Posts filed under ‘Repalce Hazelwood’
Climate win: Hazelwood closing end of March 2017
The official announcement of Hazelwood’s future has been made by French company Engie on the eve of the Paris Agreement coming into force and the start of the UN climate conference COP22: Hazelwood will close by end of March 2017.
Hazelwood is Australia’s, indeed the industrial world’s, most polluting power station.
We should celebrate this as a definite climate win. Climate Action Moreland, along with many other community groups, have been campaigning for closure of Hazelwood with a just transition for the workers and community since 2009.
Now we need a co-ordinated state and national plan to manage the energy transition to ensure just outcomes for workers and communities. There are more jobs in total in renewables, but they are unlikely to be in the same places as existing coal dependant communities. So we need to assist communities in this transition.
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Hazelwood in French spotlight: French Minister and ENGIE CEO signal likely closure
Postcard from Hazelwood to France’s Minister for Ecology Segolene Royal
The Andrews Government needs to be working on transition planning for the LaTrobe Valley communities with the latest news from France that French company Engie is considering closure or sale of Hazelwood. The company’s major shareholder is the French state and French Ecology Minister Segolene Royal said on France TV that Engie needs to “disengage” with coal.
The Minister for Resources, Wade Noonan, commented: “The Government has been in contact with the mine’s owner Engie about this matter and I’m advised that no decision has been made,” Mr Noonan said. “Those discussions will continue. As the state’s new Resources Minister I look forward to meeting with the Latrobe Valley’s coal generators as well as local residents to discuss these issues.” as reported by the ABC.
If the Minister’s comments reflect the broader government attitude, it is a poor reflection on the ill-preparedness in the Victorian government for a just energy transition, especially after their April announcements following the mine fire inquiry recommendations.
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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
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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Why is Australia’s dirtiest Power station still operating? Hazelwood.
We need urgent action to address climate change and replace coal
Burning coal, prinicpally in coal-fired power stations, is the single largest contributor to global warming. We need a rapid end to fossil fuel use to preserve a safe climate and healthy future. Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe Valley is Australia’s dirtiest power generator, and the third dirtiest in the world.
Hazelwood can be shut without affecting power supplies
Hazelwood is not needed for power generation and closing it will not affect the security of our electricity supplies. Dirty coal power stations such as Hazelwood are a major disincentive to investment in new, large-scale renewable energy. The Australian energy market regulator says there is excess electricity generating capacity and Hazelwood can be closed without affecting energy security.
Coal is a major health hazard
The 2014 Morwell mine fire was a major health hazard. The Hazelwood owners are profiting from a facility that is causing damage to local residents and our future climate. The Latrobe Valley needs jobs. Many jobs will be created through the decommissioning of Hazelwood and in mine rehabilitation.
It produces over 18 million tonnes of carbon pollution and uses 27 billion litres of water every year, and is Australia’s single largest source of dioxin pollution.
A steady stream of jobs can be created in the LaTrobe Valley: decommissioning and mine rehabilitation will require a significant workforce for many years.
So why is Hazelwood still open?
In 1992 the SECV announced that Hazelwood will be retired in 2005, to follow older plants at Newport and Yallourn. But in 2005 the Brack’s Government extends the life of Hazelwood power station. (See Hazelwood power station – A brief history)
The Victorian Labor government promised in July 2010 to start closing Hazelwood. However, the Baillieu/ Napthine government promoted coal and attacked renewable energy. We now have a new Labor government. Labor must make good on its promise to close down Hazelwood.
Make your voice heard
Tell Enengy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio time’s up for Hazelwood.
• Ring on 9465 9033
• Email: lily.d’ambrosio@parliament.vic.gov.au
• tweet #replacehazelwood @LilyDAmbrosioMP
• Join Climate Action Moreland
We need strong community support and strong, loud voices. Join us!
Replace Hazelwood with clean renewable energy
Climate Action Merribek: people in Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner and Glenroy wanting action on climate change 