New coal mine approval at Wandoan an affront to common sense, Greenpeace says

August 9, 2017: The approval of a new coal lease in southern Queensland shows the government are more interested in propping up the fossil fuel industry than protecting communities and the environment.

Mining giant Glencore was yesterday granted the first mining leases for a 22 million tonne thermal coal mine in the Surat Basin at Wandoan, north west of Brisbane.

“The Queensland government have repeatedly shown their first priority is to prop up a dying coal industry instead of standing up for communities and the environment,” Greenpeace Climate and Energy campaigner Nikola Casule said.

“We can either have a healthy planet and thriving Great Barrier Reef or we can have new coal mines, not both.

“While the world is moving away from coal, Australia’s politicians seem content to take us in the opposite direction.

“This approval is simply the latest in a long series of decisions benefitting the coal industry at the expense of the Australian people and the places they love.”

Greenpeace Australia Pacific is calling for the government to stop the lucrative taxpayer-funded handouts designed to prop up the coal industry despite the fact that global coal demand is in decline.  [1]

“Our energy future is in renewables, not last century’s polluting coal. Any country that attempts to stick to the fossil fuel path will be left behind,” Casule said.

“Our politicians must abandon their coal fetish and instead harness the renewable energy revolution to protect Australian communities and position Australia as an industry leader in this rapidly growing sector.”

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

[1] http://www.greenpeace.org/india/Global/india/docs/BoomAndBust_2017_EMBARGO.pdf

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Simon Black

Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner

0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org