The Guardian 15 March, 2006
Coal miners join environmentalists
Last week a group of Hunter Valley residents, coal miners and environmentalists, launched the Anvil Hill Alliance, dedicated to stopping the development of a massive new open cut coal mine in the Valley, as a first step in tackling climate change and moving the Hunter Valley towards a sustainable future.
The group’s first action was outside the launch of the Federal Labor Party’s policy on global warming. The group staged a demonstration to call on Opposition Leader Kim Beazley to pull his state counterparts into line and revoke approval for the Anvil Hill Coal Mine in Muswellbrook NSW.
"If the Federal Opposition is serious about climate change then they should stop the Iemma Government from allowing this environmentally destructive coal mine from going ahead", said group spokesperson Peter Kennedy.
Anvil Hill’s marketable coal reserves are estimated to be around 157 million tonnes, which would make it one of the State’s largest coal mines.
The mine’s owner, Centennial Coal, is one of four founding members of the Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group. NCIG’s primary aim is to increase coal export capacity for the Newcastle region and meet infrastructure demands for to power stations in Australia and around the world.
Last year the NSW Government gave approval for the NCIG to begin construction of a new coal loader at Newcastle which will increase the port’s capacity by 30 million tonnes a year. This new port would compliment the existing Carrington and Kooragang coal loaders. This additional capacity confirms fears that the Iemma Government is dead set to approve Centennial Coal’s plans.
Danny Kennedy, campaigns manager of Greenpeace, which took part in the launch of the Anvil Hill Alliance, commented on the ALP’s environmental policy: "By launching this policy blueprint today, Mr Beazley has differentiated the Federal ALP from the Howard Government, ensuring that climate change will be an election issue in 2007".
Mr Kennedy warned the ALP, that voters "will see that they both continue to favour the interests of coal companies over the interests of the community and the environment".
The blueprint commits an ALP Government to voluntarily reducing greenhouse pollution by 60 per cent by 2050, a target that environment groups have long been calling for. However, Greenpeace looks forward to seeing interim targets and a clear pathway to achieve these cuts set out before the 2007 election.
"When talking about deep cuts in greenhouse pollution, Mr Beazley must understand that achieving those cuts is not compatible with his party’s continuing addiction to coal.
"All recent analysis shows that it is not possible to achieve deep cuts while using coal, even with as-yet unproven geosequestration technologies. Putting a cost on greenhouse pollution with emissions trading, and ratifying the Kyoto Protocol, are certainly positive steps, but we cannot tackle climate change by continuing to rely on the fuel that is causing it in the first place…
"If Mr Beazley is serious about tackling climate change, he must also challenge his NSW ALP counterparts to stop the expansion of the state’s coal export infrastructure", Mr Kennedy said.