cairnPig :
Monday, August 23, 2010
Climate Camp art activists cause 'oil' spill outside Cairn Energy
An 'oil' spill was caused outside the offices of Cairn Energy in central Edinburgh this morning. Activists targeted the Scottish energy company because it used public money from RBS to help it start drilling for oil off the coast of Greenland last month.

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The art activists who met at the Climate Camp carried a two metre long piggy bank branded with the RBS logo filled with 60 litres of an oil like substance towards Cairn Energy's offices. Triggered by a golden coin representing the public money used to bail out the bank, the RBS 'piggy bank' unleashed its contents, believed to be molasses, covering the entrances and the street. Activists also sprayed 'oil' on the outside of the building with fire extinguishers.

It was revealed yesterday that Cairn Energy received £117 million of loans and equity last year from RBS, almost half of which directly enabled the drilling off the Greenland coast to start. This drilling is particularly controversial because the area hasn't been exploited for oil before and has only been made possible as climate change has caused icebergs in this region to melt. The BP Deepwater oil spill has clearly shown the dangers of offshore drilling and it's argued that Cairn don't have the experience to deal with accidents in the previously pristine and extremely environmentally sensitive Arctic. (A spill in the area would be almost impossible to clean up due to the thick ice.)