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Feeding the Beast is no way to avoid Chaos
Feeding the beast is no way to avoid chaos
BHP Billiton recently forecast the building of a new coal loader that will lock the Hunter Region further into coal dependency.
This will happen at the cost of the Hunter's air, water, biodiversity and community well-being, as more and larger open-cut coal-mines are dug to feed the beast.
Hunter coal exports contribute significantly to harmful climate change. Scientists predict that disasters, like Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans and droughts in Australia, will be more frequent and even more serious, if climate change is not checked. Surely, this is not the road we ought to go down further.
An alternative is revealed by Macquarie Generation's proposal for a wind farm to be built in the Liverpool Ranges (The Herald, 30/8/05), enough to provide clean renewable power for 4000 households. When it comes to both clean energy and job creation, small is beautiful. Studies from Canada show that more new jobs are being created in manufacturing and installing renewable energy technology, and refitting houses, offices and factories for energy efficiency, than in fossil-fuel-based industries.
The investment company Babcock and Brown is buying up wind and renewable companies, such as Pacific Hydro, part of $5 billion it is investing in wind energy around the world (AFR, 13/08/05).
Australia's first wind-blade factory opened in Victoria this month, producing blades not only for Australia, but also for export overseas. Such a facility, or one producing solar panels, could be built in the Hunter. The markets are out there. China has pledged to increase its renewable energy production from under 1 per cent to about 10 per cent by 2010, with investment of billions of dollars each year for the next decade.
The Federal Government touted its Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 as "a long-term greenhouse response". The current Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) is 2 per cent. Increasing this to 10 per cent by 2010, combined with current renewable generation, would mean that renewable energy could meet 20 per cent of Australia's electricity generation by 2010. The Hunter could lead the way.
This would provide a base for an internationally competitive local renewable energy industry. The Howard Government was lobbied fiercely by the fossil-fuel industry, including those who have dug up huge slabs of the Hunter while halving coal jobs over the last decade, to freeze MRET at 2 per cent. The Government obliged, and continues to pump hundreds of millions of dollars each year researching spurious coal-burning technologies.
Macquarie Generation's wind-farm project is an important step in the right direction. It is a sign that, with long-term planning and socially responsible investment, a clean future for the Hunter and an end to climate chaos is possible.
Geoff Evans is an environmental scientist who works with the Mineral Policy Institute.
For more information, please contact:
Techa Beaumont
Executive Director
Workphone: +61 2 9557 9019
Mobile: +61 (0) 409 318 406
Created: 15 Sep 2005 | Last updated: 20 Oct 2005
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