[clear] The bitter truth and the bitter cold: chainsaw surgery for the animals of Leard State Forest You can be aware that something is true, without really feeling it, and only come up against your illusions, and your naivety, when your knowledge is made real, and you actually experience the terrible truth first hand. It’s a truism in #nswpol that coal mining companies can “say anything they like before approval, and do anything they like afterwards.” It’s a pattern with which coal-affected communities are familiar that conditions of mine approvals are regularly broken and changed after approval is secured. Mines get bigger, creeks get polluted, offset deadlines get forgiven and […]
NSW lets hibernating animals die to speed up Whitehaven mine, by a sad @georgefwoods at #leardblockade
May 21, 2014
Big coal gets hot and heavy with protestors: @georgefwoods responds to @NSWMC and @ResourcesQLD
March 19, 2014
By Georgina Woods @georgefwoods 19th March 2014 The industry bodies that represent the coal export industry in NSW and Queensland have recently taken to lambasting, belittling and smearing the intentions of individuals and organisations that have dared to face up to them and speak the truth about the consequences of the unchecked expansion of coal in Australia. Some politicians, particularly in Queensland, have joined this chorus. I am glad that it is a matter of public record that these people have tried to shame people and groups opposing the expansion of the coal industry. Our children need to know that this was a fierce battle of right and wrong. The underdog pose being struck by the coal industry associations in […]
#leardblockade state of play report by @lockthegate campaigner @georgefwoods
March 11, 2014
By Georgina Woods @georgefwoods Memes by Lee Skelton @bustersdah 11th March 2014 The action continues on the ground at the blockade of Leard State Forest, to defend the forest from clearfelling for two open cut coal mines. The campaign is bringing traditional owners, environmentalists, farmers and climate change activists together, because Whitehaven’s Maules Creek mine, in particular, epitomises the short- and long-term damage and degradation being wrought by the expansion of the coal industry in NSW and across Australia. Last week, a tripod was erected to prevent access to Whitehaven’s coal loading facility at Gunnedah, and Narrabri Shire Council’s latest attempt to bully the protesters from their camp on a local […]
Can Leard Forest be saved? @georgefwoods reports on #leardblockade
January 16, 2014
By Georgina Woods @georgefwood Spokesperson for the Leard Forest Alliance 16 January 2014 The battle erupting this week over the Maules Creek coal project and the Leard State Forest is the focal point for major conflicts and questions facing Australia as the age of coal comes to an end, and the age of climate change comes upon us. Maules Creek is a large new open-cut coal mine project, approved but not yet built, in north-west NSW. The proponent is Australia’s biggest local coal miner, Whitehaven Coal, for whom Maules Creek is a make or break project. For over three years, local farmers and environmentalists have campaigned against the project. It […]
New climate change policy play: @georgefwoods reports
July 17, 2013
By Georgina Woods 17 July 2013 The announcement this week that Australia would move one year early to its emissions trading scheme – and make budget cuts to pay for it – has cleared the stage for the election to be fought on climate change, but not in the way that our political parties may be expecting. The Government will pay for the move to float the carbon price with a combination of measures, including winding back a fossil fuel subsidy long criticised by environment groups, scaling back generous payments to coal-fired power stations, and a reduction in funds for the fledgling Biodiversity Fund and the Clean Technology Fund. There […]
