We’ve been to court
The outcome of our VCAT challenge against the EPAs approval of HRL has been announced and unfortunately HRL have been given the green light to build.
The ruling by VCAT means that HRL will now be able to build the new power plant at Morwell at its preferred size of 600 megawatts, not the300 megawatts originally imposed by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) because of the projected level of CO2 emissions.
Check out our media release on the decision here
For all you legal buffs read the VCAT judgement summary here
We disagree with the interpretation of the law in this case, and cannot see how a new coal-fired power station can possibly be seen as best-practice for the industry sector of electricity generation when clean energy is on the table and ready to go. While there were some minor concessions to our argument and we achieved some good environmental legal precedents, this outcome remains deeply disappointing.
One of the concessions in approving the full 600 megawatt power station, was that HRL are only allowed to commence development if another brown coal-fired power station such as Hazelwood has signed a contract to be closed under the federal government’s Contacts for Closure program as part of the carbon price. So since this ruling, HRL has stopped working on the design and pre-construction activities related to the coal-fired power station.
Check out or media release on this here
Catch the perspective from The Age
So while things are on ice, we now call on the Prime Minister to confirm that there will be no further extension of HRLs grant funding, due to expire if HRL don’t meet all of the conditions by 30 June 2012, and to withdraw the $100 million grant immediately.
With only weeks to go, please join us as we put the pressure on the feds to withdraw this whopping grant. Because it truly is ridiculous for a government to introduce a carbon price to cut pollution on one hand, and on the other hand over taxpayer money to build a new polluting coal-fired power station.
Keep your eyes peeled for ways to take action.
Running this court case was time-consuming and expensive. Luckily, we were able to secure three Barristers to act pro-bono for this important case. But expert witnesses, case preparation and lawyers still cost money.
