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Extinction Rebellion locks down ExxonMobil oil terminal with demand to stop funding fossil fuels

EXTINCTION Rebellion (XR) activists blockaded an ExxonMobil oil terminal today in protest against plans to expand the nearby Fawley refinery.

Activists dressed in grim reaper costumes erected steel tripods to block the entrance to the Hythe Terminal near Southampton.

A protestor dressed as an ExxonMobil executive pumped fake blood from an oil barrel while others enacted a die-in protest.

The group will launch a new “rebellion” in London on Monday with the demand: “Stop all new fossil fuel investment now.”

XR said in a statement: “ExxonMobil has begun a massive expansion of its diesel production facilities at Fawley, as well as laying a new, larger bore pipeline to supply Heathrow and other airports with ever greater quantities of fossil fuel, despite the unequivocal science that states we need to drastically reduce emissions.

“Irrefutable evidence shows that ExxonMobil has known about the devastating effects of fossil fuel production on the environment for over 40 years, concluding in 1979 that it ‘will cause dramatic environmental effects’ in the coming decades and saying ‘the potential problem is great and urgent.’

“However, instead of acting responsibly on that knowledge they’ve spent tens of millions funding climate denial and misinformation and obstructing a transition to cleaner energy sources.”

James Knapp, a photographer from Dorking who took part in the action, said: “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released on August 9 is a code red for planet Earth.

“As UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres said: ‘The evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions are choking our planet and placing billions of people in danger’.”

Jon Kennedy, a mechanical-design engineer from Brighton, said: “The impacts of just 1.1°C increased heat are all around us, from the droughts that bring massive forest fires to the increased evaporation that’s resulting in fatal flooding.

“These impacts are coming faster than predicted, yet worse is to come and soon it could be beyond human control to set limits on heating as more climate feedback loops are triggered.”

Hampshire Constabulary confirmed that officers were at the scene, but no arrests had been made as of the early afternoon.

ExxonMobil claimed it supports the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change and that its emission-reduction plans through 2025 are projected to be consistent with the agreement’s goals.

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