Can you help us get Matt Kean, keen to #CleanUpCoalAsh?

The Hunter Community Environment Centre’s (HCEC) new report Out of the Ashes II is being released early October and sets out clear policy pathways, that if adopted by the NSW Government will:

• Stop the spread of harmful heavy metal pollution, impacting species and water quality in Lake Macquarie, the Upper Cox’s river and the Central Hunter Valley
• See the beneficial reuse of coal-ash increase and boost the sustainable manufacturing sector in regional NSW
• Make the full remediation and revegetation of these polluted sites possible.

Last year, our Environment and Energy Minster, Matt Kean appeared in NSW Parliament alongside Greg Piper MP spruiking coal-ash reuse, and the HCEC needs your help to hold him to his word.

You can join a COVID-safe gathering at the Coal Ash Inquiry Hearings Tuesday 6 October, 12:30pm outside the Lake Macquarie City Council Chambers to show your support to all those giving evidence at the second public hearing.

The public hearing will be live-streamed. 

Can you support the #CleanUpCoalAsh social media campaign with messages to the Minister Kean (@Matt_KeanMP), urging him to take action on coal-ash ?

Catch Up with the Coal-ash Community Alliance-POSTPONED

It’s been 12 months since the Myuna Bay Sport & Rec Centre closure triggered by the potential collapse of Eraring’s Ash dam wall. The local Coal-ash Community Alliance is hosting a community awareness gathering at Wangi Workers on Wednesday 25/3/20, 6pm to update on the problems of the accumulating coal-ash in our community. POSTPONED

At the February Power & Pollution Summit, Bronya Lipski (Environmental Justice Australia) revealed that a comparison of licenses undertaken on operational and coal-ash remediation showed Australia is decades behind international standards and is exceptionally poorly regulated. This has resulted in short and long-term health impacts which are responsible for 300 death/year.

Lisa Evans from the USA-based Earth Justice shared the American experience where in 2008 an ash dam breach contaminated a 121ha river system, including high value waterfront properties, and killed more than 40 people who were involved in the clean-up relocating the toxic sludge (they were discouraged from wearing adequate PPE so as not to alarm people of the danger).

This event triggered a reform on the safe operation of coal-ash dumps in the USA which included:

• Groundwater monitoring for all contaminants at the boundary of the ash dam & public access to data
• Stringent limits on toxic pollutants in groundwater
• Closure of all unlined wet coal ash basins
• Groundwater restoration when contamination limits were exceeded
• Engineering controls and siting restrictions for ash-dams
• Structural stability standards
• Safe closure of all coal-ash dumps, with monitoring for 30 years including corrective measures for breaches
• Financial assurance for clean-up on closure

These measures are something our community can aspire to as the coal-ash dam clean-up associated with the closure of Eraring and Vales Point looms in the next decade. On the up-side the closures provide opportunities to create jobs in the remediation of the sites. The more thorough the clean-up the more jobs created, which has the potential to release 3000ha of waterfront land back to the community, remove the threat of ash-dam wall collapse, along with protecting the long-term health of the environment and community and generating new local industry in coal-ash reuse.

The CPPA made a submission to the inquiry into the costs for remediation of sites containing coal ash repositories and was been invited to give evidence at a hearing on 27/3/20, but it has been POSTPONED.

Power & Pollution Summit

Eraring Power Station , Ash Dam and Myuna Sport & Rec Centre

Over the weekend of 8-9 Feb, 200 coal community members from NSW, Vic and Qld attended the Power & Pollution National Community Summit at Point Wolstoncroft to hear about the status of the coal industry, the approaches to a just transition for these communities and clean up options for the pollution legacy of toxic coal-ash dams.

Power

It started as quite a positive affair. Scott McArdle from the Latrobe Valley Authority sharing how after the closure of Hazelwood in Victoria there are now 10,600 more jobs in the region. A concerted effort was made to build local business through incentives, increase local spend, provide retraining opportunities in new sectors, and invest in building and activating local spaces to ensure the local community continues to engage with each other.

The summit also heard from Dr Amanda Cahill, CEO of The Next Economy, who provides advice to industry leaders and governments seeking to implement just transitions from a coal-based economy. She spoke of the need to connect all sectors of the community and acknowledge the significant role the coal mining industry has played in local communities. There are an increasing number of positive case studies and projects founded on renewable energy but they are ‘invisible’ in the dominant press. She also mentioned, more than once, how the conversations that are taking place behind closed doors with ministers, peak bodies and council who see the economic benefits of a just transition, are not being shared with the public. In Queensland this is triggering industry groups to develop their own transition plans as there is an absence of leadership from government.

Prof John Wiseman from the University of Melbourne’s Energy Transition Hub outlined the urgent need for a well-managed, just transition from coal-fired power to renewables by 2040 to keep climate predictions to below 1.50C warming. He stated that 50% of Australia’s coal-fired power stations are over 35years old and many will close sooner than currently assumed. Locally, Eraring’s predicted closure is 2032 and Vales Point is 2029. He outlined the critical criteria for a successful transition that builds on regional strengths - proactive policies, transition strategies, collaborative planning with respectful community engagement, long-term political commitment, leadership, and community action.

The Collie community’s ‘no one left behind’ transition strategy, Collie at the Crossroads, was presented by Zero Emissions’ Lachlan Rule. Collie is a West Australian coal community of 9000, with three power stations, in an energy transition resulting from the plans to close coal-based infrastructure. The strategy identifies opportunities in supporting the renewable energy network transition, developing sustainable building materials and renewable technology which would create 1,750 jobs to replace the 1250 lost in coal-based closures. It was recognised that to make this transition work there needs to be a plan with a ‘grand coalition’ of workers, unions and the climate movement.

Prof. Michael Askew’s presentation on behalf of the Australian Transitions Academy at Monash Uni was positively uplifting. He spoke of the rapid transition away from coal which is happening in many areas of the world, faster than anyone expected, being driven by a corporate shift from the environmental division to risk divisions of industry, giants such as Google, Amazon and Shell all decarbonising.

Citing examples of China’s reduction in coal-fired generation from 515GW to 76GW, 42% of the global coal fleet already losing money as renewable energy overtakes coal, and entities where renewables already exceed coal; Germany, the ACT and SA , the case to get on board quickly to optimise industry positioning was well made.

Prof Askew gave an overview on the transition megatrends which are shaping the emerging transformation against the background of an ageing, urban population experiencing climate change, biodiversity loss and sociocultural shifts. The principles guiding this transition include integration, decentralisation, collaboration, regeneration and valorisation (value adding) resulting in a win-win-win driving prosperity with environmental sustainability with social capital.

The transition megatrends included;

• renewable energy in distributed systems, which is great for local regional development
• intensive sustainable food systems, supported by community and access
• Bio-innovation, looking at new ways of converting organic material to valuable products
• The circular economy that maximises value, keeps materials in use and shifts from goods to services
• Support systems that facilitate behaviour change such as cooperatives and reclaiming democracy
• The internet of things which enables change and
• Urban transport renewal

Pollution

The session on pollution was not nearly as chipper with a sudden plummet back to reality with the 1950’s unlined coal-ash dams of Eraring and Vales Point uppermost in locals’ minds.

Coal ash, the by-product of burning coal in power stations, is concentrated in heavy metals and toxins. Locally coal-ash is mixed with water and ‘stored’ in unlined ash dams, where the toxic cocktail leaches into the groundwater, the contamination flowing into the Lake with ecosystems being impacted and heavy metals concentrating in lake seafood such as crabs, prawns and fin-fish and anything that eats them…birds, people.

There is currently an Inquiry into the remediation of coal-ash dumps in NSW which could be a pivotal moment in the campaign to see the 60 million+ tonnes of coal-ash waste on Lake Macquarie's shores cleaned up! Submissions close on Sunday 16th Feb.

The Hunter Community Environment Centre (HCEC) has a comprehensive guide to the issues and how to make a submission. https://www.powerandpollution.com.au/inquiry

HECE advocate to fix the pollution from coal-ash in Lake Macquarie, we need:

• Stronger regulation on heavy metal escaping from ash dumps and power stations
• A waste recovery industry to turn coal-ash into safe products and provide local employment to a region in transition
• Commitment from community and Government in a long-term plan to decontaminate and rehabilitate these valuable shoreline areas to the wetland habitat they were before the power stations

The local Coal-ash Community Alliance is hosting a community awareness gathering at

Wangi Workers on Wednesday 25/3/20, 6pm to update on the problems of the accumulating coal-ash in our community. The 'deathiversary' recognises it’s been 12 months since the Myuna Bay Sport & Rec Centre closure due to the risk of the ash-dam wall breaching in an earthquake.

The Power & Pollution Summit presentations and more information about the speakers can be viewed online https://www.powerandpollution.com.au/speakers