Coal vs climate at Supreme Court

Press release from the West Coast Environment Network 
11 March 2013

Headline of Businessweek after Sandy hit New York – will the Supreme Court understand the important link between coal extraction and climate change?

A small West Coast environment group will face off against two large coal companies – Australian Bathurst Resources and state-owned Solid Energy – at the Supreme Court this week, arguing that climate change is relevant for coal mining consents.

“Even the companies admit that their coal will contribute to climate change,” says West Coast Environment Network spokesperson Lynley Hargreaves. “So we should be able to call evidence on it.”

Southland lignite proposals “100% stupidity” Aussie farmer tells meeting

Press release

Rob McCreath from Friends of Felton at the Coal Action Summerfest gathering on Saturday.

The idea of digging up fertile farmland for lignite coal was “100% stupidity,” an Australian farmer told a Southland meeting today.

Rob McCreath was addressing the “Keep the Coal in the Hole” summer festival in Gore. The Queenslander told the 150-strong gathering how his community group, Friends of Felton, stopped a large coalmine and petrochemical plant from going ahead on prime agricultural farmland on the Darling Downs.

He has been in Dunedin and Southland for the last few days and was struck by the beauty of the farmland in the area.

“It’s hard to imagine a more productive farming area as I’ve seen in Southland. In Australia we are peppered with New Zealand’s 100% Pure adverts. It’s disgraceful that you have a government-owned company and they’re allowing it to dig up this beautiful farmland. That’s 100% stupidity,” said McCreath.

Press release: Coal Industry poll flawed

15 October 2012—The Coal Action Network today accused the coal industry of carrying out dubious market research to give the impression that there is massive support for coal mining.

The research, done for Solid Energy and released by mining industry lobby group Straterra on Friday, included a set of questions carefully worded to produce such a positive result.

“The questions appear to be designed to produce a particularly positive set of answers that would benefit the company’s public image,” said Tim Jones of Coal Action Network Aotearoa.  “And we all know how much Solid Energy’s public image could do with a boost.”

Press Release: Investors Told To Stay Away From Coal

Coal Action Network Aotearoa has told mining investors to keep their hands off New Zealand coal.

L&M Energy held its AGM in Wellington today. The company is involved in underground coal gasification and coal seam gas exploitation, while another of the companies in the L&M group, L&M Lignite, is trying to exploit the massive quantities of lignite in Eastern Southland. These companies have been actively looking to gain new investors for mining projects.

Coal Action Network Aotearoa spokesperson Tim Jones said that the time is past when mining companies like those in the L&M group can go about their business unnoticed. “We know the Government supports coal mining, and doesn’t give two hoots about the terrible consequences of mining coal for our climate and the local environment. And we know mining companies like L&M are hoping to strike it lucky, with no regard for the climate, the environment or anything but lining their own pockets.”

“Coal Action Network Aotearoa, and anti-coal groups all over the country, are here to tell L&M and other companies with coal projects that there are no free passes any more. If you plan to mine coal, expect trouble. And if you don’t intend to actually mine, but instead intend to deliberately start an underground coal fire and collect the resulting gases – which is what underground coal gasification means – then you might want to watch out for trouble too,” Tim Jones said.

“The same goes for foreign investors who might be thinking of putting some money into New Zealand coal companies and projects. If they come here, they can expect an unpleasant time of it. Opposition to the Government’s mining agenda is growing, and now isn’t the time for mining investors to put themselves in reach of opposition from a growing number of angry New Zealanders. We suggest they look at investing in renewable energy instead,” Mr Jones concluded.

Tim Jones
Spokesperson
Coal Action Network Aotearoa

Contact Tim Jones, phone 027 359 0293, email tjonescan@gmail.com

Elephant in the room at Westport hearing

For Immediate Release
25/05/2012

An ‘elephant’ will attend a coal mining resource consent hearing in Westport on Monday, representing the climate change concerns environment groups are banned from voicing.

Resource consent commissioners, put in place by the Buller District Council and West Coast Regional Council, directed that submitters not present evidence on climate change at the hearing for the Mt William North mining proposal. This follows a recent Environment Court decision that climate concerns cannot be taken into account on coal mining consents.

“Climate change is going to impact our lives, and our grandchildren’s – we’ll be paying to clean up the mess coal makes of our climate and oceans for thousands of years. Our environmental laws should let us take that into account,” says West Coast Environment Network spokesperson Lynley Hargreaves.

The Environment Court decision not allowing consideration of climate change – focused on new coal mines proposed by Australian company Bathurst Resources and state-owned miner Solid Energy – has now been appealed by West Coast Environment Network and the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.

A peaceful rally outside the hearing will include street theatre – coal swept beneath the carpet, under the watchful eye of a ‘climate change’ elephant. “Our groups all wanted to present evidence on climate change, for example that New Zealand is meeting only a fraction of the commitments it has signed up to, but we have been told we are not allowed. Climate change really is the elephant in the room,” says Rosemary Penwarden of Coal Action Network Aotearoa.
“Nearly 150,000 people have signed a ‘No New Coal, No New Oil’ petition calling for moves to a clean economy. This would be a major new coal mine in an ecologically sensitive area – it’s time to say no,” she adds.

Groups being heard at the hearing and supporting the rally include Environment and Conservation Organisations of New Zealand (ECO), Climate Defence Network, Ora Taiao: New Zealand Climate and Health Council, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, West Coast Environment Network, Buller Conservation Group and the Biodiversity Defence Society. There are also a number of individuals from across the South Island submitting in opposition to the mine.

For more information, contact:
Lynley Hargreaves, West Coast Environment Network, 037554227
Rosemary Penwarden, Coal Action Network Aotearoa, 0221856966
Colin Robertson, personal submission, 02102468528

Media Release from Auckland Coal Action: Environment Court ruling sounds death knell for climate

Environment Court ruling sounds death knell for climate

All New Zealanders should be concerned that the effects of coal on climate change cannot be considered under the Resource Management Act.

The just released Environment Court decision means that here is now no legislation protecting New Zealanders from dangerous coal mines like Bathurst Resources’ Escarpment Mine Project, near Denniston on the West Coast.

“When it comes to climate change, our Government is failing us, our primary industry focussed economy is failing us and now our legislature is failing us,” says Auckland Coal Action spokesperson Nick Pak.

The proposed mine, for six million tonnes of coal, is the thin end of Bathurst’s wedge for extracting over one hundred million tonnes of coal from the plateau.

Mining coal will lead inevitably to intensified greenhouse gas emissions which increases the risk of catastrophic climate change, says Mr Pak.

Besides the huge risks posed by climate change to biodiversity and landscapes globally, mining itself can have those effects locally.

Prime Minister John Key announced recently that the access agreement to the Denniston Plateau would be publicly notified, then claimed afterwards that he had made a mistake.

There will be no opportunity for the 50,000 Kiwis who marched up Queen Street for greater protection of conservation land to have their say over Denniston, according to Mr Pak.

The defence’s counsel, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, was Minister for the Environment when the RMA was introduced.

The purpose of the RMA is to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources.

This ruling has now excluded the extraction of coal and the subsequent detrimental effects on the climate from that management

“If Kiwis value our idyllic way of life, then the time has come to walk upright – away from the destructive and failed environmental policies of the past and towards a socially just, ecologically sustainable future.”

For more information contact:
Auckland Coal Action spokesperson
Nick Pak
021 294 0150

Denniston Public Meeting To Be Held In Dunedin, Thursday 26 April

Forest and Bird, with Students for Environmental Action and Coal Action Network Aotearoa are organizing a public meeting to expose the issues surrounding proposals to mine public conservation land on the Denniston Plateau.  The meeting will be held on Thursday 26 April in Castle One, Otago University at 7:30.  It is co-sponsored by the Otago Botanical Society and the Entomological Society.

The conservation groups say that the distinctive plateau with its strange rock formations and suite of specialized plants and animals should be protected and the coal left in the ground to help meet New Zealand’s climate protection commitments.

Photographer Rod Morris will show off Denniston’s secretive creatures and spectacular geckos and landscapes, and eminent botanist Sir Alan Mark will tell tussock and other tales about the Denniston’s distinctive plant diversity. Denniston’s lichens will be exposed by Otago University Student Lars Ludwig. Coal Action Network Aotearoa representative Tarsh Turner will discuss the climate change implications of turning Denniston into New Zealand’s largest open cast coal mine.

Australian owned Bathurst Resources has applied to open cast mine and destroy 200ha of public conservation land on the Denniston Plateau and has permits across the plateau which would dig up more than 50 million tonnes of coal.

Tarsh Turner said ‘Mining the Denniston Plateau will significantly increase New Zealand’s coal exports, at a time when we need to be transitioning away from fossil fuels to avoid catastrophic climate change.’

‘Digging up Denniston is the wrong direction for our valuable clean green image,’ she said.

“Open cast mining will destroy the landscape, and the existing indigenous ecosystems.  These can not be picked up in a digger and replaced,” Forest and Bird’s Otago Southland Field Officer, Sue Maturin says.

Forest and Bird believe the area should remain protected and that mining should be prohibited forever, just as in our National Parks.

Press Release for immediate release: Coal action network to take complaint over Solid Energy market research

Press Release for immediate release:

Coal action network to take complaint over Solid Energy market research

Friday 20 April 2012—The Coal Action Network Aotearoa today accused Solid Energy of carrying out dubious market research to give the impression that there is massive support for coal – and is considering laying a formal complaint at the company’s refusal to release the full results of the research.

CANA has seen some of the research after a member recently took part in what appears to be this year’s annual survey for Solid Energy, research that is similar to a 2009 poll. See (1).

“The questions appear to be designed to produce a particularly positive set of answers that would benefit the company’s public image,” said Kristin Gillies of CANA. “We want to see the full set of questions so we can judge for ourselves.”

The research has been used in company annual reports to back suspiciously positive statements about public attitudes to coal.

“On the basis of Solid’s questioning, you could make anyone agree to pretty much anything and produce some fantastic statistics to it look like the country’s most popular company,” said Gillies. “But most of the statements are patently misleading and have no facts to back them up.”

“Many New Zealanders could agree that swimming with sharks was fine if it created jobs and was good for their health and welfare.”

The campaigning group has written to Solid CEO Don Elder (see letter here http://bit.ly/JhWSZK ) asking him to release the market research carried out in 2009-11. Solid Energy refused to release this information to members of last week’s Commerce Select Committee, stating that it was “commercially sensitive, confidential and subject to a contract with a provider.”

But this refusal to make the research public is a clear breach of the Market Research Society’s Codes of Practice that state: “researchers shall always be prepared to make available the technical information necessary to assess the validity of any published findings.”

CANA has also asked the research company, Colmar Brunton, for the details of the research. If they, too, refuse, CANA will take a formal complaint to the MRSNZ.

CANA has checked the questions with several experts in market research (2), all of whom agree that the questions are indeed leading and break some very basic rules of objective market research.

“No doubt Don Elder will be using this year’s research to spin to his shareholders – and that’s us, the public – that we are all champing at the bit for Solid Energy to start digging up the world’s dirtiest coal from the beautiful Southland farmland.”

Solid Energy deployed a similar set of questions in its 2009 survey, based on a highly misleading and incorrect statement that made a still-experimental carbon storage technology look like it was already available. (3)

Yet the technology referred to – Carbon Capture and Storage – has not been commercially deployed, not least because of the huge costs involved (4)

“While some may not find it surprising that Solid Energy is carrying out this type of polling, we find it duplicitous of the company to use leading questions in market research to fool its shareholders – us, into thinking there is more support for coal than there actually is.”

“We think it’s time Solid Energy released the full set of questions – and the results – to the public so that we can all judge whether the results posted in its annual reports can be believed.”

Contacts: Kristin Gillies, Coal Action Network Aotearoa 021 065 0460

(1) There were some of the questions:

[On a scale of 5: strongly agree to strongly disagree]
“ Do you agree or disagree with:
Solid energy developing the lignite resource in Southland?
…if it was done without increasing carbon emissions?
…if the earth was returned to its natural state after?
…if it lowered the price of diesel?
…if it created jobs?
…if the local community got special benefits from it?
…if it increased the New Zealand standard of living?
…if it benefited the New Zealand economy?
…if it was done by a New Zealand company?
…if most of the money raised stayed in New Zealand?’

(2) Experts are available to speak with the media

(3) This section began with a statement: “Using coal to produce energy can release pollutants into the air. Are you aware that technology can be used to reduce the release of these pollutants to near zero?” The Questions that followed that began with “…given that emissions can be used to reduce the release of these pollutants to near zero…”
That year, Solid Energy’s Annual report stated, on page 2,
“Almost two thirds [of New Zealanders] think we should make greater use of our coal resources… and 84% are more positive if technology is used to reduce pollutant emissions.”

(4) For example, this recent BBC on efforts to deploy the technology in the UK http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17586596

Don’t trust coal companies, Aussie farmer tells Southland

Press Release
Sunday 22 January 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE USE

A coal company has all but destroyed the community of Acland, Queensland, where Australian seed and grain farmer Sid Plant lives, he told the community of Mataura, Southland, today at the “Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival” open day.

Around 300 people are attending today’s open day at the Mataura Community Centre. Locals have joined the 150 scientists, members of NGOs, MPs, farmers and concerned citizens from across New Zealand who have been camping since Friday, discussing Solid Energy’s plans to develop dirty lignite coal, which would increase our greenhouse gas emissions by 20%. They’re camping on the land of one farmer who refuses to sell to Solid Energy, Mike Dumbar.

Mr Plant’s 1200 ha farm in southern Queensland (near Toowoomba) borders the four million tonne New Hope coal mine that will later expand to ten million tonnes. He has watched as neighbour after neighbour has been bought up by New Hope.

“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.

Also speaking at the Open Day was orthopaedic surgeon Russell Tregonning, on behalf of Ora Taiao, a group of more than 140 senior doctors and other NZ health professionals gravely concerned about the impacts of climate change as a leading global health threat this century (according to the World Health Organisation).

“The threat from climate change supersedes the threat of cardiovascular disease, cancer, AIDS/HIV, the diabetes epidemic – all combined,” he told the meeting.
Dr Tregonning also outlined the threats to the local community from a range of pollutants that would be emitted from Solid Energy’s operations in Southland.

“Coal pollutants affect all major body organ systems and contribute to four of the five leading causes of mortality in the US: heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases,” he warned.

Antarctic geologist Dr Peter Barratt outlined concerns about climate change.

“Changes to the climate have already begun. As an Antarctic scientist, it troubles me that the ice sheet has already begun to melt – when I traveled there 40 years ago that idea was inconceivable. If we keep on burning fossil fuels the way we are now, by the end of the century there will be as much CO₂ in the atmosphere as 40-50 million years ago when average global temperatures were many degrees warmer than they are today.”

Dr Shannon Page, a lecturer at Lincoln University’s Environmental Management department, warned against assurances that the emissions from lignite can be taken care of by Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

“CCS is an experimental technology, but even in the best case, it could only reduce emissions from some of the process of coal use – not the extraction nor the end use of briquettes. It is highly unlikely that there would ever be somewhere to bury CO₂ in Southland,” he said.

Coal Action Network Aotearoa spokesperson Kristin Gillies was “delighted” with the turnout both at today’s meeting, and with the festival.

“The whole of New Zealand should be extremely worried about Solid Energy’s plans for lignite exploitation in Southland. As a result of this festival we now have a national campaign determined to oppose this company, every step of the way.”

ENDS

Twitter hashtag for festival: #coalinhole

Contacts:
Coal Action Network Aotearoa Spokespeople:
Tim Jones 027 359 0293 and
Kristin Gillies 021 065 8460

Media contact: Cindy Baxter 021 772 661

“Keep the coal in the hole” festival goers converge on Southland this weekend

Press release
Wednesday 18 January 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE USE

More than 100 people from across New Zealand will gather
on a farm in Southland this weekend to discuss how to stop Solid Energy’s
proposed lignite project plans there.

The “Keep the Coal in the Hole Summer Festival,” organised by Coal Action
Network Aotearoa, will begin on Friday evening, and go through to Monday
morning, with an Open Day for the public at the Mataura Community Centre on
Sunday.

Solid Energy’s plans to exploit the lignite coal under Southland’s farmland
would constitute the largest industrial complex in New Zealand’s history .

“Lignite coal is the world’s dirtiest, lowest-value fossil fuel – and this
project would increase our greenhouse gas emissions massively – at a time
when we need to be decreasing them,” said Tim Jones, a festival
spokesperson.

“It is extraordinary that Solid Energy has been allowed to build the first
of these projects under a consent system that doesn’t have to take the
emissions into account. We need to keep the coal in the hole if we want our
children to inherit a liveable planet,” he said.

The company has bought up 4,000 ha of good quality farmland for its
industrial projects. The Festival will take place on the beautiful sheep
farm of Mike Dumbar, who has refused to sell his land for mining.

A highlight of Sunday’s Open Day will be veteran Queensland beef and grain
farmer, Sid Plant, whose farm now borders a massive, 10 billion tonne coal
mine. Mr Plant has farmed here for 30 years. He has developed a
reputation for his interest in – and talks on – climate change, earning him
a finalist place in the Prime Minister’s Environmentalist Awards last
year. He will speak about his experience in living next to a coal mine,
and its impact on his farm. See Sid’s biog here
http://coalsummerfest.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/sid-plant-cv-final.pdf

Also speaking will be doctors from the “Ora Taiao” group, who have noted
the World Health Organisation’s statement that climate change is the biggest
threat to human health, and are acting on climate change in the interests of
the health of patients. They will talk on the health impacts of coal – and
of climate change.

Tim Jones noted that support from the local community had been
“overwhelming” with offers of equipment, food and sleeping arrangements.
Local scouts are coming to help set up the camp over the coming few days
before the participants arrive.

ENDS

Contacts:
Coal Action Network Aotearoa Spokespeople:
Tim Jones 027 359 0293 and
Kristin Gillies 021 865 8460 (Kristin will be on-site from today, doing set-up)

Media contact:
Cindy Baxter 021 772 661 – pix of Sid Plant available on request.
Also, see this NY Times piece on the area he lives in
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/world/asia/29coal.html