CODI ETO YN Y CWM! -
Valleys Rise Against Opencast Monster

Anti-open-cast mine activists were last night holding out, five days into a tree-top battle in Brynhenllys, South Wales, to stop a monster development that will gauge a hole visible from space out of the heart of the Welsh valleys.

Scores of baliffs, climbers and security hired by Celtic Energy - who stand to make millions from the 'wanton destruction' - have so far failed in their high-risk attempt to evict all the protestors dangling from walkways and makeshift platforms high up in the trees. Watching the chainsaws flying from below are local residents who have been fighting the proposals for 14 years. They"ve been joined by children on half-term holiday, while police - backed up with a helicopter - and sheriff's men stand guard. Bailiffs stand accused of endangering lives - cutting walkways 40ft in the air with people still on them, and chainsawing the branches of a Corsican Pine from above the heads of protestors clinging on. One local resident, Nigel Faulkner, told SchNEWS: ""Their behaviour has been appalling, putting life and limb at risk, while the decency of the protestors has been a hallmark of the week - they are brilliant people battling every inch of the way."

Brynhenllys Open-Cast, a mind-boggling 770 acres and 200m deep - twice the size of Glastonbury Festival - will be the second largest open-cast site in Europe. The largest by a fraction will be at Selar Nature Reserve near Cwmgwrach, just fifteen miles away, where another troop of tree-dwelling protestors are bracing themselves for possible eviction on Monday.

These two vast holes will wipe out a fifth of Brecon Beacons National Park, 880 acres of lush watermeadow, ancient oak woodland and a designated Site of Special Scientfic Interest, the home of the protected Marsh Fritillary butterfly and nesting places of Perigrine Falcons, and remote wilderness of oaks, beech, ash and pine. Property prices have plummeted as the landscape is ravaged and asthma rates expected to soar. Dr Mark Temple, writing in The Lancet reported 30% more sufferers amongst residents at another nearby open-cast site. "Once the ecology has been destroyed it's gone forever. There are already signs of desertification from previous mining, according to a visiting professor from Algeria " said a spokesman for Wales Against Opencast.

Even police and security are in revolt. At least thirty people have been arrested for Public Order offences this week but released with out charge - and without bail conditions, freeing them to continue the protest. Dyfed Police have shown their feelings by virtually working to rule, and have been, in the words of one activist, "brilliant". The private company Reliant Security, well known from the No M11 Link Road campiagn - have been bussed in from London to deal with the protests. But many have left in disgust at conditions forcing them to work 34hr shifts with no food or accomodation. On Tuesday night both protestors and security were forced to share the only shelter in the area - the Long Barn - creating the bizarre situation of sitting round the same fire and sharing chips! "Most of the security are being used as slaves. They are predomintly black immigrants who don't know why they are here," said one protestor. The same climbers who were vilified by members of their own profession for evicting protestors at a similar tree-top drama at Stanworth Valley nr Preston in May, are being used, as no-one else will take the job on.

Local valley communities such as Brynhenllys and Cwmgwrach have been devesatated by the closure of all the deepcast mines.in Wales. Closed - they were told - because there was no demand for coal. But a week after Tower Colliery the last pit in Wales was shut the application was put in for Selar! Tower has since re-opened as a workers co-op employing 300 men and making a healthy profit. The Selar site is only 3 miles away from Tower and could be deep-cast mined creating a further 300 jobs instead of the unskilled handful the open-cast mine will create . Even a Public Inquiry over Brynhenllys found against the proposal but this was overturned and the project rubber-stamped by the Welsh Office. "We exhausted the legal process utterly and direct action was the only option left. It's been fantastic in fostering a new community spirit, " one Brynhenllys resident told SchNEWS.

* Wanna-be PM Michael Heseltine, the man blamed for the most recent closure of Britain's pits, recently found himself the victim of direct action from people opposing open cast mining. One Sunday morning in September he awoke to find a motley collection of ex-miners, trade union members and environmentalists digging up his lawn in the search for coal! Claiming it was only a prelimenary visit they've also put in a planning application to Northamptonshire County Council for permission to sink a mine in the whole of his back garden.....

EVICTION LATEST
Brynhenllys ..... May hold out for weekend, attempt to set up new site in woodland.
Selar .... Bets are on for Monday but could be delayed for months.

HELP! Eviction fatigue setting in. If you can't get there yourself - spreads the word!