Greenpeace activists have locked themselves to the conveyor belts at the Kooragang coal terminal and are holding up coal exports in the world's largest coal port.

HCEC says Hooray for Greenpeace.

Here is their press release:

Greenpeace stops coal loading at Newcastle Harbour

Warns of post-election coal expansion including Anvil Hill

Newcastle, 21st February 2007

Greenpeace has just shut down the biggest coal terminal in Newcastle Harbour to warn of the NSW Government’s post-election expansion plans for the Hunter Valley coal industry, including approval of the controversial Anvil Hill proposal, which would be a climate change disaster.

Two Greenpeace activists have taken non-violent action by chaining themselves to a conveyor belt at Kooragang Terminal and stopping all conveyors. The terminal exports 64 million tonnes of coal a year and can load 7,000 tonnes of deadly black coal onto ships every hour. Expansion plans, that will almost certainly be approved after the state election, will increase its capacity to 120 million tonnes – an almost 100% increase. Coal is the most carbon intensive fossil fuel, leading directly to deadly climate change.

“The expansion of the Hunter Valley coal industry would not only be a climate disaster, but a political disaster for Morris Iemma. As voters increasingly get the link between coal and climate change, he knows that his coal expansion plans are an electoral liability and is delaying them until after the poll,” said Greenpeace energy campaigner Ben Pearson.

The expansion of Newcastle’s infrastructure is being driven by huge new coal mine proposals, including the controversial Anvil Hill mine. Planning Minister Frank Sartor recently admitted that no decision on Anvil Hill would be taken before the state election. Yet a government-appointed expert panel recommended that key consent conditions be watered down at the request of the developer, Centennial Coal; “making it almost inevitable that Anvil Hill will be approved once the election is over,” Pearson said.

“In particular, Iemma knows that approving Anvil Hill would cause community outrage and leave his climate change credentials in tatters."

The action took place days ahead of a planned climate summit to be hosted by the State Government in Sydney, at which the Premier will position himself as a climate change leader ahead of the state election.

“Yet nothing he can do would compensate for the climate damage that would be caused by expanding the Hunter coal industry,” Pearson added.

“Premier Iemma should use the summit as an opportunity to announce that he is rejecting Anvil Hill and declaring a moratorium on new coal mines and coal-fired power stations in NSW.”

The Kooragang terminal's capacity generates the equivalent of 18,200 tonnes of carbon emissions every hour and, based on the Stern Report figures of A$110 per tonne of carbon emissions, will cause $2,002,000 of climate damages every hour.

Australia's coal exports of 230 million tonnes a year generate 598 million tonnes of carbon equivalent emissions. Based on the Stern estimate, these exports will lead to $66 billion in climate damages annually. Australia's annual carbon emissions are already the highest in the world per capita, but adding the impact of coal exports more than doubles Australia's total annual emissions to more than one billion tonnes of carbon.