2022-04-01
The ‘conditional approval of Whitehaven’s Narrabri coal mine extension announced today is criminal and shows complete contempt for the people of Lismore and the Northern Rivers who have lost everything as a result of the ongoing catastrophic floods fuelled by coal and gas, says Greens MP and climate change spokesperson* Cate Faehrmann.
“It just beggars belief that as NSW is bearing the brunt of floods, the scale and frequency of which we’ve never experienced before, another massive coal mine gets approved in NSW,” said Ms Faehrmann.
“Just when the NSW Upper House has been recalled to sit an extra day after sitting until midnight last night, to pass draconian, anti-protest laws to clamp down on climate protesters, another coal mine is approved. No wonder people are taking extraordinary measures to demand action on the climate crisis.
“The community wants renewable energy, not new polluting coal mines, and they will continue to take action to stop this dangerous and deadly coal mine going ahead.
“Just last Friday, thousands of young people and their supporters took to the streets demanding governments act on the climate crisis and save their futures. They will be devastated by this news.
“There is no doubt in the minds of people of Lismore and the Northern Rivers that the ‘rain bombs’, ‘hybrid cyclones’, and ‘atmospheric rivers’ that have wiped out their communities are driven by climate change.
“This is backed up by thousands of the world’s climate scientists who have been warning for decades of more severe and frequent extreme weather events, including bushfires, storms and floods.
“It’s nothing short of criminal that in the face of these disasters, another coal mine in NSW has been approved which will further contribute to the misery and trauma that communities are facing as a result of more and more catastrophic weather events,” said Ms Faehrmann.
*All Greens NSW MPs have the climate change portfolio.