Coal Action Network Aotearoa May Newsletter

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the May Coal Action Network Aotearoa newsletter. In this newsletter, we report on the Aotearoa Is Not For Sale Hikoi and all the related events, including an anti-coal action. We have news of nonviolent direct action training and how you can become involved, and reaction to the Environment Court’s decision on whether climate change can be taken into account when consent resource consent applications for a new coal mine.

Rod Morris continues his Denniston speaking tour, with CANA providing speakers on the relationship between coal and climate change at a number of the venues, and local and regional groups are continuing to build the campaign nationwide.

There is plenty more news as well, and a focus on the economics of coal mining, with some good evidence to throw back at those who claim that coal mining makes communities richer. (In case you were wondering, it doesn’t.)

A reminder, too, that you are welcome to join our Facebook group and invite your friends to do likewise.

And you can follow us on Twitter

Regards
Tim Jones

Contents

1. The Campaign Against Asset Sales
2. Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) Training
3. Climate Change and the Law
4. Denniston News and Events
5. Regional/Local Group Reports
6. Economics and Jobs
7. The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement(TPPA)
8. Solid Energy Financial Review report
9. Video and Audio
10. News Snippets
11. CANA online: Blog, Facebook and Twitter
12. How To Donate to CANA

1. The Campaign Against Asset Sales

a) Citizens Initiated Referendum Campaign

The Campaign for a Citizens Initiated Referendum against the privatisation of state owned enterprises, including Solid Energy, has been officially launched – as reported by Greenpeace’s Nathan Argent, who attended the launch: http://www.greenpeace.org/new-zealand/en/blog/growing-opposition-to-assets-sales-bridges-ge/blog/40365/

The campaign has now entered the vital stage of gathering enough signatures to force a referendum. You can join the campaign and get involved in gathering signatures here: http://keepourassets.org.nz/

It’s very important to remember that this is a highly formal process and that the validity of signatures will be closely scrutinised. The only people who are eligible to sign the petition are those who are on the electoral roll – so, if people aren’t on the roll, they should go and enrol. And those who sign need to give their full name and address as shown on the electoral roll. These conditions must be met by over 300,000 people for the call for a referendum to succeed – so make sure your details, and those of the people you sign up, are correct!

b) Aotearoa Is Not For Sale Hikoi

The Aotearoa Is Not For Sale Hikoi began on 24 April. Travelling from Cape Reinga to Wellington, the hikoi marched through many towns and cities along the path to Parliament. Auckland Coal Action was part of the march in Auckland on Saturday 28 April (see their regional report below), while in Wellington, members of many anti-coal, anti-fracking and other environmental groups joined an estimated 6000 people who marched to Parliament on Friday 4 May.

I was on the Wellington march, and the atmosphere was thrilling: excited, noisy, passionate. But also determined: the people who traveled down the country and the people who joined them in Wellington, Maori and Pakeha, tangata whenua and tauiwi, hadn’t come for a picnic. Politicians from parties that supported asset sales, or had done so in the past, were booed: politicians from parties that opposed them were cheered. John Key, and National, were nowhere to be seen.

The hikoi wasn’t solely about asset sales. It also contained powerful representations from communities all around the North Island threatened by mining and drilling and fracking – from Te Whanau a Apanui on the East Coast, opposed to oil drilling off their coast; from anti-fracking campaigns in Taranaki and elsewhere; from Northland; from the Waikato. The campaign against asset sales and the campaign against the exploitation of Aotearoa and its environment by mining companies and a foolish and greedy Government are intimately linked, and the hikoi made those links clear.

Thanks to the immense efforts of organizer Mike Smith and the people from the hikoi staying at Pipitea Marae, the hikoi continued to make its presence felt around Wellington during the following week, with a series of demonstrations on different themes, including an anti-fracking march on the Monday, and an anti-privatisation protest outside the Stock Exchange on the Thursday. On Tuesday, there was an anti-coal action:

c) “Let’s Put A Freeze on Coal Mining”: Tuesday 8 May, Wellington

Around 50 members of CANA, Forest and Bird, Ora Taiao, 350.org, Generation Zero and the Aotearoa Is Not For Sale Hikoi came together in Midland Park, Lambton Quay, Wellington on Tuesday 8 May to call for the Government to put a freeze on coal. The event was part of the “Say No to Coal Mining Day” of the Aotearoa Is Not For Sale Hikoi.

You can read more about the event, and see the TV3 coverage, here: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/wellington-puts-a-freeze-on-coal-mining/

2. Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA) Training

Nonviolent direct action (NVDA) against the coal industry and its business and institutional supporters has always been an important part of Coal Action Network Aotearoa’s campaign strategy.

Effective nonviolent direct action, and in particular an effective NVDA campaign, benefits greatly from having people involved who understand how NVDA campaigns work and are trained in NVDA techniques. CANA has offered to run NVDA workshops for regional groups around the country, and we recently ran the first of these in Otago, with people from a range of groups involved. It sounds as though the people who attended got a lot out of it.

A Southland NVDA workshop will take place in June, and we know of plans being made to take up this offer in other parts of the country as well. Although they are primarily for members of CANA and of the local regional anti-coal action groups, members of other allied campaigns are also welcome to attend if places are available.

If you are interested in taking part in the Southland NVDA workshop, which will take place from 22-24 June at Te Tomairangi, please contact Jenny Campbell, jennycam@xtra.co.nz, 03 248 6398, 027 351 0180.

Keep an eye out for a forthcoming workshop in your area, or contact us at coalactionnetwork@gmail.com if your group is interested in hosting an NVDA workshop.

If you are interested in the theory and practice of nonviolent direct action, you can download Allan Cumming’s booklet How Nonviolence Works, incorporating his earlier booklet Understanding Nonviolence, from our website: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/classic-new-zealand-booklets-on-nonviolent-direct-action-now-available-to-download/

3. Climate Change and the Law

When we went to press last month we were anxiously awaiting the Environment Court’s decision on a declaratory judgement to clarify whether climate change can be taken into account when considering an application for a new coal mine. Jeanette Fitzsimons reports on the outcome:

A 2004 amendment to the RMA says that greenhouse gases may not be considered in hearings on consents for air discharges (e.g. new power stations), because greenhouse emissions were to be controlled instead by a central government economic instrument – which later became the ETS. However, with export coal (Denniston, Pike, Mt William, Happy Valley) the application does not include an air discharge consent and the coal will be burned overseas where there are no economic instruments, carbon taxes or ETS schemes to reduce emissions. Therefore these aspects of the amendment should not apply.

The decision went in favour of the mining company, creating a precedent that contributions to climate change cannot be considered in any application under the RMA. This will prevent us arguing climate change at the appeal on the Denniston consent, as well as at the hearing on Mt William and any other mine intending to export the coal. The judge held that the purpose clause of the amendment was paramount, including over the wording of the Act itself. This is a narrow question of interpretation of the law, and there is no space to argue the seriousness of climate change. We want to do that at the main appeal against the consent, but this decision, if it stands, prevents that.

Both Forest and Bird and West Coast Environment Network are appealing the decision to the High Court, which might or might not refer it up to the Court of Appeal. The mining company has been publicly celebrating but the game is not over yet.

Stop Press: There was an elephant in the room at the Mt William North coal mining proposal consent hearing on Monday 28 May – the elephant of climate change. Find out more here: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/elephant-in-the-room-at-westport-hearing/

4. Denniston News and Events

In addition to the news about the Environment Court’s decision and the subsequent appeal, plenty of other things are going on in the campaign against mining the Denniston Plateau:

a) Denniston Petitions

Two international petition sites currently have petitions up against mining Denniston, and we encourage you to sign and share them both:

Avaaz: http://www.avaaz.org/en/petition/No_coal_mine_on_the_Denniston_Plateaux/?cl=1804493449&v=14235

Care2Causes: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/339/133/078/new-zealand-dont-allow-coal-mining-in-denniston-plateau/

b) Rod Morris Speaking Tour

Wildlife photographer Rod Morris continues his speaking tour of the country during June. Rod is speaking about the beauty and biodiversity of the Denniston Plateau, which coal mining company Bathurst Resources wants to destroy. This is a great chance to see his amazing photos of the unique flora and fauna on Denniston Plateau.

At many of these meetings he will be joined by a speaker from Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Generation Zero or Climate Justice, who will add to Rod’s conservation message by discussing the risks to the climate of mining the Denniston Plateau.

1 June, 7:00 pm
Manaia PHO rooms, 28 Rust Avenue, Whangarei
Hosted by Mine Watch Northland
Contact: the-farm@ihug.co.nz

6 June, 7:30 pm
Kapiti Community Centre (Pak ‘n’ Save room), Ngahina St, Paraparaumu
Hosted by the Kapiti-Mana branch of Forest and Bird
Contact: Ian.Corder@clear.net.nz

7 June, 7:30 pm
Hutt Tramping Club, Birch Street, Waterloo
Hosted by the Lower Hutt branch of Forest and Bird
Contact: russelljamesbell@gmail.com

11 June
Thompson House, Cnr Kent and Cambridge Streets, Levin
Hosted by the Horowhenua branch of Forest and Bird
Contact: debbie@ballinger.co.nz

12 June, 7:30 pm
Speirs Centre, Featherston St, Palmerston North
Hosted by the Manawatu branch of Forest and Bird
Contact: dennis.d@inspire.net.nz

14 June, 7:30 pm
The Baptist Church auditorium, 89 Liardet Street (opposite the Council buildings), New Plymouth
Hosted by the North Taranaki branch of Forest and Bird
Contact: jhunt@ihug.co.nz

5. Regional/Local Group Reports

Auckland

Jill Whitmore reports for Auckland Coal Action:

ACA prepared banners and signs and joined in the Auckland march against asset sales on Saturday 28 April. It was a good event, drawing sympathetic responses from the crowds of onlookers in Queen St, though we felt afterwards that a position further forward in the march would have given us better exposure. We deliberately passed our leaflets to other marchers, as being a good audience.

On Saturday 5th May we went to Mission Bay in support of 350.org’s “Join the Dots” day. About 60 or 70 people waded into the water with umbrellas, to form a dotted line representing a sea wall against rising sea levels. One member brought with her bags of produce which went well as a small fundraiser.

The other big event this month has been the fundraiser for the Denniston appeal, a film evening (with refreshments) where we screened the film Just Do It, a romp with a young bunch of UK activists (recommended), after a short but rousing talk by Jeanette Fitzsimons on why we need a coal-free Aotearoa. This evening was a success. The 60 seats sold out beforehand, raising around $700.

ACA Meeting invitation
The next two meetings are on the second Saturday of the month (usually it’s the first).

So the dates are Saturday 9 June, 1-4pm and Saturday 14 July, 1-4pm

Venue: Quaker Meeting House, 113 Mt Eden Rd

New members welcome!

About Auckland Coal Action
Auckland Coal Action was formed in July 2011 following the visit of Dr James Hansen. We recognise that coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and that its ongoing use will lead to catastrophic climate change. We aim to achieve a coal-free Aotearoa by 2030, initially by opposing the expansion of coal mining. We do this work to play our part in sustaining a benign climate for us, our children and grandchildren.

Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aklcoal/

Subscribe to our monthly email update, contact: aucklandcoalaction@gmail.com

Wellington

“Keep the Coal in the Hole” Gatherings
These informal, two-monthly gatherings arose out of the Mataura Summer Festival and provide a chance to network, educate ourselves, and organise together. All Wellington people who are or want to get involved in anti-coal action are welcome.

Our next gathering is at 6pm on Thursday 28 June. For the address of the gathering and further information, please contact frances.mountier@gmail.com. We’ll be learning more about alternative energy sources and about Solid Energy, then going on to plan future events.

Lower Hutt

A few climate justice folks from Lower Hutt put on an anti-fracking film screening on May Day. Over 40 people attended, which was fantastic. Over $100 was raised for Climate Justice Taranaki. Members of Mana Poneke spoke about the hikoi, and the connections between workers’ rights and the climate justice / anti-extraction movement.

Canterbury

Rachel Eyre reports:

Canterbury Coal Action (CCA) has been busy recently, getting our name and our message out there.

The local Anti-Fracking groups organised a public concert to raise awareness and invited CCA (and many others) along to join the fun and promote ourselves. Christchurch turned on a great day and there was a big, supportive crowd, all eager to sign petitions, buy T shirts, catch up on news, as well as listen to the music. We had a prime spot so everybody who was there now knows about us.

Internationally, “350” is the safe level for carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere and also a movement of people and groups for a clean energy future. There was an international day of action on 5 May and Canterbury Coal Action hosted and organised the local event. The theme was “Connect the Dots” and for us that meant bringing together the different groups that are working on climate change issues. It was an afternoon of shared endeavour, strategy and connection. Hopefully that means more people and organisations will support our campaigns in the future.

Canterbury Coal Action meets at 7.30 pm on the first Wednesday every month at the WEA in Gloucester St, Christchurch, so the next meeting is on Wednesday 6 June. Supporters are always welcome.

Find us online at http://canterburycoalaction.blogspot.co.nz/

Dunedin

After the success of the NVDA workshop, reported above, here are a few more Dunedin notices:

• Monday June 4, 8pm at Circadian Rhythm café: the Drinking Liberally group presents a “Keep our Assets”special, speaker tbc.
• Saturday 16 June, 11am, Dunedin Keep Our Assets March, Beginning outside the Dental School. Note the change of date from 9 to 16 June. This is being coordinated by Grey Power and NZUSA, with support from the Green Party, Labour Party and trade unions.
• Saturday July 14 – Socialist Saturday– a day long panel discussion with topics such as “Confronting the Environmental Crisis”, is being organised by the International Socialists (ISO), with speakers tbc. Email contact@iso.org.nz or phone 022 6799417 for more information.
• A note from www.oilfreeotago.org: In October this year the US based Anadarko Petroleum Corporation in partnership with Australian based Origin Energy intend to start deep sea oil drilling in the Canterbury Basin, about 60 km off the coast of Dunedin. The global oil giants Shell and OMV are also currently exploring the Great South Basin for new oil and gas reserves, also just off the coast of Dunedin. Find out more on the Oil Free Otago website.

Southland

Coal Action Murihiku news update – May 2012

CAM has been very energised since the last newsletter with our official launch as our main focus.

The official launch of CAM happened on the evening of Anzac Day at Gore’s ArtSouth gallery. About 40 people took the opportunity to hear Southland artist Wallace Keown’s story and passions about what drove him to produce so many significant works with different styles over a lifetime. He spoke about some of his protest works with the main focus being CAM’s purchase ‘Mataura Billboard-How Green was my Valley’ painted in 1981- in the Muldoon Think Big era. John Purey-Cust spoke about the significance of the painting in the CAM campaign, and Jenny Campbell spoke about CAM and current issues.

We are still brainstorming ideas in order to use Wallace’s painting to its best advantage and the launch brought some media attention so raising awareness and highlighting the issues. Billboard postings, numbered prints, postcards, and posters are all being planned – ideas welcome!

David Russell, a professional photographer, produced photographs and a caption printed on to Solid Energy coal sacks with people at the Summer Festival featuring. They were put up at the CAM launch and are most impressive. They are available for use around Aotearoa / NZ for others to use- just ask via coalactionnetwork@gmail.com.

On Saturday 12 May we joined the march and activities against Asset Sales which was well supported in Invercargill, with a reported 400 people attending. Conditions were cool, but there were lots of positive speeches about our determination to stop this, and many signatures for the referendum collected, and people went away with sheets to get filled in asap. Please make sure you sign one and get your friends and family involved.
Splitting wood for sale happened on Anzac Day afternoon. A crew of about 10 took advantage of a gorgeous sunny Southland day to produce a stack. On Saturday 26 May CAM will tackle some more log splitting as well as be joined by Generation Zero members from Dunedin and a national Greenpeace member. We will talk over lunch about current issues, how we can support each other and how to be effective in our campaign.

CAM is organising a NVDA (Non Violent Direct Action) workshop in June in Invercargill. It will take place from 22-24 June at Te Tomairangi. If you are interesting in taking part in the Southland NVDA workshop, please contact Jenny Campbell, jennycam@xtra.co.nz, 03 248 6398, 027 351 0180.

There have been several submissions called for re local Councils’ Long Term Plans with members of our CAM group submitting and speaking to aspects around lignite and associated concerns such as health, air, water, economic.

Rangimarie, kia kaha
Jenny Campbell

6. Economics and Jobs

a) Coal Mining Impoverishes Local Communities

One of the ways the mining industry tries to win over local communities is by promising wealth and jobs. In fact, coal mining makes communities poorer, not richer.

Jeanette Fitzsimons illustrated the point very well in one of the slides in her presentation to the Community Day of the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival. It compares the wealth of coal mining communities to the wealth of the communities around them, and clearly shows that coal mining impoverishes almost every community where it takes place.

This is a great resource to challenge any assumptions that coal mining will make the communities where it occurs wealthy. Check out the slide and related information here:http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/05/14/the-economic-wellbeing-of-coal-mining-communities/

b) Highly Skilled Mining Positions Available (Locals Needn’t Apply)

The good news is that there are highly-paid mining jobs going in New Zealand … so long as you’re not actually a New Zealander. This Vancouver Sun article talks of recruiters offering top dollar for overseas mining professionals to work on mining projects in Australia and New Zealand: http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/05/09/head-hunters-from-down-under/

That’s “work for a few years”, of course – come here, tear the land apart, pollute the air and water, push the climate even closer to the brink of catastrophe, and then take the money and run. Nice work if you can get it?

7. The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA)

As you may have heard, the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement is a multilateral “trade” agreement being negotiated by nine countries, including New Zealand, under the leadership of the United States. It pointedly and deliberately excludes China, and has become in essence an attempt by the US to economically and politically isolate China while strengthening its own sphere of influence.

But why should we care? Because, in exchange for the mirage of greater access for agricultural products to US markets, the New Zealand Government is on track not only to sign away existing environmental protections, but to commit us to an international regime under which foreign investors in New Zealand coal projects will be able to sue the New Zealand government in an international court if it attempts to tighten environment rules in future – and that includes imposing new restrictions or costs, or strengthening existing restrictions, on greenhouse gas emissions.

If you’re keen to get more involved in the campaign against the TPPA, the place to sign up is the TPPA Watch website: http://tppwatch.org/ – and read the backgrounders here: http://tppwatch.org/what-is-tppa/

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions is heavily involved in the campaign against the TPPA, and you should also check out their TPPA page: http://union.org.nz/tppa

8. Solid Energy Financial Review report

As we reported in the April newsletter, we carried out a small action at Solid Energy’s appearance at the Commerce Select Committee on 5 April. The occasion was the company’s annual review, and the committee has now produced its report of that hour-long session. Buried beneath the rather bland language of the report are the curly questions that Labour and Green members of the Committee asked Solid Energy – about their environmental record, and about the details of the Government’s proposed privatization process – and Solid Energy’s often inadequate responses. You can read the report here:

http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/AB9D42AD-B289-42FB-946F-258B500E9891/218360/DBSCH_SCR_5446_201011financialreviewofSolidEnergyN.pdf

(Please note: to make this PDF load, you may need to copy the link and paste it into your browser window, rather than clicking on it in this document.)

If this is the first you’ve heard about our 5 April action, find out more here: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/the-good-times-are-over-for-solid-energy/

9. Video and Audio

We’re making some changes to the CANA website to make information easier to find. One of these changes is to put up a separate page for video and audio files related to the campaign. These are a really good way to get people’s attention.

Check out the Video and Audio page on the website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SOokUdKYcM&hd=1

Talking of videos, here is a powerful video from our friends at Kiwis Against Seabed Mining (KASM): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUoIMSM2uDM

The Resources page on our website will be next to get a revamp. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUoIMSM2uDM

10. News Snippets

• Climate change deniers the Heartland Institute have become so toxic that even their usual backers are deserting the sinking ship. But never fear – the coal industry is still backing them: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/20/heartland-institute-future-staff-cash
• We are heading for hell in a fossil-fuelled handcart – NZ Herald: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10806900
• Asset sales leave the Government permanently worse off: http://www.3news.co.nz/Asset-sales-leave-Govt-permanently-worse-off—report/tabid/1607/articleID/254997/Default.aspx
• Solid Energy granted new lignite exploration permits in Southland: http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/business/6982909/Solid-Energy-extends-lignite-rights

11. CANA online: Blog, Facebook and Twitter

Blog

CANA’s blog is at http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

As well as our latest news, you’ll find pages (shown across the top of the blog) with information and resources you can use.

Facebook

CANA has a very active and fast-growing Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/218300434877031/

If you’re already a member of the Facebook group, please advertise it on your newsfeed and invite friends to join – and if you’re not on the group, please go to the page and apply to join it.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/129179047159254

Say No To Fracking in NZ also has a Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/saynotofrackingnz/

Twitter

We are also on Twitter, and we encourage you to follow us there and retweet our tweets (thanks to everyone who has been doing so!): https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction

12. How To Donate to CANA

We rely on your generous donations to keep the campaign going. Here are the account details if you want to donate:

Coal Action Network
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00

Coal Action Network Aotearoa April Newsletter

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the Coal Action Network Aotearoa April newsletter.

One of the biggest political issues this year is the Government’s plan to partially privatise a number of State Owned Enterprises, including Solid Energy. This partial privatisation is supposed to be limited to 49% of each company, but as we found out from Solid Energy itself at Parliament on 5 April, there are huge loopholes which will allow overseas investors to hoover up a majority share in future projects.

This newsletter highlights the campaign against asset sales, including the big march in Auckland on 28 April, the Asset Sales Hikoi which has just begun, and a little action we organised at Parliament on 5 April.

But that’s not all, folks! We have caught Solid Energy out asking misleading survey questions so that it can claim that New Zealanders overwhelmingly support its plans; we’ve got reports on that, on speaking tours present and future, and on Solid Energy’s latest bright idea: deliberately starting coal fires underground.

Our regional and local groups report includes news of a very significant event for Coal Action Murihiku, our southernmost regional group, and details of our first non-violent direct action training weekend.

Next month, we’ll be making some changes to the way the newsletter is produced and distributed, which should enable us to produce a more attractive newsletter and also make mailing list maintenance easier for both newsletter subscribers and CANA.

There is also a lot of work going on to improve our provision of information resources, both in print and online. Check out the “Resources” section of this newsletter below, and stand by for some major improvements to the breadth and depth of information we’re making available about the coal industry, coal projects, and the ways we can stop them.

Contents

1. The Asset Sales Campaign
2. Solid Energy in the Dock
3. Rod Morris Denniston Tour
4. Bathurst Aftermath
5. Jeanette Fitzsimons Reports On The Denniston Appeal Legal Action
6. Connect The Dots Day on 5 May
7. Regional and Local Group Reports
8. Lyttleton Coal Port stockyard expansion called off
9. Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) in the Waikato
10. News Snippets
11. Campaign Resources
12. CANA online: Blog, Facebook and Twitter
13. How To Donate to CANA

1. The Asset Sales Campaign

I mentioned in the March newsletter that the campaign against the Government’s plans to partially* privatise state-owned energy companies, including Solid Energy, would be one of the big political issues this year. (For a concise explanation of why CANA cares about this, check out this video that Jeanette Fitzsimons made for Auckland Coal Action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXEZgh-l1uk)

This month, a major event in this campaign kicks off: the Aotearoa Is Not For Sale Hikoi. The itinerary is posted below, and is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/170682386382094/ – but please note that this itinerary is subject to change.

We hope that CANA members, and members of CANA regional groups, will take part in many of these events, but here are two in particular to watch out for:

Saturday 28 April: Anti-asset-sales march in Auckland, 3pm, starting from Britomart and continuing up Queen Street to Aotea Square. Full details here: http://aotearoaisnotforsale.com/ – and Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/334873306563769/

Join the Auckland Coal Action bloc with their message that our climate is not for sale. Keep Solid energy in public control and keep the coal in the hole! Contact aucklandcoalaction@gmail.com for more details.

Tuesday 8 May: After the hikoi arrives in Wellington on 4/5 May, there will be a week of events on different hikoi-related topics around Wellington. Tuesday 8 May is the “Say No to Coal Mining” day, and we are currently planning for that day. Keep an eye on our Facebook group, Twitter and blog for more details(see item 12 below for how to connect to each of those).

Current Hikoi Schedule

The hikoi starts from Waiora Marae on 24 April. The full itinerary is here, and here is a full list of the protest marches in towns along the way.
Every day has at least one town marching, with the big ones:

Tues 24 April: Kaitaia march 11am
Wed 25 April: Whangarei 3 pm
Sat 28 April: Auckland 3 pm at Britomart
Sun 29 April: Rotorua 3pm
Wed 2 May: Palmerston North 11 am
Thurs 3 May: Porirua 12 noon
Fri 4 May: Te Papa to Parliament

Following that there is a week of protests on various Government policies in Wellington:

Sat 5 May: Rally and Free Concert
Sun 6 May: Constitutional Wananga
Mon 7 May: Say no to Deep Sea Oil demo
Tues 8 May: Say no to Coal Mining demo
Wed 9 May: Say no to Welfare Reform demo
Thurs 10 May: Say no to Privatisation demo
Fri 11 May: Say yes to Constitutional Transformation demo

2. Solid Energy in the Dock

a) Select Committee hearing on 5 April

As we said in a recent press release, “The Good Times Are Over for Solid Energy”.

That press release was sent out in the aftermath of a low-key but effective action Wellington members of Coal Action Network Aotearoa, Generation Zero and other groups carried out at Solid Energy’s appearance for the Commerce Select Committee at Parliament for its annual financial review.

We managed to fill the select committee room with our members and supporters, many of whom had “Keep the Coal in the Hole” signs concealed about their persons. As the select committee members finished their questioning, those people all stood up and held up their signs – while those of us in the back row held up a five-metre banner that read “Keep the Coal in the Hole, Protect The Climate”. The Solid Energy representatives at the Select Committee, including Don Elder (polished as usual) and board chair John Palmer (whose foot I could see tapping nervously on the floor throughout his entire performance in front of the Select Committee) got a big surprise, and a clear message: Solid Energy doesn’t get the chance to put its case unchallenged any more.

Check out our press release, plus photos taken in the aftermath of the action, here: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/04/

Greens MP Gareth Hughes, and the Labour members of the Select Committee, both made good use of the opportunity to put the lavishly-remunerated head honchos of Solid Energy on the spot. While Gareth focused on Solid Energy’s environmental track record and on their recent survey of public opinion – see below – Labour drew out the admission that, although the Government had claimed privatisation would be limited to 49%, future investors in Solid Energy could already get around that. Labour’s David Cunliffe explains how in this article: http://www.sharechat.co.nz/article/5e0779d5/three-avenues-to-drive-a-truck-through-on-privatisation-promise-cunliffe.html

*So the ‘partial’ privatisation the Government is talking about isn’t quite so partial after all.

b) Solid Energy misleads public with survey questions

At the Select Committee hearing, Don Elder took great pride in proclaiming that Solid Energy’s public opinion survey results showed strong public support for Solid Energy’s planned coal developments.

But Don was being economical with the facts, and you’re not supposed to do that in front of a Parliamentary Select Committee. Some research by CANA has revealed that Solid Energy’s survey was full of misleadingly-worded leading questions.

Now CANA has called on Don Elder to come clean on the full list of survey questions. Check out:
* our letter to Don Elder: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/solid-energy-market-research-under-scrutiny/
* our press release about the letter: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/04/20/press-release-for-immediate-release-coal-action-network-to-take-complaint-over-solid-energy-market-research/

3. Rod Morris Denniston Tour

After his recent appearances in Auckland, Rod Morris is continuing to tour the country with his stunning photographs http://www.rodmorris.co.nz/search/?searchWords=denniston&searchType=InUser&NickName=rod-morris&x=0&y=0 of the unique habitat of the Denniston Plateau and of the creatures who live there. He may be coming to a town near you to talk about the rich biodiversity at Denniston and why the Plateau must not be mined.

26 April at 7.30pm: Castle One, Otago University, Dunedin: Rod Morris will be speaking as part of a wider Denniston public meeting in Dunedin. Check out the press release on the CANA blog: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/denniston-public-meeting-to-be-held-in-dunedin-thursday-26-april/

7 May at 7 pm: Renewables Group Motueka, St Thomas Church Hall, 101 High St, Motueka

8 May at 7:30 pm: Forest & Bird Kaikoura. Venue to be advised. Contact: ailsa@fishnet.co.nz or phone 0274 36 36 36

22 May at 7pm: Whangarei: Manaia PHO Rooms, 28 Rust Avenue, Central Whangarei

The following dates and towns are confirmed, but to find more information on times and venues keep an eye on our blog or join up to the Rod Morris Productions Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rod-Morris-Productions/167603326601611?ref=ts

23 May: Opononi

6 June: Forest and Bird Waikanae-Kapiti/Mana Branch

7 June: Forest and Bird Lower Hutt

11 June: Forest and Bird Levin-Horowhenua Branch

12 June: Forest and Bird Manawatu

13 June: Forest and Bird Marton-Rangitikei Branch

14 June: Forest and Bird New Plymouth – North Taranaki Branch

15 June: Forest and Bird Wanganui

18 June: Main Wellington meeting

4. Bathurst Aftermath

The demo jointly organized by Forest & Bird, CANA, and a number of other groups against the opening of Australian coalminers Bathurst Resources’ Wellington office, and the decision by John Key to open that office, got plenty of good media coverage and is written up here: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/bathurst-protest-a-big-success/

But questions remain over John Key’s involvement with Bathurst Resources. Some are still under investigation, but in the guest post on our blog, Liz Springford notes how Nick Smith was fired over a conflict of interest in the same week that John Key flaunted one of his own by attending the Bathurst launch: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/guest-post-from-liz-springford-different-strokes-for-different-blokes/

5. Jeanette Fitzsimons Reports On The Denniston Appeal Legal Action

We have reported before on the RMA application by Bathurst Resources (aka Buller Coal) to open cast coal mine on the Denniston plateau. West Coast Environment Network and Forest and Bird appealed the decision to the Environment Court, arguing, among other things, that the commissioners erred in deciding they could not consider greenhouse gases in their consent.

Buller Coal has said they want to have that matter decided before the full appeal is heard in the Environment Court as they want to know whether they have to prepare evidence on climate change or not. They therefore applied for a “declaratory judgement” from the Environment Court. Essentially their argument is that the amendment to the Act passed in 2004 which prohibited considering greenhouse gases when hearing an application for an air discharge consent, should apply to all consents. (Denniston does not need an air discharge consent as the coal will all be burned overseas so we argue that amendment does not apply).

This is a test case. If Buller succeed then NZ’s main environmental statute is barred from considering the climate change impacts of any development. The hearing took place on 27 March and we were hoping for a decision by now but at the time of going to press we are still waiting. Sir Geoffrey Palmer, architect of the RMA, appeared for WCENT and argued very powerfully that if Parliament had meant “any consent” it would have said so and the courts are not supposed to make the law, only interpret it.

Buller was joined by Solid Energy who are concerned that the case could make it difficult for them to mine Mt William.

The miners and the councils argued that NZ local government can’t try to control what happens in China and India, where the coal will be burned. In reply we argued that we are not trying to have jurisdiction over China and India, but over NZ mines, which if they go ahead will lead inevitably to the release of emissions overseas in countries which do not have a price on carbon or a Kyoto target. (The intention to control emissions nationally with a carbon tax was the initial reason for the amendment.)

Tom Bennion appeared for Forest and Bird and argued the RMA provides explicitly for indirect effects to be considered where there is a clear chain of causation.

Judge Newhook is currently considering – no doubt you will hear in the news when there is a decision. Whichever way it goes, it could then be appealed to a higher court. In the meantime, the coal is still in the ground and safely out of the atmosphere.

6. Connect The Dots Day on 5 May

On 5 May, 350.org is launching its worldwide campaign to Connect the Dots between climate change and extreme weather events. Check out the Connect the Dots website for information about events happening in your area, or organise an event yourself: http://www.climatedots.org/ – and see this short video for what Connect the Dots is all about: http://www.climatedots.org/thingshappen/

You can search for events in your area here: http://act.climatedots.org/event/impacts_en/search/#

7. Regional and Local Group Reports

Southland: Coal Action Murihiku, CAM (Southland) News Update

Developments continue at a rapid pace with the pilot briquetting plant on the corner of Craig Rd and SH 1 near Mataura taking on a new look with machinery delivered and a full blown industrial site becoming obvious.

Dave Kennedy, local Green Party national election candidate, and Robina Lee-Johnston, who farms adjacent to Solid Energy land, are re-organising their PowerPoint presentation and speeches to go to speak to groups about their concerns around lignite mining, such as Lions and Grey Power.

Members of CAM helped organise a Federated Farmers’ meeting in Gore with strategic questioning helping to raise the issues with local farmers. Another meeting is planned. A good follow up in a local community newspaper about an adjacent farming couple’s concerns brought it to the public’s attention.

The official launch of CAM is planned for the evening of Anzac Day at Gore’s ArtSouth Gallery. Our advertising information includes “a unique opportunity to hear this Southland artist’s story and passions about what has driven him to produce so many significant works over a life time. ArtSouth will highlight Wallace Keown’s exhibition with a talk by Wallace about his different styles including some of his protest works such as ‘Mataura Billboard-How Green was my Valley’ painted in 1981- in the Muldoon Think Big era. Mix and mingle with wine and cheese”.

This significant painting with a billboard style- ‘Now showing’ and a green pastoral scene, adjacent to ‘Future attraction’ and a coal mining operation, has been purchased for CAM to use. This is very generous. We are brainstorming ideas in order to use it to its best advantage and will launch it with some controversy and media attention hopefully, to raise awareness and highlight the issues. Numbered prints, postcards, posters…. All being planned. Ideas welcome.

In conjunction with this, another member, professional photographer David Russell, is producing a different art work focus with photographs and a caption printed on to Solid Energy coal sacks. People at Summerfest are featured. They can be strung up at meetings and events and because of their light weight they could be sent to other groups for their use. Watch this space.

It will be a busy day as we are fundraising by splitting wood for sale after Anzac services. The following Saturday a march and activities against Asset Sales will be supported in Invercargill.

Wellington’s Keely Kidner, who is doing a study on linguistics around Southland lignite and Canadian tar sands with the people associated with their protest movements, for her PhD, will be with us over the Anzac Day period.

A local community newspaper published a front page article about the formation of CAM and its members’ concerns and asked Solid Energy for their response. Brett Gamble’s answers had very little substance.

A second year Geography student from Otago chose lignite as an essay topic and sought information from us as well as Solid Energy. Her essay gained an A. Interest is rising about the issues and concerns out there.

Kia kaha, Jenny Campbell from Murihiku

Otago

a) Dunedin Cross-Groups Lignite Meeting

On Tuesday 17 April around 20 people attended an initial meeting between the many groups wanting to campaign against the Southland lignite developments. Organisations in attendance included Sustainable Dunedin City, Green Party, Generation Zero, Students for Environmental Action, and the Otago Energy Research Centre, among others. It was a good starting point to establish working relationships between these groups, and it is hoped that this networking will allow the campaign to gain momentum in Otago. For information on the next meeting, or for any feedback on this initiative, contact Tarsh climateninja@gmail.com

b) Dunedin NVDA training weekend

CANA and Students for Environmental Action (SEA) are running a nonviolent direct action (NVDA) training weekend, 4-6 May at Waiora Scout Camp, Whare Flat. This is the first of a series of NVDA trainings that CANA hope to facilitate around New Zealand, in order to educate people about the use of NVDA in environmental campaigns, and upskill and empower activists to add these techniques to their tool kit. For more information, or to register your interest, please email SEAotago@gmail.com

c) Southern Anti-Coal Action (SACA) Update

Rosemary Penwarden writes:

A busy month! SACA and Black Star Books hosted Franklin Lopez and his film End:Civ at the end of March. Over 60 people came to listen to Franklin talk about his experiences making the film, and to watch this commentary on capitalism’s response to climate change (you can find it on Youtube). Food not Bombs provided yummy vegetable soup, and the discussion afterwards would probably have continued all night if we had not been kicked out!

Nicole Foss, ex financier turned sustainable community advocate, swept through Dunedin on her ‘Lifeboat’ tour of NZ, meeting with various groups including Dunedin City Councillors. Her predictions of world financial collapse by the end of the year were an interesting contrast to End:Civ’s scenario. Both events gave us the opportunity to sign more people up to CANA.

More ‘upcycled’ T-shirts of all sizes and colours were printed (“Leave the lignite – save the soil” and “Keep the Coal in the Hole”) at a recent workshop.

d) Dunedin hosts the final hui on the Greens’ “Mining Our Future” Tour

Green MPs Catherine Delahunty and Gareth Hughes have been holding a well-attended and successful “Mining Our Future” Community Tour. The Dunedin event is the final stop on the tour:

Monday 30 April, 7.30-9.30pm, Practice Room, Clubs and Societies Building, 84 Albany Street

See http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/the-green-party-mining-our-future-community-tour/ for more on the tour.

Christchurch

Canterbury Coal Action meets on the first Wednesday of every month at the WEA, Gloucester St (next to the Art Gallery) at 7.30pm. The next meeting is on Wednesday 2 May. Please join us. Bring your friends too!

At the moment we are preparing for two upcoming events.

Firstly we are organising for a stall at the Bring Change-Frack No concert this Saturday 28 April from 11am – 4pm at the Riccarton Racecourse. See: http://www.bringchange.org.nz/ . Volunteers are needed for the stall roster. If you can help please ring Sophia: 03 389 9600.

In addition we are organising for the 350 international day of action, themed ‘Connecting the Dots’ for climate change impacts on 5th May. See: http://www.climatedots.org/ We plan to link (join the dots) with many other groups in Christchurch who are similarly concerned about preventing runaway climate change to protect our planet and our collective well-being and survival. If you’d like to get involved please ring John: 03 337 5618.

Please get in contact if you’d like to find out more. Hopefully we’ll see you at our next meeting.

Nga mihi nui
Best regards
Rachel
canterburycoalaction@gmail.com
Canterbury Coal Action’s blog is at: http://canterburycoalaction.blogspot.co.nz/

Wellington

a) Next Keep the Coal in the Hole Gathering: 26 April

These informal, two-monthly gatherings arose out of the Mataura Summer Festival and provide a chance to network, educate ourselves, and organise together. The talks this month will focus on ‘a global look at climate.’ All Wellington people who are or want to get involved in anti-coal action are welcome.

Our next gathering is at 6pm on Thursday 26 April. For the address of the gathering and further information, please contact frances.mountier@gmail.com

b) Lower Hutt: An Introduction to the Risks of Fracking: 1 May

This event includes a screening of Gasland, a feature film by Josh Fox, followed by discussion with an anti-fracking activist from Climate Justice Aotearoa on fracking issues closer to home.

7:00pm-9:30pm Tuesday 1 May, Petone Library, 7 Britannia St, Petone, Lower Hutt

Gold coin donation appreciated. Tea & coffee provided.

Baking available as fundraiser for Climate Justice Taranaki
Organised by Climate Justice Lower Hutt folks.

For more info, please contact Michelle Ducat: michelle@ducat.co.nz

No mining companies please!

Auckland

a) “Just Do It” film screening: 18 May

“Just Do It” film screening
6pm, 18 May
The Kitchen, 14-16 Maidstone St, Ponsonby, Auckland (Top Floor)

6:00 pm start with light refreshments provided. Followed by a short talk by Jeanette Fitzsimons on why we need a coal-free Aotearoa

6:45 pm “Just Do It” film screening

Tickets cost $12 and we strongly recommend booking in advance as the venue only has 60 seats. To book your ticket, contact aucklandcoalaction@gmail.com

Just Do It lifts the lid on climate activism and the daring troublemakers who have crossed the line to become modern-day outlaws.

Just Do It website and trailer: http://justdoitfilm.com/

Event organised by Auckland Coal Action. Proceeds will go to the Denniston campaign

b) Auckland Coal Action April reportback

Auckland Coal Action gained a number of new members in April, great to see! We attended Rod Morris’s talks at the beginning of the month, where we were able to speak briefly about the climate impacts of mining the Denniston Plateau and got a number of new sign-ups from those events.

c) Upcoming activities

Our work for the next few weeks will be to paint banners and placards for the Aotearoa is Not For Sale protest march on 28 April, where we aim to raise awareness of the link between asset sales and climate change. We want to see Solid Energy kept in public control so we can “keep the coal in the hole” and will be marching as a bloc to deliver this message.

We see one of our roles in Auckland as being to fundraise in solidarity of campaigns being carried out in other parts of the country (where they actually have coal mines!). We are organising a screening of the film Just Do It in support of the Denniston campaign. This will be held on 18 May in Ponsonby. Please see the notice above for how to get your ticket.

d) Next Auckland Coal Action planning meeting

Saturday 5 May
1-4pm, Quaker Meeting House
113 Mt Eden Rd
Mt Eden

e) Join us!

We know there are many more Auckland people receiving this Coal Action Network Aotearoa newsletter than are on our local contact list. To get our monthly update and notice of meetings contact aucklandcoalaction@gmail.com and ask to subscribe. OR Come along to our next meeting. New members are always welcome!

8. Lyttleton Coal Port stockyard expansion called off

Prior to the Christchurch earthquakes, the port of Lyttleton was planning a major expansion of its coal stockyard. We’ve recently received word that this coal stockyard expansion has been called off due to earthquake damage: http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/6652229/Lyttelton-Port-pulls-25m-plan

While the major earthquake damage that Lyttleton has suffered is very sad news, and not the reason we would have chosen for this expansion not go ahead, we are still relieved to see that it is no longer happening. Limiting the number and size of coal export facilities is one way to make it more difficult and more expensive for new and expanded coalmines to go ahead.

However, other coal port expansion plans remain. It now appears that, if Bathurst’s Denniston mine goes ahead, 75% of its coal is planned to be sent via Port Taranaki, and the other 35% via Lyttelton. See http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/business/6522619/Coal-exporter-in-for-long-haul for more details.

9. Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) in the Waikato

Solid Energy has started an Underground Coal Gasification plant at Huntly in the Waikato.

Solid Energy has set up a website to explain what this plant does. It’s worth taking a look at the site at http://huntlyucg.co.nz/ – but some translation is required.

What Solid Energy calls “a carefully managed chemical reaction hundreds of metres underground to convert coal into a synthetic gas, also known as syngas, then bring that gas to the surface through a series of wells” actually means setting fire to the coal and collecting the gas that results.

Starting coal fires deep underground? The coal industry has a long history of doing that accidentally, but doing it deliberately is a relatively new development – and, as far as we know, this is a first in New Zealand.

This article from the UK discusses the history of UCG and shows how the process works. The picture it paints is in stark contrast to Solid Energy’s soothing tones: http://frack-off.org.uk/underground-coal-gasification-hellfire-and-damnation/

Huntly residents are understandably concerned. CANA has been in touch with them, and we will bring you more news of the project, and reaction to it, as matters develop.

10. News Snippets

* One of my most vivid memories of the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival was Queensland farmer Sid Plant telling the story of Acland, the town nearest to him, which was promised riches from mining and was destroyed instead. The NZ Herald has just published an excellent article about Acland: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/coal/news/article.cfm?c_id=152&objectid=10800314 and the moving video “Anzac Day in Acland” is always worth watching and sharing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyTvqeiipgE

* We don’t need to cross the Tasman to see how coalmining destroys communities. Take a trip to Kaitangata in South Otago, or go to Western Southland and visit Nightcaps or Ohai: http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/opinion/blogs/from-the-bottom-up/6781136/You-ll-never-leave-Ohai-alive

* It’s great to see that Invercargill City Council has chosen to heat its pool complex using woodchips rather than lignite: http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/6753832/Wood-to-fuel-pool-complexs-boilers

* Talking of the Summer Festival, it made a big impact on a lot of people. Tarsh Turner wrote this excellent report for Generation Zero’s ClimateTalk blog: http://climatetalk.co.nz/?p=132

* It’s sometimes easy to forget that we are part of a massive worldwide movement against the mining and burning of coal. Friends of the Earth and Quit Coal have joined with 34 other groups from across Victoria to call for a moratorium on new coal and coal seam gas (CSG) operations in the state: http://www.melbourne.foe.org.au/?q=node/1124

11. Campaign Resources

You can find lots of campaign resources in one place on the Resources page of our blog at http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/downloads/

We have recently uploaded updated versions of:

* The CANA Leaflet: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/cana-leaflet-apr-2012.pdf

* The CANA backgrounder on Southland Lignite and the Climate: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/southland-lignite-the-climate-an-introduction.pdf

Two classic booklets on the theory and practice of nonviolent direct action in Aotearoa/New Zealand are now available as a free download from our blog: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/classic-new-zealand-booklets-on-nonviolent-direct-action-now-available-to-download/

12. CANA online: Blog, Facebook and Twitter

Blog

CANA’s blog is at http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

As well as our latest news, you’ll find pages (shown across the top of the blog) with information and resources you can use. We’ll be reorganising some of this information during the next month to make it easier to find.

Facebook

CANA has a very active and fast-growing Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/218300434877031/

If you’re already a member of the Facebook group, please advertise it on your newsfeed and invite friends to join – and if you’re not on the group, please go to the page and apply to join it.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/129179047159254

Say No To Fracking in NZ also has a Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/saynotofrackingnz/

Twitter

We are also on Twitter, and we encourage you to follow us there and retweet our tweets (thanks to everyone who has been doing so!): https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction

13. How To Donate to CANA

We reply on your generous donations to keep the campaign going. Here are the account details if you want to donate:

Coal Action Network
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00

–

Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CAN Aotearoa) is a group of climate justice campaigners committed to fighting the continuation of coal mining in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CAN Aotearoa’s objectives are to:
1. Phase out coal mining and coal usage within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.
2. Promote a cultural change so that mining and using coal are unacceptable.
3. Work towards a society where people and the environment are not exploited for profit.
4. Work towards a socially just transition to a coal-free Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more at: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/
Or join the CAN Aotearoa supporters list by emailing: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

Coal Action Network Aotearoa March Newsletter

Kia ora koutou,
Welcome to the Coal Action Network Aotearoa March newsletter.
This is a big issue, but that’s because there is a lot going on! Since the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival in January, reported in our February issue, anti-coal action groups have sprung up around the country, and the heart of this issue is reports from groups and meetings from the north to the south of the country.
We also report on the protest we helped organise against John Key opening the Wellington offices of Bathurst Resources, which is the Australian mining company that wants to open a massive new coal mine on the Denniston Plateau – a protest that made sure our feckless Prime Minister and his mining industry cronies got the message loud and clear.
At the national level, the Coal Action Network Aotearoa organising group met earlier this month to plan our programme of work for the next six months. There is a huge amount coming up, and we can’t cover all of it in this newsletter, but in this issue we highlight two key campaigns that will have a high profile this year: the campaign against the Government’s planned sale of state assets, including Solid Energy, and the campaign against the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), a nine-country agreement currently being negotiated under conditions of great secrecy which could make it very difficult to impose environmental standards on any foreign investor in Solid Energy.
We have also got a roundup of news about fracking, reports of recent events, and how you can support the production of further copies of the “Just Lignite” booklet.

Contents

1. Join us on Facebook
2. How to Donate
3. The Network Goes Nationwide – news and reports from north to south
4. The Denniston Campaign – including the Bathurst Resources protest
5. Coming Events
6. Keeping Solid Energy Under Control – including asset sales and the TPPA
7. “Just Lignite” Booklet Needs Your Support
8. Fracking Roundup
9. News Snippets
10. Campaign Resources

1. Join Us On Facebook

CANA has a Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/218300434877031/
The group currently has about 340 members, with more than 60 joining in the last week! Given that the Newsletter mailing list is over 1500 strong, we think there are many of you out there who might want to join in and get the updates that happen in between newsletters – and to join the conversation.
There are two ways to join:
1)  If you’re already a member of the Facebook group, advertise it on your newsfeed and invite friends to join
2) if you’re not on the group, go to the page and apply to join it.
We hope to see you there!
For Those Who Don’t Use Facebook…
Two other ways to get updates on what we’re doing between newsletters are to:

1. Follow our Twitter account at https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction
2. Follow our blog at http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/

2. How To Donate

We reply on your generous donations to keep the campaign going. Here are the account details if you want to donate:
Coal Action Network
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00 

3. The Network Goes Nationwide

One of the best outcomes of the Summer Festival has been the many new regional groups that have formed to oppose the expansion of coal mining and burning, both in their local areas and nationally, to join existing groups in Southland, Dunedin and Auckland. We won’t always have space to feature all these groups each month, but in this issue we want to introduce you to each group.

Auckland
Auckland Coal Action is one of the longest-established regional groups, and they meet regularly. Here are ACA’s contact and next meeting details:
Come along to the next meeting of Auckland Coal Action
Saturday 14 April
1-4pm
Quaker Meeting House
113 Mt Eden Rd
We usually meet on the first Saturday of every month, except that in April this falls on Easter weekend.
If you would like to join the Auckland campaign for a coal-free Aotearoa, or think you can help in some way (even if you can’t attend meetings) please get in touch at aucklandcoalaction@gmail.com 
About Auckland Coal Action: “We recognise that coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and that its ongoing use will lead to catastrophic climate change. We aim to achieve a coal-free Aotearoa by 2030, initially by opposing the expansion of coal mining. We do this work to play our part in sustaining a benign climate for us, our children and grandchildren.”

Whanganui
Two meetings on coal and related issues have been held in Whanganui recently: one on Denniston in the leadup to the Denniston BioBlitz (see below), which attracted about 50 people, and one in mid-March on fracking.
Kathryn Goodman has done a great job organising these meetings, and we hope that there will be more to come. If you are in the Whanganui/Manawatu region and would like to know more, or can help, please contact Kathryn: kathryn1844@gmail.com

Wellington
Wellington people who attended the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival got together with other Wellington members of CANA to report back from the Festival and discuss strategies and actions for the year ahead on 1 March. The first of these actions was the protest against the opening of Bathurst Mining’s new Wellington office, reported below.
The Wellington list plans to keep in touch, get involved in organising actions, and meet every couple of months. If you’d like to get involved, please contact frances.mountier@gmail.com

Christchurch
Rachel Eyre reports:
‘Canterbury Coal Action’ Meeting Summary: 7th March 2012, 7.30pm @ WEA
“After the Summer Festival the Canterbury Group is keen to get involved in assisting the culture change away from coal.
At our first meeting we discussed what the group could do to target Solid Energy; to draw attention to the absurdity of its plans.
We also plan to up-skill members to be able to work with community groups and to create or gather resources for sharing e.g. DVDs, songs, films, etc.
Finally, we are close to agreeing a summary of our group purpose and objectives that support the CANA national objectives. This will be available on our new blog shortly: http://canterburycoalaction.blogspot.co.nz/
We are hoping to hold our meetings first Wednesday in the month 7.30pm at the WEA in Gloucester Street, Christchurch. Next meeting 4^th April. For further information please contact eyre.rachel67@gmail.com ”

Timaru
About 70 people attended a public meeting in Washdkye, just north of Timaru, entitled “Keep the coal in the hole and out of Washdyke”: http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/node/3409
Here is the report of the meeting in the Timaru Herald: http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/6451128/Coal-in-lead-for-Washdyke-boilers
If you would like to know more or get involved, please contact Transition Timaru: http://www.transitiontowns.org.nz/timaru

Dunedin
Rosemary Penwarden from Southern Anti-Coal Action reports:
“Eleven of us met for a meal and cuppa at Clubs and Socs, Otago Uni, Dunedin, on Monday 27 Feb. It was cool to see familiar faces from the Summerfest, and to meet others who couldn’t come to Mataura. We planned a second meeting on Thursday, 15 March at 6pm, Clubs and Socs, to talk strategy.”
On Tuesday 27 March, 6-10pm, SACA is hosting Franklin López, director of End:Civ, at Clubs and Socs Everson Lounge, for film, discussion and food. End:Civ, a film about the role of direct action in climate justice campaigns, toured last year with Canadian anarchist/academic Ron Sakolski and poet Sheila Nopper. Franklin López’s current film project ‘Stop the Flows’ involves interviewing activists from all over the world to show that wherever there is fossil fuel extraction there is resistance. He is keen to include New Zealanders in this project.
You can find more info and watch the latest chapter here: http://stoptheflows.tumblr.com/
Here is a link to our Facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/events/281520705253879/#!/events/200237373410891/
We also discussed holding regular film evenings in our area, involving other groups but open to the public, with a mind to building awareness in the wider community.
SACA has T-shirts for sale – recycled, locally printed – “leave the lignite – save the soil” and “keep the coal in the hole”, available from Black Star Books, Dunedin.

Southland
Jenny Campbell reports:
“The relationship building, mutual support and sense of purpose which came to Southland as a result of the national ‘Keep the Coal in the Hole’ Summer Festival weekend in Mataura, in January has helped build up our local group and solidarity for action!
We have decided to meet monthly, plan a few events strategically to conserve our energy for the long haul and endeavour to bring people in to our group to share the load and offer their skills. Our name after much consideration is CAM – Coal Action Murihiku.
Waimumu Field days, a huge agricultural event similar to Mystery Creek (estimated 35,500 people there), in mid-February became a low key event for us due to only a few people being available on the 3 days – many were staffing other stalls. Excellent thought provoking, poignant and factual flyers were created by Zella Horrell with themes of farming concerns/issues but leafletting of 6000 vehicles as planned was thwarted with a notice forbidding it – at a fine of $1000! This was understandable, as litter had been an issue in previous years. However several of us wandered the site handing the leaflets out and having intentional conversations which were very productive and probably more use as an awareness raising method.
An Environment Southland Public Forum saw Dave Kennedy, local Green Party national election candidate, and Robina-Lee Johnston who farms adjacent to Solid Energy land speak about their concerns around lignite mining to the ES Councillors for 25 minutes in February. They had been allocated 10 minutes, but councillors wanted to hear more.
Robina-Lee showed a power point with photos of mining in Australia, where she spent time last year, as well as her own situation on the farm she and her husband owns near Dolamore Park – a native bush area. The photos were very powerful and left a strong impression. One Councillor was heard to comment about not needing ‘Club Med’ there in reference to Solid Energy’s recreational lake concept!
March saw a fundraising trail bike ride on Johnston’s property with a small but enthusiastic group enjoying fine dry conditions in the morning followed by a wet and muddy course in the afternoon – which appealed to many, though! A sumptuous barbecue lunch in the woolshed allowed for lignite resources to be shared, photos of mines discussed and pertinent discussions developed. Proceeds of about $300 was raised by the Lower Mataura Landcare group for use by local Enviro schools and CAM.
A public talk by the author of the ‘Just Lignite’ booklet, Rosemary Penwarden, to the women’s group Desert Air ( aptly renamed Desert Storm for the day) along with some visitors in Invercargill, challenged us all. Rosemary spoke about her concerns for future generations and her passion around the issues, particularly climate change and lignite, in the light of the birth of her grandson recently. People there shared what is happening in Southland relating to environmental issues and their responses, which gave her an insight in to the commitment and energy here.
Rosemary’s talk gave people a lift, raised their hope and provided a positive focus through her sharing her vision for a better future we are all responsible for. ‘The power of one’! Thank you Rosemary.”

4. The Denniston Campaign

Australian mining company Bathurst Resources has relocated to New Zealand and is trying to open a massive new coalmine on the Denniston Plateau on the West Coast, with the eager support of the current Government. A coalition of groups, among them Coal Action Network Aotearoa, is working to oppose this mine because of its effects on the local environment, on biodiversity, and on the climate. There have been two significant events in the campaign this month:

a) Bathurst Wellington office opening protest
John Key officiated at the opening of Bathurst’s new Wellington office on Wednesday 21 March, and a coalition of groups including CANA, Forest and Bird, 350.org, Generation Zero, Ora Taiao, ECO and WWF-NZ organised a gathering on the pavement outside to let Bathurst know what we thought of their mining plans, and let Mr Key know what we thought of his public support for those plans. Here is my report from the CANA blog: Bathurst Protest A Big Success

b) Denniston BioBlitz
The Bathurst protest was not the only Denniston-related event this month. On the weekend of 3-4 March, Forest and Bird held their Denniston BioBlitz to find as many new species as they could on the plateau. Now you can see the Denniston BioBlitz film, which shows the wonderful biodiversity of the Denniston Plateau, and contrasts it with the ugliness of the Stockton mine: http://youtu.be/z0TGvAK7RpA.

5. Coming Events

In addition the events listed above under “The Network Goes Nationwide”, look out for these events:
27 March: The declaratory judgement on whether the courts can consider climate change under the Resource Management Act will be heard at 10 am on 27 March at the Maori Land Court in Christchurch.
5 April: On the morning of 5 April State Owned Enterprise Solid Energy accounts for its performance in the year to June 2011 to Parliament’s Commerce Committee. The session is open to the public (to observe, not to speak).
28 April: Anti-asset-sales march in Auckland, 3pm, Britomart

6. Keeping Solid Energy Under Control

Solid Energy is already bad, bad news for our environment and the world’s climate. It’s a disgrace that a fully state-owned corporation is allowed to behave the way Solid Energy does, and that the Government hides behind Don Elder when pressed to take responsibility for Solid Energy’s actions.
Nevertheless, it would be even harder to control Solid Energy if it was partially or fully privatised, or if foreign investors in Solid Energy could sue a future New Zealand Government that tried to impose new environmental regulations, or a greater share of the cost of their greenhouse gas emissions, on the company.
We face both those threats at the moment. One is from the Government’s planned sale of asset sales. The other is from the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, a new and sweeping multilateral agreement, covering trade, services, investment and a whole lot of other issues, which is currently being negotiated by the US and eight other countries, including New Zealand.

a) Campaign to oppose asset sales
The campaign against state asset sales has kicked into high gear with the announcement that a coalition of groups fronted by Grey Power and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, with support from the Labour Party and the Green Party, has initiated a “Citizens Initiated Referendum” which will give New Zealanders the chance to say what they think about the Government’s plans to sell off up to 49% of four state-owned energy companies, of which Solid Energy is expected to be the last to be sold off.
The referendum will not be binding, and it will be some time before it can be held – the wording has to be agreed with the Clerk of the House, and over 300,000 valid signatures have to be collected, before it can go ahead – but the whole referendum process will be highly embarrassing to the Government as it goes about hocking off the nation’s resources.
CANA will be among the groups encouraging the collection of signatures, and we will bring you more details of this. For the moment, though, keep a lookout for more details of the referendum and of other actions against asset sales, including the Aotearoa Is Not For Sale Hikoi and (if you are on Facebook) the Aotearoa Is Not For Sale Facebook Page.

b) Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement
You can find out all about the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, including the investor-state dispute resolution provisions which, if included in the agreement, could allow foreign investors in Solid Energy to sue a future New Zealand Government that imposed tougher environmental regulations than its predecessors, at the TPP Watch website, with a detailed commentary on environmental and climate change issues in relation to the TPP.
Here is a list of cases brought by investors against national governments under other US “free trade” agreements. There are a lot of them:
http://www.citizen.org/documents/investor-state-chart1.pdf
Want to know what you can do to oppose the TPPA and such provisions? Check out your options here:
http://tppwatch.org/what-can-we-do/

7. “Just Lignite” Booklet Needs Your Support

The Social Justice Commission of the Anglican Church published the information booklet “Just Lignite”, written by one of our CANA organising group members, Rosemary Penwarden from Waitati.
This has been distributed to people for free, thanks to the Commission.
1800 were printed and they were so popular that another printing has been called for by people and groups who have found this an invaluable resource when raising the many issues about the possibility of large scale lignite mining in Mataura, Southland .
However costs are an issue, so feedback to the Commission on the usefulness of the resource would be very helpful.
It would help hugely if  you could take a minute to send an email to Commissioner, Rev’d Dr Anthony Dancer at justice@anglican.org.nz  or phone 04 472 2713 (Wellington).
This could state how useful/ helpful/effective you have  found the booklet if you got the chance to read it OR say you would like one if there is a reprint, and even mention other places you could distribute it.
Thank you in anticipation of your action to help.
Rangimarie, Jenny Campbell

8. Fracking Roundup

The issue of fracking (hydraulic fracturing) as a method of mining hydrocarbons is gaining a very high profile at the moment, with coverage on two major media channels last weekend.
Fracking is usually discussed in terms of shale oil and gas production, but it can also be used to mine coal in the form of producing coal seam gas – a process that results in the release of methane, which is a much more potent (though also shorter-lived) greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
We don’t have space in our newsletter to cover all the news from the anti-fracking campaign, but here are a few links and events to watch out for:
Anti-fracking website: http://fracknz.org/
“Say No To Fracking NZ” Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/events/230681113695913/#!/groups/saynotofrackingnz/
Public meeting on fracking in Canterbury: Rolleston Community Centre, Rolleston Drive (near New World), Sat 31 March, 7.30pm.
- this meeting includes a showing of the documentary The Gas Rush, which can also be viewed online at http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2011/s3141787.htm
Gareth Hughes’ questions in Parliament recently on why the Government won’t except a moratorium on fracking in New Zealand makes interesting viewing: http://inthehouse.co.nz/node/11563

9. News Snippets

Nelson Mail report on Sid Plant (belated Festival report): http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/features/lifestyle/going-green/6437372/Fight-to-keep-coal-in-the-hole
Second slip in a year hits Nightcaps mine: http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/6547390/Hillside-east-of-coalmine-slips

10. Campaign Resources

Two classic booklets on the theory and practice of nonviolent direct action in Aoatearoa/New Zealand are now available as a free download from our blog: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/03/02/classic-new-zealand-booklets-on-nonviolent-direct-action-now-available-to-download/
An authoritative report on the health effects of coal from Physicians for Social Responsibility: http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/psr-coal-fullreport.pdf
Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWInyaMWBY8
Jeanette Fitzsimons speaks out on asset sales for Auckland Coal Action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXEZgh-l1uk

Coal Action Network Aotearoa Newsletter – February 2012

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the first Coal Action Network Aotearoa newsletter for 2012. Since our last newsletter, sent out in mid-December, something big has happened: our Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival, which took place on Mike Dumbar’s farm near Mataura in Southland in late January.

The Festival was the biggest event we’ve organised so far, so the first section of this newsletter is devoted to Festival news and reportbacks. Then we move on to other developments – including a big upsurge in local and regional group activities, much of it sparked off by the Festival.

If you are in South Canterbury or in the Whanganui-Manawatu region, check out the public meetings in those regions early next week – see under “Public and Group Meetings” in Part B below.

Finally, there is the regular information we put in each Newsletter: how to donate to the Coal Action Network Aotearoa, how you can follow us and help spread the word on social media, and how our mailing lists work. If you haven’t read this information before, please do! (And by the way, at the time of writing this, our Twitter account, @coalaction, sits on 299 followers – if you are on Twitter and don’t yet follow us, help push us past the 300 mark!)

It’s going to be a big year. We hope it’s going well for you so far, and we look forward to working with you in 2012.

Regards
Tim Jones
for Coal Action Network Aotearoa

Contents

• Part A: The Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival
  A selection of reportbacks, presentations available online, and media coverage

• Part B: Other News and Resources
  
  
  • 1. Local and Regional Meetings
    
  • 2. The Jonathan Wyatt Tour
    
  • 3. Campaign Resources
    
  
  
• Part C: The Regulars
  
  
  • 1. How to donate to CAN Aotearoa
    
  • 2. CAN Aotearoa on social media
    
  • 3. How our mailing lists work
    
  
  

PART A: The Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival

How did it go?

From 20-23 January, the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival was held on Mike Dumbar’s farm, a few kilometres south-west of Mataura in Southland, and just up the road from where Solid Energy is building its pilot lignite-to-briquette plant. About 150 people registered to attend, many of whom were there throughout the Festival, and in addition, up to 100 further local people joined Festival-goers for our Community Day at the Mataura Community Centre, where we heard from a range of speakers on the effects of large-scale coal and lignite mining on the climate, on health, and on rural communities.

How did it go? Very well, in my opinion – despite a few attendees who did not quite take our warnings to bring warm clothing and rain gear seriously enough

But then again, I would say it went well, wouldn’t I? So, with the author’s permission, here are extracts from a report on the Festival written by Jane Young for the South Otago Forest & Bird Newsletter. She begins:

It’s hard to say what impressed me most about the Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) Summer Festival held recently on Mike Dumbar’s property near Mataura. Was it the informative and inspirational speakers? Was it the good-humoured fellowship among a group that included Auckland lawyers, Southland farmers, Dunedin students, Wellington politicians and concerned citizens from just about everywhere. Or was it the toilets?

The composting organic toilets constructed for the Festival were, indeed, impressive. After extolling their virtues, and noting the commitment to his land of the Festival’s host, Mike Dumbar, Jane goes on to say:

Just how difficult it must be for Mike to hold out is made plain when you see a map of the Mataura valley with his land surrounded by what, if Solid Energy have their way, will become a very, very large opencast lignite mine.

Of course, Mike isn’t the only beleaguered farmer, either in New Zealand or overseas. Queensland farmer, Sid Plant, got a standing ovation from a packed audience in the Mataura Community Centre when he described how his family had stood up to the mining company, New Hope, despite suffering enormous stress as neighbour after neighbour was bought up by the company.

“The mining companies all say ‘we will make it better than it was’ but they destroy the land–it can never be rehabilitated. I’ve witnessed the desecration of the best quality farmland where I live–just as Solid Energy is about to do in Southland. You can never get it back,” Mr Plant told the meeting.

After highlighting Dr Shannon Page’s presentation at the Community Day about the weakness of Solid Energy’s claims that Carbon Capture and Storage will provide a solution to the emissions from their planned plants (see the link to his presentation below), Jane Young concludes:

It would be easy to get discouraged by the immense difficulty of trying to stop the mining juggernaut. You know, perhaps what impressed me most at the Festival wasn’t the toilets after all; but meeting the family who put up their tent next to ours. It turned out that they had lost most of their possessions in a fire last year. Oh yes, and their home got redstickered after the Christchurch earthquake. Yet there they were, camping in a field, because they felt it was important to join together to fight for environmental justice. As Sid Plant, the Queensland farmer, might have said: ‘Good on yer mate.’

Community Day Presentations

As mentioned above, the Sunday of the Festival was the Community Day in Mataura – you can see the programme at the Summer Festival site: http://nocoalsummerfest.org.nz/speakers-at-the-sunday-open-day

Five presentations from the Community Day are now available on our website. Before you download these, please do bear in mind that several of them – especially Sid Plant’s presentation – are large files which will take some time to download on a slow connection.

• Sid Plant, Keep the Coal in the Hole: An Australian Experience [48 MB PPT file]
  
• Jeanette Fitzsimons, Lignite and the Southland Economy (2 slides) [257 KB PPT file]
  
• Dr Russell Tregonning,The Health Effects of Lignite Coal Mining in Southland and Otago [7.3 MB PPT file]
  
• Dr Peter Barrett, Basic Climate Science and the Threat from Fossil Energy [1.3 MB PDF file]
  
• Dr Shannon Page, Carbon Capture and Storage – Can It Make Coal Clean? [5.5 MB PDF file]

Plus, here is an audio file of Sid Plant being interviewed on The Farming Show: http://t.co/ZJXoq4PQ

Southland People reflect on the CANA Summer Festival in Mataura

It was agreed we came to learn more which happened, with Australian farmer /activist, Sid Plant as the highlight. His personal story was ideal to focus us and others on the issues we are facing.

Even though a diverse group of people attended, we all gelled. We felt the respect was amazing for locals and their wishes, especially regarding listening to locals about not implementing NVDA at this time.

Educational aspects with brilliant speakers added to our own experiences. We felt it would be hard to improve and we just need to build on that for another one. Next year?

The festival provided a sense of national support for the small group who have fronted the battle up to now. Having the one major event also brought together more Southland people who have been concerned about the lignite issue but have been working outside the CANA organisation. We now have a much bigger Southland group and already have a list of actions we are following through.

Our challenge is to get more people to help with educating and informing locals.

We agreed an annual event is the logical thing to do. We have a lot of ideas for another festival and need a strategy to help locals focus on issues other than just (or rather unjust) jobs.

- compiled by Jenny Campbell

Media Coverage of the Festival

The Festival got a lot of good media coverage. Here is a selection:

Otago Daily Times: Campaigners plan anti-mining festival: http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/mataura/194836/campaigners-plan-anti-mining-festival and Campaigners barred at site: http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/mataura/195118/campaigners-barred-site

TV1: Aussie farmer warns over lignite mining: http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/mataura/195118/campaigners-barred-site

TV3: Residents protest Mataura coal mining: http://www.3news.co.nz/Residents-protest-Mataura-coal-mining/tabid/423/articleID/240252/Default.aspx

Radio NZ Morning Report audio: “Fight starts over lignite mining”: http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2507626/fight-starts-over-lignite-mining.asx

Southland Times online poll: “Do you support the Keep Coal in the Hole protest against Solid Energy plans to mine lignite near Mataura?”: http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/6297737/Crowd-gathers-to-protest-lignite-mining

Coal Action Network Aotearoa press release about the Community Day in Mataura: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/01/22/dont-trust-coal-companies-aussie-farmer-tells-southland/

Video: “Anzac Day in Acland”

At the Summer Festival, Sid Plant showed us this powerful music video. It shows, better than words alone can tell, what coal mining does to small communities in its path. Here are a couple of different videos of “Anzac Day in Acland”:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyTvqeiipgE
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xycterek18

Blogs of Note

Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter rode to the Festival by bike, and blogged her journey here:
- first post: http://blog.greens.org.nz/2012/01/12/cycling-to-southland-prelude/
- final post, with reflections on the Festival: http://blog.greens.org.nz/2012/01/24/cycling-to-southland-epilogue/

These two blogs are great places to keep up with what’s happening on lignite and other environmental issues in Southland:

• Dave Kennedy’s blog Local Bodies: http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/
• Robert Guyton’s blog: http://robertguyton.blogspot.co.nz/

Finally, even an international mining engineer has come out against lignite mining in New Zealand: http://ithinkmining.com/2012/01/26/new-zealand-mining-debate-lamb-vs-lignite/

Photos of the Festival

1,000 images from the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival taken by David Russell can be viewed at http://www.southernexposures.co.nz/Events/2012/Other/Mataura%20Keep%20The%20Coal%20In%20Hole%20Campaign/index.html – thanks, David!

After the Festival

As a result of the Festival, the Southland group has new energy and new members, and there are new regional groups forming, or looking at forming, in several parts of the country. We have a lot more information, and also a number of requests for this information on the risks and dangers of large-scale lignite mining to be made available in simpler, easier-to-access ways. We are now working on meeting those needs. We also have suggestions for future actions that need to be carefully considered and fitted into our overall strategy.

We will be working on all these aspects over the coming months – look out for more information as the year goes on and the campaign grows.

PART B: Other News

1. Public and group meetings

One of the best things to come out of the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival has been a surge in activity around the country from people getting together in their cities or regions to oppose the expanded mining and use of coal. Within the next month, there are two public meetings that we know of, plus a number of other meetings in various centres to establish anti-coal action groups, or integrate new people into existing groups.

Timaru public meeting, Monday 20 February

Energy for Industry, a subsidiary of Meridian Energy, is planning to put in new boilers at its Washdyke plant just north of Timaru – and they are asking the Council for permission to install coal-fired as well as wood-fired boilers. A public meeting has been called to oppose the proposal to allow coil-fired boilers to be installed:

Keep the Coal in the Hole and OUT of Washdyke…Public meeting
Monday 20 February
7.30pm, South School Hall, 44 Queen Street, Timaru
Organized by Transition Timaru

News story on Energy for Industry’s plans: http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/6365337/Washdyke-energy-cluster-set-to-grow

Whanganui/Manawatu public meeting on Denniston, Tuesday 21 February

Anti-coal-mining activists in the Whanganui/Manawatu meeting are holding their first public meeting on plans to open up more of the Denniston Plateau on the South Island’s West Coast to coal mining:

Save Denniston Plateau: Information Evening in Whanganui
Tuesday 21 February
7.00 pm, 256 Wicksteed St., Whanganui
Contact: kathryn1844@gmail.com

Full details of the meeting, and how you can help with the Denniston campaign, are here: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/save-denniston-plateau-information-evening-in-whanganui/

Denniston: An Artist’s Perspective

While we are talking about Denniston, check out this excellent blog post from artist Meliors Simms:

Fired up about Stockton Mine and Denniston Plateau: http://www.meliors.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/fired-up-about-stockton-mine-and.html

Southland News Update

Relationship building, mutual support and a great sense of coordinated purpose has come to Southland regarding the anti-lignite campaign as a result of the national ‘Keep the Coal in the Hole’ Summer Festival weekend in Mataura, 20 – 23 January.

As a member of the CANA organising group, it was a privilege to work with so many people who gave of their time, effort, skills, expertise and donations of goods and services to ensure the festival was an outstanding success! In particular the people of Mataura and surrounding districts provided generous hospitality to people from all over Aotearoa/NZ and even several international visitors – most of whom had never been to Mataura or even south of Christchurch. They were very impressed with the facilities, positive attitudes from locals and the exciting new initiatives there eg community garden and the mataitai native plantings which are a focus for community building. The people from the wider Southland area also came to appreciate what Mataura has to offer.

Thank you to Mike Dumbar who provided his farm as a strategic venue, local scouts for tents and equipment and for generous donations of scrummy food from attendees. A special contribution was made by our Australian farmer guest, Sid Plant along with our guest speakers – Dr Peter Barrett, Dr Russell Tregonning, Steve Goldthorpe, and Dr Shannon Page – along with all the workshop contributors and facilitators. The event enabled all the people who attended to learn, network, form new groups and strategise for ‘where to now’.

I was blessed to be working and learning from several committee members:- Jeanette Fitzsimons- programme, Rosemary Penwarden- finances, Tim Jones- resources / communication, Kristin Gillies- logistics and of course several others who came to ensure all was ready on site for the guests’ arrival. Keeping our energy levels up was Claire Dann as caterer with her team of willing helpers. The children’s programme was thoughtful and appreciated- run by Zella Horrell.

The local consensus seems to be- it was an awesome event which gave them renewed energy and the hope is for an annual event!

The Mataura, Gore and other Southland people have been meeting regularly since the camp with the next focus being Waimumu Field Days, a huge agricultural event similar to Mystery Creek (26 000 people there last time), Wed 15 Feb to Fri 17 Feb. Flyers have been created with themes of farming concerns/issues and drama excerpts based on ‘lignitemare’ are envisaged- popping up around the site!

The Festival photographer, Dave Russell, is planning a touring photographic exhibition using camp photos and quotes. The group agrees that our focus here needs to be on soil and farmland loss. Other plans are afoot as our energy allows.

Kia kaha,
Jenny Campbell from Southland

Auckland Coal Action report

Auckland Coal Action delegates returned from the festival at Mataura full of energy and enthusiasm to get to work on the Auckland campaign for a coal-free Aotearoa. We’ve got plenty of activities to get busy on, so if you’re keen to join us contact aucklandcoalaction@gmail.com or come along to our next meeting, Saturday 3 March, 1-4pm at the Quaker Meeting House, 113 Mt Eden Rd.

Our aims: Auckland Coal Action recognises that coal is the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and that its ongoing use will lead to catastrophic climate change. We aim to achieve a coal-free Aotearoa by 2030, initially by opposing the expansion of coal mining. We do this work to play our part in sustaining a benign climate for us, our children and grandchildren.

Other regions

Plans are afoot in Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin to either reinvigorate existing anti-coal action groups or look at setting up new groups and events. We’ll bring you details of those as and when they become public, but in the meantime, please contact coalactionnetwork@gmail.com if you are in one of those areas, haven’t already been contacted about this, and want to get involved.

2. Jonathan Watts Tour: “Let’s Learn Environmental Lessons from China”

Jonathan Watts, the Asia environmental correspondent of the Guardian newspaper, has written a book called “When A Billion Chinese Jump”. It’s a travelogue through China, looking at the wide range of environmental issues China faces, including coal mining. His perspective is that coal mining and use is bad for China’s environment and for the global climate, and that CCS will not ‘solve’ the greenhouse gas emissions from China’s use of coal.

Paramount Services Ltd, an Auckland-based cleaning company franchise, is bringing Jonathan Watts to NZ for a speaking tour from 29 March-4 April 2012. He will be speaking to public meetings in Auckland, Taupo, Wellington and Christchurch, as follows:

Auckland – Thursday 29 March 2012
Taupo – Friday 30 March 2012
Wellington – Monday 2 April 2012
Christchurch – Wednesday 4 April 2012

Full details of the tour, including venues, times and booking details, are here:

http://www.service-is-paramount.co.nz/blogs/cleaning-news/2011/12/13/jonathan-watts-nz-tour–let-s-learn-from-china-

3. Campaign Resources

• For those who missed out on a copy at the Festival, the “Just Lignite” booklets written by Rosemary Penwarden are available from the Anglican Social Justice Commission in Wellington. Email justice@anglican.org.nz to order.
• A one page fact sheet on lignite mining can be downloaded from http://www.justice.net.nz/justwiki/just-facts-lignite-mining/
• A5 size bound booklets of “How Nonviolence Works” by Allan Cumming are also available from coalactionnetwork@gmail.com for $5.00 each (plus postage).
• Check out the Resources page on our blog for many more downloadable resources: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/downloads/
• Coal is bad for human health – and that’s not only because of its effect on the climate. Check out the deadly effects of coal on human health in Physicians for Social Responsibility’s report “Coal’s Assault on Human Health”: http://www.psr.org/resources/coals-assault-on-human-health.html

PART C: The Regulars

1. How to donate to CAN Aotearoa

As this campaign grows, our costs are beginning to increase. Thank you to all those who have donated during the past month. If you’d like to help us financially, you can donate as follows:

Coal Action Network
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00

2. CAN Aotearoa on social media

Our Facebook Group

Our Facebook group is at http://www.facebook.com/groups/218300434877031/ – if you are on Facebook, please join, and invite your friends to join too.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/129179047159254

@coalaction is on Twitter

If you are on Twitter, please follow our Twitter account, @coalaction, at https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction. Please look out for our tweets, retweet them, and encourage your followers to follow @coalaction as well.

Our Blog

Keep up with the latest news about our campaigns on the Coal Action Network Aotearoa blog:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

3. How our mailing lists work – where to post, where not to post

This Coal Action Network Aotearoa list is an announcements-only list, so CAN Aotearoa can pass on news to you without your inbox getting too cluttered.

You cannot post to this list, so here’s a special plea from your mailing list administrator:

PLEASE DO NOT POST MESSAGES TO coalactionnetwork@lists.riseup.net

Doing so wastes your time, because your message gets stuck in an approval queue, and our time, because we have to work out where you meant to send it and forward it there instead.

But here’s the good news:

You are welcome, and encouraged, to discuss all aspects of our work on our Lignite Campaign Discussion list. But first, you need to join that list.

To subscribe to that list, send an email to

lignite-campaign-discuss-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

Then, to post a message to the lignite-campaign-discuss list, email it to

lignite-campaign-discuss@lists.riseup.net

Alternatively, if you’re having trouble joining the discussion list, please email coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Discussion list” in the subject line and we will add you to that list.

If you want to unsubscribe from either list, please email coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Unsubscribe from [name of list]” in the subject line. Please do NOT send unsubscribe requests to the entire list!

Membership of the lignite-campaign-discuss list is not vetted, so you should bear this in mind when choosing what to discuss on the list.

–
Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CAN Aotearoa) is a group of climate
justice campaigners committed to fighting the continuation of coal
mining in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CAN Aotearoa’s objectives are to:
1. Phase out coal mining and coal usage within 20 years, initially by
opposing new and expanded coal mines.
2. Promote a cultural change so that mining and using coal are unacceptable.
3. Work towards a society where people and the environment are not
exploited for profit.
4. Work towards a socially just transition to a coal-free Aotearoa New Zealand.
Find out more at: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/
Or join the CAN Aotearoa supporters list by emailing:
coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

CAN Aotearoa December/January Newsletter

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the final Coal Action Network Aotearoa newsletter for the year – and the first newsletter for 2012 as well.

The reason there won’t be a newsletter in January is that we will all be very busy with the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival, which is taking place on Mike Dumbar’s farm near Mataura from 20-23 January 2012 – see http://nocoalsummerfest.org.nz/

It’s great to see the number of people signing up for the Festival rapidly increasing – but we’ve also had reports that some people have had problems signing up via the Festival website. So, in this newsletter, we remind you of how to sign up the usual way, but also give you an alternative method of registering if the site won’t work for you.

We’ve also got some thoughts on the election result, the latest news from around the country, and a round-up of other news and resources you can use in the campaign.

Have a good holiday season, and we’ll see you in January.

Regards
Tim Jones

Contents

1. Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival
2. 2011 General Election – the result and its implications
3. Denniston Campaign News
4. Southland News and ongoing actions
5. Auckland Coal Action report
6. Carbon Capture and Storage: The Transfield Worley report is made public
7. WWF’s 100% Possible Clean Energy Advocates Network
8. The Clock Is Ticking
9. Campaign Resources
10. CAN Aotearoa on social media
11. How to donate to CAN Aotearoa
12. How our mailing lists work

1. Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival: Just Over A Month To Go

There is now little over one month to go until the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival, which is being held in Southland from 20-23 January on Mike Dumbar’s farm, right next to the pilot lignite-to-briquettes plant currently being built by Solid Energy.

We want to make sure as many people attend the Festival as possible. That means reminding you to register at the cheaper early-bird rate – and it also means giving you an alternative way of registering if you’re having trouble with our online registration form.

A. Early-Bird Registration Ends On Tuesday 20 December

If you’re planning to attend the Festival, but haven’t registered yet, now is a good time to do it. That’s because the cheap early-bird registration rates that currently apply will end on Tuesday 20 December, and you need to register by that date to take advantage of them.

You can find out all the details and register on our Summer Festival website at

http://nocoalsummerfest.org.nz/

B. Trouble Registering Online? Here’s What To Do

We’ve heard that some people have been unable to register online, due to issues accessing the registration form with their particular computer and browser combination.

Because we want to make sure that everyone who wants to attend is able to do so, here is what to do if you are unable to register online:

Step 1: Email coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Summer Festival Registration” in the subject line and let us know you’ve had a problem

Step 2: We will then send you the the contents of the Festival kaupapa, information page and registration form

Step 3: You send us the completed registration form and we will add you to the list of those attending, and send you payment instructions.

We apologise for the difficulty some people have had in registering, and we hope this alternative method will make it easier for you. If you have any further problems with Summer Festival registration, please let us know by emailing coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

C. Single-Day Registrations on Saturday 21 January

Single-day registrations are available for $10 on the Saturday of the Festival, but please let us know that you’re coming – emailcoalactionnetwork@gmail.com

D. Carpooling

If you would like to arrange carpooling to reduce your transport costs in getting to and from the Festival, we suggest that you use this website to arrange it: http://www.nationalcarshare.co.nz/

At the Festival itself, there should be opportunities to arrange rides back from the Festival.

E. Support for Palmerston North-based people to attend the Summer Festival

Coal Action Network Aotearoa was recently contacted with an offer of financial support for people from Palmerston North to attend the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival. As we do not yet have anyone from Palmerston North registered to attend, this offer may be just in time to make sure this city is represented at Mataura in January.

If you (or someone you know) is based in Palmerston North and would like to attend the Festival, please contact us at coalactionnetwork@gmail.com to find out more.

F. Op-Ed on Nonviolent Direct Action

Preparation for nonviolent direct action (NVDA) will be one of the important streams of activity at the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival. . Kristin Gillies of CANA wrote an op-ed piece on nonviolent direct action which appeared in the Southland Times recently. It is now on our blog, and it’s well worth reading: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/on-lignite-and-civil-disobedience/

Coincidentally, a massive NVDA campaign against the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the US has succeeded in making President Obama postpone a decision on the pipeline until after the 2012 US Presidential Election. Forcing a postponement may not seem like much, but it’s often the first step in getting a project cancelled altogether – and considering the wealth and power of the forces promoting the pipeline, this is a significant success.

G. Summer Festival Radio

A special mobile Radio Broadcast Unit is coming to Mataura for the two days of the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival.

Residents in Mataura, Gore, and surrounding areas will be able to tune into events on 107.3 FM in Matuara and on 96.4 FM over most of Southland.

The broadcasts will be on air from 9am Saturday the 21st from Mike Dumbar’s farm just outside Mataura, and Sunday the 2nd from the Community Centre in Mataura.

Anyone anywhere can also follow events as they happen on the internet as well by connecting to an internet stream… it will be posted on the http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/ website, all being well. We will also be recording podcasts for later use.

Bring a radio with you… you’ll hear many interesting points of view

If you’re a YouTube fan this is what the portable radio station does: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pN1C6RTShY0

2. 2011 General Election – the result and its implications

During the course of the 2011 General Election campaign, three political parties that we know of announced their opposition to the expansion of coal mining in general and lignite mining in particular. We knew of the Green Party’s consistent and supportive position before the election campaign. During the campaign, the Mana Party came out in opposition to the expansion of coal mining in general, and the Labour Party announced its opposition to all of Solid Energy’s planned lignite conversion plants, and the expansion of mining that would result.

Unfortunately, as we now know, we are still stuck with a National Party Government that has continued to publicly back the expansion of lignite mining, and we face – as we would whatever combinations of parties was in power – at least three more years of hard work.

While TV and print media commentators have been falling over themselves to herald National’s big win, the reality is that National go into the next three years in a position that is weaker than it might appear, as Nicky Hager explains on Pundit: http://pundit.co.nz/content/ive-just-been-internalising-a-really-complicated-situation-in-my-head

And as long as National and their allies support the expansion of coal mining, then those of us who oppose it should be glad of anything that weakens their position. We saw the Teflon start to wear off John Key during the election campaign, and, as with any second-term Government, there are increasingly likely to be leadership bids, scandals, disaffected MPs who feel the leadership is not giving them a fair shake, leaks, resignations and by-elections as time goes by. We need to keep working on those National MPs who have shown glimmers of independent thought – as Michael Woodhouse, MP for Dunedin North, did during the election campaign when he announced his opposition to lignite mining – even if he may have done so with a nod and a wink from head office.

Along with that, there are some other parties it would be interesting to open a dialogue with. Does anyone know what NZ First thinks about lignite mining?

3. Denniston campaign news

The proposed opencast coal mine on conservation land at Denniston has been in the news a bit lately. First there was the DoC staff member who – after leading negotiations with Bathurst Resources over the environmental compensation the company would offer – jumped ship to go work for the mining company.

Then, the first working day after the election, the Minister of Conservation broke a promise to consult with the public about the mine.

As the law currently stands DoC has to ask what you think about the coal processing plant, a concession for which would be granted under the Conservation Act, but not the mine pit itself, which would be under the Crown Minerals Act. A silly situation. After the Schedule 4 debate, National agreed to publicly notify ‘significant’ mining proposals on conservation land. Kate Wilkinson told Forest and Bird the public would be consulted, but now says Government is ‘moving forward’ to work out what ‘constitutes’ a significant mining application.

It is hard to see how a 200ha mine on prime conservation land, which would double our coal exports, could be considered anything other than significant.

Now Bathurst Resources is in the news again, after being sprung on plans to hire the security company Solid Energy infamously used against the Save Happy Valley group five years ago. This involved hiring a spy to infiltrate the group, setting up hidden cameras along the path into the valley, and working on DoC land without a concession, amongst other shenanigans. Provision Security seems to specialise in operating at the fringes of legality, or beyond.

The Auckland Coal Action group held a successful fundraising dinner for the Denniston campaign last week, raising much needed funds for the court case against the mine – see the Auckland Coal Action report below for more details. The case will test whether climate change can be considered in resource consent hearings. If you can donate to West Coast Environment Network’s cause, please tag your donation to Denniston appeal – Kiwibank 38 9012 0009759 00 West Coast ENT Incorporated.

4. Southland News and ongoing actions

The pace has shifted in Southland with the start of construction of the pilot briquetting plant on the corner of Craig Rd, just south of Mataura.

Momentum is gathering for the ‘Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival’ to be held at Mike Dumbar’s property just along Craig Rd from the pilot plant. Mataura people along with a group in Gore are being very generous with their time and resources so everything we need is there for the Festival. The Gore group organised a series of film evenings recently for the public, showing eg Coal Country, A Dirty Business, with a select group attending.

An article in the local community newspaper highlighted NVDA (nonviolent direct action) with a call for people to have their say on ‘Do you agree with the plan to offer  protest training at a festival where children are involved? Do you think protest action is needed? Email : emma.carle@stl.co.nz

Headings were ‘Family fest to offer protest training. Organisers plan to use non-violent direct action to stop coal mining’. It will be very interesting to see how the locals and others respond to this challenge.

Ironically the item was under a photo of Solid Energy’s new toy- ‘a 63-tonne truck and trailer-….which will save 1800 truck journeys a year between SE’s New Vale mine and Fonterra’s Edendale plant’!

Southland people are standing alongside the struggle for the Denniston Plateau – to stop the proposed mining of conservation land.

Thoughts:

‘For evil to triumph it is necessary only for good people to do nothing’,  Edmund Burke

 ’Activism is my rent for living on this planet’, Alice Walker.

- Rangimarie, Jenny Campbell, Southland member of CANA organising group

5. Auckland Coal Action report

Over the past month Auckland Coal Action has been gearing up to participate in the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival, with a growing number of delegates signed up to make the long trip from Auckland to Mataura.

We’re also working on recruiting new members and raising awareness about coal and its impact on the climate. Over the past month this has involved holding a stall at the Grey Lynn Festival and hosting a fundraising dinner for the Denniston appeal.

Denniston dinner

By all accounts there was an abundance of good food and good conversation at the Denniston dinner, with around 45 people in attendance. Jeanette Fitzsimons gave a really informative and motivating talk which covered the plans to mine the Denniston Plateau and the campaign to stop this going ahead.

We collected around $800 to help fund the appeal to the Environment Court. The outcome of this appeal will be significant not only for the conservation of the Denniston Plateau, but also because the court will decide whether or not climate change and greenhouse gas emissions can be taken into account when considering resource consents.

Stop Assets Sales video

In other news, Jeanette Fitzsimons kindly recorded a short talk for Auckland Coal Action, a few weeks ago, highlighting the importance of stopping the sale of Solid Energy in the fight to keep Southland lignite in the ground. We’re pleased to see this video has now had over 2550 views, no doubt many of them from people on this list! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXEZgh-l1uk

PS from the editor: A valuable companion piece to Jeanette’s video for Auckland Coal Action is this article by Nicky Chapman in the Otago Daily Times, “CO2 emissions are Southern asset sales’ dirty secret”: http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/187067/co2-emissions-are-southern-asset-sales-dirty-secret

6. Carbon Capture and Storage: The Transfield Worley report is made public

When promoting his lignite mining and conversion plans, Solid Energy boss Don Elder likes to hold out the promise of capturing the carbon dioxide emissions from the conversion plants and sticking them underground – a process known as Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

CCS is a bit like high-temperature nuclear fusion. It works in theory and there are experimental schemes that have shown promise, but it is hugely expensive and tends to fail in practice, leading to embarrassing situations such as large quantities of carbon dioxide bubbling up through the ground and adding itself to the atmosphere.

Furthermore, CCS isn’t a one-size-fits-all sort of thing. Even its proponents admit that there has to be somewhere safe and secure available underground near the source of the CO2 so that it can be stored. That in turn raises issues of liability – for instance, if that “safe and secure” storage proves to be neither, who pays the cost when it fails? Who is responsible for the resulting emissions?

You might think that, in a country as earthquake-prone as New Zealand, CCS would not be considered as a serious option. But that hasn’t stopped a body calling itself the New Zealand CCS Partnership commissioning a report from Transfield Worley consultants on the prospects for CCS in New Zealand. You can read the summary, and the full report, here:

http://www.straterra.co.nz/uploads/files/ccs_in_new_zealand_summary_report_2011.pdf

http://www.straterra.co.nz/uploads/files/ccs_in_new_zealand_case_studies_2011.pdf

Dr Shannon Page of Lincoln University will critique the technology of CCS at the Festival’s Open Day in Mataura.

So, what is the New Zealand CCS partnership? According to the website of fossil fuel lobbyists Straterra,

The NZCCS Partnership was formed in 2006 to assess and address the enabling of CCS technologies at a commercial scale in New Zealand. It comprises interested industry and government representatives, including the Ministry of Science and Innovation, Ministry of Economic Development, Coal Association of NZ, and Solid Energy. (http://www.straterra.co.nz/CCS)

To summarise, the industry that wants to introduce CCS in New Zealand is working hand in glove with the Ministries who would have the job of regulating it to formulate the rules under which CCS would be introduced. True to form, we know that there is a little team working away in the depths of the MED on CCS policy for New Zealand.

Such a process, with the poachers telling the gamekeepers what to do, seems unlikely to lead to the public interest, or the welfare of the New Zealand environment, or the state of the world’s climate, being placed front and centre. We’re looking forward to hearing Dr Page’s analysis.

7. WWF’s 100% Possible Clean Energy Advocates Network - An Invitation from Lee Barry of WWF-NZ

WWF-New Zealand works alongside CANA to oppose lignite mining and processing in Southland. We’ll be at the SummerFest alongside you to demonstrate our support. As the most emissions intensive fossil fuel development on the cards in this country, it is the single most important scheme to stop in order to contribute to tackling global climate change.

But lignite is just one of many energy issues facing New Zealand.

WWF works to advocate for developing the sustainable, renewable energy solutions we have in abundance. We are helped in this mission by a new team of advocates – The 100% Possible Clean Energy Advocates Network. Our advocates do for broader energy issues what this lignite group do for the lignite issue – to be the voice of reason and keep the profile up in the media and in direct correspondence with officials and companies involved.

It strikes me that some of you on this list may like to join WWF as a 100% Possible Advocate, and be the voice of reason against fossil fuels, and for renewable energy in a wider context than lignite.

For more information see: www.wwf.org.nz/100_percent_possible

Or email me on lbarry@wwf.org.nz

8. The Clock Is Ticking

The International Energy Agency has warned that the world has five years left to turn away from the path that leads to irreversible climate change, due to the amount of fossil fuel infrastructure that is currently being built: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/09/fossil-fuel-infrastructure-climate-change

As its name implies, the International Energy Agency is a conservative international organisation – in fact, it’s the energy agency of the OECD. When such a mainstream commentator makes such a severe warning, you know it’s time to listen, though OECD governments have shown little sign of paying attention.

We owe it to ourselves, our friends, our children and grandchildren and people all around the world to stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry in Aotearoa, as a first step to phasing it out entirely.

Talking of which, here’s an article that brings it all back home, written by members of the young people’s group Generation Zero:

Suffer our children unless the world changes: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/campaign-trail/5956206/Suffer-our-children-unless-the-world-changes 

9. Campaign Resources

Just Facts booklets on Lignite Mining and Asset Sales

The Social Justice Commission of the Anglican Church has put up new factsheets on lignite mining and assets sales on its website – they are a very useful one-page resource to introduce the issues to people. You can download them here:

Just Facts: Lignite Mining: http://www.justice.net.nz/justwiki/just-facts-lignite-mining/

Just Facts: Asset Sales: http://www.justice.net.nz/justwiki/just-facts-asset-sales/

10. CAN Aotearoa on social media

Our Facebook Group

Our Facebook group is at
http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_218300434877031

so you can join, and get your friends to join too.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/12917904715925

@coalaction is on Twitter

If you are on Twitter, please follow our Twitter account, @coalaction, at https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction. Please look out for our tweets, retweet them, and encourage your followers to follow @coalaction as well.

Our Blog

Keep up with the latest news about our campaigns on the Coal Action Network Aotearoa blog:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

11. How to donate to CAN Aotearoa

As this campaign grows, our costs are beginning to increase. Thank you to all those who have donated during the past month. If you’d like to help us financially, you can donate as follows:

Coal Action Network
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00

12. How our mailing lists work – where to post, where not to post

This Coal Action Network Aotearoa list is an announcements-only list, so CAN Aotearoa can pass on news to you without your inbox getting too cluttered.

You cannot post to this list, so here’s a special plea from your mailing list administrator:

PLEASE DO NOT POST MESSAGES TO coalactionnetwork@lists.riseup.net

Doing so wastes your time, because your message gets stuck in an approval queue, and our time, because we have to work out where you meant to send it and forward it there instead.

But here’s the good news:

You are welcome, and encouraged, to discuss all aspects of our work on our Lignite Campaign Discussion list. But first, you need to join that list.

To subscribe to that list, send an email to

lignite-campaign-discuss-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

Then, to post a message to the lignite-campaign-discuss list, email it to

lignite-campaign-discuss@lists.riseup.net

Alternatively, if you’re having trouble joining the discussion list, please email coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Discussion list” in the subject line and we will add you to that list.

Membership of the lignite-campaign-discuss list is not vetted, so you should bear this in mind when choosing what to discuss on the list.

Join us at Mataura in Southland this January for the Keep the Coal in the Hole summer festival:

http://nocoalsummerfest.org.nz/

Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CAN Aotearoa) is a group of climate justice campaigners committed to fighting the continuation of coal mining in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CAN Aotearoa’s objectives are to:
1. Phase out coal mining and coal usage within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.
2. Promote a cultural change so that mining and using coal are unacceptable.
3. Work towards a society where people and the environment are not exploited for profit.
4. Work towards a socially just transition to a coal-free Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more at: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/
Or join the CAN Aotearoa supporters list by emailing: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

CAN Aotearoa November Newsletter

Coal Action Network Aotearoa Newsletter

November 2011

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Contents

1. Keep The Coal In The Hole Summer Festival 2012 – registrations now open!

2. Summer Festival – how you can help

3. CAN Aotearoa announces new spokespeople

4. A successful Lush campaign

5. The Elections

6. Denniston campaign news and fundraising

7. Southland News and on-going actions

8. Opinion pieces on Southland lignite and intergenerational justice

9. International Occupy movement

10. CAN Aotearoa on Social Media

11. How To Donate To CAN Aotearoa

12. How Our Mailing Lists Work – Where To Post, Where Not To Post

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1. Keep The Coal In The Hole Summer Festival 2012 – registrations now open!

The website has just gone live and registrations are now open for the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival. Of course, the earlier you register the easier it is for us to plan ahead, so we are offering a generous discount to anyone who signs up before 20 December.

For more information and to register online go to: nocoalsummerfest.org.nz/information

About the festival:

The Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival will be held in Mataura, 20-23rd January 2012, on the farm of lignite opponent Mike Dumbar, half a kilometre from the pilot briquetting plant now being built.

We are excited to be organising a four day festival to stand alongside the people of Southland and build a movement around climate justice. There will be family camping, live music, fun for the kids, big cook-ups, visits to the proposed lignite mine, workshops on strategy, information from various groups actively campaigning against coal, training in non-violent direct action, videos, and an Open Day in Mataura with speakers and discussion groups on the issues relating to lignite.

Invite Your Friends

The Summer Festival now has a Facebook events page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=305271519500415

Whether or not you are on Facebook, please invite your coal-conscious friends to attend the Festival – but remind them that they have to register and pay before their attendance is confirmed.

2. Summer festival – how you can help

We have a great team of organisers working hard to get this festival off the ground, but they can always use more help. Here’s what you can do:

1. First of all, please attend and invite others to attend! We would love for you to participate in the festival.
2. Help us spread the word. We need posters put up in likely places in your community and around the country. We’re especially keen to get posters up on University and Polytech campuses before the end of term. If you can help please let us know by emailing: jeanette@greens.org.nz. Places we need help with this include Christchurch, Palmerston North, Hamilton, and regional cities with Polytechs.
3. Complete the volunteer form on the festival website: http://nocoalsummerfest.org.nz/volunteerSome examples of tasks we still need help with are:
   • set up and pack down of the camp site in the days before and after the festival
   • designing and running the kids’ programme
   • more help with organising and preparing food
4. If you can spare an hour a week or one day of your time – we can find a job for you! Just let us know by emailing: canasummerfestival@gmail.com

3. CAN Aotearoa announces new spokespeople

Frances Mountier is stepping down from her role as spokesperson for Coal Action Network Aotearoa. Over the past year, she has done a fantastic job dealing with all sorts of media interviews and has raised awareness about how important it is to stop coal in the fight against climate change.

In fact, she’s done such a great job it is taking two people to replace her! In future, you will see Kristin Gillies or Tim Jones making media statements on our behalf.

We’d like to say a big thank you to Francie for all her hard work. The campaign wouldn’t be where it is today without her.

4. A successful Lush campaign

The Lush campaign

This was an event initiated by cosmetics company Lush across Australia and New Zealand to gain support for the campaign to ban new coal. In Australia they partnered with Rising Tide and in Aotearoa with us at Coal Action Network.

Five of their ten New Zealand stores buried a staff member ‘neck deep in coal’ as a publicity stunt. This was picked up by the following media stories.

The Manawatu Standard (Palmerston North) http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/5820469/Protester-at-grimy-coal-face

Otago Daily Times (Dunedin) http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/183060/no-soft-soaping-these-coal-protesters

Lush not only helped us reach a sector of the population who might not normally come across our message, but they also raised funds to donate to the Keep the Coal in the Hole summer festival.

A huge thank you to our volunteers

Another great outcome from this campaign was having so many of you step up to help out at the Lush stores. We had volunteers at every one of the ten Lush stores around the country on both of the days of the campaign.

Thank you each of you for the huge effort and for helping us tell the public about the issue of coal. We collected a good number of names for the Keep the Coal in the Hole petition as well as subscribers for this newsletter.

Getting people more actively involved

You may have noticed over the last few months that our newsletter has been filled with requests for volunteers. This has been both for strategic and practical reasons. We’re deliberately trying to bring more people on board and build up more of an active movement around coal and climate, as well as acknowledging that there are just a small handful of us in the organising group and we simply need more help with the projects the we’ve taken on.

The Lush campaign was the first time we’ve asked for so many volunteers an in so many locations at once and it was just wonderful to get so many offers of support.

If you’re keen to get involved, just send us an email and let us know if there is a particular skill or amount of time you would like contribute: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

5. The Elections

As you will be well aware, elections are just around the corner. We would encourage you to challenge candidates on their stance towards lignite and coal extraction and make this an election issue.

The relevant portfolio-holders for the two major parties are:

• Nick Smith
  National Party
  Minister for the Environment
  Minister for Climate Change Issues
  n.smith@ministers.govt.nz

• Charles Chauvel
  Labour Party
  Spokesperson for the Environment
  charles.chauvel@parliament.govt.nz

The 3 News website also has a form to submit questions for political debates.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Politics/Decision2011/Haveyoursay.aspx

An event which is well times to make an impact on the election campaign is the FrackNo! National Day of Action Against Fracking on 16 November. Check out the details, and get involved, on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=212038222201698

Labour’s policy on lignite

In its just-released Environment Policy, the Labour Party has come out in opposition to lignite mining in Southland, and says that, if in Government, it will not allow Solid Energy to go ahead with it. Labour joins the Greens and the Mana Party in taking a stance against the expansion of coal mining.

Labour Party policy release here: http://www.3news.co.nz/Lignite-mining-ruled-out-by-Labour/tabid/419/articleID/231873/Default.aspx

Coal Action Network Aotearoa statement in response here: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/11/06/589/

A dirty business

This Australian documentary, while over a year old, paints a vivid picture of what’s in store for Southland and Denniston communities if we allow the current government’s energy strategies to be persued unchecked: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/content/2010/s2867659.htm

6. Denniston Campaign News and Fundraising

Help fund the appeal to the Environment Court

West Coast Environment Network (WC Ent) are fundraising for an appeal of the Resource Consent decision on the proposed opencast mine on conservation land at Denniston. In their submission, they presented a significant amount of evidence from the Department of Conservation’s technical scientists on ecological impacts of the mine, and hope to raise enough money to call these witnesses to the Environment Court.

They are aiming to raise $5000 in the next three months to aid the running of an Environment Court case. If you would like to donate, here are the details of West Coast Environment Network’s account: Kiwibank: 38 9012 0009759 00, West Coast ENT Incorporated

Auckland fundraising dinner, 6:30pm Saturday 3 December

Find out all about the fight against coal mining on the Denniston Plateau while enjoying a yummy meal! Auckland Coal Action will be hosting a fundraising dinner to support the Denniston appeal. The speaker for the evening is Jeanette Fitzsimons and tickets cost $20 per person.

The venue is still to be confirmed and bookings are essential, so if you would like to come along contact aucklandcoalaction@gmail.com

Rod Morris on the Denniston Plateau

Along with West Coast Environment Network, Greenpeace and Forest and Bird, we hosted a public meeting with groups campaigning against Fossil Fuels in Wellington on Monday 17th October. Radio New Zealand were there and they produced this story:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/audio/2500717/rod-morris-on-the-denniston-plateau

7. Southland news and on-going actions

Southland District Council Mayor, Frana Cardno wrote an excellent Editorial Opinion for the Southland Times in mid October, coming out against mining lignite in Southland. “We cannot expect to continue to market our agricultural exports to the rest of the world, using our clean green image to promote them, unless we show some commitment to reducing those emissions,” she said. She drew on the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Jan Wright’s recent publication, to back up her reasoning. This strong stand puts another face on how people in Southland are feeling, with good follow up letters to the editor affirming Frana for her stand. (See link to Frana’s article in the next item, below).

A Reel Earth film festival including several focusing on mining and climate change was shown as an awareness raising event, at Centrestage Invercargill, over 10 days in mid-October, organised by Invercargill Environment Centre. The variety of how people around the world are responding to climate change and making a personal response to making a difference, along with NGOs, was inspirational- although the pollution shown was shocking at times.

A stall featuring concerns around lignite mining ran at the Invercargill Spring festival on Sat 8 Oct, gave a chance to have many conversations with attendees about the lignite and wider climate change issues, along with many signing up to the CANA email list.

Political candidates’ meetings are being held across Southland with CANA supporters asking relevant questions about the lignite proposals which is helping keep the topic in the public eye as well as ensuring candidates get involved in the debate.

There continues to be a steady stream of awareness raising letters to the Editor, Southland Times – thank you everyone for doing that.

Rangimarie,
Jenny Campbell
Member of CANA organising group.

8. Opinion pieces on lignite and intergenerational justice

Southland District Mayor Frana Cardno Speaks Out Against Lignite Mining

Southland District Mayor Frana Cardno has lent her voice to the campaign to keep Southland lignite in the ground, in a recent opinion piece in the Southland Times: http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/opinion/5815643/Keeping-resources-for-future-generations

Climate crime is beggaring our children

Warrington poet Richard Reeve attacks Solid Energy plans to dig up lignite and argues that “Ours is the epoch of generational organised crime [as] we continue a way of life that we know full well will impact on literally billions of lives in the generations to come”.
http://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/opinion/181484/climate-crime-beggaring-our-children

9. International Occupy movement

We are including some excerpts and links from the past month’s commentary on the international Occupy movement that may be of interest to our readers.

Naomi Klein’s speech at Occupy Wall Street: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/10/07-0

The point is, today everyone can see that the system is deeply unjust and careening out of control. Unfettered greed has trashed the global economy. And it is trashing the natural world as well. We are overfishing our oceans, polluting our water with fracking and deepwater drilling, turning to the dirtiest forms of energy on the planet, like the Alberta tar sands. And the atmosphere cannot absorb the amount of carbon we are putting into it, creating dangerous warming. The new normal is serial disasters: economic and ecological.

These are the facts on the ground. They are so blatant, so obvious, that it is a lot easier to connect with the public than it was in 1999, and to build the movement quickly.

An Open Letter To Occupiers of Mother Earth http://tewhareporahou.wordpress.com/2011/10/15/an-open-letter-to-occupiers-of-mother-earth/

Capitalism and colonial imperialism are ‘brothers in arms’. They feed each others greed. They support each others destruction of Papatūānuku, this great Grandmother Earth.

What a real revolution would look like! http://tewhareporahou.wordpress.com/2011/10/08/what-a-real-revolution-would-look-like/

This is what I wish our country would say.“We are with you now Tangata Whenua (People of the Land). We are now ALL fighting what you have been fighting since we arrived on your shores. We join with you to say that this system does not treat people or the earth kindly.

Climate activists join the movement: http://www.forbes.com/sites/eco-nomics/2011/10/07/environmentalists-join-the-occupy-wall-street-fray/

Wall Street’s been occupying our atmosphere, since any attempt to do anything about climate change always run afoul of the biggest corporations on the planet. So it’s a damned good thing the tables have turned.

The Official Declaration of the Occupation of Wall Street read by Keith Olbermann

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8o3peQq79Q&feature=player_embedded

10. CAN Aotearoa on social media

Our Facebook Group

Our Facebook group is at http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_218300434877031 so you can join, and get your friends to join too.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/12917904715925

@coalaction is on Twitter

If you are on Twitter, please follow our Twitter account, @coalaction, at https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction. Please look out for our tweets, retweet them, and encourage your followers to follow @coalaction as well.

Our Blog

Keep up with the latest news about our campaigns on the Coal Action Network Aotearoa blog: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

11. How to donate to CAN Aotearoa

As this campaign grows, our costs are beginning to increase. Thank you to all those who have donated during the past month. If you’d like to help us financially, you can donate as follows:

Coal Action Network
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00

12. How our mailing lists work – where to post, where not to post

This Coal Action Network Aotearoa list is an announcements-only list, so CAN Aotearoa can pass on news to you without your inbox getting too cluttered.

You cannot post to this list, so here’s a special plea from your mailing list administrator:

PLEASE DO NOT POST MESSAGES TO coalactionnetwork@lists.riseup.net

Doing so wastes your time, because your message gets stuck in an approval queue, and our time, because we have to work out where you meant to send it and forward it there instead.

But here’s the good news:

You are welcome, and encouraged, to discuss all aspects of our work on our Lignite Campaign Discussion list. But first, you need to join that list.

To subscribe to that list, send an email to lignite-campaign-discuss-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

Then, to post a message to the lignite-campaign-discuss list, email it to lignite-campaign-discuss@lists.riseup.net

Alternatively, if you’re having trouble joining the discussion list, please email coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Discussion list” in the subject line and we will add you to that list.

Membership of the lignite-campaign-discuss list is not vetted, so you should bear this in mind when choosing what to discuss on the list.

–

Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CAN Aotearoa) is a group of climate justice campaigners committed to fighting the continuation of coal mining in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CAN Aotearoa’s objectives are to:
1. Phase out coal mining and coal usage within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.
2. Promote a cultural change so that mining and using coal are unacceptable.
3. Work towards a society where people and the environment are not exploited for profit.
4. Work towards a socially just transition to a coal-free Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more at: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/

Or join the CAN Aotearoa supporters list by emailing: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

CAN Aotearoa October Newsletter

Coal Action Network Aotearoa Newsletter

October 2011

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the October edition of the Coal Action Network Aotearoa monthly newsletter – and a special welcome to those receiving this newsletter for the first time, as our mailing list continues to grow.

This newsletter is full of opportunities for you to get involved in the major events we have coming up over the next few months. You can help with our October anti-coal campaign in partnership with Lush stores. There are lots of ways you can help with the planning, organisation, and resources needed for our Keep The Coal In The Hole Summer Festival in January 2012. And, of course, you can keep up the letter-writing and lobbying that has already been so effective in getting our campaigns in front of politicians and the public. Plus, we have an opening right now for a blog administrator – please see item 3 below.

We are very grateful to all those who have already responded to our calls for volunteers and other requests for action, and we look forward to yet more people getting involved.

Other news in this issue includes the debut of G-Force on Moving Planet Day, 24 September, and the latest on the Denniston campaign.

Regards

Tim Jones

for Coal Action Network Aotearoa

Contents

1. Keep The Coal In The Hole Summer Festival 2012 – Latest News

2. Lush Campaign: October 17-24 – Volunteers Needed

3. Blog Administrator Needed

4. Upcoming Events

- Wellington Public Meeting on 17 October

- Climate Tour September-November 2011

5. Pilot Briquetting Plant starts construction

6. Denniston Campaign News

7. Moving Planet Day Reports

8. Southland News and Events

9. Campaigning Resources

10. CAN Aotearoa on Social Media

11. How To Donate To CAN Aotearoa

12. How Our Mailing Lists Work – Where To Post, Where Not To Post

1. Keep The Coal In The Hole Summer Festival 2012 – Latest News

Thank you to all who responded to the call-out for volunteers over the weekend to help with the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival. We welcome offers of support at any stage!

Please email us at canasummerfestival@gmail.com

In case you missed the recent call-out for volunteers, here it is again:

Planning for the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival in Mataura from 20-24 January 2012 is advancing well – and now we are calling for your help. Here is your invitation to take part, and to help out:

We would like to invite you to the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival in Mataura, 20-24th January 2012, on the farm of lignite opponent Mike Dumbar, half a kilometre from the pilot briquetting plant now being built.

We are excited to be organising a four day festival to stand alongside the people of Southland and build a movement around climate justice. There will be family camping, live music, fun for the kids, big cook-ups, visits to the proposed lignite mine, workshops on strategy, information from various groups actively campaigning against coal, training in non-violent direct action, videos, and an Open Day in Mataura with speakers and discussion groups on the issues relating to lignite.

We would really love some people to join in with the organising of this festival. There are people across Aotearoa working on this extensive project for the next few months and we’d love to have more hands on deck with a range of planning and preparations for January.

Registrations will open mid October so spread the word!

Right now we need some support organising – if you can give some time or energy please email us at canasummerfestival@gmail.com with “Summer Festival” in the subject line.

Support needed – before, during and post festival

Summer Festival aims to build a movement around climate justice!

If you can support the Keep The Coal In The Hole Summer Festival – please get in touch!

We need support with all of the following and more -

• Specific tasks – If you can help out for an hour a week or, one ten hour block, there are jobs that can be done from all over Aotearoa – e.g. preparing the printed resources, creating a list of technical equipment needed and hiring it, helping with promotions in your home town.
• Work with a team of people to get things done – we need teams of people to organise these key areas; Childcare, Food and Promotions (see details below)
• Volunteer a few days before/after Summer Festival with set up/pack down.

• Love being with kids? We envision Summer Festival as a child friendly environment – are you interested in supporting the creation of a timetable and space for kids? We need a team of people!
• Grow a bit extra? Are you able to plant an extra crop of vegetables which mature in time for January? If you can’t make it to Summer Fest and want to contribute, this is an awesome way of supporting. We are asking people in the South Island (unless you can get it to Southland too) to plant extra and we’ll use the vegetables in the kitchen at camp. More offers are needed. So much better than frozen or tinned.
• Food – we will be cooking and eating together – we are looking for a team of people to take on the role of organising the coordination of shared meals (yes, a menu), shopping lists (once we have numbers), liaising with people in Southland, setting up the kitchen, rosters and cooking. Yay for food!
• Fundraising – we need funds in advance to buy food, set up the physical space, access technical resources, pay for the local hall hire in Mataura etc… Would you be willing to organise a fundraiser in your community to support Summer Festival? Please email canasummerfestival@gmail.com If you’re thinking Summer Festival sounds like a great idea, would love to come and can’t, you could donate part of what you would have spent to get there. Our Bank account number is; Coal Action Network – Kiwibank account: 38 9011 0484435 00
• Transport – we are encouraging shared transport from other parts of the country via a carpooling website. We also need a number of vans for shuttling people around the region – if you’re bringing a van and would be willing to lend it for these purposes – please get in touch!
• Access to Marquees or large tents? – We are looking to borrow as many resources for this festival as possible. If you have access to large waterproof and windproof structures, we’d love to hear from you!

If you can support with any of the above, please email canasummerfestival@gmail.com with details of what you can offer.

2. Lush Campaign: October 17-24 – Volunteers Needed

Can you help on a stall at a Lush store near you, on Wednesday 19th October or Saturday 22nd October?

In our last newsletter, we shared the exciting news about our October coal campaign week in partnership with Lush. Cosmetic retailer Lush (http://www.lushnz.com/) approached us back in winter offering to host anti-coal stunts, public education and signature collection at the 11 Lush stores in New Zealand, during the week 17-24 October. After receiving really good reports from other campaigning groups Lush has worked with here and overseas, we decided to accept this generous offer.

On Wednesday the 19th and Saturday the 22nd, CANA is welcome to have volunteers in the stores, handing out fliers, explaining the issue, firing up their staff, and collecting signatures on our sign-up sheet. This would make the week even more successful, so if you are able to help, please email us on coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Lush” in the subject line, preferably by Sunday 9 October, so we can pass your email on to Lush for coordination. We will post you a name badge to identify you as a CANA volunteer.

Dates and Times needed:

11:30am-1:30pm on Wednesday 19th October.

1:00pm-2:00pm on Saturday 22nd October.

Store locations

Auckland

LUSH NEWMARKET, Broadway
LUSH QUEEN STREET

LUSH BOTANY, Botany Shopping Centre

Hamilton

LUSH HAMILTON, The Base

Mt Maunganui

LUSH BAYFAIR, Bayfair Shopping Centre

Palmerston North

LUSH PALMERSTON NORTH The Plaza

Wellington

LUSH OLD BANK, Lambton Quay

Nelson

LUSH NELSON Hardy Street

Christchurch

LUSH NORTHLANDS Northlands Shopping Centre

Dunedin

LUSH DUNEDIN, George Street

If you can help, please do get in touch on coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Lush” in the subject line.

3. Blog Administrator Needed

Can you take on the job of updating our WordPress blog for us (http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/)? It’s not tricky but we need someone with reliable internet access and about 2 hours a week to spare. It would be ideal if you have the capacity to put some posts (e.g. press releases) up quickly once they are released, but even if you can only work on the blog at set times, we are keen to hear from you.

If you’d like to take this on, please email coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Blog Administrator” in the subject line.

4. Upcoming Events

Wellington Public Meeting on Monday 17 October

Extracting New Zealand?

Fossil fuel extraction in NZ and the campaigns to stop it

West Coast Environment Network, Greenpeace and Coal Action Network Aotearoa are pleased to announce a public meeting featuring Jeanette Fitzsimons on Southland lignite, Rod Morris on the proposed opencast coal mine on conservation land at Denniston, Mike Smith on East Coast Deep Sea oil drilling and Robyn Harris-Iles on fracking.  All these risky fossil fuel projects are going on – or are planned – for New Zealand, with all the associated costs to our communities, fragile conservation land, health, farmland, waterways, and especially to the climate.

Monday 17th October, 6-8pm

Wellington Central Baptist Church, 46-48 Boulcott St, Wellington.  (Free carparking across the road at Wilson Carpark).

Each panellist will speak for 15 minutes.  There will then be 45 minutes of questions and discussion, followed by time to check out the stalls.

Free entry, koha appreciated.  Followed by tea and coffee. All welcome.

These are the four largest fossil fuel issues on the radar in NZ at the moment.  Come along to learn more about the issues, to build links between the different groups and movements, and to highlight what work we can be doing to tackle climate change here in NZ by getting involved in these campaigns.

Groups working on fossil fuels / climate / mining / climate justice issues are most welcome to have stalls in the foyer. Please bring your own tables where possible.

For more information, please contact coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Wellington Public Meeting” in the subject line.

Climate Tour September-November 2011

Dr Jim Salinger, Professor Caroline Saunders and Rod Oram

“Maintaining farm productivity and profits in an uncertain climate”

Although this tour is not directly about coal, these three well-credentialed speakers are concentrating on reaching rural and provincial audiences with a message about the impacts of climate change on farming and farmers. There are events planned from Auckland to Invercargill, with a wide range of destinations in between.

Check out the latest version of the tour schedule here – there are plenty of events still to go:

http://sciblogs.co.nz/hot-topic/2011/09/13/sos-roadshow-final-days/

In particular, the details of the Invercargill event on Thursday 27 October, previously tba, have now been released:

Invercargill, Thursday 27 October: 1.30 to 3.30 pm Invercargill Workingmen’s Club, 154 Esk Street, Invercargill

Contact: Michele Poole: michele.poole@es.govt.nz

Please encourage your friends and relations to go to the event nearest to them.

5. Pilot Briquetting Plant starts construction

Solid Energy started work on its pilot plant to convert lignite to briquettes in September, just down the road from where the Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival is being held in January. To mark the occasion, Don Elder and Bill English roped in students from local schools for a cheesy, not to mention distasteful, photo opportunity.

CAN Aotearoa’s press release in response to the start of construction on the pilot briquetting plant got good media coverage, including a mention in the Listener. You can find it on our blog here:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/stop-sniffing-the-lignite-bill/

6. Denniston Campaign News

On Friday August 26th the Commissioners released their decision to grant consents for the Escarpment Mine on the Denniston Plateau. For all the latest news on the campaign against the Escarpment Mine, see http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/campaign-to-stop-the-escarpment-mine-september-2011-update/

West Coast Environment Network (WC Ent) are fundraising for an appeal of the Resource Consent decision on the proposed opencast mine on conservation land at Denniston. In their submission, they presented a significant amount of evidence from the Department of Conservation’s technical scientists on ecological impacts of the mine, and hope to raise enough money to call these witnesses to the Environment Court.

They are aiming to raise $5000 in the next three months to aid the running of an Environment Court case. If you would like to donate, here are the details:

West Coast Environment Network Account: Kiwibank 38 9012 0009759 00 West

Coast ENT Incorporated

Action points for you to stop the Escarpment Mine Proposal from going ahead:

• Letter writing! Outline your concerns/opposition to the Minister for Conservation (kate.wilkinson@parliament.govt.nz ), the West Coast Conservator (mslater@doc.govt.nz), your local MP and your local paper. If you need more information to help structure this, or need a template, get in touch. Thanks to all those who have sent letters already!

• WC Ent will alert people when DOC publicly notifies their decision. This could be in the next month. Guidance on how to submit will be available.

• If you have any spare time and energy to help beyond the above, please get in touch on wcent@riseup.net

7. Moving Planet Day Reports

350.org‘s Moving Planet Day on 24 September featured a number of events with a particular focus on the campaign against new and expanded coal mines. Here are edited reports on a selection of these events:

Invercargill

Jenny Campbell reports:

Southlanders responded to the  G-Force rally –with grans, grandads, grey power, grumpies, great aunts, great people .. grandchildren… coming out in force to show how they felt about the lignite mining for a pilot briquette plant on Sat, 24 September, 350.org day. This tied in with the international day’s theme to ‘Move beyond Fossil fuels’. Over 40 people were involved in walking, carrying placards with relevant messages, then spent time together over a cuppa writing letters to PM John Key about their concerns. These included the impact on waterways, aquifers, agricultural land, soils, health, carbon emissions, employment, social impacts… and of course future generations with messages from grandparents a strong focus.

Making bubbles, kite making and writing messages on balloons took place inside because of the slightly cool breeze outside! A walk to Wachner Place in the centre of town with very obvious banners and placards alerted the public to the cause. This  concluded with local political candidates answering questions about their stand about the proposed lignite mining, the moral issues involved and possible changes to the Resource Management Act. Local CUE TV station did great coverage  along with local newspapers and radio.

Invercargill people and others from across Southland and further afield joined in solidarity with others around the world  to send a strong message to their Governments that mining coal and especially dirty lignite is not a sustainable or environmentally acceptable solution to energy needs.

Golden Bay

Jo-Anne Vaughan reports:

22 people met in Takaka, Golden Bay to participate in the global action on Saturday 24th of September.  Along with people around the world we marched to say that we are worried at the escalating use of fossil fuel and the rising level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.  We know that for climate stability to occur the current 392 parts per million of atmospheric carbon dioxide needs to be reduced to 350ppm.

We focused on the two new, proposed opencast coal mining projects which have recently been consented in New Zealand.  They are Solid Energy’s Southland lignite project (New Zealand’s equivalent to mining tar sands), where a pilot processing plant has been consented, and the Denniston Plateau opencast coal mine consented to Australian Bathhurst Resources.  We called for a 10 Year Moratorium on all New Coal Extraction in New Zealand. We each signed a petition to John Key calling for this, and left with the resolve to write to Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson calling for access to the Denniston Plateau to be denied for an open-cast mine, and to John Key, Hekia Parata (Minister of Energy) and Hon. Nick Smith (Minister for the Environment) calling for the 10-year moratorium.

We also began development of a “Moving to Renewable Energy” Creed. This is how it stands at present:

‘MOVING TO RENEWABLE ENERGY’ CREED

We believe that …..

• It is this generation’s responsibility to act now.
• The future is in renewables.
• Action must come from ordinary people.
• If enough people protest, the numbers will force the Government to listen.
• There is a cumulative effect of consciousness raising.
• The situation is too urgent for apathy.
• It doesn’t matter where in the world the coal is burnt – its effects affect everyone.
• Nick Smith’s argument that bigger countries need to act first is not a New Zealand attitude.  We are moral leaders.
• Every solution was once a problem.  We have the power.

The Creed is but a beginning.  It can be added to and changed.

Thames

Jeanette Fitzsimons reports:

G-Force held its first event in Thames on Moving-Planet Day. Grandparents turned out with their grandchildren or photos of them and a banner saying “G-Force – Grandparents working for a safer planet for our Grandchildren” and “Beyond Fossil Fuels – International Day of Action on Climate Change”. We marched to the local hall for a “write-in” where we listened to two speakers – a grandparent and a grandchild, then composed letters to John Key with drawings or letters from the children enclosed. The aim was to engage him at a personal level by talking about the children and calling to his mind the grandchildren he will have one day who will ask him, “What did you do Granddad to protect the climate?”

We marched again to the post office for a mass posting – a mere 25 of us, but part of a huge movement in 175 countries and 2000 communities, telling governments we want action, now.

Auckland

Marisa Maclachlan reports:

Auckland Coal Action joined the Moving Planet march in Auckland. We were a ‘highly visible’ bloc in our high-vis vests and lollipop road signs reading “stop coal” and “go renewable energy”, as we brought up the rear behind a large contingent of cyclists.

We then held a stall in Albert Park with a coal-tossing side show which invited passers-by to “keep the coal in the hole”. When the guest speaker was unable to attend, stall-holders were instead invited to address those present. This gave us the opportunity to introduce our new group and why we have chosen to focus our energies on coal.

8. Southland News and Events

A Reel Earth film festival including several focusing on mining and climate will be shown as an awareness raising event, at Centrestage Invercargill, over 10 days in mid-October, organised by Invercargill Environment Centre. It will  include the movie  ‘Home’ organised by the G-Force group.

A member of the Lower Mataura Landcare group and a farmer adjacent to the proposed mining area, Robina-Lee Johnston has been nominated for a Keith Hovell Environmental Award, organised by Gore District Council and sponsored by Solid Energy. Robina organised an open day, BBQ and  planting day with 300 native trees put in with the help of River Valley Lions Club, other locals and people from Invercargill on their property in an area  being proposed as a QE 11 Covenant site.

A stall featuring concerns around lignite mining will be run at the Invercargill Spring festival on Saturday 8 October.

There continues to be a steady stream of awareness raising letters to the Editor, Southland Times- thank you everyone for doing that.

- Jenny Campbell, CAN Aotearoa

9. Campaigning Resources

Download The New Coal Action Network Aotearoa Leaflet!

Our new 2-page A4 full-colour leaflet is now available for you to download and use. You can get it in PDF format here:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/09/08/download-our-new-coal-action-network-aotearoa-leaflet/

Print it, email it, circulate it to friends, take it with you on visits to MPs and political party candidates!

EnergyWatch 62

Issue 62 of the Sustainable Energy Forum’s magazine EnergyWatch focused on the lignite issue and the call for a 10-year moratorium. You can access it here:

http://www.energywatch.org.nz/recent.html

Medical Students for Global Awareness paper – a great addition to campaign resources

The Medical Students for Global Awareness (MSGA) have produced a thorough and detailed position paper called

Lignite mining and processing in Southland New Zealand: a fossil-fuelled disaster for current and future generations

It’s hosted on the Ora Taiao website and can be downloaded at this link:

http://www.orataiao.org.nz/file/view/MSGA+position+statement+on+Southland+lignite+proposal.pdf

This paper gives thorough coverage to the likely health effects, and the local and national environmental effects (including greenhouse gas emissions), of lignite mining in Southland. It’s a valuable addition to our campaign resources.

10. CAN Aotearoa on Social Media

Our Facebook Group

Our Facebook group at

http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_218300434877031

is now open, so you can join, and get your friends to join too.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/12917904715925

@coalaction is on Twitter

If you are on Twitter, please follow our Twitter account, @coalaction, at https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction. Please look out for our tweets, retweet them, and encourage your followers to follow @coalaction as well.We are starting to get some real momentum on Twitter now* – thanks to everyone who has retweeted and @replied!

*We are still some way from passing Lady Gaga’s number of Twitter followers, however.

Our Blog

Keep up with the latest news about our campaigns on the Coal Action Network Aotearoa blog:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

11. How To Donate To CAN Aotearoa

As this campaign grows, our costs are beginning to increase. Thank you to all those who have donated during the past month. If you’d like to help us financially, you can donate as follows:

Coal Action Network

Kiwibank

38 9011 0484435 00

12. How Our Mailing Lists Work – Where To Post, Where Not To Post

This Coal Action Network Aotearoa list is an announcements-only list, so CAN Aotearoa can pass on news to you without your inbox getting too cluttered.

You cannot post to this list, so here’s a special plea from your mailing list administrator:

PLEASE DO NOT POST MESSAGES TO coalactionnetwork@lists.riseup.net

Doing so wastes your time, because your message gets stuck in an approval queue, and our time, because we have to work out where you meant to send it and forward it there instead.

But here’s the good news:

You are welcome, and encouraged, to discuss all aspects of our work on our Lignite Campaign Discussion list. But first, you need to join that list.

To subscribe to that list, send an email to

lignite-campaign-discuss-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

Then, to post a message to the lignite-campaign-discuss list, email it to

lignite-campaign-discuss@lists.riseup.net

Alternatively, if you’re having trouble joining the discussion list, please email coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Discussion list” in the subject line and we will add you to that list.

Membership of the lignite-campaign-discuss list is not vetted, so you should bear this in mind when choosing what to discuss on the list.

–

Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CAN Aotearoa) is a group of climate justice campaigners committed to fighting the continuation of coal mining in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CAN Aotearoa’s objectives are to:
1. Phase out coal mining and coal usage within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.
2. Promote a cultural change so that mining and using coal are unacceptable.
3. Work towards a society where people and the environment are not exploited for profit.
4. Be part of a just transition to a coal-free Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more at: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/

Or join the CAN Aotearoa supporters list by emailing: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

CAN Aotearoa September Newsletter

Coal Action Network Aotearoa Newsletter

September 2011

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the September edition of the Coal Action Network Aotearoa monthly newsletter - and a special welcome to those receiving this newsletter for the first time. This is a big newsletter and in it we announce some big news:

* The Coal Action Network Aotearoa Summer Festival, to be held in Southland in January 2012

* A partnership with Lush to deliver the anti-lignite campaign message in 11 Lush stores nationwide during October

* A new and better way of working with our supporters who want to help with our campaigns

As usual, we’ve also got campaign news and developments from around Aotearoa. And for those who are wondering “Hey – what happened to the August newsletter?” someone very sensibly suggested that we date each issue with the month that lies ahead, not the month that lies behind. So this is what would have been the August newsletter under the old arrangement.

Regards

Tim Jones

for Coal Action Network Aotearoa

Contents

1. Coal Action Network Aotearoa Summer Festival 2012
2. The 10-Year Moratorium Campaign
3. Politics Watch
4. October anti-lignite actions in partnership with Lush
5. CAN Aotearoa on social media: Facebook, Twitter, blog
6. How to donate to CAN Aotearoa
7. How our mailing lists work – Where to post, where not to post
8. Want to help with our campaign work? Here’s how.
9. Climate Justice Aotearoa announcement
10. Moving Planet Day – 24 September
11. Climate Tour September-October 2011
12. West Coast Campaign
13. Southland and South Otago News
14. Resources
15. News

Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CAN Aotearoa) is a group of climate justice campaigners committed to fighting the continuation of coal mining in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CAN Aotearoa’s objectives are to:
1. Phase out coal mining and coal usage within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.
2. Promote a cultural change so that mining and using coal are unacceptable.
3. Work towards a society where people and the environment are not exploited for profit.
4. Be part of a just transition to a coal-free Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more at: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/

Or join the CAN Aotearoa supporters list by emailing: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

1. Coal Action Network Aotearoa Summer Festival 2012

Come and support the people of Southland who are fighting Big Coal – or rather, Big Lignite. Mike Dumbar has a lovely farm near Mataura. All his neighbours have sold, under pressure, to Solid Energy for lignite mining. Mike has said “NO”!

Mike has welcomed us to camp on his land from Friday 20 to Monday 23 January 2012 (Wellington anniversary weekend).

Mike’s farm is half a km from the site of the pilot lignite briquetting plant.  The two local councils recently consented this plant with no public consultation.  It will likely be under construction in January.

We plan to stand alongside the people of Southland who are worried about health effects, loss of high quality farmland, noise, water pollution, and of course climate change. We want to listen to their concerns, help where we can, and bring the stories of other coal communities, and the issue of climate change, to Southland. We also want to send a message to Solid Energy and the councils that the people are very concerned about their plans.  Plus, we hope a whole lot of people who come from around the country will take the anti-lignite campaign back to their communities.

There will be family camping, live music, fun for the kids, big cook-ups, visits to the lignite mine,  workshops on strategy, information from various groups actively campaigning against coal, training in non-violent direct action, videos, and an Open Day in Mataura where we build relationships with local people and offer speakers and discussion groups on the issues relating to lignite.

Pre-registration is essential and a registration form will be available on our website during October. We are working on shared transport from other parts of the country. In the meantime, mark the dates in your diaries.

Help needed

If you can offer skills such as workshop facilitation, cooking, construction, music, logistics, please let us know by emailing canasummerfestival@gmail.com. This is a festival for movement-building, so we would love you to be involved.  We will be putting a call out for more specific help closer to the time, but for now, any offers would be very welcome.

Some of us with veggie gardens are planning to plant large crops of veg to mature mid January and bring with us to share. More offers are needed. So much better than frozen or tinned.

We also need money. There is no charge for using the site but there will be for marquees, stage, sound system, equipment, and the hire of the Mataura hall. Perhaps if you would love to come and can’t, you could donate part of what you would have spent to get there? Fundraising events are also welcomed!

Bank account # is

Coal Action Network

Kiwibank account: 38 9011 0484435 00

  

2. 10-Year Moratorium Campaign

Coal Action Network Aotearoa, along with a number of other groups, has decided to support the 10-year moratorium as a call to be made to political parties during the pre-election period, in the following form:

Call: We call for a ten-year moratorium on new coal mining and new coal-fired power stations in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Reason for the moratorium: Burning coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel activity on the planet. We are facing runaway climate change which will destroy our children’s and grandchildren’s lives and livelihoods. Based on what we know now, we must keep the coal (including lignite) in the ground rather than risk a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Note: In making this moratorium call prior to the 2011 General Election, we are not departing from CAN Aotearoa’s overall position, which is that we call for the phasing out of coal mining and coal usage in Aotearoa/New Zealand within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.

Now, such a call won’t be very effective without accompanying action, which is where we hope you will come in. We encourage you to put the call for a moratorium to your local election candidates – all candidates, but especially those who may be disposed to listen to anti-lignite arguments. Ask whether they support it. Ask whether their party supports it. Put them on the spot, and ask for answers. You’ll find plenty of supporting material on the CAN Aotearoa website’s Resources page at

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/downloads/

We encourage you to print off copies of this material and give it to your local candidates to support your arguments.

3. Politics Watch

As mentioned above, the 10-year moratorium call comes in the context of political parties polishing up their policies for the 2011 General Election. Two significant developments recently:

1) Labour has stated its opposition to planned lignite mining in Southland. First stated by Charles Chauvel on the Red Alert blog, this position has since been re-stated, somewhat more strongly, by their Climate Change spokesperson Brendan Burns in reaction to the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment’s latest statement critical of lignite mining plans:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1108/S00413/commissioner-damns-lignite-pm-signals-support.htm

It’s good news that Labour is opposed. The bad news is that they are putting their faith in a revamped Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to ward off lignite mining. Quite apart from the question of whether an ETS is a good idea in the first place, the chequered history of first Labour’s and National’s ETS schemes, and the obscene level of free emission credit allocations to big emitters allowed even under Labour’s original scheme, suggest that an ETS has virtually no chance of stopping Don Elder and his friends from going ahead.

But Labour has previously shown it is prepared to strengthen an initially weak position on environmental issues when it sees that public support for an environmental campaign is increasing. It happened on mining in National Parks, it’s happening at the moment on opposition to the Government’s motorway-building plans, and it can happen on lignite policy too. That’s where you come in. Get out there, talk to Labour candidates, and tell them they need to come out unequivocally against lignite mining. Back a moratorium – even better, back an outright ban. Whatever happens in November, seeds sown now may bear fruit in three years’ time.

2) National list MP Michael Woodhouse has broken ranks with the Prime Minister and publicly stated his opposition to lignite mining at a meeting in Dunedin organised by Generation Zero. Read the full story here:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1108/S00366/national-mp-says-no-to-lignite-mining.htm

A similar stance by Auckland National MP Nikki Kaye against mining in National Parks was the first sign that National was losing its nerve over its plan to mine Schedule 4 lands. Let’s make this the beginning of the end for National’s lignite mining plans! You can help the process by telling your local National MP or candidate about this development and inviting them to follow Michael Woodhouse’s lead.

As a bonus, fire off an email to the Prime Minister and ask him what he thinks of this rebellion in the ranks. See Generation Zero’s great suggestions here: http://generationzero.org.nz/681

4. October coal campaign week in partnership with Lush

We get lots of interesting emails at our coalactionnetwork@gmail.com account. We got an especially interesting one a few weeks ago. It was from cosmetic retailer Lush (http://www.lushnz.com/), and it was a no-strings-attached offer to host a week of anti-coal actions, public education and signature collection at the 11 Lush stores in New Zealand.

After receiving really good reports from other campaigning groups Lush has worked with here and overseas, we decided to accept this generous offer, and we are now working together with Lush to plan and resource this week, which will take place from 17-24 October. (We’re not unaware that this is the final week of the Rugby World Cup, but we think that there may be people who are not completely focused on the World Cup, even during that week.)

Our next newsletter will have full details of what’s planned during the week, what the elements of the campaign are, and what will follow from it. There will also be an opportunity for volunteers to help with the Lush campaign – watch out for a separate announcement on that.

5. CAN Aotearoa on social media

Our Facebook group

Our Facebook group at

http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_218300434877031

is now open, so you can join, and get your friends to join too.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/12917904715925

@coalaction is on Twitter

If you are on Twitter, please follow our Twitter account, @coalaction, at https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction. Please look out for our tweets, retweet them, and encourage your followers to follow @coalaction as well. We are starting to get some real momentum on Twitter now – thanks to everyone who has retweeted and @replied!

Our Blog

Keep up with the latest news about our campaigns on the Coal Action Network Aotearoa blog:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

6. How to donate to CAN Aotearoa

As this campaign grows, our costs are beginning to increase. Thank you to all those who have donated during the past month. If you’d like to help us financially, you can donate as follows:

CoalActionNetwork
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00

7. How our mailing lists work – Where to post, where not to post

This Coal Action Network Aotearoa list is an announcements-only list, so CAN Aotearoa can pass on news to you without your inbox getting too cluttered.

You cannot post to this list, so here’s a special plea from your mailing list administrator:

PLEASE DO NOT POST MESSAGES TO coalactionnetwork@lists.riseup.net

Doing so wastes your time, because your message gets stuck in an approval queue, and our time, because we have to work out where you meant to send it and forward it there instead.

But here’s the good news:

You are welcome, and encouraged, to discuss all aspects of our work on our Lignite Campaign Discussion list. But first, you need to join that list.

To subscribe to that list, send an email to
lignite-campaign-discuss-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

Then, to post a message to the lignite-campaign-discuss list, email it to
lignite-campaign-discuss@lists.riseup.net

Alternatively, if you’re having trouble joining the discussion list, please email

coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “Discussion list” in the subject line and we will add you to that list.

Membership of the lignite-campaign-discuss list is not vetted, so you should bear this in mind when choosing what to discuss on the list.

8. Want to help with our campaign work? Here’s how

Can you help with one of these projects?

One of the exciting things that’s been happening to CAN Aotearoa in recent months is that people have been contacting us making specific offers of help, and of course, there are always more good project ideas than we have time to complete. So, we thought we would get organised and try to match people who offer to help, with tasks and projects that need doing. This seems like a great way to build the movement, and if you are someone who’s keen to be involved but doesn’t have time to be in a group in your town, it may be the perfect way to use your talents

If you are able to help with any of the below, please email us on

coalactionnetwork@gmail.com (Remember to mention which project you’re offering to work on). Francie will be in touch with you to let you know more about what the project involves.

The projects:

ü  Research and write updated content for a web page on coal and New Zealand.

ü  Design a poster for the G-Force rallies which are being held on 24^th September

ü  Design in general – this is a talent that is in hot demand!

ü  Powerpoint layout

ü  Write up some ideas for the Kids’ Programme at our three-day summer festival. If you’ve been involved in designing a kids’ programme before (e.g. for a conference or camp), or if you’re willing to do some thinking about what activities could be organised in marquees, and how a roster might work (ratios of adults to children etc) then please get in touch.

ü  Banner painting. CAN Aotearoa has one banner of our logo, in Auckland, but it’d be great to have another couple for other centres.

ü  Website design

ü  Overseeing the re-printing of a booklet

We look forward to hearing from you!

9. Climate Justice Aotearoa launched

Here is the launch announcement from Climate Justice Aotearoa (slightly edited):

What is Climate Justice Aotearoa?

Those involved in CJA got together because we saw a space that needed to be filled in the New Zealand environmental and climate change movement. We exist to provide information on climate justice issues through research, education and communication. To do so, we will be sending out regular blogs about climate justice issues here in Aotearoa, talking to people all around the country and overseas about Climate Justice, exploring the links between environmental and social justice here in Aotearoa and trying our very best to ensure this information is available.

We want to know what is really happening to our environment and why, so New Zealanders can make informed decisions about what can be done about it, and what real solutions and pathways forward can be.

You can read more about us, and climate justice, on our website: www.climatejusticeaotearoa.org.

Please sign up to our email list, and send us some feedback on the website – and please ’like’

our Facebook page

10. Moving Planet Day: 350 Day of Action, Saturday 24 September

350.org have organised Moving Planet Day on 24 September. As the Moving Planet website says:

Moving Planet will be a day to put our demands for climate action into motion—marching, biking, skating—calling for the world to go beyond fossil fuels. For too long, our leaders have denied and delayed, compromised and caved. That era must come to an end: it’s time to get moving on the climate crisis.

Look at the website for what’s going on in your locality – and check out the Southland report below for news of an especially exciting development that has started in Southland but is hoping to spread throughout the country, G-Force.

11. Climate Tour September-October 2011

Dr Jim Salinger, Professor Caroline Saunders and Rod Oram

“Maintaining farm productivity and profits in an uncertain climate”

Although this tour is not directly about coal, these three well-credentialed speakers are concentrating on reaching rural and provincial audiences with a message about the impacts of climate change on farming and farmers. There are events planned from Auckland to Invercargill, with a wide range of destinations in between.

Check out the tour schedule here:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/climate-tour-september-november-2011/

Encourage your friends and relations to go to the event nearest to them.

12. West Coast news

Denniston mine resource consent granted

Resource consents were granted last Friday for Australian company Bathurst Resources’ proposed 200 ha opencast coal mining operation on West Coast conservation land. The Commissioners seemed quite anguished in their decision and didn’t grant the 35 year term for the Coal Processing Facility, but let the short term economic gains win the day.

They say: “From the evidence presented to us, it is abundantly clear that large scale mining is poised to invade the Denniston Plateau coal reserves which if unchecked, will totally destroy the ecosystems that are present.”

On reading that, you have to wonder why they didn’t choose to stop the mine. It didn’t help that the Department of Conservation wasn’t at the resource consent hearing, so the Commissioners couldn’t fully consider the ecological damage. They also didn’t consider climate change in the ‘general sense’ saying that they lacked jurisdiction. We don’t accept that argument.

The full decision on the Escarpment Mine Proposal resource consents can be found at

http://www.wcrc.govt.nz/escarpment/decision.html

The company still needs approval of the Department of Conservation and we’d like to thank everyone who has written to  Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson. We know that the letters have been detailed and diverse, but it seems that you have all received an identical formulaic response. Shame on her.

On the other hand, after one letter to the editor in the Nelson Mail a lovely cartoon was published by Mike Moreu: Scientist 1 – ‘Eureka! We’ve finally discovered how to grow bone… All we need now is a test subject!’ Scientist 2, holding a newspaper headlined DOC SILENT ON DENNISTON OPENCAST MINING PLANS – ‘You want to start with a spine?’

We will all get the chance to tell DoC to grow a spine and protect this high value conservation land from coal mining and when the public submissions process does start it would be fantastic for you all to submit. In the meantime, why not see if you too can inspire an editorial cartoon by writing your own letter?

More information about the Denniston mining can be found on the Forest and Bird website:

http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/what-we-do/campaigns/too-precious-to-mine

Local groups fighting the proposal include West Coast Environment Network, Buller Conservation Group, and the Fairdown Residents Association. For more information, contact wcent@riseup.net

Media and further resources on Denniston

The West Coast Environment Network press release is here:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1108/S00378/denniston-mine-consents-fail-biodiversity.htm

and the Coal Action Network Aotearoa’s press release is here:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/can-aotearoa-condemns-consent-for-denniston-coal-mine/

Coal Action Network Aotearoa spokesperson Frances Mountier appeared on TV1 news condemning the decision:

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/environmentalists-fight-buller-mine-decision-4368525/video

“What Future Fossil Fuels?” event in Runanga

The Runanga Area Association is holding a debate about the future of fossil fuels at Runanga Miners’ Hall as a fundraiser for the restoration of the Miners’ Hall. The debaters are Kevin Hague MP and Tony Kokshoorn, and the details are:

Date and time: Friday 23 September, 7.30-9pm

Location: Runanga Miners’ Hall, McGowan Street

Admission: $5 on the door or FREE for Friends @ RMH ($5 conc. $10 individual, $15 joint, $20 whanau/family of 4)

The Facebook event page promises “a buffet feast, brain food and eye candy”!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=245418062157191

13. Southland and South Otago news

G-Force Rally on 24 September

Southlanders are gearing up for a G- Force rally – calling all grans, grandads, grey power, grumpies, great aunts, great people .. grandchildren… to come out in force to show how they feel about the lignite mining for a pilot briquette plant on Sat, 24 September, 350.orgday. This ties in with the international day’s theme to ‘Move beyond Fossil Fuels’.

People can talk about their concerns regarding the impact on waterways, aquifers, agricultural land, soils, health, carbon emissions, employment, social impacts… and of course future generations.

Grandparents are encouraged to bring grandchildren or photos to remind everyone of our commitment and responsibility to future generations.

Some fun times will be encouraged with bubbles, kite making and balloons at the gathering place of Otepuni Gardens, corner of Forth and Nith Sts from 1pm on the 24th. The group will walk to St John’s Church hall to write cards and letters to MPs and Prime Minister expressing our concerns. A walk to Wachner Place will conclude with local members of Parliament and political candidates being asked questions about their stand about the proposed lignite mining. This will finish about 3pm.

Invercargill people are challenging other G-Force friends, allies, whanau and organisations to have your own G- Force rally just where you are-in solidarity with us- to send a strong message to the Government that mining dirty lignite is not a sustainable or environmentally acceptable solution to energy needs. CHALLENGE- be the initiators and organise an event appropriate to your place.

Film Screening on 7 October

A film showing, David  Suzuki’s ‘ A Force of Nature’, on Friday 7 October is another awareness raising event, at Centrestage Invercargill, with the G-Force organising group hoping to organise a monthly event around education and action. Check out the 350.org website for other events around the country.

Report-back: Balclutha Public Meeting on 8 August

Southland Forest and Bird organised a public meeting with the South Otago Branch on Monday 8 August in Balclutha to discuss the issues and work on actions and responses to the proposed lignite mining in Southland. A panel presented their views on various aspects of the concerns such as soils, agriculture, social impacts, political responses, carbon emissions, health and global warming along with the CAN Aotearoa national campaign.

There has continued to be a steady stream of letters to the Editor, Southland Times. Keep them coming!

14. New resources

Great new resource on lignite from the Medical Students for Global Awareness

The Medical Students for Global Awareness (MSGA) have produced a thorough and detailed position paper called

Lignite mining and processing in Southland New Zealand: a fossil-fuelled disaster for current and future generations

It’s hosted on the Ora Taiao website and can be downloaded at this link:
http://www.orataiao.org.nz/file/view/MSGA+position+statement+on+Southland+lignite+proposal.pdf

This paper gives thorough coverage to the likely health effects, and the local and national environmental effects (including greenhouse gas emissions), of lignite mining in Southland. It’s a valuable addition to our campaign resources.

The Climate Movement is Dead – Long Live the Climate Movement!

Here’s a thought-provoking piece from Rising Tide North America on the past failures and future possibilities for the climate movement

“In the aftermath of the COP15 talks in Copenhagen, the inability of the Big Greens, governments, and market approaches to find genuine and sustainable solutions to climate change is undeniable. As author Naomi Klein so aptly observed at the end of COP15 talks, “A particular model of dealing with climate change is dying.”

Find out more here:

http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/2010/02/the-climate-movement-is-dead-long-live-the-climate-movement/lifedeath/

15. News

There has been an upsurge in news about coal, lignite and related issues over the past month – far too many to list in this newsletter. But here are a few selected news items:

On Denniston

Another Coal Hole, Another Snail Fail – Claire Browning:

http://pundit.co.nz/content/another-coal-hole-another-snail-fail

On Lignite

Lignite-to-diesel plant could cost taxpayers billions – Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/174093/lignite-diesel-plant-could-cost-taxpayers-billions-pce

… but partners-in-crime Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks and Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder have both dismissed a warning about lignite by Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright as old news:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/5472051/Hicks-Elder-play-down-lignite-risks

Thinking Old-Style Big – Bryan Walker: http://hot-topic.co.nz/thinking-old-style-big/

What do Southlanders think of Don Elder’s claims about lignite mining? –

Robert Guyton: http://robertguyton.blogspot.com/2011/08/public-chide-elder.html

Solid Energy presses ahead with feasibility study of lignite-to-urea (fertiliser) conversion:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/farming/5394079/Fertiliser-conversion-study-set-to-go-ahead

In conclusion…

That last item is a salutary reminder that, while the anti-lignite campaign has had a number of successes over the past month, our adversaries are not sitting on their laurels. They are pressing ahead with their plans. We need to press ahead with ours. We encourage you to keep getting the word out there. Talk to your friends. Talk to your neighbours. Write letters to the paper. Get active about lignite and coal mining on social media.

Most of all, over the next two months, pile the pressure on your local MPs and election candidates. Tell the National Party that they are backing a losing horse. Tell Labour that they have taken a good first step, but that they need to get a whole lot tougher about the measures they will take to stop these projects going ahead. Talk to all the politicians you can, and vote accordingly on Election Day. Then, whatever the outcome, let’s meet up at the Summer Festival and take things from there.

CAN Aotearoa July newsletter

Coal Action Network Aotearoa Newsletter

July 2011

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the July edition of the Coal Action Network Aotearoa monthly newsletter – and a special welcome to those receiving this newsletter for the first time.

This newsletter is coming out earlier than usual because the Coal Action Network Aotearoa organising group is getting ready for one of our six-monthly get-togethers in person. Most of the time, we operate by teleconference, but later this month we’ll be meeting to review the progress of the campaign and look at what needs to be done leading up to next summer.

If you have comments about what we should be focusing on, please send them to the lignite-campaign-discuss list (see below for how to do this).

In the August and September newsletters, expect to hear some news about new aspects of our campaign to stop the expansion of lignite mining in Southland, and the expansion of coal mining in New Zealand.

Regards

Tim Jones

for the Coal Action Network Aotearoa

 

Contents

1.      What you can do right now

2.      CAN Aotearoa on social media: Facebook, Twitter, blog

3.      How to donate to CAN Aotearoa

4.      Coming events

5.      Regional news: Southland and south Otago, top of the South, and Auckland

6.      10-year moratorium proposal – latest news

7.      Labour takes a stand on lignite … sort of

8.      Solid Energy’s pilot briquetting plant resource consent application goes through

9.      Denniston update

10.  News and resources

 

1. What you can do right now

Ask a friend to join
The first and easiest thing you can do is to ask a friend – just one friend – to join this list. If everyone on the list gets a friend to join, we double our numbers, and double our influence. Just ask your friend to email us at coalactionnetwork@gmail.com and let us know their name, email address, and preferably the part of the country they live in (region, town or city). Or send us their details (after checking with them first).That’s all it takes.

Rev up your local politicians

It’s election season, and all over the country, small, nimble political animals are hunting out opportunities for publicity, while larger political animals are shaking off their triennial slumber and galumphing across the countryside in pursuit of palatable policies.

That creates opportunities for us, because this is the time of the electoral cycle when politicians of all stripes feel especially inclined to pay attention to their constituents. You live in an electorate, and that means you have an electorate MP – see this helpful map: http://www.elections.org.nz/mapping/

There will also be list MPs, and a whole host of candidates, in your area. Your local MP will hold ‘clinics’ – sessions where constituents can turn up and say what’s on their minds. Contact your MP’s electorate office to find out when the MP is holding a clinic in your area. When they ask what’s on your mind, you can tell them that lignite is, and coal, and climate change, and how those things will affect the way you may vote later this year.

Remember – there’s no need to be scared of your MP. This is the time when they are more scared of you.

PS: Labour has just given the first indication of its stand on lignite mining (see story below). You might think that this statement doesn’t go far enough. If that’s what you think, be sure to give that message to your local Labour MP and Labour Party people!

 

2. CAN Aotearoa on Social Media

Facebook group now open

Our Facebook group at

http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_218300434877031

is now open, so you can join, and get your friends to join too.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/12917904715925

@coalaction is on Twitter

If you are on Twitter, please follow our Twitter account, @coalaction, at https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction. Please look out for our tweets, retweet them, and encourage your followers to follow @coalaction as well.

Our blog

Keep up with the latest news about our campaigns on the Coal Action Network Aotearoa blog:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

 

3. How to donate to CAN Aotearoa

As this campaign grows, our costs are beginning to increase. Thank you to all those who have donated during the past month. If you’d like to help us financially, you can donate as follows:

Coal Action Network
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00

 

4. Coming events

Friday 29 – Sunday 31 July: National Hui for Action Against Fossil Fuel Extraction, Nga Whare Watea Marae, Mangere, Auckland. See: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dG1hdnV6SGVvdTc2TWlXcTZiRzZPVnc6MQ

Saturday 30 July: Ride for Renewables, starts 12 noon from Toad Hall Motueka (but arrive early for a briefing)

Saturday 6 August: Next meeting of Auckland Action Against Coal Extraction, 2-4pm, the Quaker Meeting House, 113 Mt Eden Road, Auckland. To join or enquire contact:  AucklandActionACE@gmail.com

Monday 8 August: Forest and Bird public meeting,

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Hall, 22 Naish St, Balclutha, starts 7pm (see the Southland and South Otago report below)

Saturday 24 September: Moving Planet, nationwide. Look for your community on the site. As an example, here’s the Wellington event:

http://www.moving-planet.org/events/nz/wellington/218

If there isn’t an action in your town, why not organise one!  You just need to tell people 1) Place, 2) Time, 3) What to bring (e.g. placards), 4) How to get there – bike, walk, skateboard…

We are excited to hear about Grandmothers and Grandfathers, who are concerned about what we are leaving our grandchildren to deal with – especially the new coal proposals – and who are organising G-force events (grandparents, great aunts and uncles, grandchildren) for this350.org day of action.

If you have events that relate to CAN Aotearoa’s work that you want us to advertise in the newsletter, please email the details to coalactionnetwork@gmail.com with “For newsletter” in the subject line. Please give full details of topic, date, time, and location, plus a web link or email address for further information if available.

 

5. Regional news: Southland and South Otago, top of the South, and Auckland

As concern over the Government’s plans to hack, drill and burn their way to a spurious definition of economic success intensifies, we’re seeing groups spring into action around the country to oppose these plans. Sometimes the impetus for their formation has come from CAN Aotearoa members, sometimes not, but it’s great to see the upsurge in people taking action. Here are three regional reports that show some of the range of what’s going on.

Southland and South Otago news

Actions against the proposed lignite mining at Mataura in Southland are gaining momentum locally.

Since Dr James Hansen’s visit there have been several significant events. There was a string of letters to the paper about the issues associated with the proposal and the decision not to publicly notify re the briquetting plant trial project was a time for indignation by locals.

Local Environment Southland ( ES Regional Council) Councillor Robert Guyton held a public meeting at the time ES was considering the consent application, with about 50 people attending – mainly expressing their discontent at being excluded from having a say as well as stating their concerns around the proposal.

A public forum organised by the Blue greens in Southland with Hon Nick Smith, Minister for the Environment as guest speaker evoked some telling questions about the mining issue, most of which he evaded answering with any facts. His philosophy when asked about the effect of carbon emissions around using lignite was that it would be the country to which we export e.g. China which would have to pay the carbon taxes so it wasn’t NZ’s worry. Several in the audience were shocked at this attitude and expressed their disquiet. Other questions were around protecting our ‘clean, green image’ if the proposals go ahead in the light of our reliance on the tourist industry, particularly in Southland. 

A Chamber of Commerce meeting with Solid Energy hierarchy, Brett Gamble and Gregg Visser presenting their perspectives with time frames around each of their long term proposals for using Southland lignite was attended by several anti- lignite proponents. Questions about the loss of productive farmland and their climate change policy did not elicit satisfactory answers and left them stumbling.

A ‘Grans against lignite mining ‘ is being proposed by Southland people for 350.org day on Saturday 24 September with a local focus but hopefully the initiative being taken up nationally through all the networks. 

Southland Forest and Bird has organised a public meeting with the South Otago Branch for Monday 8 August in Balclutha (St Andrews Presbyterian Church Hall) at 7pm to discuss the issues and work on actions and responses. The notice is below – all welcome!

South Otago Forest and Bird Branch organised public meeting, Monday 8 August, St Andrews Presbyterian Church Hall, 22 Naish St, Balclutha, (going south out of town- up hill turn in to Lewin St on left and then left in to Naish St), from 7pm to 9pm.

Top of the South news

Top of the South is planning for future events which aim to bring communities into dialogue around our collective energy future. There are exciting possibilities emerging from the Hands Across the Sands action – increased communication, networking, and ideas flowing… Happy to share ideas and resources across the country! Contact no.oily.beaches@gmail.com

The sinister ship Noble Discoverer, carrying out exploration off the Taranaki coast, was last week officially ‘seeking shelter’ in Tasman Bay. People noticed the oil drilling platform off the coast, frequent movements at dawn, oil tankers and strategic movements within the region related to exploration permits. One has to wonder, why this oil drilling platform needed to cross the Cook Strait in the first place? Where is it going? And what a coincidence that weeks after people across the top of the south said no to offshore oil exploration, an oil drilling ship turns up unannounced.. Keep an eye out off the shores of Canterbury and Dunedin for a rather sinister looking ship called Noble Discoverer.

Good news articles

Hands Across the Sands!

http://happyzine.co.nz/2011/06/27/the-reality-of-oil-and-the-power-of-hands/

Nelson calls for solar heating

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/news/5265960/Council-runs-hot-on-solar-heating

Upcoming event: Ride for Renewables

Saturday 30 July, 12 noon-3pm
Let your presence swell the tide of support for a renewable energy future and opposition to fossil fuel extraction. Ride departs at 12 noon from Toad Hall Motueka but arrive early for a briefing.

We will ride to the Museum and meet with Labour MP Damien O’Connor. This is a family friendly event, all are welcome with or without a bike!

For more info contact no.oily.beaches@gmail.com
Can’t wait to see you there!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=233913423298600

Auckland News: New anti-coal group formed

On 2 July, 30 Coal Action Network Aotearoa supporters from the national email list met in Auckland to form a new anti-coal group. The provisionally named Auckland Action Against Coal Extraction will focus its energies on how best to support the campaign for a coal-free Aotearoa, working locally in Auckland.

The group discussed the following questions:

- Where can we most effectively focus our collective efforts?

- What can we contribute individually?

Jeanette Fitzsimons put the situation in a nutshell for us: the issues we are facing with coal extraction in Aotearoa and some stories of hope for the future. Her notes from this presentation can be found on the Coal Action Network blog:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/jeanette-fitzsimons-presentation-to-the-eco-conference-2011/

The great turn-out and obvious energy for action seemed to indicate that there are a lot of people out there waiting for an opportunity to contribute on this issue. Based on this experience, we would really recommend that other regions that haven’t already done so try to set up their own groups.

If you are feeling inspired to call a first meeting, you may well find enough supporters on this email list to get things started in your area.*  What better time to gather our energies and fight for the future of our children and grandchildren! Kia kaha  tātou !

Next meeting of Auckland Action Against Coal Extraction: 6 August, 2-4pm, The Quaker Meeting House, 113 Mt Eden Road. To join or enquire contact:  AucklandActionACE@gmail.com

 

6. The 10-Year moratorium proposal: Latest developments

As discussed in the June newsletter, Dr Susan Krumdieck’s call for a 10-year moratorium on lignite mining in Southland, initially made on our lignite campaign discussion list, has sparked a lot of discussion both within the list and within the broader climate movement.

Jeanette Fitzsimons, climate activist and former Green Party co-leader, has taken on the job of shaping this call into something which a range of groups and individuals can sign on to, and she is now discussing this with a range of groups. She’s adopted the CAN Aotearoa proposal for this call should be worded, which is:

Call: We call for a ten-year moratorium on new coal mining and new coal-fired power stations in New Zealand.

Reason for the moratorium: Burning coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel activity on the planet. We are facing runaway climate change which will destroy our children’s and grandchildren’s lives and livelihoods. Based on what we know now, we must keep the coal (including lignite) in the ground rather than risk a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Reason for the ten-year review period: At the end of the initial ten-year moratorium, it is appropriate to review the science of climate change and the technology of coal exploitation to see whether the moratorium should be lifted.

CAN Aotearoa’s position hasn’t changed – we want a complete ban on new coal mining, not just a 10-year moratorium. But a moratorium would be an important step along the way, and we hope this call can be finalised and widely distributed in time to have an effect on the election campaign.

 

7. Labour takes a stand on lignite … sort of

Labour Party climate change spokesperson Charles Chauvel has made a statement opposing Solid Energy’s lignite mining plans on Labour’s Red Alert blog – although, if you read carefully, he also leaves the door open for lignite mining, since the statement falls short of proposing a ban or even a 10-year moratorium, and talks about controlling such proposals by changes to the ETS, and about the possibilities of new tree planting and CCS to offset emissions.

Anyway, here it is. See what you think! And, if you don’t think Labour has gone far enough, then please call, or write to, or visit your local Labour MP and give them that message.

http://blog.labour.org.nz/index.php/2011/07/22/lignite-doesnt-make-the-cut/
Mining lignite doesn’t make the cut
Posted by Charles Chauvel on July 22nd, 2011

 

8. Solid Energy’s pilot briquetting plant resource consent application goes through

As described in the Southland regional report above, while Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton was holding his “Other Lignite Meeting” in Invercargill on Wednesday, Environment Southland was rubber-stamping Solid Energy’s pilot briquetting plant consent application – a disappointing, but expected, result.

Here’s some media coverage of both developments:

Lignite plant gets council go-ahead (Southland Times): http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/business/5246236/Lignite-plant-gets-council-go-ahead

Former chairman questions Guyton (Southland Times): http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/5246237/Former-chairman-questions-Guyton [This is how the Southland Times chose to headline Robert's event]

- incidentally, the ‘former chairman’ is Stuart Collie, who really isn’t in a good position to throw allegations of bias at other people – see: http://cracker666.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/a-betting-man/

Briquette plant gains all consents (Otago Daily Times): http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/mataura/168235/briquette-plant-gains-all-consents

This is, of course, only the first step in the process Solid Energy plans to follow on its way to building full-scale briquetting, urea and lignite-to-diesel plants. They have a lot of hurdles to clear yet, and the stronger this campaign gets, the higher the hurdles we’ll be able to place in their path, and the less able the Stuart Collies of this world will be to give them a helping hand.

 

9. Denniston update

West Coast Environment Network Inc reports that Forest and Bird recently launched a campaign for the creation of a ‘Denniston Reserve’ that would offer long overdue protection for upland coal measure ecosystems.  Read about it here: www.forestandbird.org.nz/files/file/Denniston%20Briefing%20Paper.pdf

We are still waiting for the Commissioners to make a decision on Bathurst’s resource consent application for an opencast mine.  To get involved in the campaign to stop this mine on conservation land, email wcent@riseup.net

 

10. News and resources

Solid Energy is running scared of Environment Southland councillor Robert Guyton. Poor, defenceless Solid Energy!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/5311437/Solid-Energy-wanted-to-speak-frankly

Essential Southland reading

Robert Guyton’s blog (yes, the man who is Solid Energy’s worst nightmare): http://robertguyton.blogspot.com/

Dave Kennedy’s blog: http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.com/

Kennedy Graham: Lignite In Wonderland

Kennedy Graham takes us through the looking glass: http://blog.greens.org.nz/2011/07/15/the-lignite-mirror-maze/

.. and finds Hekia Parata, the Acting Minister of Energy and Resources, has turned into Nick Smith in this sequence of parliamentary questions, which begins…

Dr KENNEDY GRAHAM (Green) to the Acting Minister of Energy and Resources: Does she agree with the Prime Minister, who said “companies like Solid Energy are growth companies and we want them to expand in areas like lignite conversion”?

The adventure continues here:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/questions-about-lignite-in-parliament/

New campaign takes a stand on fossil fuel

Generation Zero is a new campaign calling for a Zero Carbon Action Plan in New Zealand – and they are well aware that lignite mining can’t be any part of a zero-carbon future:

http://generationzero.org.nz/the-urgency-of-now/lignite-fossil-fail/

Fracking (Hydraulic Fracturing)

A closely related issue…

France Outlaws Fracking…

http://climate-connections.org/2011/07/18/france-vote-outlaws-‘fracking’-shale-for-natural-gas-oil-extraction/

… and an Australian moratorium is extended…

http://www.singletonargus.com.au/news/local/news/general/moratorium-extended/2234999.aspx

… while the New Zealand Government and its cronies try to frack everything in sight:

http://sciblogs.co.nz/hot-topic/2011/06/27/the-gas-don%E2%80%99t-work/

… but campaigns have sprung up in opposition:

• Say No To Fracking and Drilling Canterbury:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/232393970127171
• Climate Justice Taranaki: http://climatejusticetaranaki.wordpress.com/

As Anna Chinn writes in the Otago Daily Times, it’s a “fracking bad idea”:  http://www.odt.co.nz/blogs/anna-chinn/170285/fracking-bad-idea

Our resources pages

We now have a resources page on our blog, which brings together lots of information and pictorial resources you can use in campaigning and to educate your friends. If you do nothing else, check out the photos of overseas lignite mines halfway down the page. This is what we’re trying to stop. This is what Solid Energy wants to unleash on Southland.

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/downloads/

Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CAN Aotearoa) is a group of climate justice campaigners committed to fighting the continuation of coal mining in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CAN Aotearoa’s objectives are to:
1. Phase out coal mining and coal usage within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.
2. Promote a cultural change so that mining and using coal are unacceptable.
3. Work towards a society where people and the environment are not exploited for profit.
4. Be part of a just transition to a coal-free Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more at: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/

Or join the CAN Aotearoa supporters list by emailing: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com

CAN Aotearoa June newsletter

Kia ora koutou,

Welcome to the June edition of the Coal Action Network Aotearoa monthly newsletter – and a special welcome to those receiving this newsletter for the first time.

Unlike the last two months’ monster efforts, this newsletter is a single-parter, but there is still plenty going on, as you’ll see below.

Our July newsletter will go out earlier in the month than usual, and that will include some of the news, such as regional news, that isn’t included in this one.

Regards

Tim Jones

for Coal Action Network Aotearoa

Contents

• CAN Aotearoa on social media: Twitter, Facebook, blog
• How to donate to CAN Aotearoa
• What you can do right now
• Solid Energy’s pilot briquetting plant resource consent application – latest news
• 10-year moratorium proposal
• West Coast news
• The Role of Strategic Planning in a Nonviolent Direct Action Campaign
• Resources

CAN Aotearoa on Social Media

On Twitter

If you are on Twitter, please follow our Twitter account, @coalaction, at https://twitter.com/#!/coalaction. Please look out for our tweets, retweet them, and encourage your followers to follow @coalaction as well.

On Facebook

Coal Action Network Aotearoa has set up a Facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_218300434877031

It’s a closed group at the moment, but you can request to be added to it.

A Facebook page we encourage you to Like is Leave the Lignite, Save the Soil:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Leave-the-Lignite-Save-the-Soil/12917904715925

Our Blog

Keep up with the latest news about our campaigns on the Coal Action Network Aotearoa blog:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com

Lots of new content has been added recently – some of the links are included in Resources near the end of this newsletter.

How to Donate to CAN Aotearoa

As this campaign grows, our costs are beginning to increase. Thank you to all those who have donated during the past month. If you’d like to help us financially, you can donate as follows:

Coal Action Network
Kiwibank
38 9011 0484435 00 

What You Can do Right Now

Ask a Friend to Join

The first and easiest thing you can do is to ask a friend – just one friend – to join this list. If everyone on the list gets a friend to join, we double our numbers, and double our influence. Just ask your friend to email us at coalactionnetwork@gmail.com and let us know their name, email address, and preferably the part of the country they live in (region, town or city). That’s all it takes.

Rev up Your Local Politicians

It’s election season, and all over the country, small, nimble political animals are hunting out opportunities for publicity, while larger political animals are shaking off their triennial slumber and galumphing across the countryside in pursuit of palatable policies.

That creates opportunities for us, because this is the time of the electoral cycle when politicians of all stripes feel especially inclined to pay attention to their constituents. You live in an electorate, and that means you have an electorate MP – see this helpful map: http://www.elections.org.nz/mapping/

There will also be list MPs, and a whole host of candidates, in your area. Your local MP will hold ‘clinics’ – sessions where constituents can turn up and say what’s on their minds. Contact your MP’s electorate office to find out when the MP is holding a clinic in your area. When they ask what’s on your mind, you can tell them that lignite is, and coal, and climate change, and how those things will affect the way you may vote later this year.

Remember – there’s no need to be scared of your MP. This is the time when they are more scared of you.

Write A Letter to the Minister of Conservation

See “West Coast News” for a specific letter that needs to be written right now – and a template to get you started.

Solid Energy’s Pilot Briquetting Plant Resource Consent Application – Latest News

Solid Energy applied to Environment Southland and Gore District Council for consent to build a pilot briquetting plant near Mataura. Gore District Council approved the application non-notified, giving no chance for public input. Environment Southland allowed 12 named parties to comment on the application, and two of them chose to do so: Dongwha and the Southern District Health Board. You can read about that in these two articles, the second of which focuses specifically on the Southern DHB response:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/business/5152444/Only-two-submissions-on-briquetting-plant

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/166872/sdhb-comments-lignite-plans

We now await Environment Southland’s decision. Should the plant receive approval, Solid Energy have stated that it will take ten months to build.

The 10-Year Moratorium Proposal

Those of you who are members of our discussion list will have seen, and possibly taken part in, the lively discussion sparked by Dr Susan Krumdieck’s initial call for a 10-year moratorium on lignite mining in Southland. Overall reaction to this call has been very positive, and there have also been a number of suggested amendments. There has been particular interest in getting political parties to adopt this call as election campaign policy.

CAN Aotearoa’s position on mining of lignite coal, and indeed all coal, is clear: our first objective is to

Phase out coal mining and coal usage [in Aotearoa/New Zealand] within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.

Therefore, we want a total ban on Southland lignite mining plans, and on other new coal developments, not just a 10-year moratorium.

But we recognise that such a ban may be a step too far at this stage for some groups and parties who are potentially sympathetic, and so we have proposed, in reaction to Jeanette Fitzsimons’ latest call for responses on the issue, that the following call go out for the 2011 general election campaign:

Call: We call for a ten-year moratorium on new coal mining and new coal-fired power stations in New Zealand.

Reason for the moratorium: Burning coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel activity on the planet. We are facing runaway climate change which will destroy our children’s and grandchildren’s lives and livelihoods. Based on what we know now, we must keep the coal (including lignite) in the ground rather than risk a massive increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Reason for the ten-year review period: At the end of the initial ten-year moratorium, it is appropriate to review the science of climate change and the technology of coal exploitation to see whether the moratorium should be lifted.

West Coast News

A local West Coast group is gearing up to fight against a proposed opencast coal mine on conservation land near Westport. Australian Bathurst Resources wants to dig up 6.1mt of coal, destroying 200ha of the ecologically significant Denniston Plateau. The company aims for annual production of 1.5mt initially — an increase in New Zealand’s coal exports of 62% — and has asked for a 35 year consent for its coal processing plant to enable further mining on the plateau.

The West Coast Environment Network, Jeanette Fitzsimons, Conservation Board and Forest and Bird appeared before the resource consent hearing last week along with local group Buller Conservation Group and various residents.

The Department of Conservation was conspicuously absent from those giving oral submissions, to the apparent frustration of the hearing committee, who lacked detailed ecological advice. Having DOC abandon its advocacy role on such a destructive large-scale project can perhaps best be explained by last year’s Schedule 4 debate; the public of New Zealand gave a resounding no to mining, and Gerry Brownlee said of the rest of the conservation estate… “New Zealanders have given the miners sector [sic] a clear mandate to go and explore that land.”

How you can help

West Coast Environment Network suggest the best action at this stage is to write to newspapers and the Minister of Conservation saying why you think this mine should be stopped. A template is given below, but your own words are always more powerful.

Template letter to the Minister (kate.wilkinson@parliament.govt.nz)

Dear Minister,

I am writing to urge you to decline consent for a new open-cast coal mine on the Denniston Plateau near Westport. This mine would permanently destroy 200 hectares of a nationally significant ecosystem, kill or displace all resident wildlife, and significantly increase New Zealand’s contribution to climate change.

The Denniston upland coal measure is identified as a priority site for biodiversity management in the West Coast Conservation Management Strategy and has been given ‘high priority for protection’ by the Ministry for the Environment and Department of Conservation. I find it astonishing that your Department’s submission on the associated Resource Consent Application was neutral, given the significant impacts this mine would have on ecological and historic values.

The mine would not only result in the killing or displacement of
‘protected’ wildlife such as fernbirds, giant land snails, Great spotted kiwi, West Coast green geckos and speckled skinks; it would further diminish habitat for several threatened species.  Should the Department allow this mine to go ahead, the public of New Zealand would lose ownership of a high-value conservation area, and in return become liable for long-term acid mine drainage and weed control.

Your Department has obligations under the Conservation Act 1987 to manage for conservation purposes, all land, especially public conservation land.

Please adhere to this Act and decline this coal mining company access to our most intact upland coal measure ecosystem – do not let this unique environment be destroyed.

Yours sincerely,

YOUR NAME
Address (optional)

The Role of Strategic Planning in a Nonviolent Direct Action Campaign

This article is by Lynne Dempsey, who is a member of our discussion list, and it’s a response to our announcement in the May newsletter that we are beginning preparations for nonviolent direct action as part of the anti-lignite-mining campaign. In this article, Lynne looks at one of the aspects that’s needed to make an NVDA campaign successful.

If we are to seriously engage in a nonviolent campaign to pressure the government to abandon its plans to further expand coal mining, particularly the plans for processing and exporting lignite, then we will be in for a long hard struggle. We have the moral high ground and the science on our side. As  a democratically elected government, they have the majority of people on their side – what is regarded as ‘a mandate’. It will not be a pushover.

This is where the insights of Gene Sharp of the Albert Einstein Institution, distilled from 40 years of research, experience and analysis of resistance movements, would be invaluable.  Much of his work is concerned with opposition to oppressive regimes, but the key principles are applicable to campaigns within democracies. Gene Sharp stresses repeatedly that without good strategic planning most resistance struggles will fail to achieve their objective. Here is what he says about the role of strategy in non-violent action:

Historically, nonviolent action has often been an improvised type of action—sometimes even a spontaneous occurrence—with little or no advanced strategic planning to guide it. However, just as strategic planning is used in military conflicts and other types of activities, strategic planning can also be used in nonviolent action to increase its effectiveness. Strategic planning involves choosing clear objectives, devising a grand strategy (or master plan), more limited strategies for specific objectives that fit within the grand strategy, tactical (or short-term) planning, and the choice of specific methods to achieve tactical and strategic objectives.

As campaigners we will need to consider our own strength and that of the opposition before planning the tactics and methods to be used. Gene Sharp lists 198 possible methods – categorised as eg formal statements, symbolic public acts, drama and music, processions, social noncooperation, strikes, social, psychological and political intervention and so on. We need to come to grips with why people submit to rulers – even when it is against their own interests. Sharp identifies, for example, habit, self-interest, moral obligation to the state, psychological identification with rulers, indifference, lack of self-confidence. This awareness is crucial because the insight on which strategies for non-violence are based is that “a ruler cannot rule if the people do not obey” or in our situation, consent. Winning over the people is critical for the success of any campaign.

We need to identify the primary pillars of support for society – and which ones can be won over to support our objectives – civil servants, media, youth, workers, religious institutions, the business community, NGOs, clubs and social interest groups eg the Ahi Ka Action group (Ngati Porou and Te Whanau a Apanui) is directing a strongly worded brochure about deep sea drilling to hunters, fishermen, campers and divers concerned about oil spills on the East Coast.

Most of the Albert Einstein Institution’s publications can be downloaded from their website at http://www.aeinstein.org/.  A good introduction to Gene Sharp’s approach can be found in “There Are Realistic Alternatives”. Speed read through to chapter two if you are short of time.  Read this along with the WWF Strategies for Change, or, as this is quite long, read Jeanette’s article based on the report, in Issue 60 of EnergyWatch (available from http://www.energywatch.org.nz/recent.html#60). There is mounting evidence that facts play only a partial role in shaping people’s judgement. Emotion is often far more important. Awareness of this will influence how we ‘frame’ our communication strategies.

Finally, take a look at Rebecca Priestley in the June 25 Listener (Why is it taking us so long to do something serious about carbon emissions). She quotes Victoria University’s Martin Manning and environmental psychologist Taciano Milfont saying that NZ is waiting to see what other countries do – a ‘wait and see’ attitude by individuals and government – also “we don’t want to be different, we don’t want to go against the norm and if the norm is that everyone is waiting and seeing we want to wait and see too”. To turn this around, they say, we need to tell people that others are already acting eg governments in Europe are introducing really strong carbon reduction policies.

- Lynne Dempsey

News and Resources

Dr James Hansen: acting as well as talking

As this call to action makes clear, James Hansen is himself taking nonviolent direct action on climate change, and calling on others to do likewise:

http://www.tarsandsaction.org/invitation/

Opposition to the Proposed Denniston Mine

While we’re on the topic of Dr Hansen, here is his video Evidence Against the Proposed Denniston Mine:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/james-hansens-testimony-against-the-denniston-mine/

plus Coal Action Network Aotearoa spokesperson Frances Mountier talking on Breakfast TV on the same issue:

http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/debate-rages-over-buller-mine-plan-4251542/video

and Jeanette Fitzsimons’ submission against the mine (as a Word document):

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/denniston_oral_dc.doc

 

Hands Across The Sands

A report and photos from the rapidly growing Top of the South anti-fossil-fuels-extraction campaign:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/hands-across-the-sands-actions-in-the-top-of-the-south-photos-article/

and CAN Aotearoa’s press statement in support of these actions:

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/can-aotearoa-supports-day-of-action-against-fossil-fuel-extraction/

Campaign Resources

We now have a resources page on our blog, which brings together lots of information and pictorial resources you can use in campaigning and to educate your friends. If you do nothing else, check out the photos of overseas lignite mines halfway down the page. This is what we’re trying to stop. This is what Solid Energy wants to unleash on Southland.

http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/downloads/

–

Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CAN Aotearoa) is a group of climate justice campaigners committed to fighting the continuation of coal mining in Aotearoa New Zealand.

CAN Aotearoa’s objectives are to:
1. Phase out coal mining and coal usage within 20 years, initially by opposing new and expanded coal mines.
2. Promote a cultural change so that mining and using coal are unacceptable.
3. Work towards a society where people and the environment are not exploited for profit.
4. Be part of a just transition to a coal-free Aotearoa New Zealand.

Find out more at: http://coalactionnetworkaotearoa.wordpress.com/

Or join the CAN Aotearoa supporters list by emailing: coalactionnetwork@gmail.com