The Australian coal industry is working hand in glove with the NSW government to more than double the generating capacity at Mt Piper power station near Lithgow.
Classed as 'critical infrastructure', Delta Electricity (owned by the NSW government) wants to increase the generating capacity of Mt Piper, which is currently 1,400 MW, by building a new power station on site with an additional 2,000 MW capacity.
You can quickly add your voice of opposition to
this massive increase in burning fossil fuels
by completing an online submission form
on the Department of Planning's website.
The closing date for submissions
is Monday 26th October.
It need only take 5 minutes.
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There is space for your comments, which need not be extensive or scientifically based.
Points you may wish to include:
- The NSW government has stated it wants to act on climate change and lower the state's emissions. How can this be reconciled with burning more coal to make electricity?
- All new power-generating facilities should be based on renewable energy which, once established, produces electricity with zero emission. Climate change is a scientific fact and every effort needs to be made to lower, not raise, carbon emissions.
- Delta cite the proposed upgrade as 'the best means of supplying electricity at commercially competitive rates". When the climate scientists of the world are warning of dangerous levels of carbon emissions, the "best means of supplying electricity" should be based on an environmental and sustainable rationale.
- Once construction is completed, fifty additional jobs will be created from the Mt Piper upgrade. Coal is not providing large numbers of jobs in regional communities and employment in renewable energy infrastructure would provide a comparable number of local jobs.
- There is no proposal by Delta, at this stage, to install CCS or "clean coal" technology to the proposed extension. With all the rhetoric of "new-gen coal", there is no expectation of putting this technology into action at Mt Piper. Delta even admits it is "not currently commercially available". They realize, of course, that "clean coal" technology would change the proposal from the best commercially competitive rate of supplying electricity, to one seriously rivalled and probably surpassed by a renewable power generating facility of similar capacity.
- A personal statement about your situation, your fears for the future and the world we are creating for our children would complete your submission.
Regards from the Citizens Climate Campaign Committee
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