‘Bog off Scotts!’‘Bog off Scotts!’Through out the summer there have been a series of actions taken against the peat works on Thorn and Hatfield Moors, just south of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. The moors, owned by English Nature, are two of the last peat bogs in the country. Peat bogs provide a diverse habitat for around 5000 species and some of these are now becoming very rare; notably the Thorne Moor ground beetle, Mire Pill beetle, long-headed fly, Hairy Canary and the Scarce Vapourer.
Britain has already lost 96% of its peat bogs and it is estimated that the rest may be irreparably damaged with in the next 10 years. Thorne and Hatfield Moors may even run out in the next couple of years, despite the fact that they could soon get ‘Special Area of Conservation´ status. The problem is that the government and English Nature are stalling so much about giving the moors protected status that Scotts, the multi-national involved, are rushing to take as much peat out of the site as possible. Meanwhile the local authority will not remove the mining consent, because they could be liable to a large compensation claim from Scotts.
The sites are now a dry and barren wasteland of drainage ditches. On the nearby area of still preserved peat bog the real height of the water table is clearly visible, while dragonflies dart through cotton grasses, a graphic illustration of how beautiful the whole site could be. At present it is not too late to restore the sites to their former glory, but if the peat continues to be stripped away, then the damage is irreparable as peat bogs take millions of years to form.
As peat must be dry to be mined, this makes it a seasonal activity for the summer months. Because of this if work does get stopped, it makes a significant difference to the amount of peat they can harvest. From Easter until late September the peat is stripped from the land, piled up by the sites private railway and then gradually sent for processing through out the year. It is then sterilised mixed with fertiliser and bagged.
There have been between 5 and 10 days of actions on the two sites and they have all managed to stop all work on the site for the rest of the day. It has been a very successful summer for this campaign and not one person has been arrested in relation to the actions. A mixture of local groups, ‘Friends of the Earth´ and ‘Earth First!´ activists, has taken part in the actions.
The actions have involved filling in drainage ditches, blocking the path of the mining machinery and generally getting in the way. Mysteriously on at least one occasion the trains on the site railway seemed to de-rail themselves and a few of the diggers stopped working.
The actions will continue to the very end of the peat season and will resume next year. For those of you unable to attend, please can you lobby your local garden centres and supermarkets to stop selling peat based composts. Also lobby any large-scale municipal and commercial users of compost to go peat free and end the market for this destructive product.
More info on the campaign from Leeds EF! 0113 262 3536, leedsef@ukf.net or from Friends of the Earth, www.friendsoftheearth.org.uk.
Action pack available next month, send a large SAE worth 66p to
Bog Off Scotts,
c/o Cornerstone Resource Centre,
16 Sholebroke Avenue,
LEEDS LS7 3HB.