In 2025 New South Wales is still dancing around the question of post-mining land rehabilitation

"I don’t think I'd even let my enemy drink from that because I think they would die such a horrible death."

[Assoc. Professor Ian Wright, Western Sydney University, 2024]

https://youtu.be/GL9hr5fClGo?si=Z1zsTlsKLoBvt55U

On 14 May 2024 the NSW Parliament Upper House Standing Committee on State Development established the Inquiry into the beneficial and productive post-mining land use, to inquire into and report on beneficial and productive post-mining land use.

Terms of reference can be found at:

https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/3046/Terms%20of%20reference%20-%20Beneficial%20and%20productive%20post-mining%20land%20use%20-%20Updated%2012%20December%202024.pdf

There is no reporting date listed for this particular Inquiry.

After a 53 day submission period in which 78 submissions were received, the Inquiry held 5 hearings commencing on 5 August 2024 and ending on 17 December 2024. Videos of all 6 hearings can be found at:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb7SKvfgKNwZpuRxxsmOhEvvnKeAXKzTk

Commencing on 2 July 2024 the Inquiry received 40 documents to assist in its deliberations.

In August 2024 the Standing Committee on State Development visited former mining sites in Lake Macquarie, Cessnock, Maitland and the Upper Hunter and held two public hearings (Muswellbrook & Singleton).

SOME BACKGROUND ON FORMER MINING SITES

ABC News, 16 February 2017:

More than 60,000 mines have been abandoned across Australia, according to a report that raises concerns about how land rehabilitation is managed as the mining boom ends.

Key points:

Australia Institute report finds lack of reliable data on Australia's mining activity

Research finds more than 60,000 abandoned mines across Australia

Only a handful of mines have ever been fully rehabilitated

Report raises concerns over how land rehabilitation is managed

The Australia Institute research, obtained exclusively by Lateline, said there were few reliable statistics on the state of Australia's mines and there was evidence that only a handful had ever been fully rehabilitated.

State government agencies were only able to name one example of a mine that had been fully rehabilitated and relinquished in the past 10 years — the New Wallsend coal mine in New South Wales.

Some of the abandoned mines date back to gold-rush days and the 60,000 figure includes thousands of mine "features", such as tailings dams and old mine shafts.

The Australia Institute said it was difficult to obtain basic statistics on the number of operating mines across the country, putting the figure between 460 and 2,944.

The Institute said it was even harder to get data on mines that had suspended operations or were undergoing rehabilitation.

"What is certain is [mine abandonment] is not a practice limited to distant history," the report said.

"As the owners of the largest mines come under financial pressure, close attention needs to be paid to the ongoing phenomenon of mine abandonment in Australia.".....

In New South Wales, approval has been granted for 45 massive coal pits, or voids, to be left after mining finishes. [my yellow highlighting]

Twelve of those voids are around Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter and the biggest is at BHP Billiton's Mount Arthur mine.

It is 4.5 kilometres long and 1.5 kilometres wide. BHP would not provide details on its depth....

NORTHERN NSW BACKGROUND

North Coast Voices, "Deputy Leader of Opposition Business in the House of Representatives & MP for Cowper betrays the Clarence, 28 September 2011, excerpt:

....ongoing antimony contamination of water bodies and land protected by Environmental Planning Instruments is not unknown from previous mining ventures in northern NSW.

The Macleay Argus 2 September 2011:

HIGHER than average levels of heavy metals have been recorded in the Macleay River at Bellbrook after a dam overflowed at a gold and antimony mine near Armidale.

NSW Health and Kempsey Shire Council said higher than normal levels of metals including arsenic, zinc and copper had been detected in the waters of the Macleay River.

But both organisations said the concentration of the heavy metals was not high enough to warrant concern to people.

As a precaution NSW Health has contacted residents in the upper Macleay to inform them not to drink water from the river unless it has been processed through the Bellbrook water treatment plant.

Council has undertaken further testing to determine whether the contamination has spread beyond Bellbrook….

The Office of Heritage and Environment (OHE) reported the breach occurred on Tuesday when there was a release of material from a sediment erosion control dam at the Hillgrove antimony and gold mine.

"The mine is currently not operating but is in 'care and maintenance' mode," a spokeswoman said.

"The spill occurred after continued wet weather produced excess stormwater which exceeded the amount of water that could be stored in the dam resulting in the spill - when the mine is operating the stormwater would normally have been used for mineral processing."

NSW Office of Environment and Heritage Media Release 5 July 2010:

Straits (Hillgrove) Gold Pty Limited has been fined $50,000 and ordered to pay costs of $24,000 in the NSW Land and Environment Court today after being found guilty of polluting waters.

Straits pleaded guilty to the charge; pollution of water under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.

The company 'Straits' conducts gold and antimony mining activities at the Hillgrove Mine, near Armidale in NSW.

In sentencing today, Justice Biscoe convicted and fined Straits $50,000 and ordered it to pay the prosecutor's legal costs of $24,000.

The court heard that in April 2009 a protective bund at the premises had been lowered to allow access for an electrical contractor. When a screening device used in the mine became blocked and 'slimes' discharged and spilled into the bunded area, it then overflowed the bund and discharged into the local environment.

The spill, of up to 3000 litres of 'slimes,' contained antimony, arsenic and lead and is toxic to some aquatic life.

Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECCW), Director General, Lisa Corbyn said the penalty provided a timely reminder to companies that they must ensure measures are in place to contain pollution.

"This case highlights the potential for serious damage to occur and highlights the importance of companies having safeguards and operating procedures in place to control pollution at all times. Carelessness meant that simple containment structures which could have prevented the spill from leaving the mine site were not in place. Fortunately the environmental harm from this particular spill was low.

"Importantly, the company did report the spill to the DECCW Environment Line and cooperated with the DECCW officers throughout the investigation."

Anyone who sees pollution is urged to contact the Environment line on 131 555.

Bellingen Shire Council State of the Environment Report 2009-2010:

Urunga antimony processing site

A seriously contaminated site has been identified at Urunga, Portions 138 & 169 Parish of Newry. Contamination also affects adjacent Crown Land and a SEPP 14 wetland. The site was previously used for antimony ore processing, since abandoned without rehabilitation of the site. DECCW have undertaken an investigation of the site and researched remediation options.

General

Council maintains records of properties known to be affected by contamination. Council must consider the requirements of the Contaminated Land Management Act 1997 and State Environmental Planning Policy 55 – Remediation of Land in assessing proposed changes to the use of land.

Antimony and arsenic dispersion in the Macleay River catchment, New South Wales: a study of the environmental geochemical consequences, February 2007:

A baseline geochemical study of stream sediments and waters of the Macleay River catchment in northeastern New South Wales indicates that although most of the catchment is unaffected by anthropogenic or natural inputs of heavy metals and metalloids, the Bakers Creek - trunk Macleay-floodplain system has been strongly affected by mining-derived Sb and As. The dispersion train from the Hillgrove Sb - Au mining area to the Pacific Ocean is over 300 km in length. Ore and mineralised altered rock from Hillgrove contains vein, breccia-hosted and disseminated stibnite, arsenopyrite, pyrite and traces of gold. Historic (pre-1970) mine-waste disposal practices have resulted in high to extreme contamination of stream sediments and waters by Sb and As for ∼50 km downstream, with high Au values in the sediments…..

Estimates of sediment migration rates and amounts of Sb and As transported in suspension and solution imply that the catchment contamination will be long-term (centuries to millennia) such that environmental effects need to be ascertained and management strategies implemented…

[Ashley, P. M.; Graham, B. P.; Tighe, M. K.; Wolfenden, B. J in Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, Volume 54, Number 1, February 2007 , pp. 83-103(21)]

North Coast Voices, "NSW North Coast antimony contamination makes it onto national television", 25 October 2011, excerpt:

The Sydney Morning Herald also addressed the issue of historic and recent contamination from the Hillgrove antimony mine:

A PLUME of toxic pollution from an old antimony mine appears to have killed fish for dozens of kilometres along the Macleay River in northern NSW.....

a study published by the CSIRO in 2009 described the waterways near the mothballed mine as ''highly contaminated'' and estimated about 7000 tonnes of waste had accumulated along the bed of the Macleay River.

Water tests have shown antimony levels at 250 times background levels, with high levels detected along the river to the coast at Urunga, where the mineral was once processed for export. 

A reminder of just how long the fossil fuel industry has been lying about climate change and why this is so important in 2022......

 

In recent years there have been a number of media and legal journals reporting on individuals, communities and classes of people suing multinational mining, oil, gas and coal corporations with regard to the environmental and climate change consequences of their business policies and actions.

One of the telling points being made before the courts is 'what did the company know and when did it know it'.

Although the facts set out below refer to the fossil fuel industry, it is time rural, regional and outer metropolitan communities on the Australian East Coast began a search in the records of federal, state, local governments and their agencies/agents, for all documents, minutes, memos, emails, as well as Hansard and media articles or comments, which reveal 'what governments knew and when they knew it'. 

It's well past time that the level of private litigation increases — because these three tiers of government will not stop: a) giving permission for urban development on floodplains or geologically unstable land; b) all but ignoring high greenhouse gas emissions by industry & business; c) refusing to act on the high rate of land clearance & destructive logging of native forest which exacerbates land mass temperature rise or d) failing to seriously address the climate risk associated with the millions of vulnerable residential dwellings which will not be able to withstand the erratic rolling unnatural disasters anticipated to hit Australia within the next 8-28 years; unless the courts begin to hand down judgments that cumulatively cost them billions in any election cycle and through budgetary pain force government to act.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In 1959 — years before some reading this post were born —

the American Petroleum Institute (API) along with the great and good of the oil industry celebrated 100 years of drilling for oil in the USA.

At that centennial celebration nuclear weapons physicist Edward Teller addressed the around 300-strong audience.

According to a later account of this address, in part he stated:

Ladies and gentlemen, I am to talk to you about energy in the future. I will start by telling you why I believe that the energy resources of the past must be supplemented. First of all, these energy resources will run short as we use more and more of the fossil fuels. But I would [...] like to mention another reason why we probably have to look for additional fuel supplies. And this, strangely, is the question of contaminating the atmosphere. [....] Whenever you burn conventional fuel, you create carbon dioxide. [....] The carbon dioxide is invisible, it is transparent, you can’t smell it, it is not dangerous to health, so why should one worry about it?

Carbon dioxide has a strange property. It transmits visible light but it absorbs the infrared radiation which is emitted from the earth. Its presence in the atmosphere causes a greenhouse effect [....] It has been calculated that a temperature rise corresponding to a 10 per cent increase in carbon dioxide will be sufficient to melt the icecap and submerge New York. All the coastal cities would be covered, and since a considerable percentage of the human race lives in coastal regions, I think that this chemical contamination is more serious than most people tend to believe…..

At present the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen by 2 per cent over normal. By 1970, it will be perhaps 4 per cent, by 1980, 8 per cent, by 1990, 16 per cent [roughly 360 parts per million], if we keep on with our exponential rise in the use of purely conventional fuels. By that time, there will be a serious additional impediment for the radiation leaving the earth. Our planet will get a little warmer. It is hard to say whether it will be 2 degrees Fahrenheit or only one or 5. [my yellow highlighting]

But when the temperature does rise by a few degrees over the whole globe, there is a possibility that the icecaps will start melting and the level of the oceans will begin to rise. Well, I don’t know whether they will cover the Empire State Building or not, but anyone can calculate it by looking at the map and noting that the icecaps over Greenland and over Antarctica are perhaps five thousand feet thick.

Robert Galbraith Dunlop, Chairman of Sun Oil Co and a director on the API board at the time, was present when Teller informed the oil industry it was contaminating the atmosphere.

In 1965 at an annual API conference its president Frank Ikard gave an address titled “Meeting the Challenges of 1966” which informed his audience of the contents of a recent published report submitted to President Johnson’s Science Advisory Committee titled “Restoring the Quality of Our Environment”.

Ikard stated: “One of the most important predictions of the report is that carbon dioxide is being added to the Earth’s atmosphere by the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas at such a rate that by the year 2000 the heat balance will be so modified as possibly to cause marked changes in climate beyond local or even national efforts. The report further states, and I quote: “...the pollution from internal combustion engines is so serious, and is growing so fast, that an alternative nonpolluting means of powering automobiles, buses and trucks is likely to become a national necessity.” [my yellow highlighting]

Then again in 1968 an unpublished paper commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute was delivered in final form to API. Again, at this time Robert Dunlop of Sun Oil was still a current director & by now also a former Chair of the American Petroleum Institute (1965 to 1967).

Here are the details of that paper…..

“Sources, Abundance, and Fate of Gaseous Atmospheric Pollutants”, Final Report, Robinson, E. “Elmer” (Author) & Robbins, R. C. “Bob” (Contributor - American Petroleum Institute, Stanford Research Institute). First published in 1968 by Stanford Research Institute, Menlo Park, Calif. USA, with supplementary information supplied in1969 and 1971, 123 pages with diagram, table & references at:

http://chr.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Exhibit-3H-Sources-Abundance-and-Fate-of-Gaseous-Atmospheric-Pollutants.pdf

Excerpts:

It seems ironic that in our view of air pollution technology we take such a serious concern with small-scale events such as the photochemical reactions of trace concentrations of hydrocarbons, the effect on vegetation of a fraction of a part per million of S0₂, when the abundant pollutants which we generally ignore because they have little local effect, CO₂ and submicron particles, may be the cause of serious world-wide environmental changes….. [my yellow highlighting]

Possible Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

We are concerned with the possible changes in atmospheric CO₂ content because CO₂ plays a significant role in establishing the thermal balance of the earth. This occurs because CO₂ is a strong absorber and back radiator in the infrared portion of the spectrum, especially between 12 and 18. As such CO₂ prevents the loss of considerable heat energy from the earth and radiates it back to the lower atmosphere, the so-called “greenhouse effect. Thus the major changes which are speculated about as possibly resulting from a change in atmospheric CO₂ are related to a change in the earth's temperature….

If the earth's temperature increases significantly, a number of events might be expected to occur, including the melting of the Antarctic ice cap, a rise in sea levels, warming of the oceans, and an increase in photosynthesis. The first two items are of course related since the increase in sea level would be mainly due to the added water from the ice cap. [my yellow highlighting]

Estimates of the possible rate at which the Antarctic ice cap might melt have been made….

Changes in ocean temperature would change the distribution of fish and cause a retreat in the polar sea ice. This has happened in recent time on a very limited scale….

Summary of Carbon Dioxide in the Atmosphere

In summary, Revelle makes the point that man is now engaged in a vast geophysical experiment with his environment, the earth. Significant temperature changes are almost certain to occur by the year 2000 and these could bring about climatic changes…..

[my yellow highlighting]

The following year saw this report sent to API, “Sources, Abundance, and Fate of Gaseous Atmospheric Pollutants: Project PR-6755, Supplemental Report” (1969) at:

http://chr.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Exhibit-3I-Sources-Abundance-and-Fate-of-Gaseous-Atmospheric-Pollutants-Supplement.pdf

Yale Environment 360, 30 November 2022:

The Center for International Environmental Law, an advocacy group Muffett now runs, published excerpts in 2016. Now, the paper — along with a follow-up that Robinson and Robbins produced in 1969 — is playing a key role in a wave of lawsuits seeking to hold oil companies accountable for climate change.

Minnesota, Delaware, Rhode Island, Baltimore, and Honolulu are among about two dozen U.S. states and localities suing the industry. Some of the cases seek compensation for the damage wrought by climate-driven disasters like floods, fires, and heat waves, plus the cost of preparing for future impacts. Others allege violations of state or local laws prohibiting fraud and other deceitful business practices, or requiring companies to warn consumers of a product’s potential dangers. The defendants, which vary from case to case, include the American Petroleum Institute as well as major companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, BP, and ConocoPhillips.

The suits’ common thread is the charge that the industry has long understood emissions from oil and gas combustion would drive warming — and create a host of major global risks — but carried out a decades-long misinformation campaign to confuse the public and prevent a shift to cleaner fuels. Most cite Robinson and Robbins’ work. The pair’s reports have been proffered internationally too, most notably in a Dutch case in which a court last year ordered Shell to slash its carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2030; the company is appealing. European courts have been more favorable for cases seeking to force such reductions or push governments to strengthen climate policies, while U.S. suits generally aim at extracting financial penalties or compensation from companies….. [my yellow highlighting]

Read the full article here.

Further reading

https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Smoke-Fumes-FINAL.pdf

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/cmsdata/162144/Presentation%20Geoffrey%20Supran.pdf

“Assessing ExxonMobil’s climate change communications”, Geoffrey Supran, PhD, History of Science, Harvard University

In an election year all incumbent governments tend to paint rosy pictures of their tenures to date. Here are a few matters to consider whenever Prime Minister Morrison or any of his Cabinet Ministers talk up their own record

 

On 21 February North Coast Voices took a brief look at some aspects of daily life that get an airing in an election year - jobs, unemployment, underemployment, cost of living and level of consumer confidence - those basic building blocks by which we often understand how the economy is treating ordinary Australians.

Today the focus is on how governments and industries are treating the environments in which we live. This brief outline primarily looks at the eastern half of the country and only covers gasfields & pipelines, land clearing and the looming extinction crisis.

The Guardian, 23 February 2022:

Australia is spending billions to build thousands of kilometres of new gas pipelines that may end up worthless stranded assets as the world moves to deal with climate change. 

The warning comes in a new report by Global Energy Monitor tracking 600km of pipelines currently under construction and 12,200km of proposed new infrastructure across Australia, with the total value of this work amounting to $25.8bn (USD$18.6bn). 

According to the report, these projects include “substantial capacity expansions planned along the existing national network”, which “highlights the Australian government’s unbridled enthusiasm” for the gas industry despite the risk of creating stranded assets. 

Should they all go ahead, these pipelines would lock in decades of new production in several basins on the east coast including Beetaloo and Narrabri, and the Scarborough gas field in the north-west, by connecting them to export terminals. 

The location of existing and potential future supply and infrastructure options across Australia in the 2021 National Gas Plan. Photograph: Commonwealth of Australia 

While the projects tracked in the report are consistent with what appears in the 2021 National Gas Plan, it also includes the west-east pipeline proposed by former Dow Chemical Global chairman Andrew Liveris. Liveris, the deputy chair of oil and gas engineering consultancy Worley and director of the world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, revived the idea of a $6bn trans-continental pipeline in 2020 as an architect of the Australian government’s gas-fired recovery in response to the global pandemic. 

The proposal – first suggested in the mid-1970s – has long been considered unviable for a range of reasons and the most recent iteration has faced opposition even from within the fossil fuel sector.....

The burning of fossil fuels such as gas is a key driver of global heating. Last year the International Energy Agency said limiting global heating to 1.5C, a goal set out in the Paris agreement, meant exploration and exploitation of new fossil fuel basins had to stop in 2021. 

Dan Gocher, Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility’s director of climate and the environment, said the scale of construction in Australia showed the “toxic level of influence” fossil fuel companies had on government. 

“We don’t need the gas,” Gocher said. “Gas demand on the east coast is forecast to flatline or decline.

Read the full article here. 

NOTE:

The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 September 2020:

....Santos' proposed $3.6 billion Narrabri gasfield...

...evidence that a neighbouring coal mine will cause a larger drop in groundwater levels....

Leaks of highly saline groundwater produced from test wells caused localised pollution, killing parts of the Pilliga state forest. 

The long-standing concerns include the gasfield sits within a major recharge zone for the Great Artesian Basin, its greenhouse gas emissions include potent methane, and the as-yet unresolved disposal of salt brought to the surface by the 850 proposed wells. 

 Stuart Khan, a water expert at the University of NSW, noted in his submission that at the low end of estimates the gasfield will produce 430,000 tonnes of salt over its 25-year life – or as much as 850,000 at the high end. 

The Guardian, 2 August 2021: 

Traditional owners opposed to fracking in the Beetaloo Basin have condemned the Morrison government for handing tens of millions of dollars to gas companies while Indigenous communities lack basic housing and health infrastructure. 

 A Senate inquiry on Monday heard from a series of traditional owners in the Northern Territory about plans to open up the Beetaloo Basin to gas exploration and fracking. 

The plan is part of the so-called “gas-led recovery” for stimulating economic growth following the pandemic and the federal government has already handed $21m in grants to Empire Energy, a firm with some links to the Liberal party, for exploratory drilling.  

Two other companies with exploration permits, Falcon Oil and Gas and Sweetpea Petroleum, share links with tax secrecy jurisdictions, a previous hearing of the Senate inquiry has heard. 

Traditional owners from Borroloola and Minyerri told the inquiry they feared fracking would poison their water and destroy the land. 

The traditional owners criticised a poor consultation and consent process, saying they had been given no information about the plans or told of any risks posed to the land by the fracking process.

GetUp!, 20 February 2022:

Just hours ago, the Morrison Government confirmed it was "getting on with the job of gas exploration" by granting almost $20 million to Empire Energy to frack to the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin. 

It comes just days after the NT was confirmed as a key election battleground, with Morrison parachuting in to kick off his unofficial election campaign on the ground. 

But while Morrison invited media to watch him sink beers in a top end pub, his policies — including fracking and racist housing cuts — show Morrison only thinks of the NT and its First Nations communities as a political football ripe for exploitation.

The Guardian, 17 February 2022:

The New South Wales government has admitted that land clearing has increased threefold over the past decade, woodlands and grasslands are deteriorating, and 62% of vegetation in the state is now under pressure from too much fire. 

The NSW State of the Environment 2021 report, released every three years, paints a grim picture for land and freshwater ecosystems, which are under increasing threat from habitat destruction, invasive species and the climate crisis. 

The report provides an overview of the environmental issues facing the state including for biodiversity, waterways and the climate. 

The number of species in NSW threatened with extinction has grown by 18 (to 1,043) since the previous report in 2018 and 64% of mammals are now considered to have suffered long-term reductions in their habitat range. 

Clearing of woody vegetation increased to an annual average of 35,000 hectares between 2017 and 2019, up from 13,000 hectares between 2009 and 2015. The rate of clearing for non-woody vegetation such as shrubs and grasses was even higher. 

Bird populations are declining, so too are freshwater fish populations, which were singled out as being in “very poor condition” across the state. 

More than 70% of endangered plants, animals and habitats in the state are threatened by invasive species, with pest animals and weeds costing the state’s economy $170m and $1.8bn respectively each year. 

The report, released on Wednesday by the NSW Environment Protection Authority, notes that although 62% of land-based species in the state are not considered to be threatened, the number of endangered species is expected to continue to grow. 

Although habitat restoration and revegetation programs are in place, these are “not restoring native vegetation at the rate of permanent clearing”, the report states. 

“Management and conservation efforts will not be enough to save many species without addressing key threats such as habitat removal and climate change.” 

The report highlights the devastating effects of the 2019-20 bushfires disaster, which affected 62% of the state’s vegetation communities, which are now under pressure from too much burning. 

It finds that although native vegetation covers 69% of NSW, the ecological carrying capacity of this vegetation is estimated to be just 31% of natural levels in the aftermath of fires..... 

The full article can be read here.

On 29 January 2022 Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison in an election-focussed media release announced: "The Morrison Government will invest a record $50 million to boost the long-term protection and recovery efforts for Australia’s koalas". [my yellow highlighting]

Not one of the five aims this 'investment' involved stopping the barely regulated clearing of koala habitat including the felling of vital shelter & feed trees by the forestry industry, urban fringe developers and broad scale farming.

This was the response from the North East Forest Alliance: 

Scott Morrison announcement of $50 million for Koalas is a smokescreen to cover-up his Government’s approval for increased logging and clearing of Koala habitat, while allowing climate heating to run amok, threatening the future of both Koalas and the Great Barrier Reef, according to the North East Forest Alliance. 

“Without good policies on habitat protection and climate change no amount of money will save Koalas, said NEFA spokesperson Dailan Pugh. 

“If Scott Morrison was fair dinkum about protecting Koala habitat the first thing he would do is to stop their feed and roost trees being logged and cleared. Money is no good for Koalas if they have nowhere to live. 

“The second is to take urgent and meaningful action on climate heating, as Koalas and their feed trees have already been decimated by intensifying droughts and heatwaves in western NSW, and bushfires in coastal areas. 

“If the Morrison Government doesn’t take urgent action on climate heating then neither Koalas nor the Great Barrier Reef will have a future. 

“When the Morrison Government issued an indefinite extension to the north-east NSW Regional Forest Agreement in 2018 they agreed to remove the need for Forestry Corporation to thoroughly search for Koalas ahead of logging and protect all identified Koala High Use Areas from logging. 

“They also agreed to overriding the NSW Governments own expert’s panel recommendations, supported by the EPA, to retain 25 Koala feed trees per hectare in modelled high quality habitat, by reducing retention down to just 10 smaller trees. 

“Thanks to the Morrison Government we now have a shoddy process where a few small trees are protected in inaccurately modelled habitat, while loggers rampage through Koala’s homes, and if a Koala is seen in a tree then all they need to do is wait until it leaves before cutting its tree down. 

“Now Scott Morrison is allowing the Forestry Corporation to log identified refuges in burnt forests where Koalas survived the fires. 

“The situation on private lands is just as dire. Morrison did nothing to save Koala habitat when his State National Party colleagues declared war on Koalas in mid 2020 and forced his Liberal colleagues to agree to remove protection for mapped core Koala habitat and to open up protected environmental zones for logging. This too is covered by Morrison’s Regional Forest Agreement. 

“If he really cared about the future of Koalas the first thing Morrison needs to do is amend the Regional Forest Agreement to ensure there are surveys by independent experts to identify core Koala habitat for protection before clearing or logging. 

“Paying for the surveys and providing assistance to affected landholders would be a good use of taxpayers money. 

“The second thing is to stop new coal and gas projects, because to have any chance of saving Koalas and the Great Barrier Reef we must act urgently to reduce our CO2 emissions, rather than increasing them. 

With the assistance of the Environmental Defenders Office, NEFA is challenging the validity of the North East NSW Regional Forest Agreement on the grounds that the Commonwealth has not duly considered climate change, threatened species and old growth forest. The case is listed for hearing by the Federal Court on 28 March. 

“For the future of Koalas, and our growing lists of threatened species, I hope we are successful” Mr. Pugh said. 

—————————————————————– 

NRC Advice – Coastal IFOA remake (November 2016) p41 

NEFA letter to NSW Environment Minister Griffin 10/1/22 https://www.nefa.org.au/fire 

[my yellow highlighting]

There is a sad list on Wikipedia containing the names of unique Australian fauna that is thought to have been driven to extinction since 1788. It includes the names of 24 birds, 4 frogs. 2 reptiles, 6 invertebrates and 26 mammals, with another 3 mammals thought to be extinct. The last extinction was listed as occurring just six years ago in 2016.

Under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, effective July 2000, the list of fauna species driven to extinction include 22 birds, 4 frogs, 1 reptile, 1 invertebrate, 39 mammals with the last mammal extinction occurring in 2016 and, 1 fish listed as extinct in the wild since 2005.

There are another 470 birds, frogs, reptiles, mammals and fish on the EP&BC Act list which are considered Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable and another 8 fish which are considered Conservation Dependent. The last mammal classified as Endangered was the Koala in February 2022.

If one looks closely at this long list of disappeared and disappearing fauna, an uncomfortable fact presents itself – since 2014 the number of species which are another step closer to becoming functionally extinct at state, regional or local levels has increased and, some may be fully and irreversibly extinct in our lifetimes.

The plight of Australia's fauna is not an accident of history. It is the result of ignorance, greed, neglect and environmental vandalism, often ignored or condoned over centuries. For the first 113 years this occurred under Colonial and Dominion governments, however for the last 121 years this has occurred in an independent Federation under the by-laws, regulations and laws of the three tiers of government - local, state and federal. 

It is worth remembering it is federal legislation and regulations which have precedence. A fact Prime Minister Morrison is inclined to play down whenever he finds this politically inconvenient to acknowledge.

As for climate change mitigation.....

Crikey, 24 February 2022:

Australia’s largest fossil fuel companies systematically underestimate the amount of greenhouse gas emissions they will produce, according to new analysis.

What we know:

• A report by the Australian Conservation Foundation found a fifth emit significantly more greenhouse gases than originally estimated in government approval processes (The Guardian);

• Some fossil fuel operations emit more than 20 times what was predicted before they were approved;

• Gas giant Chevron was the worst offender, with its Gorgon LNG plant producing an additional 16m tonnes of emissions;

• Whitehaven’s Maules Creek coalmine was another major offender, emitting three to four times more greenhouse gas emissions than initially estimated;

• ACF lead environmental investigator Annica Schoo said it proved the federal government’s safeguard mechanism was ineffective;

• It comes as the Morrison government reissues almost $20m in grants to gas drilling projects in the Beetaloo Basin after the federal court thwarted its first attempt (Renew Economy);

• A new study meanwhile finds climate change has intensified the water cycle and shifted at least twice the amount of freshwater away from warm regions than previously thought (The Guardian).

NOTE:

THE ENVIRONMENT CENTRE NT INC v MINISTER FOR RESOURCES AND WATER, THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA and IMPERIAL OIL & GAS PTY LTD (ACN 002 699 578), judgment 23 December 2021, in part reads:

“….I find that the Contracts Decision was legally unreasonable. No question arises as to the materiality of that error so as to avoid it being characterised as a jurisdictional error. Applying the approach in Project Blue Sky at [91] per McHugh, Gummow, Kirby and Hayne JJ, I accept the applicant’s submission that, where jurisdictional error is established in the exercise of the power under s 34 of the IRD Act, the Contracts Decision is invalid and, consequently, the Imperial Contracts themselves are void.”

See:

http://classic.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/sinodisp/au/cases/cth/FCA/2021/1635.html?stem=0&synonyms=0&query=Environment%20Centre%20NT

Global Climate Change Response 2021": Advice that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg & the rest of the Cabinet Ministers, are determined to ignore

 

Moody’s Investor Services, Research Announcement, 12 October 2021:

Moody's - Financial firms that take rapid, predictable pace to zero financed emissions will win the race



Singapore, October 12, 2021 --

• Financial firms are under rising regulatory and commercial pressure to support the global sustainability drive

• Those that take a rapid, well-communicated and measurable pace to net zero financed emissions will be able to preserve their credit quality

As the race to net zero emissions accelerates, banks, insurers and asset managers will need to ramp up climate risk assessments and set clear goals for reaching net zero in their financed emissions, says Moody's Investors Service in a new report. A delayed and disorderly carbon transition would pose the greatest risk to financial firms, while a rapid, well-communicated and measurable transition would keep risks lower.

"Financial firms will lend to and invest in green businesses and new technologies as the transformation to a low-carbon economy creates vast financing opportunities. At the same time, they will help fund the capital needs of corporate clients in carbon-intensive sectors who are aligning their business strategies with low-carbon business models," says Alka Anbarasu, a Moody's Senior Vice President.

Across the G-20, financial firms hold $22 trillion in loans and investments subject to carbon transition risk. Green lending and investments will bring major commercial opportunities to financial firms, but the credit impact of carbon transition will begin to hit home in the second half of this decade when scrutiny of their interim climate goals is likely to intensify.

"A scenario in which concerted action to achieve carbon transition is delayed beyond the end of this decade by uncoordinated government and regulatory policies poses the greatest threat of losses for the financial industry. It risks triggering sudden, large-scale and drastic action in later years by governments, firms, and regulators to limit climate change, hurting the quality of loans and invested assets," says Sean Marion, a Moody's Managing Director. [my yellow highlighting]

Financial firms adopting a rapid but predictable shift towards climate-friendly finance will best preserve their credit quality. In this scenario, financial firms integrate climate risk considerations into their strategic decisions, business processes, governance structures and risk management frameworks, while setting out clear goals for reaching net zero in their financed emissions.

Subscribers can access the report "Financial institutions - Decarbonizing finance: Financial firms need to rise to the challenge of supporting carbon transition" at: http://www.moodys.com/researchdocumentcontentpage.aspx?docid=PBC_1298854

Adani may have captured Australian governments but it has yet to achieve a social license from the national population

Frontline Action on Coal

Media release: Tuesday, November 2 2021

Juliet Lamont IMAGE: supplied

Second QLD coal port shut down in a week by same two climate activists.

Kyle Magee IMAGE: supplied

Environmental activists have stopped work this morning at North Queensland Export Terminal (formerly Abbot Point Coal Terminal) in Bowen, Qld.

The port, owned by Adani, has been shut down by the same two climate activists who stopped work at Hay Point Coal Terminal in Mackay, QLD one week ago.

Juliet Lamont and Kyle Magee used steel tubing to lock themselves on to coal loading infrastructure at the port, to coincide with climate discussions at COP26 in Glasgow, UK. The pair are asking the international community to “Sanction Australia” over the government’s inability to respond to the climate crisis appropriately.

Ms Lamont, mother of two, said “I’m locking on at Adani’s coal port to ask the leaders of the world at COP26 to lock Australia out of negotiations and forge ahead with the urgent, bold and visionary work needed to save us. Now.”

Lamont and Magee, who were arrested just one week ago for shutting down operations in Mackay at Hay Point Coal Terminal, are aware that the actions they are taking will see them arrested again. Both have stated they are “willing to face the consequences” as “the climate crisis presents an alarming fate for the future of all Australians”. Both Lamont and Magee are currently on bail from their previous action.

Magee, a father of two, said ”If the Morrison government is serious about tackling climate change, they should cancel all new coal mines now, including the Adani Carmichael mine, and invest billions in sustainable alternatives. Anything less than that shows a dangerous lack of understanding of very clear science.”

As COP26 begins this week, Australia still has no plans to commit to any new 2030 emission reduction targets, even though investors and climate science experts warn that our current strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change are vastly inadequate. Australia is the largest coal exporter in the world, and without 2030 targets a 2050 target of net-zero is likely to be impossible to reach.

Ms Lamont said "I'd like the international community to put pressure on our untrustworthy Morrison government who have completely set their citizens adrift in a climate emergency."