Posts filed under ‘Replace Hazelwood’
CAM members participate in Croissants Not Coal #Hazelwood action
A few Climate Action Moreland members participated on Tuesday morning in a breakfast protest outside Engie’s local offices in Melbourne, calling for an early decision by Engie’s board to shut down the Hazelwood Power Station, one of the most polluting power stations in the industrial world.
Hazelwood is the worst polluting power station in the industrialised world. Other power stations in the La Trobe Valley are also heavy polluters. Current emissions intensity for Brown coal (lignite) in Victoria, Australia:
- Hazelwood 1.56TonneCO2/MWh,
- Yallourn 1.49TonneCO2/MWh,
- Loy Yang A 1.28TonneCO2/MWh, and
- Loy Yang B 1.24 tonneCO2/MWh
Need more background? Read our Hazelwood Primer or our Hazelwood Brief History.
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Moreland Council supports Build Renewables Replace Hazelwood Campaign
Moreland Council, at it’s monthly meeting on 9th March 2016, resolved to support Climate Action Moreland’s Build Renewables Replace Hazelwood campaign.
A motion at the council meeting was debated and passed to send a letter to Premier Dan Andrews in support of the campaign.
The motion, passed 7 votes to 2, stated:
“That Council seeks to resolve to provide support for the Climate Action Moreland’s Build Renewable Energy – Replace Hazelwood Campaign by writing to the State Government to replace the Hazelwood power station with renewable energy.”
The action concurrs with other policy action of council including the Moreland CCAP (Community Climate Action Plan), Zero Carbon Evolution (ZCE) 2014 – 2020 plan for community wide greenhouse gas reduction, and the Corporate Carbon Reduction Plan 2015 – 2020 for Council’s own emissions.
4 March action: tell Premier Dan it’s time to build renewables, replace Hazelwood
Build renewable energy – Replace Hazelwood
Taking a strong message to Victorian cabinet ministers in the leadup to the May 2016 Victorian State budget
Event: 7.45-9.00am Friday 4 March at cnr Nicholson and Park Sts, North Fitzroy,
plus statement delivery to Jane Garrett, Minister for Emergency Services, 31 Nicholson St, East Brunswick
Register on Facebook Event
On the morning of Friday 4 March, Climate Action Moreland friends and supporters will be taking a strong message to local member and cabinet minister Jane Garrett. It is the first of ten such actions focussing on senior state government ministers telling them its time to act on climate change, energy sources and coal.
It’s time for the Victorian government to fund an ambitious program to build renewable energy and commence the closure of Australia’s dirtiest coal-power stations in the May 2016 State budget, consistent with the Premier’s ambition for Victoria to be the leader in climate policy.
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February 23, 2016 at 5:16 pm morelandclimategroup Leave a comment
Tell the government it’s over for coal
Can you help tell the Victorian government it’s time to close down Hazelwood, Australia’s dirtiest power station?
In conjunction with climate action groups in Yarra and Darebin, CAM has produced postcards to the premier and local MPs.
The cards read: “The Premier says he wants to be a leader on climate change action and renewable energy jobs. That means leaving coal in the ground, not issuing new exploration licences. It means closing Hazelwood, Australia’s dirtiest power station. Hazelwood is no longer required and is crowding out solar and wind investment. Please act now before it is too late.”
Can you help spread the word by letter-boxing your local area, putting the postcards in localshops and cafes, of helping at a street stall? Please email Mark Riley on markriley@netspace.net.au or ring 0432 030 211.
Replace Hazelwood Primer
It is clear in Victoria that positive programs of energy efficiency and encouragement of renewables are insufficient by themselves for strong climate action. We need to close down the high emissions intensity of brown coal electricity generation, it is the elephant in the room. Climate Action Moreland has actively campaigned to close down the Hazelwood Power Station since 2009, including producing a brief history of Hazelwood.
This primer to Replace Hazelwood is written by David Spratt from Climate Code Red, provides timely information on why The Victorian Labor Government should act to close Hazelwood.
Summary
• The Victorian Government has expressed a desire (though it does not yet have a policy) for a significant expansion of renewable energy in Victoria. This has widespread community support and must be done quickly and at a large scale because climate change is already dangerous. Scientists warn that two degrees Celsius of warming could occur in just two decades, so preserving a safe climate and a healthy future requires rapid de-carbonisation.
• Expanding renewable energy requires coal-generating capacity to be removed from the market because oversupply is crowding out and preventing new investment. The Australian energy market operator says there are about eight gigawatts of surplus generating capacity across the national market, equivalent to five Hazelwood power stations. This includes up to 2.2 gigawatts of brown coal generation that is no longer required in Victoria in 2015, which is greater than Hazelwood’s capacity. Power companies have been lobbying government for capacity to be reduced, and senior Victorian energy department bureaucrats are aware of the need to close coal power stations in order to roll out renewables.
• The Victorian Government has committed to being a leader on climate change. Closing down excess coal generation is a key test of the government’s climate credentials. Coal-fired power stations are the world’s largest source of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions. Victoria cannot make the necessary emissions reductions without addressing the operations of Hazelwood and/or Yallourn power stations.
• Hazelwood power station is old, unsafe and dirty. Based on emissions intensity, it is the third-dirtiest coal power station in the world and the dirtiest in Australia, releasing around 16 million tonnes of greenhouse gases annually, almost three per cent of total Australian greenhouse emissions. The Hazelwood majority owner, Engie (formerly GDF Suez), owns the third-most polluting coal-power station fleet in the world. The full – health and carbon pollution – social costs of Hazelwood totalling $900 million per year are borne by the community, rather than the plant’s owners.
• A steady stream of local jobs can be created in the Latrobe Valley with the rehabilitation of mines and decommissioning of plant, which will require a significant workforce stretching well over a decade. The Latrobe Valley needs a strong jobs package and an economic transition plan and new industries because the move from coal to clean wind and solar renewable energy is now both urgent and inevitable.
• Hazelwood power station and mine are a health hazard to local residents, exemplified by the autumn 2014 mine fire. The owners of Hazelwood have abused their social licence and forfeited the right to profit from a power station that is now a major health hazard – both to local people and to all peoples who face the uncertainties of living in a hotter and more extreme climate.
• In July 2010, the Victorian Labor government promised to start shutting Hazelwood and passed climate legislation providing the reserve power to regulate emissions from existing brown coal-fired generators. Restoring the government’s capacity to regulate emissions would be complementary to actions being taken by other governments, including in the United States and Europe.
Download and read the full primer: HZ-primer-v1-lowres
Replace Hazelwood Primer – Click to Download PDF
Will Victoria lead in climate action? Brown coal is the elephant in the room
Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio talking up Labor’s positive climate action on energy, while ignoring the elephant in the room, Victoria’s brown coal – June 3, 2015. Photo: John Englart
Victoria is taking steps to lead on climate change action, according to the Victorian Premier Dan Andrews. In an announcement on Thursday the Premier said an independent review of the Climate Change Act 2010 would be established to report to the government before 31 December 2015, and tabled in early 2016 along with a Government response.
Environment Minister Lisa Neville said “Climate change is already happening, and it is threatening to irreversibly affect our communities, our environment and our way of life.”
The committee will propose options to strengthen the Act, so it can provide a strong foundation for Victorian action on climate change. The original Act was passed with the support of opposition parties. After the election of the Baillieu Government most of the measures and targets were wound back or abolished in the legislation.
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Vigil to Replace Hazelwood – Jane Garrett MLA
Our visit to Jane Garrett MLA, member for Brunswick, was our third state MP we have visited that represents the Moreland Municipality, to raise the necessity and importance of closing Hazelwood and a community transition plan.
People in Moreland Call on Jane Garrett MLA to Act Now. Climate Action Moreland urges local MPs to support strong action now to close Australia’s dirtiest power station, Hazelwood.
We had about 30 people turn up to our vigil at the intersection of Nicholson St and the Capital City Trail bikepath.
“Great support this morning from cyclists as we bring awareness to the urgency of closing Hazelwood, before visiting our local MP Jane Garrett on our quest to #replacehazewood.” said Bronwyn Plarre.
Indeed, many cyclists took a leaflet and some volunteered to be photographed with a sign. Preaching to the converted? maybe. But many of these cyclists are Jane Garrett’s constituents, concerned about climate change and the necessity for closing coal emissions and transitioning to renewable energy.
The Victorian Labor Government has moved positively on energy efficiency and boosting renewable energy. But it also needs to be making economic transition plans to phase out coal emissions, starting with Hazelwood. Here are photos from the day:
When: Thursday, May 28at 8:00am – 9:00am
Where: Park St and Nicholson St, East Brunswick (bike path)
At the end we will be walking up to Jane Garrett’s office to hand over a formal letter.
Register to attend on Facebook
If your cycling to school or work, chat with us for a while or hang around and come with us to deliver the letter to her office.
Our climate is getting more extreme and unpredictable, with more intense heat waves, more menacing bush fires, and more disastrous and costly weather events such as Superstorm Sandy in north-east USA and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Climate change activists will visit Jane Garrett MLA for Brunswick, from 8am, Thursday 28 May where constituents will deliver her a letter calling for urgent replacement of the world’s third dirtiest power station.
CAM has welcomed the moves by the the Victorian Government to relax the laws on wind farm developments and the fact that it will re-open the Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry. CAM has also been encouraged by recent proposals to examine Victoria’s future with regard to energy efficiency, climate change and renewable energy.
During the unprecedented Black Saturday bushfire period, there were 180 extra heat-stress-related deaths in Victoria, an average of more than two deaths for each electorate in Victoria.
This is just one way climate change is affecting constituents right now, with many more severe impacts that will affect Victoria’s rainfall and food-growing capacity, worsen bush fires and inundate coastal areas.
The need to move quickly to replace dirty coal with clean renewable energy and jobs was highlighted in a new report from Oxford University’s Stranded Assets Programme, which identified the most-polluting, least-efficient and oldest “sub-critical” coal-fired power stations.
The report found 89% of Australia’s coal power station fleet is sub-critical, “by far the most carbon-intensive sub-critical fleet in the world.
One quarter of Australia’s coal plants need to close within five years if Australians are to play an equitable part in keeping with government pledges.
“The previous ALP state government showed promise in this matter”, said Gemma Williams, “We hope this current government will show strong leadership now.”
In 2010, then Labor premier John Brumby, in explaining his policy for a phased close-down of Hazelwood, told ABC radio listeners: ‘either you believe in closing Hazelwood or you don’t, and I do.’
Labor’s 2010 climate change legislation provided the reserve power to regulate emissions from existing brown coal-fired generators.
This legislation was undermined by the Baillieu government, and now is the time to restore the government’s capacity to regulate emissions.
CAM is urging the development of a strong jobs package and an economic transition plan for the Latrobe Valley because the move from coal to clean wind and solar renewable energy is now both urgent and inevitable.
Climate Action Moreland will be taking these message to electors and other state MPs in Moreland:
+ Urgent action is required now to replace coal
+ Hazelwood can be shut without affecting power supplies, and
+ Coal is a major health hazard to Victorians
May 20, 2015 at 11:46 pm morelandclimategroup Leave a comment
Vigil to Replace Hazelwood – Frank McGuire MLA Broadmeadows
Cold afternoon to be holding a vigil in Broady! But we were there. I passed on my letter and the recent study on the impacts of coal in Victoria to the office worker In Frank Maguire MP’s electoral office. Unfortunately it is a busy time for Frank Maguire, so I requested an appointment be made at a later date to discuss in person the issues raised re closing Hazelwood. We cut short standing around outside and went into the shopping centre and had a debrief over a coffee before coming home. We also distributed a few black balloons to enthusiastic kids.
John Englart
Climate Action Moreland urges local MPs to support strong action now to close Australia’s dirtiest power station, Hazelwood.
Our climate is getting hotter and more extreme, with more intense heat waves, more menacing bush fires, and more costly extreme events such as Superstorm Sandy and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Local climate change activists will approach Frank Maguire, MLA for Broadmeadows, this Thursday when constituents will deliver a letter calling for the urgent closure of the world’s third dirtiest power station.
Community Vigil – Climate Action Moreland
Where: Electoral Office of Frank Maguire,
Shop G42, Broadmeadows shopping centre (south side), next to Commonwealth Bank, in the car park opposite the Council chambers
When: Thursday at 4:30am – 5:30am
Register: on Facebook event
BREAKING: We have just learned that ALCOA has decided to close the Anglesea coal power station and mine on 31 August 2015. This is good news as there has been an active community campaign in Anglesea and across the state to shut the power station ever since the Port Henry aluminium smelter was shut down. The power it generates for the grid is superfluos and it has extremely high sulphur dioxide emissions, with the coal mine being a huge fire risk over summer and during heat wave events.
@SCAA3230 @JacintaMorahan Stop Press! @alcoa Just announced they're closing Anglesea mine, by August 31! http://t.co/rEUhxz32mV
— tom doig (@tomdoig) May 12, 2015
Fantastic #coal announcement. Now #Alcoa needs to talk to local #Anglesea community over site rehabilitation https://t.co/nvC8eAqHn5
— John Englart EAM (@takvera) May 12, 2015
Hazelwood Power station is also superfluos to meeting grid demand, being highly inefficient. The Mine fire in 2014 highlighted the health danger of the mine to the local community, with at least 11 excess deaths in the region associated with the polluting smoke from the fire.
Here in the northern suburbs heatwaves, and bushfires on the urban rural boundary, are issues that our state government needs to grapple with for adaptation measures, emergency planning, and mitigation for conditions in 10 or 20 years time.
During the unprecedented 2009 Black Saturday bushfire period, there were 374 extra heat-stress-related deaths in Victoria, an average of more than 4.25 deaths for each Legislative Assembly electorate in Victoria.
The need to move quickly to replace dirty coal with clean renewable energy and jobs was highlighted in a new report from Oxford University’s Stranded Assets Programme, which identified the most-polluting, least-efficient and oldest “sub-critical” coal-fired power stations. (See Climate Council June 2014 report: Australia’s Electricity Sector: Ageing, Inefficient and Unprepared)
The report found 89% of Australia’s coal power station fleet is sub-critical, “by far” the most carbon-intensive sub-critical fleet in the world.
One quarter of Australia’s coal plants need to close within five years if Australians are to play an equitable part in keeping with government pledges.
The previous ALP state government showed promise in this matter”, said Gemma Williams, “We hope this current government will show strong leadership now.”
In 2010, then Labor premier John Brumby, in explaining his policy for a phased close-down of Hazelwood, told ABC radio listeners: “either you believe in closing Hazelwood or you don’t, and I do.”
Labor’s 2010 climate change legislation provided the reserve power to regulate emissions from existing brown coal-fired generators.
This legislation was undermined by the Baillieu government, and now is the time to restore the government’s capacity to regulate emissions.
We urge the development of a strong jobs package and an economic transition plan for the Latrobe Valley because the move from coal to clean wind and solar renewable energy is now both urgent and inevitable.
Climate Action Moreland will be taking these message to electors and other state MPs in Moreland:
Urgent action is required now to replace coal
Hazelwood can be shut without affecting power supplies, and
Coal is a major health hazard to Victorians.
Further Vigils
We will follow up our vigil outside Frank Maguire’s electoral office for the seat of Broadmeadows with further vigils for the State MLAs that represent our municipality here in Moreland: Jane Garrett, MP for Brunswick.
Community Vigil – Climate Action Moreland
Thursday, May 28 from 8.00 – 9.00am
Jane Garrett, Brunswick
Action on the corner of Nicholson St and Park St bike path, then deliver letter to her office at
Suite 1, 31 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East (near corner of Brunswick Rd and Nicholson Street)
Vigil to Replace Hazelwood – Lizzie Blandthorn MLA Pascoe Vale
Climate Action Moreland urges local MPs to support strong action now to close Australia’s dirtiest power station, Hazelwood.
Our climate is getting hotter and more extreme, with more intense heat waves, more menacing bush fires, and more costly extreme events such as Superstorm Sandy and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.
Local climate change activists will approach Lizzie Blandthorn, MLA for Pascoe Vale, this Thursday when constituents will deliver a letter calling for the urgent closure of the world’s third dirtiest power station.
Community Vigil – Climate Action Moreland
Where: Electoral Office of Lizzie Blandthorn,
416a Bell Street, Pascoe Vale
When: Thursday at 7:30am – 8:30am
Register: on Facebook event
During the unprecedented 2009 Black Saturday bushfire period, there were 374 extra heat-stress-related deaths in Victoria, an average of more than 4.25 deaths for each Legislative Assembly electorate in Victoria.
The need to move quickly to replace dirty coal with clean renewable energy and jobs was highlighted in a new report from Oxford University’s Stranded Assets Programme, which identified the most-polluting, least-efficient and oldest “sub-critical” coal-fired power stations. (See Climate Council June 2014 report: Australia’s Electricity Sector: Ageing, Inefficient and Unprepared)
The report found 89% of Australia’s coal power station fleet is sub-critical, “by far” the most carbon-intensive sub-critical fleet in the world.
One quarter of Australia’s coal plants need to close within five years if Australians are to play an equitable part in keeping with government pledges.
The previous ALP state government showed promise in this matter”, said Gemma Williams, “We hope this current government will show strong leadership now.”
In 2010, then Labor premier John Brumby, in explaining his policy for a phased close-down of Hazelwood, told ABC radio listeners: “either you believe in closing Hazelwood or you don’t, and I do.”
Labor’s 2010 climate change legislation provided the reserve power to regulate emissions from existing brown coal-fired generators.
This legislation was undermined by the Baillieu government, and now is the time to restore the government’s capacity to regulate emissions.
We urge the development of a strong jobs package and an economic transition plan for the Latrobe Valley because the move from coal to clean wind and solar renewable energy is now both urgent and inevitable.
Climate Action Moreland will be taking these message to electors and other state MPs in Moreland:
- Urgent action is required now to replace coal
- Hazelwood can be shut without affecting power supplies, and
- Coal is a major health hazard to Victorians.
Further Vigils
We will follow up our vigil outside Lizzie Blandthorn’s electoral office for the seat of Pascoe Vale with further vigils for the two other State MLAs that represent our municipality here in Moreland: Frank Maguire, MP for Broadmeadows and Jane Garrett, MP for Brunswick.
Community Vigil – Climate Action Moreland
Thursday, May 14 from 4.30-5.30pm
Frank McGuire, Broadmeadows
Meet at Broadmeadows Shopping Centre, Shop G42, Pascoe Vale Road, Broadmeadows
Community Vigil – Climate Action Moreland
Thursday, May 28 from 8.00 – 9.00am
Jane Garrett, Brunswick
Action on the corner of Nicholson St and Park St bike path, then deliver letter to her office at
Suite 1, 31 Nicholson Street, Brunswick East (near corner of Brunswick Rd and Nicholson Street)
April 27, 2015 at 9:51 am morelandclimategroup Leave a comment
Close toxic Hazelwood Power Station: protest at #Springst
Climate Action Moreland has had a long involvement in the campaign to shut down the Hazelwood Coal power station. This has on occasion entailed working or lobbying with our local MPs. This Thursday 16 April a protest has been called for the steps of Parliament House at 12.30pm to 1.30pm. It was called jointly by Green MPs Adam Bandt the Federal member for Melbourne and Ellen Sandell, the State member for Melbourne. See the Facebook event page registration.
Ms Sandell is due to make a statement in State Parliament on Thursday, calling on the Labor government to replace Hazelwood with clean energy and to support a community-led transition plan for mine rehabilitation and job creation.
We also call on the Premier Dan Andrews and the Labor Government and especially our local Labor MPs that represent Moreland – Jane Garrett (Brunswick), Lizzie Blandthorn (Pascoe Vale) and Frank McGuire (Broadmeadows) – to heed the grassroots campaign to close down Hazelwood.
It is way past time. Read more below on the amount of pollution and impact on health from Hazelwood. David Spratt at Climate Code Red has also detailed past promises by Labor for a phased closure of Hazelwood in his article: Hazelwood: Australia’s dirtiest power station in nation with the world’s dirtiest power industry.
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Climate Action Merribek: people in Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner and Glenroy wanting action on climate change 