Whilst it is positive to see climate change becoming a more visible issue of late it is alarming to see fossil fuel and nuclear lobbyists leading the rhetoric on how best to tackle it, according to WA Greens Spokesperson on Energy and Climate Change Robin Chapple MLC.
The Business Council of Australia and the Australia Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) have been vocal this week about the benefits, and necessity of, energy reform that includes primarily a greater reliance on gas.
Similarly, the World Nuclear Association has used the International Energy Agency’s world energy outlook report to preach the benefits of nuclear energy as a low-carbon, cost-effective means of producing electricity.
Mr Chapple said these big lobbying groups were jumping on the bandwagon to push for reform that benefitted their industry, but was not in any way a solution.
“These big lobbying groups, who exist purely for the benefit of their industries, have suddenly adopted climate change into their rhetoric,” he said.
“It’s frightening because what they are saying is very misleading, but attempts to be convincing.
Mr Chapple said repeated claims about gas as a clean energy alternative were polluting the information around climate change in Australian politics.
“I just fail to see the logic that these are ‘solutions’ to increasing emissions in Australia,” he said.
“These lobbyists have somehow managed to normalise the idea that replacing finite fossil fuel resources with different, but equally finite, fossil fuel resources is a sustainable and beneficial solution.
“The idea that renewable energy investment is not economically viable needs to be trashed; it is absolute rubbish.
“Why are we, as a nation, so determined not to be a world leader when we have so much potential to be so.”
Mr Chapple said he continued to be amazed by the general indifference, and even open resistance, towards renewable energy by both State and Federal Governments.
“I urge politicians to shake off this attitude of ‘ignorance is bliss’ and really make some noise so that those in power have no choice but to change,” he said.
‘Dialogue on the issue is completely under the spell of industry and lobbyists at the moment when the last thing we need in this country is more gas or worse, an uptake of nuclear power especially given the amazing potential we have for renewable energy generation in this country.”
The Environmental Protection Authority has released a report that begrudgingly acknowledges the cumulative impacts of mining in the Pilbara after years of pressure to do so from both the Greens and non-government groups.
Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC said cumulative environmental impacts from the kind of condensed mining happening in the Pilbara should have been obvious a long time ago.
“If you have an area, like the Pilbara, where there is a host of mining operations underway simultaneously then of course you are going to see a much greater environmental impact,” he said.
“I have maintained for over a decade that this kind of intense mining would have excessive and cumulative environmental impacts on the region.
“That is has taken this long to acknowledge the damage being done to the Pilbara really drives home this government’s priorities; economy at any cost.”
Mr Chapple said acknowledging the cumulative impacts of mining throughout the Pilbara should be taken as a step towards fixing the problem.
“I really hope the information in this report is used in a positive way,” he said.
“We should be looking at ways to improve the rehabilitation of mine sites and the life of existing mine’s rather than dodgy approvals for new mines every other day.
“For example, joint usage and managed railway systems throughout the Pilbara would go a long way towards lessening the cumulative impacts of mining.
“Ultimately, and thanks to some of the information that has come out under the current government, I would like to see the processes for environmental approval in this state totally overhauled.”
Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC has called on Premier Colin Barnett to intercede in a controversial new proposal to open up part of the state’s prime agricultural land in the South West to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
Oil and gas companies have been asked to bid for the right to explore across an area between Busselton and the suburban outskirts of Bunbury including the farming communities of Donnybrook, Capel and Dardanup.
Mr Chapple said it was madness to even consider putting the state’s most valuable agricultural land at risk.
“I am utterly appalled at the carelessness of these actions taken by the state government,” he said.
“Hydraulic fracturing in the South West carries a very real risk of contaminating vital groundwater reserves used by primary producers.
“This proposal also has the potential to strip farmers of their property rights as under current legislation they might not be able to stop mining companies exploring on their properties.
“I call on the Premier to step up and oppose this proposal in the same way he did to protect the wine production and tourism value of Margaret River earlier this year in the wake of a proposed coal mining development.”
Mr Chapple said recent data from the California State Water Resources Control Board confirmed that hydraulic fracturing exploration had contaminated aquifers above maximum contaminant levels.
“If this government continues to approach fracking exploration with such reckless abandon we’ll see the same sort of thing happen here,” he said.
“This government’s vision for the future of WA is one of a desolate wasteland incapable of supporting life in any form.”
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255.
The West Australian Greens have renewed calls for a reassessment of intrusive mining and petroleum leases after the release of a map, produced by the WA Water Corporation, which has revealed that the state’s drinking water reserves could be under serious threat.
Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC said the map showed petroleum exploration leases had been issued over a large proportion of the state’s drinking water reserves, some of which may later become the subject of fracking. This includes almost every coastal water reserve between Margaret River and Geraldton.
“That any development concerning mining or exploration of any kind gets such a free run is a disgrace,” Mr Chapple said.
“There are too many examples where the Department of Mines and Petroleum, sometimes against the wishes of the EPA, allows exploration in areas with significant and well known heritage, conservation or other factors at stake.
“The Burrup Peninsula, for instance, has an immeasurable concentration of the world’s oldest known human art – a unique and culturally significant heritage location not just for WA – yet this government continues to approve exploration and development that is sadly compromising this unique landscape.
“We knew there was exploration going on near water reserves because I have communities, farmers and small businesses all over my electorate up in arms about it but we didn’t know the extent.
“Gas fracking has already been given the go ahead a stone’s throw from the water supply bores of Green Head and Leeman, and similar proposals are facing strong opposition in Geraldton, Carnarvon and across the Kimberley.
“To see the extent of the problem and the amount of land the DMP has released for exploration, let alone how it has managed to fly this under the radar for so long, is alarming,” Mr Chapple said.
For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
