Pike River Disaster

There is blood on every ounce of coal

Coal Action Network sends our solidarity and sympathy to the families and communities on the Coast who have lost loved ones in the Pike River mining disaster.  This was not a ‘natural disaster’ and like many tragedies in mines that have come before, and the ongoing deaths of individual workers in mines every year, workers have again died because of the companies’ drive for profit.

As the human cost of coal through its extraction and through climate change continues to grow, perhaps its time to ask the question. How much blood for coal?

For alternative viewpoints on the Pike River Tragedy try these two articles:

Eventually someone will be held culpable, By Matt McCarten

Someone has to say it. The collective media swooning for Pike River boss Peter Whittall is just wrong.

Of course Whittall is devastated about the miners’ deaths. But he is also the guy in charge of protecting his workers and his company may have failed in that duty.

Instead we have sainthood surreally foisted on Whittall by the media and politicians alike, anointing him as the public face of national mourning for his dead employees and subcontractors.

Yet under his watch, 29 men were killed and still lie entombed. Family members and friends of the dead have been robbed of a loved one. Many other workers, as a result of the explosion, will lose their livelihoods.

Read On…..

Pike River – the hard coaled facts: By Nandor Tanczos

Let’s be blunt – it is time to end the coal industry. It is important that we properly acknowledge the deaths of the 29 men at Pike River, but in the end there is a bigger question to be decided than mine safety.

Read On……

A just transition from coal to renewable energy in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia

The Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia is one of the world’s climate change hot-spots. It is where 40% of Australia’s electricity is generated from five coal-fired power plants, and is the source of 100 million tonnes of black coal exported annually to the global markets. A growing number of local residents of the Hunter Valley are questioning the sustainability of the region’s coal dependent economy because of its harmful local ecological and social impacts and its contribution to global warming. Environmental organisations and some labour unions have identified the need for a ‘just transition’ to clean, renewable energy-based economies at local, national and global scales to respond to these threats. A just transition is a process of economic restructuring from unsustainable economies towards ecological and social sustainability while creating new Green Jobs and supporting people and communities who might be disadvantaged during the change process. This article considers the potential for a just transition in the Hunter Valley with respect to coal mining, the export coal industry and domestic power generation. Attention is given to potential for common ground among key labour unions, environmentalists and local residents, and to the critical role of government intervention for a successful just transition process. Read On…..