NoNewCoalWA

.The Barnett Liberal Government has recently approved a massive expansion in highly polluting coal power in WA which will contribute to a staggering 75% increase in WA's carbon pollution.

Announcing this appalling decision, the former WA Minister for the Environment, Hon. Donna Faragher, said that the issue of climate change and carbon pollution had to be dealt with by the Federal Government.

The WA Barnett Government has shown they have no intention of responding to climate change or reducing carbon pollution. As a result, the WA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has advised that Western Australia's carbon pollution will soar by nearly 75% in the next few years.

Now the Barnett Government want to build three new coal fired power stations and reopen two old ones from the 1960s with no effective controls on carbon pollution. If allowed to proceed, this massive coal expansion will lock us into a high pollution future with spiraling energy bills, and lock us out of the clean energy economy that could provide thousands of clean energy jobs. We cannot allow these new big polluters to go ahead.

The world's top climate scientists have advised that carbon pollution from developed countries, including Australia, must be reduced by at least 40% by 2020. If this is not achieved, we will see devastating changes to the lifestyle that we know and love in WA.

So, how do you feel about?

• A future without Ningaloo Reef
• Our Southwest forests reduced to very small patches
• 80% less water in the Southwest, on top of the 30% reduced rainfall we have already experienced
• Rising seas that will wipe out most of our coastal settlements, surf beaches and river systems
• Collapsed fisheries and farmers driven off the land by drought

As well as allowing three new polluting coal power stations without any pollution controls, the 2010 State Budget allocates 99% of capital expenditure by the government energy utility (Verve) to be spent on polluting fossil-fuel energy sources.

As part of this, Verve plans to recommission 2 old inefficient coal fired power stations dating back to the 1960's. These old dinosaurs were shut down years ago, and should stay that way!

This is simply not good enough, especially when Western Australia is blessed with some of the best renewable energy resources in the world.

Recently the WA Auditor General released a report saying that the State Government had wasted $50 million on energy that was not needed. If we improved energy efficiency in Western Australia we would save money and there would be no need to build new polluting power stations.

Take action with us to send a clear message that West Australians do not want any more coal, but do want  a transition to clean, job rich renewable energy. Go to nonewcoalwa.com.au

Coal: costing the earth

If the environmental argument to put a stop to new coal power stations is not compelling enough, the economic argument makes these proposals look like sheer lunacy.

When announcing the 2010 state Budget, Premier Barnett remarked that the WA Government had ‘swallowed the bitter pill’ on energy pricing.

What he did not tell people was that decisions made today to build new coal power plants would lock WA families into continuously increasing electricity bills in the future. Unlike solar, wind, wave or geothermal energy sources which continue to provide almost free energy after their initial capital investment is paid off, coal power stations expose energy consumers to escalating resource costs and to the inevitable introduction of a price on carbon.

Despite this, the Barnett Government seems intent on locking us into the dirty and increasingly unaffordable technologies of the last century.

Coal Mining in Margaret River?

Margaret River is well known for its surfing, vineyards, forests, great food and as a global tourist destination. Margaret River is now under threat from a proposed coal mine just 15km from the town centre and 1000m from the river bed from which the town gets its name.

Behind this proposed coal mine are South West Coal Pty. Ltd.(70%) a wholly owned subsidiary of the AMCI Group which was bought in Feb 2007 by Brazil CVRD, and Vasse Coal Pty. Ltd. (30%).

Victorian based LD Operations Pty. Ltd. has been hired by these companies to facilitate the mine approvals, feasibility and mine development of the project.

To find out more about the proposed coal mine in Margaret River click here

Leading renewable way

Western Australia has an incredible abundance of renewable energy resources, placing WA as a potential leader in the emerging international clean energy economy, while providing many sustainable new jobs across our sun-drenched state.

Any Minister who sits around a Cabinet table and says nothing while the WA Government allows our carbon pollution to increase by 75% places everyone at risk. It is now up to Western Australians like us to stop them.