The single biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions is burning fossil fuels, primarily coal.
Burning coal releases carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, causing global warming.
The climate change impacts from burning fossil fuels create small increases in temperature, which can have huge effects on winds, rainfall and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like storms and cyclones. Rapid change to climate and weather patterns means that our native species of plants and animals cannot adapt quickly enough, increasing the risk of extinction for many.
The coal mined in the Hunter Valley poses serious risks not only for the health and well being of local communities, but also for communities where Hunter Valley coal is burned.
Scientists say that for a safe climate in Australia, we need to ensure that 90% of our remaining coal reserves stay in the ground.
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Newcastle City Council Divests from Fossil Fuels
The City of Newcastle Council voted last night to focus investments away from environmentally and socially destructive entities, including Australia’s Big Four Banks. With a total investment portfolio of $270 million, the groundbreaking move makes Newcastle the fourth, and largest Council in New South Wales, and the seventh in the country to divest.
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Community Speaks Out Against T4
Last week, concerned citizens, small business owners, farmers, tourism operators, air quality and biodiversity experts, economists, our Lord Mayor and other elected representatives, mothers, fathers and grandparents called on the Planning Assessment Commission to reject the proposed fourth coal terminal (T4) for Newcastle.
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Newcastle Raises The Heat on Commonwealth Bank over Climate
A series of rolling protests took place this morning at Commonwealth Bank branches across Newcastle, as concerned CommBank customers and other Newcastle residents join people around the country calling on the bank to publicly rule out finance for the dangerous Galilee Basin coal mining project and the associated Abbot Point coal port expansion on the Great Barrier Reef.
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Community Report Card Gives the NSW EPA a Failing Grade on Air Pollution
A survey of community attitudes on air quality has shown that the EPA is falling well short of community expectations on managing air quality in the Hunter Valley, particularly in the coal impacted areas of the region.
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T4 Approval is Now, or Never
Over the next two days, three Planning Commissioners visit our town to make a decision about whether another coal terminal should be approved for Newcastle.
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Newcastle’s $4.8bln coal facility that should not be built
Last week saw the NSW Planning Department recommend the Planning Assessment Commission approve the proposal to spend A$4.8 billion to develop a further 70 million tonne per annum (Mtpa) coal export facility at Newcastle Port. Market conditions that suggest that Newcastle’s T4 coal terminal is extremely unlikely to be built.
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Hunter Community Welcomes EPA Inquiry
The Hunter community today welcomed the announcement of a Parliamentary Inquiry into the organisational culture and performance of the New South Wales Environmental Protection Agency, especially given the inquiry’s focus on the EPA’s repeated mishandling of coal dust monitoring in the region.
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Community Opposition United Against T4
No amount of planning can make an infrastructure proposal with unacceptable impacts acceptable. And planning that merely lauds the positive aspects of a proposal, and does nothing to minimise, offset or compensate for the burden of its impacts, is more spin than substance.
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Independent expert confirms coal trains pollute
An independent expert report released today confirms community concerns in Newcastle and the Hunter Valley that coal trains are a significant source of particle pollution.
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NSW coal industry flags move to cover coal wagons
The NSW Minerals Council issued a media statement today to announce an independent study into particle pollution from uncovered coal wagons. Community groups in the Hunter welcome the study as a step toward covering coal wagons and improved community health. “This study takes us one step closer to covering the millions of uncovered coal wagons that pollute coal corridor suburbs,” said Hunter Community Environment Centre spokesperson Ms Fee Mozeley. The NSW Minerals Council issued a media statement today to announce an independent study into particle pollution from uncovered coal wagons. Community groups in the Hunter welcome the study as a step toward covering coal wagons and improved community health. “This study takes us one step closer to covering the millions of uncovered coal wagons that pollute coal corridor suburbs,” said Hunter Community Environment Centre spokesperson Ms Fee Mozeley.
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