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Fossil Fool Bulletin
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Fossil Fool Bulletin 1:10
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6 February 2018
Fossil fools in the spotlight this week: A resource for people working to end the fossil fuel era in Australia Published by Eve Sinton • fossil.fool.bulletin@gmail.com
Public opposition to Adani grows Nearly three quarters of Australians support halting the expansion of coal mining – including the massive Adani project – and fast-tracking investment in solar, to reduce planet warming pollution, new polling has found. The ReachTEL poll, commissioned by the Stop Adani Alliance, surveyed 3,312 Australians about their attitudes to the Adani mine, coal mining, climate change and protection of the Great Barrier Reef. It reveals:
• 65% oppose the Adani coal mine outright, a 13% surge in just 10 months since the Stop Adani Alliance was launched in March 2017 • 73% support a policy to halt the expansion of coal mining and fast track solar power and storage to reduce the threat of climate change • 69% of Australians agree burning coal fuels worsening heatwaves, floods, droughts and storms through global warming • 57% support a moratorium on any new coal mines as a strategy to address climate change
Australian Conservation Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Kelly O’Shanassy, said: “The poll shows a real appetite for stopping Adani’s dirty new mega mine, with nearly two-thirds of Australians now opposing the proposed coal mine. “This is a tribute to the over two million Australians who’ve joined rallies, lobbied MPs, signed petitions and formed local groups to stop the mine. “Decades of rock solid climate science has identified the burning of coal as the most dangerous activity threatening our safe climate. The majority of Australians agree. “This poll again makes clear Australians want an end to the age of burning coal for power.
FFB 1:10 • 6 FEBRUARY 2018
Linc Energy environmental harm case set for long court hearing
Linc Energy, the company whose Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) plant at Hopeland on the Darling Downs spread contamination over hundreds of square kilometres, is now in court over environmental offences. Linc, formerly led by mining entrepreneur Peter Bond, is in liquidation. It is not defending the five charges of ‘wilfully and unlawfully causing serious environmental damage’ between 2007 and 2013. However, not guilty pleas have been entered for all charges. The trial, at the District Court in Brisbane, is expected to last for at least nine weeks. A jury of 14 has been empanelled. A corporation is a ‘person’ that can be prosecuted
Judge Michael Shanahan told jurors that “the defendant in this case is a corporation that is currently in liquidation. Our law says that a corporation is a person that can be prosecuted and can be convicted of a criminal offence
if it is proved to the required standard.” The Judge said no-one would sit in the dock and the corporation had applied to the Supreme Court for an order so that it did not have to defend itself. Judge Shanahan told jurors they would have to be objective about underground coal gasification, as “this type of mining activity itself can raise strong feelings one way or the other.” Govt investigators to testify
Prosecutor Ralph Devlin said up to 75 witnesses would testify – including former Linc Energy scientists, geologists, and engineers. Several investigators from the Queensland Environment Department are expected to give evidence. Mr Devlin said the jury will also hear from people made ill by the escaping gases as a result of the operations. On one occasion, employees at the Hopeland underground coal gasification plant were so overcome by the leaking fumes they fled the property
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