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Centennial Coal, which is Australia’s largest independent coal producer, plans to radically expand coal use and export by developing a massive new mine at Anvil Hill in the NSW Hunter region.
This comes at a time when Australia must quit coal and move towards renewable energy technologies to avoid dangerous climate change.
This morning 10 Greenpeace campaigners and volunteers peacefully entered Centennial Coal’s AGM in Sydney to hang a ‘Centennial Coal = Climate Change’ banner. Unfortunately counter terrorism police were expecting us. Nine activists were aggressively dragged from the room by plain clothes police while the other activist was arrested but released without charges.
At the same time demonstrators gathered outside the hotel and hung a ‘Save Anvil Hill’ banner.
Greenpeace energy campaigner Ben Pearson says if we’re serious about dealing with climate change then the coal industry can’t be allowed to expand. “Coal causes climate change yet here is Centennial Coal meeting to discuss how they can produce even more coal. For the sake of the future, this meeting cannot go ahead,” he said.
Centennial Coal’s proposed Anvil Hill mine is central to the planned massive expansion of the coal industry in the Hunter Valley. This will increase coal exports from 80 to 130 million tonnes. Anvil Hill will produce 10.5 million tonnes of coal annually. By burning this coal Australia will emit up to 27Mt of CO2 a year - more than the emissions from NSW’s four million vehicles.
“Premier Iemma has called climate change our greatest threat, yet he is overseeing a massive expansion of the state’s coal industry without even considering the climate change implications, said Pearson.
“Instead we could be developing a strong renewable energy industry for domestic power and export revenue and implementing energy efficiency measures.”
Greenpeace and other environment groups are calling for an immediate moratorium on all new coal projects in NSW, starting with the rejection of Anvil Hill, and improved targets for renewable energy.
This comes at a time when Australia must quit coal and move towards renewable energy technologies to avoid dangerous climate change.
This morning 10 Greenpeace campaigners and volunteers peacefully entered Centennial Coal’s AGM in Sydney to hang a ‘Centennial Coal = Climate Change’ banner. Unfortunately counter terrorism police were expecting us. Nine activists were aggressively dragged from the room by plain clothes police while the other activist was arrested but released without charges.
At the same time demonstrators gathered outside the hotel and hung a ‘Save Anvil Hill’ banner.
Greenpeace energy campaigner Ben Pearson says if we’re serious about dealing with climate change then the coal industry can’t be allowed to expand. “Coal causes climate change yet here is Centennial Coal meeting to discuss how they can produce even more coal. For the sake of the future, this meeting cannot go ahead,” he said.
Centennial Coal’s proposed Anvil Hill mine is central to the planned massive expansion of the coal industry in the Hunter Valley. This will increase coal exports from 80 to 130 million tonnes. Anvil Hill will produce 10.5 million tonnes of coal annually. By burning this coal Australia will emit up to 27Mt of CO2 a year - more than the emissions from NSW’s four million vehicles.
“Premier Iemma has called climate change our greatest threat, yet he is overseeing a massive expansion of the state’s coal industry without even considering the climate change implications, said Pearson.
“Instead we could be developing a strong renewable energy industry for domestic power and export revenue and implementing energy efficiency measures.”
Greenpeace and other environment groups are calling for an immediate moratorium on all new coal projects in NSW, starting with the rejection of Anvil Hill, and improved targets for renewable energy.
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