Hunter Wetlands three million litre welcome relief

BY JARROD MELMETH

Hunter Water has thrown the Hunter Wetlands Centre a lifeline in the form of three million litres of water, following an emergency request to tup up the dry wetlands in hopes of protecting the local bird population.

The recent dry weather has had an impact on local bird populations particularly Egrets with young chicks being unable to keep cool and sadly perishing.

Hunter Wetlands CEO Dr Stuart Blanch said the birds need water in the wetlands.

"When the chicks started getting ready to leave the nest about two weeks ago, suddenly it was an emergency because all the wetlands were dry and the birds, because of that, were dehydrating because if heat stress. There was no food because there was no water and their parents were not feeding them so we were losing about 10, 20, 30 birds a day were dying."

Since the water has been turned on, Dr Blanch says the birds are returning.

"I was watching on Saturday morning. We started the water at 10am and about midday there were 16 Egrets walking over the baked dry ground to where the water was flowing out and they were literally drinking the water straight from the hose. From that moment on a lot of birds in the Wetlands have come into the one-hectare area that has been saved," Dr Blanch said.

The water is expected to get the wetlands through the rest of summer, but Dr Blanch said this is not permanent this is a stop-gap measure.

"This is a solution for this summer, but we can't do it next summer and the summer after that. The reason why we are getting these prolonged periods of no rain and very hot weather is that we are changing the climate. We all have to do more to rescue our wildlife and start really taking climate change seriously," Dr Blanch said.

Wetlands CEO, Dr Stuart Blanch & Hunter Water Managing
Director, Jim Bentley. Picture supplied.

Bylong coal mine project could devastate Hunter environment

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Plans for the new Bylong Coal Project between Denman and Mudgee have been dealt yet another blow with the Planning Assessment Commission (PCA) slamming the project.

The PAC report on the KEPCO coal mine project slammed it for gaps in evidence and high levels of uncertainty, particularly about the potential cumulative impacts on the Bylong Valley and the community. The report also flagged numerous issues with water access, protection of surrounding agriculture and incomplete information.

There are particular concerns for the Hunter Valley from the Lock the Gate Alliance who say the scathing review revealed the Bylong coal project would directly open cut rich farmland in the Hunter and severely impact Tarwyn Park.

NSW Greens energy and resources spokesperson Jeremy Buckingham says the mine will destroy ecologically and environmentally important areas throughout the Hunter and the state.

"The area must be protected for its agriculture and tourism value plus its environmental values in an age of climate change the greens do not believe we should be opening up new coal mines in NSW."

If approved the mine will extract a total of 124 million tonnes, roughly 6.5 million each year, from both open cut operations and underground. Jeremy Buckingham is urging the government to reconsider the mine and realise just how much it will wreck the Bylong Valley, its community and the surrounds.

"The Bylong Valley must be protected, it's important, ecological,, agricultural, and our tourism assets will be destroyed by this stupid coal mine. We have major climate change and we do not need to be opening coal mines, the Greens are calling on the government to cancel their exploration licence  and give the people, the Bylong Valley and NSW certainty that that region will be protected from destructive coal mining."

Adani loan bad for Hunter economy

BY JARROD MELMETH

The Turnbull government is coming under fire for "declaring war on Hunter coal miners" if they proceed with a $1 billion loan to the Adani Carmichael coal mine in Queensland.

Adani has applied for the loan through the $5 billion Northern Australian Infrastructure Fund, which grants concessional loans for the private sector to build infrastructure at the top of Australia.

The mine would become one of the biggest in the world with the potential to produce between 25 and 60 million tonnes per year depending on the plan from which the mine is operated from.

Shadow Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Infrastructure Pat Conroy said the research shows the negative impact the loan would have to the Hunter region.

"It is just straight logic. If demand for a product is falling if you increase supply, by definition the price will fall and that is my main point which has been corroborated by the CEO of Newcastle Port and by the Australian Institute and I have not had anyone dispute that.

"While the coal is a bit lower quality than Newcastle coal in terms of its calorific value and the value of it when you are trying to use it to produce electricity, it still will suppress the coal prices globally.

"When you add on top of that the fact that the Federal government is considering giving a loan to this company, it is bad news for Hunter coal miners and that is why we should be saying to the Government that we should not be giving a leg up to the competition," Mr Conroy said.

Pat Conroy.

Environmental Protests to Take Place in Port of Newcastle

The Port of Newcastle will play host to the Australian outlet of an international protest on climate change, focusing on asking the world to walk away from fossil fuels.

The peaceful protest  is under the banner Break Free and is being conducted in association with Greenpeace.

Hundreds of Australians are expected to attend the event running from May 7-8, with thousands expected to attend around the world, with peaceful protests taking place in the United Kingdom, Canada and South Africa.

"We are in a climate crisis right now, there's no other way to put it" said Dr Nikola Casule from Greenpeace Australia.

"February was the hottest month on record, we've had places in the Arctic that effectively had no winter.

"There are certain parts of the Arctic that were 16 degrees above normal."

It comes after Environment Minister Greg Hunt attended the Paris climate conference late last year, signing the commitment to reduce carbon emissions.

"The Turnbull Government has so far maintained the policies of the Abbott Government" said Dr Casule.

He went on to say Break Free's goal is to force elective representatives to take real action on climate change, and calling on Parliament to implement policies that can make a change.

However, Dr Casule has said reducing carbon emissions needs to include the reduction of Australia's exportation of coal.

"Australian carbon emission is only a small part of what we really need to be talking about.

"It's our exports that are our biggest contribution to global warming, and to stop that we need to keep coal in the ground."

One of Australia's largest exports is coal, with millions of dollars coming in from nations across the world, including China.

"The debate you hear in Canberra kind of misses the point if it's not talking about a reduction in the Australian coal industry" said Dr Casule.

Image courtesy of The Australian (LINK).