In an attempt to chain themselves to a conveyor-belt and ratchet up pressure on the coal industry, activists disrupted production and forced evacuation at the state-owned Tarong power station in northern Queensland, Australia.
The incident is the latest in a series of environmental protests against Australia’s coal-fired power stations and coal export industry, which has been blamed for half the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions. In July, environmental groups staged a six-day protest aimed at shutting the world’s biggest coal port, Australia’s Newcastle coal terminal.
Australia produces about 1.5 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions making it one of the world’s highest per-capita emitters due to a reliance on coal for 80 percent of electricity.
Tarong Power produces up to 25 percent of Queensland’s electricity from three power stations. The coal-fired Tarong and Tarong North power stations use up to 7 million tons a coal a year from the company’s nearby coal mine.
“Australia’s greenhouse pollution is rapidly increasing, and our addiction to coal-fired power is the main cause,” protest spokeswoman Clare Towler told Australian Associated Press.
In December, the Australian government plans to announce its target for greenhouse emissions by 2020, and details of its plan for carbon trading, due to start in July 2010.
Photo Credit: Jon’s pics on Flickr under Creative Commons license.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
Melissa Elliott
Melissa Elliott is a freelance writer based in San Francisco. Her personal blog, TheUrbanHousewife.com, documents her culinary adventures from her kitchen to vegan food around the world. When she's not glued to her computer or on the road, she loves to spend time with her husband, Ryan, cats Beamish & Scurvy, and beloved chihuahua, Strummer.
13 Responses to Australian Activists Temporarily Shut Down Power Plant to Stop Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Click on a tab to select how you'd like to leave your comment
http://gas2.org/2007/12/19/air-force-will-be-coal-powered-by-2011/
we are at least trying to lower our usasge
just cause we have the highest medal tally per capita at the olympics dosnt mean u have to go all tall poppy on us
In a country that is devastaed each year by natural desaster (storms, cyclones, floods, fires, drought), it limits the possibilities for use of many alternate sources of power. Just recently the Austrlaian Government had put together grants for solar power installation in domestic homes and this has been taken up by such a large amount that the set funding for the grants has ran out and is being look at for more. But even with funding, do u think it is wise to install a nuclear power station in a country with such unpredictable weather. What if a cyclone or fire or major storm came along and destroyed the plant??? It not just that it is unsafe, it is more unsafe in Australia. Millions of dollars are each year are spent researching into carbon dioxide removal and treatment such as the underground pumping. As for the mirrors and solar, storms and hail travel through Australia each year destroying everything, including solar cells and mirrors. And as for there placement in the ‘desertification’ of Australia, more pollution would be created getting the power back to the consumers whom are all based on the coast line, no in the middle of the desert. Transporting materials and installation of equipment also increases greenhouse gas emitions, further away from everyone, more bad it is. Each country has its own situation and must be treated as their own seperate case, will a country that only produces 1.5% of the world greenhouse make that great a difference if it take 10 more years to change from 1.5% to 1.2%??? For a counntry that has only 0.3% of the world population, you all make such a big deal about it.
With the huge areas of desertification they have in Australia, why don’t they go Solar/thermal electric like Spain, Portugal, Southwestern U.S.A.? Burning coal requires mining and transporting coal forever! Collecting solar requires making mirrors and planning? Once the solar is working, your done! time for a beer in the shade of the mirror and a place to plug in the Tele and cars and industry and water pumps and air conditioners and dishwashers and. . . WTF!
Good for them, they got there message across by shutting them down.
yeh the photo is diff coal mine but this did happen here, believe it or not the courts here wouldnt punish them because they were seen to be preventing the extinction of some 240 species among other reasons (they used an equation involving CO2 emmissions directly effection species extinctions) i hope to see more of this in the future.
Well, the blokes would reduce their greenhouse emissions if it could get in their thick skulls that nuclear power is less polluting than coal despite the problems with nuclear waste. They have the highest reserves of Uranium but not a single nuke power station. While they debate on how good / bad that is , they continue to burn coal.
you’d think they would actually get a photo of the place there talking about – not a picture of a powerstation in england. They lost all credibility on this one
Where’s ma pig? What ‘a ye done with ma pig? Here, pig! Oh, bollocks, ‘e floated away again…
Australia with a population of less than 4 crores should not pollute the environment to such an extent.
You know that’s a photo of batersea powerstation in london, england right?
That is a photo of Battersea coal power station in London…
That is the old Battersea power station in London, not a power station in Australia!