Australia: Coal Power Station shut down in APEC climate protest
3.09.2007
Activists have shut down power generation at the Loy Yang power station in Gippsland’s Latrobe Valley in Victoria on Monday morning for five hours, as a protest against inaction on climate change by the Australian Government of John Howard, and policies that maintain the coal power industry and its contribution to climate change at the expense of developing renewable energy production. The action was undertaken to send a message to APEC leaders to take real action on Climate Change and the Kyoto protocol.
At least four activists from Real Action on Climate Change entered the power station at 5am and locked themselves on to a coal conveyor and an overburden conveyor belt, forcing the shutdown of the 600 megawatt generator, halving production from Victoria’s biggest coal fired power station that supplies 30% of the states power, the dirtiest power supply in the developed world.
Another power unit at Loy Yang is out for maintenance and today’s forced shutdown has dropped power output to half. The electricity price in Victoria has risen to $63 because of the action and is expected to cost the operators thousands of dollars in lost production.
Spokeperson Michaela Stubbs said the action was intended to send a message to APEC leaders meeting in Sydney this week.
“We’re already seeing the effects of climate change and it’s our generation and future generations that are going to be dealing with the long term consequences of climate change,” she said in an ABC news report. “We need to see real action now, through the Kyoto process.”
The Group say they are making a stand for all Australians to protect our community against the dangers of climate change. The group says the APEC meeting is being used to further the lies and deciet being spread by Prime Minister Howard in regards to the Climate Change issue and his continuing efforts to undermine the Kyoto Protocol. A group spokesperson said that Climate Change ends with leaving coal in the ground.
“We need real action on climate change to stop our reliance on polluting forms of energy such as coal and move towards a renewable energy future.” said spokesperson Michaela Stubbs. “Real action on climate change is about people power not coal power” said Michaela Stubbs.
Police Search and Rescue squad were forced to cut the activists free from the conveyor belts, and they have been taken to Traralgon police station in the La Trobe Valley.
Sources:
* Beyond Zero Emissions Media Release Sept 3, 207 — Protesters block coal supply to Loy Yang Power station
* Scoop Sept 3, 2007 — Real Action: People Power, Not Coal Power
* ABC online, Sept 3, 2007 — Climate protest shuts down power station
* ABC online, Sept 3, 2007 — Michaela Stubbs on ABC Radio 774 (MP3)
* Blog, Sept 3, 2007 — Real Action on Climate Change for account of action and photos
* Climate IMC, 3 Sept 2007 This is real action on climate change
Repost of original story from Sydney Indymedia:
http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/apec-climate-change-protest-shuts-down-victorian-coal-power-station
Video: www.engagemedia.org/Members/raocc/videos/loyyang.ogg/view
APEC videos/vodcast: engagemedia.org/apec
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Australia: Greenpeace activists stage APEC coal protest
2.09.2007
Twelve Greenpeace activists have been arrested at the world’s biggest coal port at Newcastle, 160km north of Sydney, after painting the message “Australia Pushing Export Coal” on the side of a coal ship, The Endeavour, and unfurling a large banner in Chinese calling on China to be cautious of John Howard and George Bush’s attempts to sabotage Kyoto. The protest comes at the start of the 2007 APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) forum meeting being hosted by Australian Prime Minister John Howard in Sydney 2–9 September 2007, and being attended by USA President George Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Pacific rim leaders.
The protest was enacted at dawn on Sunday September 2 to highlight the Australian Government’s real APEC agenda: to protect Australia’s coal export industry by undermining the Kyoto Protocol. The message was painted in two metre high letters to highlight to the world that Australia’s addiction to coal is behind its spoiler role in international negotiations on climate change. According to Greenpeace, the message exposes the Howard Government’s real APEC agenda: to protect Australia’s coal export industry by undermining the Kyoto Protocol.
“Australia’s climate policy is to ‘Push Export Coal’ and to hell with the consequences for the planet,” said Ben Pearson, Greenpeace energy campaigner.
“Real action on climate change means moving away from coal and shifting to clean, renewable energy – and we don’t have the luxury of time for expensive talkfests that have no concrete outcomes. Like any dealer protecting its patch, Australia’s government under John Howard is blatantly ignoring global efforts to extend and strengthen Kyoto, the only internationally binding agreement to deal with climate change – and pushing instead a hopelessly vague distraction through APEC.”
More than four million tonnes of coal will be exported from Newcastle during APEC, resulting in over 11 million tonnes of CO2 emissions – equivalent to the annual emissions from 800,000 average Australian households, according to Greenpeace. Factoring in the costs of climate change impacts, as detailed in the Stern Review, Australia’s coal exports will result in more than $1.2 billion of damage during the APEC week alone, and $64 billion annually, Greenpeace calculated.
Newcastle, already the world’s largest coal port, is set for a major expansion to double its capacity for exporting coal.
“At a time when we need to see deep reductions in greenhouse gases, Australia is not only refusing to act, but is also increasing the greenhouse pollution it exports to the rest of the world. Australia’s climate policy is to protect coal exports at the expense of the climate rather than make the switch to renewable energy and improved energy efficiency measures we know we need to make.” explained Ben Pearson, Greenpeace Australia energy campaigner.
Under a new police powers Act protesters arrested durng the summit week will have a presumption against bail. Police from Sydney travelled to Newcastle to discuss charges against the Greenpeace activists, but no action was taken under the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007. Eleven activists were charged with malicious damage and a twelfth with dangerous navigation: all were released on bail later in the day.
The APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007 came into force on August 30 and remain valid to September 12, 2007. It includes a list of people the police can exclude from the city centre, plus expanded powers of stop, search and detention, and confiscation of items from people. APEC signals the rise of military urbanism in Australia.
NSW Police Minister David Campbell has said that antiwar demonstrators and anyone else considered “suspicious” will be arrested and detained without bail for the duration of the September 6–9 summit. People on the ‘excluded list’ will be denied access to restricted zones, without any recourse or avenue of appeal. The Daily Telegraph has already published a list of 29 people with their photos allegedly on this list. The measures in this Act amount to a new form of detention without trial, and constitute a direct attack on freedom of political expression and movement, aimed at outlawing dissent and stifling opposition to the APEC meeting.
Much of the northern CBD of Sydney will be contained by a nine foot high concrete and wire security fence, dubbed unofficially the Great Wall of APEC.
The coal ship, The Endeavour, sailed out of Newcastle at 11.30am Sunday local time, with the painted message already removed.
Sources:
* Greenpeace Australia Media Release Sept 2, 2007 — Howard’s real APEC agenda spelled out in coal protest
* Daily Telegraph Sept 2, 2007 — APEC arrests begin with Greenpeace protest
* Sydney Morning Herald August 30, 2007 — Police get special APEC powers
* WSWS.org May 21, 2007 — Australia: Police-state measures for APEC summit in Sydney
Original story at Sydney Indymedia:
http://sydney.indymedia.org.au/story/newcastle%3A-greenpeace-activists-arrested-apec-coal-protest