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So why is CoalWatch so important?
Brown coal. Burning it is one of the most greenhouse polluting ways of generating electricity on the planet.
Currently 92 percent of Victoria’s electricity comes from brown coal and we have 65 billion tonnes of coal sitting in the ground. Up to 18 billion tonnes of it is currently deemed ‘potentially economic’ and ‘unallocated’ (i.e. the government can allocate it at any time).
Currently we’re digging up 65 million tonnes of brown coal per year in Victoria, and burning it produces over half of the state’s greenhouse pollution.
CoalWatch aims to keep track of our coal industry and prevent any further expansion of polluting projects. It assists communities to check whether the state government has already issued a mining or exploration licence for their town or farm, what tax-payer money has been pledged to brown coal projects, the planning permits that have been approved, and proposed coal projects that are being lobbied for by big business to our politicians.
CoalWatch is a collaborative project. We’ve partnered with a fantastic wiki-based project run by US not-for-profit organisation Sourcewatch. The project is called CoalSwarm. US activists have had huge success in recent years preventing the expansion of the coal industry there. We plan to replicate that success here.
In recent years Victorians have become increasingly concerned and vocal over climate change and the way we source our electricity. (And with good reason!) Gone are the days when government and industry could proudly announce their intention to develop new coal projects publicly without fear of community backlash. These days industry prefers to lobby behind closed doors and we sometimes don’t find out about planned mining projects until it is too late.
Democracy at work
In late 2009, a state government proposal to establish a brown coal export industry only entered the public domain due to a ‘leak’ to The Age newspaper. Environment Victoria led a public outcry that made sure the plan was put firmly on the back-burner – for now. Through CoalWatch we plan to make sure any proposed coal projects are in the public domain well before they are a done deal, giving our community the best chance to make sure they never get off the ground.
Victorians want our state to reduce greenhouse pollution and act decisively to curb climate change. This includes a shift away from brown coal to clean, sustainable and safe electricity sources such as renewable energy, and low-emission gas as a transition fuel.
Through this program, we aim to bring about a moratorium on new coal projects, or the expansion of existing coal projects for Victoria. The first step is to know what is on the drawing board.
Check out the coal projects on the agenda
Keen to blow the whistle?
Got the inside scoop on a polluting coal project? If you’re aware of a coal project that’s not listed on Coal Watch, or have more information to add to an existing listing, then let us know! Pretty please! We’re happy to receive anonymous tip-offs and we promise to protect your anonymity.
Together we can make sure CoalWatch is keeping tabs on all proposed coal projects in our state, and work to keep coal in the ground where it belongs.
Just send your hot tips to coalwatch@environmentvictoria.org.au or give us a-hoy on (03) 9341 8100.
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