This is humongous.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is reconsidering 18 of the most polluting new coal and gas proposals in Australia.
Each proposal is a climate bomb waiting to be detonated on the communities and wildlife we love. But no previous Environment Minister has taken into account the impacts of their emissions. Together we can change this.
Our allies at Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), on behalf of the Environment Council of Central Queensland (EcoCeQ), led a bold legal intervention that has now resulted in the Minister opening these 18 proposals for public comment. We need to help back in their argument.
We now have a critical window to demonstrate to the new Environment Minister the community demand for her to reconsider these projects. Each of us has until 24 November to write a persuasive comment to the Minister. Can we count you in?
This is a huge opportunity. Your voice can help convince the Minister that each and every one of the 18 coal and gas proposals is a nature disaster.
Read the guide to making a comment, then once you’re ready make your unique comment on the government’s portal:
- Make a comment on Woodside’s North West Shelf extension
- Make a comment on Glencore’s Valeria coal mine
- Make a comment on Waratah’s Alpha North coal mine
- Make a comment on Australia Pacific LNG’s gas supply support project
- Make a comment on Macmines’ China Stone coal mine
Our Environment Minister has a vital responsibility: protecting all nationally significant animals, places, plants and ecosystems. This is about koalas, turtles, the reef, the Tarkine, Kakadu. Cultural heritage sites of deep significance for First Nations Peoples. All the natural wonders we want our children and their children to know and love.
read the guide to making a comment
To have the most impact, we are asking members of the ACF community to make comments on these five projects:
- Glencore’s Valeria project – a new open-cut coal mine proposal in Central Queensland.
- Woodside’s North West Shelf extension – a proposal to keep their polluting gas plant, in Northern Western Australia, open until 2070.
- Australia Pacific LNG’s gas expansion – to drill new gas wells across 377,725 hectares across central and south-west Queensland.
- Macmines’ China Stone Coal Mine – a new coal mine proposal in Northern Queensland.
- Waratah Coal’s Alpha North Coal Mine Project – a new coal mine proposal in Central Queensland.
Here’s why:
- Queensland is the most polluting state in the country. For a safe climate, we need to quickly flip this and keep growing the momentum for clean energy to power the state’s energy and exports.
- If the projects in Central Queensland go ahead, it will open the door for even more coal to be taken out of the ground at the nearby Galilee Basin.
- We need to slash climate pollution fast. For our forests, rivers and communities. We can’t afford to open new coal mines.
To be effective and get the Minister’s consideration, we each need to write a short comment highlighting that there is ‘substantial new information’ about the climate harm from each of these proposals.
Check out the comment-writing guide for more details (note: if you follow the guide’s instructions, the comment you write will be effective for and can be submitted to all 18 proposals)
For more support in writing an effective comment, you may like to attend one of the upcoming online comment-writing parties hosted by Environmental Justice Australia, including:
Let's make the most of the next two weeks to convince our Environment Minister to reconsider all 18 new coal and gas proposals and the harm they would cause. Let’s use our keyboards to be a powerful voice for nature.
Thank you.
