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THE PROBLEM WITH COAL | ENDING EMISSIONS | THE MYTH OF CLEAN COAL | COAL VS WATER | EXPORTING COAL COAL SEAM GAS GET INVOLVED

 

Welcome to CoalWatch

CoalWatch is an interactive resource that tracks the coal industry’s expansion plans and helps builds a movement to stop these polluting developments.

Victoria can’t take action on climate change and expand its brown coal industry at the same time. The two are incompatible. To reduce our emissions and tackle climate change we need to be moving away from brown coal, not building new polluting projects.

It’s well known that Victoria’s energy portfolio is poorly balanced. In 2009, 92 percent of the state’s electricity came from burning brown coal. What’s less well known though is that the coal industry has huge expansion plans. Our state government has issued the coal industry with exploration and mining licences for huge swathes of our land across the state. If just a fraction of the proposed projects go ahead Victoria’s greenhouse emissions would increase massively, as would the industry’s water use and its impact on our local environments.

It’s time to draw a line in the sand. We need a moratorium on new coal projects, and on the expansion of existing coal projects for Victoria. And we need a plan to clean up the state’s electricity supply by shifting towards clean, renewable energy.

The first step is to know what’s on the drawing board. That’s where CoalWatch comes in.

CoalWatch provides a way for everyday Victorians to keep track of the coal industry’s ambitious expansion plans. To check what tax-payer money has been pledged to brown coal projects and the coal projects industry is spruiking to our politicians.

Victorian governments have so far given the coal industry the green light. Now it’s up to all of us to put up the stop sign. Help us make sure Victoria’s brown coal stays in the ground. 

Why CoalWatch

 

 

Doubts emerge over Latrobe Valley transition

16 May 2013
ABC
The Latrobe City Council says Federal Government budget cuts will make it difficult for the region to move away from its reliance on brown coal.
 
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Renewable energy projects lose in budget

15 May 2013
ABC PM
 
TRANSCRIPT
 
JENNIFER MACEY: The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) was set up one year ago and has...
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Unknown wonders: Barmah-Millewa forest

14 May 2013
Susan Lawler, The Conversation 
At first glance, the Barmah-...
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Carbon price working? Coal slumps, clean energy soars

10 May 2013
Tom Arup, Sydney Morning Herald
Electricity generated by Australia's highly polluting brown coal power plants has fallen 14 per cent...
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Liberal MPs want rethink on Coalition's climate change plan

10 May 2013
Jonathan Swan, Sydney Morning Herald
Two Liberal MPs want Tony Abbott to review or consider abandoning parts of his $3.2 billion plan to combat climate...
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Open cut in spotlight

9 May 2013
Latrobe Valley Express
The integrity of Latrobe Valley's brown coal open cut network has come under the state budget spotlight, with $4.2 million allocated to improve "high risk"...
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Brown coal investment

9 May 2013
Latrobe Valley Express
INVESTMENT in the Latrobe Valley's brown coal sector will be driven by a range of funding initiatives, according to State Energy and Resources Minister Nicholas Kotsiras....
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Scrap subsidies and save the budget?

9 May 2013
Nick Perry, The Australian
THE last thing Labor needs is another fight with the mining sector, but with the federal budget balance about to take a multibillion-dollar beating...
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Transport a winner, but others are not so happy

8 May 2013
ABC
There has been positive reaction to the State Government's East West Link project which is set to provide a massive boost to Victoria's construction sector....
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Wind farm syndrome dismissed

7 May 2013
Tom Arup, The Age
The inaudible sound caused by wind farms is no worse than that from other rural and urban environments and does not affect human health, a review by the Victorian...
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From Twitter Twitter

Tom

Put your money where your mouth is

posted by Tom on Thursday, 2 May, 2013 - 13:43

How you invest and manage your money can have a big impact on our environment. So why not take the Ethical Money Challenge, to ensure that your money is used to create the future you want?

So you’ve tried green cleaning, riding to work and eating green. You’re a real green...

more
Juliet

Duck hunting in Ramsar listed wetlands – is it a wise use?

posted by Juliet on Friday, 8 March, 2013 - 10:22

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Significance is an international treaty that provides for the conservation and ‘wise use’ of wetlands and their resources. Its mission is "the...

more
Kelly OShanassy

Victorians are proud of their environment

posted by Kelly OShanassy on Tuesday, 31 July, 2012 - 10:14

Victorians are proud of their environment. And with good reason too.

Melbourne’s regarded as one of the world’s most liveable cities. Head a couple of hours out of town and you can be on a wild beach on the surf coast or Gippsland, lost in towering old growth forests,...

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Sarah

The government won’t cut our emissions by 20%

posted by Sarah on Thursday, 12 April, 2012 - 11:07

But you can!

You may have heard, the state government has dumped the target to reduce Victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020. We’re pretty bummed about it because it means clean energy investment and employment opportunities will be sent elsewhere...

more
Sarah

Join the Backwards March

posted by Sarah on Thursday, 3 November, 2011 - 08:32

Call on the Premier to stop taking Victoria backwards on our environment

It’s fair to say that the Baillieu Government’s performance on the environment this past year has been anything...

more

From Flickr Flickr

Locals in the Federal Seat of Deakin say five per cent is not enough On 20 April 2009, over 40 people from the local community in the Federal Seat of Deakin gathered outside the office of their local Labor MP, Mr. Mike Symon, to call for real and urgent action on climate change. Supported by...
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© 2012 Environment Victoria