7 July 2015, The Guardian, Bulga residents battling mine expansion hail NSW government planning decision. The NSW planning minister says a proposed amendment would give social and environmental issues equal standing with the economic in decision making. Residents in the New South Wales town of Bulga, which was previously earmarked for relocation due to the expansion of a nearby mine, have seized upon changes to the state’s planning laws as potentially crucial in their battle to prevent the project’s extension. NSW planning minister Rob Stokes has released a proposed amendment to the state’s mining environmental planning policy. The change removes a provision that makes the economic importance of resources “the principal consideration” when determining whether to allow mining projects. Stokes said the draft change would ensure decisions were made with environmental and social, as well as economic, factors in mind. Read More here
Tag Archives: coal
9 June 2015, Renew Economy. Pressure on Abbott’s coal strategy as G7 signals end of fossil fuels: Less than a month after the Abbott government committed billions of dollars in funding to prop up Australia’s coal industry, the world’s major G7 democracies have set a deadline for weaning their economies off carbon intensive fuel sources like coal, oil and gas – and to help developing countries do the same – offering one of the clearest signals yet that the age of fossil fuels is coming to an end. At the close of the weekend Summit in Germany, the leaders of the Group of Seven nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – pledged in a communique to develop long-term strategies to combat climate change, including abandoning fossil fuels by the end of the century. Read More here
2 June 2015, Renew Economy, Big Oil turns on Big Coal, but not to save the planet: In a stunning reversal on years of opposition to a global carbon price, the CEOs of six European oil and gas giants have said they are now ready for a price on carbon. But not so they can save the planet. Big Oil has broken ranks with Big Coal in a bid to save its own business model, hoping that an international carbon price will phase out coal and cause more gas to be consumed.
The CEOs of the European oil giants Shell, BP, Total, Statoil, Eni and BG Group, with a combined revenue of $US1.4 trillion – although notably not the US giants Chevron and Exxon – sent letters last Friday to the head of the UN climate negotiations, Christiana Figueres, and Laurent Fabius, France’s Foreign Affairs and International Development Minister who will also lead the Paris climate talks later this year. Read More here
5 May 2015, ACF Report: Subsidising Big Coal: Handouts to Australia’s biggest coal mining companies through the Fuel Tax Credits Scheme. The Government hands out around $6 billion dollars in fuel tax subsidies every year to a wide range of industries through the Fuel Tax Credits Scheme. Despite only making 1 per cent of claims, the mining industry received 40 per cent of the total amount of fuel tax credits claimed in 2012-13. The biggest average claims in the mining industry are made by the coal miners. This report makes a preliminary estimate of the amount of fuel tax credits claimed by the biggest coal mining companies in Australia. Read More here