is currently undergoing major expansion. Methane is released during the production and transport of natural gas, which is a much stronger greenhouse gas than CO2. This means that throughout the entire production chain, gas contributes to global warming just as much as coal power. [1]

Lina Gobbelé of Fridays for Future adds: “Yesterday we were striking for climate justice at over 450 locations with more than 200,000 participants in Germany. Today we are protesting together with Ende Gelaende in Rhineland for a quick coal phase-out. The climate justice movement is diverse, determined and disobedient. We say: Exit coal, enter future”

From 12 noon Fridays for Future and the initiative “Alle Dörfer bleiben!” (All villages stay!) will protest at the Garzweiler open-cast mine for a quick coal exit and the preservation of the threatened villages.

1] Study by the Energy Watch Group: http://energywatchgroup.org/wp-content/uploads/EWG_Erdgasstudie_2019.pdf