Pigs May Fly

On the Newcastle Herald’s front page (Saturday 25/6/09) we read of the ‘Super Port’ that will triple our coal exports to 300 million tonnes per year and issue in an era of prosperity. But for how long?

On page 12 the other side to this story is buried in a political quagmire known as the Carbon Emissions Trading Scheme (CETS).

Our Governments make only token approaches towards this country’s transition to a clean energy economy. Like all addicts they profess to be kicking the habit, only to invest huge sums of our money in the long term viability of their addiction.

Peter Lewis’ cartoon was excellent. There is no difference between Mexico and its drug money addicted cartels and Australia with its fossil fuel money addicted Governments.

Opponents to change say ‘pigs may fly’ before Australia moves away from coal. And they can rest assured that billions of our dollars are being spent on such delusions as coal sequestration to enable those ‘pigs to keep flying’.

But be aware that everything that goes up must come down, and when these ‘pigs’ start falling we had better have a secure roof over our heads (preferably solar panelled) to break their fall.

Third power station shut down in five days

A third power station has been shut down by protesters in Victoria, one day after a similar action in Western Australia, and five days after a similar action in the Hunter Valley.

Two people have stopped and attached themselves to conveyors at the Hazelwood power station in the La Trobe Valley, and a large group of people walked onto the site early this morning.

Spokesperson for the group, Emma Russell said that the government has shown neither the will nor the ability to make the decisions necessary to prevent a climate disaster.

“We need to move on from coal, leaving no one behind. We offer our support to the workers of the Hazelwood power station. We believe it is critical that clean, renewable based industries are set up to provide new livelihoods after coal, such as renewable energy co-operatives and re-localised economies.”

In a public blog dedicated to the action, Ms. Russell linked the group's action to similar actions around the country.

“With direct action against coal infrastructure we wish to break the illusion of corporate control of our environments, creating space for community solutions for change. As this last week has shown with similar actions at Collie and Bayswater power stations, this sentiment is shared right across the country.”

Ms. Russell did not indicate whether she knew of other actions around the country but encouraged others to take similar action.

“It is our responsibility to ensure that electricity production is run by those who are interested in long-term sustainability, not those driven by short-term profits. We need to take our power back from privatised industry. This is our future, this is our responsibility; together, we should take action.”

Hunter residents have planned a vigil at Eraring power station on November 22, office occupations in December to occur simultaneously around the country, and a flotilla of kayaks to prevent coal from leaving Newcastle harbour next March.

29 arrests at Bayswater power station

Around thirty protesters from climate action group Rising Tide walked onto the site of the Bayswater power station yesterday, preventing the delivery of coal to the station for six hours.

Bayswater power station is New South Wales' equal biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions, along with Eraring power station.

29 people were arrested on the coal piles while four were arrested inside the power station. The group inside had chained themselves to both conveyors with a lock-on pipe and had to be cut off.

Spokesperson for the group, Georgina Woods said that Australia's greenhouse gas emissions were continuing to increase as a result of Australia's dependence on coal-fired power, leading to the slow death of the Great Barrier Reef.

“Where is the plan to phase out facilities like these? Why are we twiddling our thumbs?” Ms Wood asked.

“The nation and the world are watching and we will not get another chance. The people that are here today are parents and grandparents, professionals and tradespeople. We are demanding a commitment from the Government today: Australia’s greenhouse emissions must start dropping from 2010, we must do whatever it takes to save the Barrier Reef from wipe-out and the world from devastating runaway climate change.”

Workers onsite reacted in an overall positive manner to the protest, with some taking photographs and thanking the activists.

The large group had offered to leave the site without fuss once they had made their point, but police insisted upon processing all of them for trespass. A recent report has suggested that the effects of climate change will lead to an increase in crimes such as carbon accounting fraud and domestic violence, tying up resources for police.

The group inside have been charged with both entering enclosed lands and refusing to leave enclosed lands.

Ms. Woods said that more and more people would take action if the Government continued to allow greenhouse gas emissions to increase.
Photos by Conor Ashleigh (top) and Damien Baker (bottom)

Climate activists disrupt Senate

A dozen activists from Newcastle climate action group Rising Tide disrupted Question Time in the Senate on Monday, unfurling a banner and calling on Climate Change Minister Penny Wong to peak carbon emissions by 2010.

Shortly after 2pm, the group unfurled the large banner that they had smuggled into the public gallery, which showed pictures of reefs, forests and ecosystem and the word "UNLESS". A Rising Tide member jumped onto the barrier separating the chamber from the public gallery and began an impassioned plea to Penny Wong.

"Senator Wong, we need urgent action against climate change," he said. "Greenhouse pollution must stop rising, and start falling; you must peak carbon emissions by 2010; you must stop the expansion of the coal industry." The protester continued this refrain from the ledge until dragged out by Parliamentary security officers.

The activists were led out of Parliament House and banned from re-entry for 24 hours.
Source: http://www.risingtide.org.au/node/790
Commentary from Bob Brown: http://bob-brown.greensmps.org.au/content/greencast/parliament-climate-protest

Arctic sea melt

For the first time in human history, it is now possible to sail a ship all the way around the Arctic ice cap, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

The melting of the ice caps is expected to have significant impacts on climate change, including the loss of oceanic insulation, the loss of the albedo effect, and the acidification and algification of the oceans. If the Arctic ice cap melts by 2013 as predicted, it could produce runaway climate effects which are impossible to control and endanger human life on Earth.

Shipping companies have already announced plans to run their ships through the newly opened North-East passage.

Former Premier of NSW Nick Greiner has just completed a report to Ports minister Joe Tripodi recommending that the world's largest coal export port in Newcastle be doubled by 2013 and ultimately tripled, in a move set to be disastrous for the Earth's climate.

Picture by Ansgar Walk 2004. May be reproduced or altered only with attribution and under the same license.

Coal... and Costa

On Sunday 13 July community rally of some 500 in Newcastle halted coal shipments to the Port Waratah Coal Loader. See photos of the protest here.

Click here to view pics taken by The Newcastle Herald presented as fantastic slideshow .

Protestors marched from the Climate Camp in Wickham, along the railway track, to the entrance to the coal loader. A number of people were arrested when they entered the rail line, some locked themselves onto the coal wagons while others stood aloft the fully laden coal wagons. A huge banner, saying 'Danger Climate change ahead' was dopped onto the tracks. No trains moved during the protest.

Today Monday 14 July protestors rallied outside Michael Costa's office. The rally was jointly chaired by Zane Alcorn of Soclaist Alliance and Jasmine of Solidarity. With over 200 people attending there was a good representation of unionists and the broader community. The rally decided to march through Newcastle city centre. Later that afternoon the Climate Camp’s Resistance team banner got yet another drop, this time on Nobby’s beach. Photos here.

Anti-coal forum held in Singleton

Over 150 people attended a public meeting organised by the Rivers SOS Alliance in Singleton yesterday to learn about the negative health and environmental effects of open-cut and longwall mining.
After a screening of the Rivers of Shame 2 DVD, which features ex-coal miner Graham Brown, the residents shared personal stories of asthma, heavy metal poisoning, thyroid diseases and cancers.
Two local doctors presented anecdotal evidence about the disproportionate number of health problems in the Region which could be attributed to the poisoning of rivers and soils from mining dust.
The residents expressed anger at the failed promises of the NSW Government to commence comprehensive health and environmental studies of the region, and indicated that they would be submitting their children to blood tests to determine whether they had been poisoned by lead and other heavy metals.
The doctors expressed their support for the proposal after several residents revealed that they had been victims of lead poisoning.
Graham Brown, who was arrested that morning at a Greenpeace action shutting down the Eraring power station, was not in attendance. Several councillors from Singleton and Maitland councils attended the event.
The meeting unanimously passed a motion calling for comprehensive health and environmental studies in the region.
The meeting came several days after a report from the University of Newcastle's Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) revealed that thousands of jobs could be created by shifting to a renewable energy economy.
About a dozen Upper Hunter residents indicated that they would be attending next week's Camp for Climate Action.

Site announced for Camp for Climate Action

After weeks of stalling from local police and council authorities, the logistics working group of the Camp for Climate Action has announced that the camp will be held on public land on the corner of Mangrove Road and River Road, in Sandgate.

The working group had requested several different sites, and at various stages over the past month, authorities had given and withdrawn permission for all of the proposed sites.

With less than three weeks to go until the site, the working group realised that they could not wait any longer and decided to pick a site and promote it.

Up to 1000 people are expected to participate in the Camp for Climate Action. In late May, the actions working group announced that the highlight of the camp would be a mass blockade of the rail line which delivers coal to the world's biggest coal port.

According to the Gerald's sources, authorities are now tripping over themselves to find a different site for the camp.

The camp was promoted yesterday at a flash mob at Westfield Kotara, where up to 60 people who met each other via the social networking site Facebook froze for five minutes to demand a freeze in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.

It was also promoted in Parliament by NSW Treasurer Michael Costa on Wednesday and Thursday, in response to questions by Greens MLC John Kaye. The Treasurer misled Parliament into believing that the camp was organised by the NSW Greens in order to divert attention from a question asked by John Kaye. Mr. Kaye asked the Treasurer whether failure to privatise the electricity industry would lead to his resignation, as he promised in early February.

Letter from one of the "Kooragang 16"

The Newcastle Gerald has found this letter sent by Paula Morrow, one of the Kooragang 16, to a newspaper which calls itself "The Newcastle Herald". Paula is a mother and grandmother and very concerned that she is living in Australia's biggest "infrastructure bottleneck", otherwise known as the world's biggest coal export port and Australia's biggest contribution to climate change, currently undergoing a massive expansion.
The "Herald" declined to print Paula's letter despite a foreword from Paula which said she understood if the "Herald" had to cut the letter down for space reasons. The Newcastle Gerald has decided to publish Paula's letter in full.

Dear Editor,
If you want to sell more papers, can we please open up the debate on coal?
I am one of the 'Kooragang 16'. We trespassed on the construction site of the third coal loader very deliberately, to get everyone’s attention.
Newcastle is the world's biggest coal port. The state government under Iemma, Costa and Sartor is trying to greatly increase the mining and selling of coal.
We are evaporating our coal mines into our atmosphere and therefore, we believe, greatly hastening the onset of climate change.
We have been given a mix of community service directions and fines by the court, those most committed to the environment movement getting the biggest punishments. These were reasonable penalties given the laws. I know that the rule of law is extremely important.
The thing is we already give up a lot of time, of our precious lives, doing community service.
Only about fifty of us went on the original walk-in and only about an extra fifteen came to support us in a vigil outside the courthouse. This is not enough people to save the planet.
It was great to see 3 or 4 ministers and 3 or 4 quakers in a vigil outside the court, people representing god; or at least the human reach for the spiritual.
When I think of the actual activists, I think that we represent conscience, and the ability to see what's coming. Those that walked in and got arrested, are mostly young, in their twenties and thirties. There were only a couple of us older ones. Those young people are all very smart and could be focusing on career.
Our main attributes are that we can add up, that we can see humanity is destroying its nest. We don't want one more bit of our beautiful planet or its creatures destroyed.
If we put the brakes on and are proved wrong, it doesn't matter that lots of energy is saved and pollution prevented. If we don't put the brakes on and we are right about the gravity of the situation, then our children and grandchildren face a terrifying future as our eco-system is de-stabilised; climate will become more erratic, and agriculture unworkable.
Messrs Iemma, Costa and Sartor have a huge responsibility to the people of NSW to curb dramatically the use of coal and to greatly increase the use of renewable energy such as solar, wave, wind, and perhaps, geo-thermal. Or are they going to fiddle while Rome burns, as the the generals are doing in Burma? Do they have other loyalties?
We choose to spend our precious time trying to alert our fellow-citizens while there is still time, in order to try and make a big difference to what happens.
It is not enough. It needs big numbers of people to wake up and step up and make the politicians do what needs to be done, because those in charge of our state government don't, or won't, get it.

Paula Morrow, Tighes Hill

Exclusive: Kooragang 16 tried after successful vigil

Quakers, Buddhists, atheists and members of the Uniting Church were among those holding a climate change vigil in front of Newcastle Local Court this morning ahead of the trial of the Kooragang 16. Seven women and nine men were arrested at a peaceful protest on the construction site of Newcastle's third coal loader on April 19, where close to 50 people successfully stopped work for 90 minutes.
All sixteen pleaded guilty to trespass. Magistrate Michael Morahan sentenced eleven of the arrestees, who had no prior convictions, to community service to be determined at a later date. The other five were fined $200 each and ordered to pay costs of $70 each.
Outside, the group's supporters, young and old, held banners in a festive atmosphere.
Tonight's budget is expected to feature an $18 billion budget surplus, to be invested in reducing "infrastructure bottlenecks", including the massive expansion of Australia's coal export capacity. Australia is already the world's biggest coal exporter, exporting 18% of the world's coal.
In Rangoon, aid organisations are already moving in to help the victims of a recent cyclone which killed over 100,000 people. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that such natural disasters will become more and more frequent as we continue to increase our greenhouse gas emissions.
More nonviolent direct action is expected at the Camp for Climate Action, to be held in Newcastle in July.

Iemma sidelined on privatisation bid

Over 85% of the NSW Labor Party conference voted to reject a bid to privatise the state's electricity industry yesterday, in a major upset for Premier Morris Iemma and Treasurer Michael Costa.
In the lead up to the 702-107 vote against the sell-off, the Premier was heckled and booed by members of his own party.
Unions and the Greens argue that privatising the electricity industry would push up costs, lower workplace standards and make it a lot more difficult to deal with climate change.
However, the Premier maintains that rising energy consumption has forced the Government to sell-off the industry in order to build a new coal-fired power station.
Michael Costa, who has previously denied in Parliament that climate change was caused by human activities, is expected to defy the ALP resolution and introduce the legislation into Parliament regardless. Although Costa has announced that he is prepared to be sacked for his support of the sell-off, a significant minority of the ALP caucus has declared that they cannot vote against a conference resolution in Parliament. If the legislation is tabled in Parliament, it is likely to pass with the support of the Labor Right and the Liberal Party, despite opposition from Labor Left and the Greens.
Iemma and Costa won the backing of former NSW Premier Bob Carr, who has accused the ALP rank and file of being backward-looking and supporting a Soviet-style model of public ownership. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has also supported the sell-off.
Michael Costa now has to make a decision between supporting the privatisation, borrowing money to create a new coal-fired power station, and promoting a combination of renewable baseload power and energy efficiency. The Federal Liberal party, which long shared the ALP position that only coal could provide baseload power, announced last week that it now accepts that solar thermal energy can provide baseload power for Australia.

Peaceful action camp opens registrations

The organising collective of the Camp for Climate Action, to be held in Newcastle this July, has announced that online registrations have now opened. According to its website, the camp will involve "five days of inspiring workshops & direct action aimed a shutting down the world's largest coal port in Newcastle".
The camp is one of seven climate camps being organised in Europe, Australia and North America and aims to shift attention away from voluntary lifestyle changes, and "false solutions" such as clean coal, nuclear power, carbon offsets and carbon trading to the "cause of the climate crisis - fossil fuels".
The organising collective is expecting hundreds of participants and is being supported by Rising Tide, the Australian Students' Environment Network and Friends of the Earth.

Crowd occupies coal loader

The "clean coal" agenda of the 2020 summit was jeapordised yesterday when about 50 people put themselves at risk of arrest by walking into the construction site of the No. 3 coal loader on Kooragang Island, in Newcastle.

Sixteen people of all ages were arrested and charged with trespass, and have been bailed to appear in Newcastle Local Court on 13 May.

The construction of the loader is planned to result in the doubling of Newcastle's coal export capacity, already the largest in the world.

Georgina Woods, spokesperson for Rising Tide Newcastle said that she was very proud of what the community had done. "We are willing to put ourselves at risk of arrest, if it will help convince the Governments of Australia that expanding the export coal industry is putting everyone’s future in jeopardy. We may not get another chance."

The group entered the site at 8am, halting all work on the site and remaining there until 9:15am. According to NSW Police, the walk-in cost the construction company $50-60 000.

"The people arrested today are courageous," said NSW Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon. "Future generations will thank them for taking a stand and alerting Australians and indeed the world to the irresponsible actions of coal companies and sympathetic governments."

Solar researcher David Mills' application for the 2020 summit was knocked back. Mills emigrated to the United States early last year, frustrated at the lack of funding for solar thermal power. The work which Mills has since done in the United States would be able to supply over 90% of Australia's baseload power.

Meanwhile, former Xstrata CEO Peter Coates, who was invited, told the summit that Australia's 2020 renewable energy target should be scrapped and replaced with a "clean coal" target.

Yesterday's protesters were reasonably well treated by police, although several protesters were allegedly denied food because they were vegetarian.

The non-violent campaign against the port expansion will continue with Climate Camp, to take place in Newcastle on July 10-15.