Posts tagged ‘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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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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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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Victorian Coal royalties increase in State Budget
Loy Yang A and B power stations
The Andrews Government will increase coal royalties in the 2015/16 budget to approximately match the rate levied in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. This should be welcomed.
The rate will increase three fold from January 1st 2017 and is estimated to raise $252 million over the forward estimates over the next 4 years.
This will prove useful for helping to fund the health support for the LaTrobe Valley, as well as health and education expenditure for the state. $51.2 million was promised in the state budget to implement the recommendations of the Mine Fire Inquiry and improving health outcomes for the Valley.
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La Trobe Valley coal mine rehabilitation bonds increased to $254 million
Premier Daniel Andrews announces response to Mine fire Inquiry in Morwell
On Friday the Andrews government announced in Morwell it’s response to the final landmark inquiry into the 2014 Hazelwood Mine Fire. This includes an initial $50 million in the Victorian state budget to implement the recommendations, and a major increase in the rehabilitation bonds for the three La Trobe Valley coal mines.
“The people of the Latrobe Valley have been completely vindicated. I’m so proud of their efforts. They never gave up and neither will we.” said Premier Dan Andrews.
The recommendations focus on 3 major areas: improving the health outcomes of the La Trobe Valley community, increased monitoring of air pollution, and improve progressive rehabilitation and end of life mine planning.
It highlights the importance of helping the La Trobe Valley transition away from coal, and in putting in place a just transition for the community. The increased focus on health and mine rehabilitation is a necessary first step for this transition.
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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
‘It’s Over for Coal’ Post Card Strategy
By Bronwyn Plarre and Mark Riley
The CAM stalls team have been out and about in the community highlighting the need to leave coal in the ground and to replace Hazelwood Power Station. The postcards target Jane Garret MLA as she is sitting in the marginal seat of Bruswick and the Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. We’ve been out on Saturdays recently at the Coburg Farmer’s Market, CERES’ Organic Market and Coburg Mall. Our next post card event will be in a Lygon Street location.
Can you give a few hours to talk to community members about the need to get off coal and onto renewables, please get in touch with the CAM Stalls Team. Phone Bronwyn on 0409 420 929 or email bronip@bigpond.com
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
Climate Action Merribek: people in Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner and Glenroy wanting action on climate change 