Antinuclear

The Adani coal mine doesn’t stack up environmentally, economically, or politically

The Adani coal mine is the ‘Work Choices‘ of this generation Simon Black 5 November 2018, Australians know Adani doesn’t “stack up” environmentally or economically and it won’t stack up for the Morrison Government politically either. Independent Australia Simon Black reports. DESPITE BEING A MINE, not a policy, the seething rage we are seeing from the Australian population at the continued insistence at driving the Adani coal mine down our throats reminds me increasingly of the mood of late 2005. The Adani project is becoming a single thing that unifies people and embodies unfairness and contempt from politicians who insist they know better than their constituents and pander to big business at their expense, time and time again. Despite poll after poll after poll showing that the overwhelming majority of Australians do not want this destructive project, we are simply fobbed off and dismissed as not understanding how good it is going to be for us. And people are angry. Enraged. Furious. Adani has been caught polluting protected wetlands, possibly even doctoring reports, for which the Government aren’t so much slapping them with a piece of wet lettuce as they are waving the lettuce in a slightly menacing fashion, while furiously winking with one side of their face. They have been taken to court for polluting the Great Barrier Reef, they are being investigated for illegal drilling into groundwater at the mine site and their claims about job numbers have been rejected — by their own economist. Add that to a very long history of unsavoury behaviour and there is little wonder there is public outrage that this project is in danger of being forced upon Australians. News this week shows that Adani recognises this as well — and it’s trying to get the project moving before the election, in defiance of the will of the Australian people. It looks like they will do this by sneakily getting their foot in the door with a smaller and self-fundedversion to jump start this dangerous and irresponsible project. Something they have been forced to do because no financial institution both in Australia and overseas would touch it with a ten-foot pole. The multi-billion dollar multinational had resorted to begging the Federal Government for $1 billion on top of the royalty scheme it had already been granted, but that a massive public backlash left that dead in the water. Adani is going to put up its own money. In an Australian coal market that has, as another report that came out on the same day showed, peaked and is now in a state of ‘terminal long-term decline‘. And that’s the point. This is a last-ditch dash from a company who recognise all too well how publically toxic this project is. The Liberal Party were shown this in their humiliating defeat in the Wentworth by-election. Despite attempting to blame Malcolm Turnbull and dismissing Wentworth as an outlier, Dave Sharma couldn’t go anywhere without being hounded on climate change by Stop Adani forces. Annastacia Palaszczuk was reminded of that outrage as well when she tweeted in support of action on climate change — the issue that voters in Wentworth identified as their number one concern. Despite the issue swinging farther and farther away from her political opponents, it’s a no-brainer to know any tweet would be met with howls of outrage about Adani — which is exactly what happened. This pressure is only going to increase with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition this week releasing a tool to show exactly where local Labor representatives stand on the issue. This project is not only toxic, but it is also becoming a focal point for governments’ refusal to take action on climate change and ignoring the Australian people to pander to big coal companies. The Adani project cannot be allowed to go ahead. It is insanity incarnated and a nightmare for the region, the country, and the world. The mine will take unlimited groundwater and 12.5 billion litres of river water, while 57 per cent of Queensland is drought declared. The water plans from the company are grossly inadequate and the Federal and Queensland governments must stop them. The mine will fuel climate change and even the United Nations has urged us to reconsider. It all adds up to a putrid picture. The spills, the pollution, the water license, the history overseas, the fight against Indigenous land rights, the fake social accounts………https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-adani-coal-mine-is-the-work-choices-of-this-generation,12066

November 6, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | 1 Comment

Major Korean banks rule out any lending for Adani’s Queensland mega-mine,

Korean banks tell traditional owners they won’t back Adani’s Queensland mega-mine, ABC  by Josh Robertson  5 Nov 18 Major Korean lenders have ruled out any role in funding Adani’s contentious Australian coal project, just months after the miner was reportedly in talks to win backing from lenders in Seoul.

Traditional owners fighting the mine have secured pledges from a trio of lenders including the Export-Import Bank of Korea, a critical conduit for Korean lenders, which said it believed there was no longer any interest in the mega-mine.

Anti-Adani representatives of the Wangan and Jagalingou (W&J) traditional owners will today fly to Korea to continue lobbying lenders, including Mirae Asset Daewoo, which refinanced Adani’s Queensland coal port in July……..

The W&J Adani opponents said they would seek meetings and hold “media events” at the offices of other institutions including Mirae Asset Daewoo, Korea’s National Pension Service and NH-Amundi.

A similar lobbying roadshow by W&J representatives in the US and Europe in 2015 saw major lenders, including Britain’s largest investment bank Standard Chartered, back away from Adani.

The ABC understands financial industry sources recently confirmed with Australia’s big four banks that none would have a role in the Carmichael project.

A media report in September suggested Adani was seeking to partly fund the Carmichael project by selling a stake in its Abbot Point coal port to Korean interests.

The Queensland government has said Adani must reach “financial close” before it will permanently wipe out native title claims to the mine site to hand over tenure to the miner.

But it has also asked Adani to put up security for a royalties deal that would allow the miner to defer hundreds of millions of dollars of state payments — which Adani is yet to sign after 18 months.

Traditional owners have made formal complaint to UN

The W&J mine opponents are battling to retain their native title rights and have formally complained to the United Nations.

“Whoever assists Adani financially at this crucial time will become complicit in a grave breach of our rights, and the destruction of our lands and waters and sacred places,” W&J elder Adrian Burragubba said.

“They are also exposing themselves to financial risk because success in our Federal Court appeal due next year would deliver great uncertainty to investors.”

Another W&J anti-Adani representative travelling to Korea, Murrawah Johnson, said 33 major institutions had now ruled out funding Adani.

“The interest in Adani from Korean banks or potential equity financiers needs to be made clear after reports that Adani has held talks with Korean finance companies,” she said.

“We are seeking to close the door on this financing avenue.”

An Adani spokeswoman said the company had been “working with the traditional owners of the Carmichael project area, the Wangan and Jagalingou, Juru, Birriah and Jangga, since 2010”.

“Indigenous Land Use Agreements are in place with all four claim groups and are registered by the National Native Title Tribunal,” the spokesperson said. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-05/korean-banks-rule-out-backing-adani-mine/10463838

November 5, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | 1 Comment

The world does not need Australia’s ‘toxic’ coal -Christiana Figueres

Former UN climate chief says world doesn’t need Australia’s ‘toxic’ coal, Canberra Times, By Nicole Hasham, 3 November 2018 Former United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres has repudiated Australian mining giant BHP for its refusal to stop mining coal, suggesting the decision is uneconomic and poor nations do not need the “toxic” and “expensive” fossil fuel.BHP chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said this week the company is “not going to move away from coal mining”.

His position comes despite a warning last month by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that coal must be virtually phased out by 2050 if the world is to keep global warming below the 1.5 degree threshold, beyond which the effects of climate change would be catastrophic and, in many cases, irreversible. …….

Ms Figueres, the former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said poorer nations did not need Australia’s coal.

“Developing nations will unlock the solutions to poverty with renewable energy. Not with toxic, expensive coal,” she said.

Solar and wind power were already cheaper than fossil fuels in many markets and “renewable energy will out-compete fossil fuels everywhere by 2020”, she said, adding that investors were “withdrawing from coal on all fronts”.

The World Bank, among other financiers, has largely ruled out funding new coal plants. It says coal contributes to poverty through air pollution, which causes illness, and climate change, to which the poor are particularly vulnerable.

Ms Figueres, who led the Paris climate talks in 2015, said as well as the health impacts, global warming was hurting the environment and “contributing to the die-off of the beloved Great Barrier Reef”………

Veteran physicist and climate scientist Bill Hare, founder of international think tank Climate Analytics, said renewable hydrogen could replace coal in steel production.

Such use of hydrogen is at the experimental stage, however, the capture and storage of carbon is also unproven at large scale.

“By backing coal only weeks after the world scientific community has spoken on the urgent need to phase this out, [BHP] is turning its back on the future,” Dr Hare said, adding that claims coal was needed to overcome poverty was “a denial of science”.

Meantime, the ACT is nearing its goal of sourcing all electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The Crookwell 2 wind farm, near Goulburn, has begun feeding electricity into the grid and is expected to produce enough electricity to power about 42,000 Canberra homes.

Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor, who has campaigned against wind farms, did not attend a launch event on Saturday despite the project being located in his electorate. A spokesman said Mr Taylor had a “prior engagement”.

ACT Climate Change Minister Shane Rattenbury said the wind farm was “a key milestone as we progress towards our ambitious clean-energy future” and would provide significant flow-on benefits to the region. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/federal/former-un-climate-chief-says-world-doesn-t-need-australia-s-toxic-coal-20181103-p50dt5.html

November 5, 2018 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | Leave a comment