Extinction Rebellion Scotland block Invergordon oil rig maintenance facility

Activists from Extinction Rebellion Scotland are blockading the main entrance of the oil rig maintenance facility at Invergordon Service Base of the Cromarty Firth Port Authority.

They have erected a 4.2m tall prop oil rig made of scrap materials with a banner saying “Decommission Me Now”.

Four are also reportedly locked onto prop oil barrels in the road, preventing traffic access.

John Lardner (69) and Exitinction Rebellion (XR) Scotland activist and retired history teacher, said: “The Chapham House report says that even if the Paris Agreement carbon emissions were achieved, we have almost no chance of staying below pre-industrial levels of warming. We have to act now. Our carbon budget is empty. We have no option.”

The group is calling for an end to fossil fuel extraction and support for a transition of skilled oil and gas workers into decommissioning and renewable industries, not new oil fields.

Other activists are holding banners nearby saying “Climate Emergency” and “No Future in Fossil Fuels”.

Maciej Walczuk (19), an engineering student, said: “We don’t have a choice, the fossil fuel industry is already causing deaths of the most vulnerable people on this planet.

"Places like this must look into the future. To survive they need to transform into doing work that doesn’t compromise our future instead of trying to continue making profit off the expansion of a deadly industry.”

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