'They leave the devastation behind them' Newcastle 7

In the time that they are buying with court cases to deter or intimidate protestors, the coal companies plan massive expansions. As Guy Pearse wrote in the Age 14/11/2010: The projected demand from China and India “will only be met if Australia doubles its production” This depends on our continued willingness to turn a blind eye to the CO2” we export, even though coal generates nearly half the world’s annual CO2 emissions.

Clive Hamilton in the SMH 3/2/2011 warned that the Newcastle case has “all the hallmarks of a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP).

Already Victorians can go to jail for one year for standing in the grounds of a power plant and two years for painting a slogan on the smokestack. Our energy minister Martin Ferguson has urged state governments “to toughen up laws to impede protests against energy infrastructure”. Is this case in NSW , using Victims’ Compensation and rehabilitation legislation a response to government encouragement?

In response to Hamilton’s article, the executive chairman of a company that sells coal to China, Tony Letford SMH 4/2/11, wrote “Modern Society wants all the advantages of cheap energy, but it is not prepared to pay the price that alternative sources of energy involve. We can accept than burning fossil fuels is having an adverse impact in which all society is involved.”

In the court at Newcastle the narrative of the coal loader, that they are good men concerned with safety, respectful of the right to protest and doing a rigorous job for our prosperity clashes with the narrative of Rising Tide whose silence in court was deafening.

There is a third narrative possible outside that of David and Goliath. As Carly Phillips said “I’d like them to talk about making a transition away from coal. They could start with a moratorium on new coal plants and facilities. We understand that they can’t end it overnight but they need to start investing in renewable and start helping workers retrain into green jobs. We want them to admit the local impacts of mining and help to repay the damage.

Climate change could have passed the point of no return already.

They are trying to show the power of the state and the media to stifle protest but people are making the connection between our use and export of coal and climate change.”

As a Beyond Zero Emissions article in SMH 27/1/2011 says “Coalmining is shaping up as the asbestos liability of the 21st Century. BHP’s $11 million donation to the Qld flood appeal shows that it is feeling exposed after public calls for coalminers to pay for the flood damage.”

When will we hear the verdict of this Newcastle battle in the war on climate change ? Not until March 3rd. When will the coal industry start adapting to the the decarbonising Asian economies? I’d love to know. Perhaps that coffee invitation could become a working party.