Australia's own Bush clone strikes again
Aug. 15th, 2005 01:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapeofthingsHonestly, how did so many people vote for him? It sickens me that the majority of our population placed it's own hip pockets above decency, sustainability and ethical behaviour. Seriously, shame on you for being suck selfish fucks.
Canberra in denial over greenhouse
Amanda Hodge
August 11, 2005
THE Howard Government has denied global warming exists, or that burning coal releases greenhouse gases that lead to climate change, in court documents defending its approval of two Queensland coalmines. The denial comes a fortnight after Environment Minister Ian Campbell released a report warning that climate change is inevitable as a result of rising greenhouse emissions and that the impacts must be considered in all future government decisions.
Senator Campbell signed off on the Isaac Plains and Sonoma Coal projects in May, determining that neither needed assessment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The two mines will produce a combined 48 million tonnes of coal over their lifetime.
But last month, Queensland's Wildlife Preservation Society launched a Federal Court challenge against that decision. It claimed the Government had failed to consider the effects of climate change that the extraction and burning of coal from the proposed central Queensland coalmines would have on sensitive areas, as the legislation required.
The Government has responded by disputing a statement of facts asserting the existence of global warming, that burning coal leads to global-warming greenhouse gases, and that climate change can have a severe impact on areas such as the Great Barrier Reef.
Greenhouse gas emissions are not a trigger for assessment under the act, but World Heritage Areas such as the Great Barrier Reef are.
Environmental Defenders Office solicitor Kirsty Ruddock, acting for the Wildlife Preservation Society, said yesterday that she was surprised by the Government's response, given its rhetoric on climate change in recent weeks. "We thought that with some of these issues there was no scientific debate these days," Ms Ruddock said. "But effectively, the Government is saying, 'we dispute these matters and we're going to put you to proof on them'."
Last month, the Government's Climate Change, Risk and Vulnerability study found Australia could expect more frequent and extreme droughts, floods and storms, but less rainfall, because of previous greenhouse gas accumulation. Just days later, it signed an Asia-Pacific climate pact to fast-track technologies that reduce greenhouse emissions from coal. The commonwealth's chief scientist, Robin Batterham, has also warned that Australia faces "deep trouble" if it does not reduce greenhouse emissions by 50per cent by 2050.
Senator Campbell, as the respondent in the Federal Court case, refused to comment on the about-face yesterday. However, a ministerial spokeswoman said the Government was taking a strong international lead on the impacts of climate change. She added: "The minister would prefer that taxpayers' resources were used to reduce the impact of climate change, rather than on lawyers' fees."
The society's case, as the country's first litigation against greenhouse gas emissions under commonwealth environment legislation, relies on a precedent set last year by the full bench of the Federal Court over Queensland's proposed new Nathan Dam.
That decision broadened the commonwealth's assessment obligations under the act by finding that the indirect impacts a new dam would have on the Great Barrier Reef, such as increased chemical application and farm run-off, must be considered.
Canberra in denial over greenhouse
Amanda Hodge
August 11, 2005
THE Howard Government has denied global warming exists, or that burning coal releases greenhouse gases that lead to climate change, in court documents defending its approval of two Queensland coalmines. The denial comes a fortnight after Environment Minister Ian Campbell released a report warning that climate change is inevitable as a result of rising greenhouse emissions and that the impacts must be considered in all future government decisions.
Senator Campbell signed off on the Isaac Plains and Sonoma Coal projects in May, determining that neither needed assessment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. The two mines will produce a combined 48 million tonnes of coal over their lifetime.
But last month, Queensland's Wildlife Preservation Society launched a Federal Court challenge against that decision. It claimed the Government had failed to consider the effects of climate change that the extraction and burning of coal from the proposed central Queensland coalmines would have on sensitive areas, as the legislation required.
The Government has responded by disputing a statement of facts asserting the existence of global warming, that burning coal leads to global-warming greenhouse gases, and that climate change can have a severe impact on areas such as the Great Barrier Reef.
Greenhouse gas emissions are not a trigger for assessment under the act, but World Heritage Areas such as the Great Barrier Reef are.
Environmental Defenders Office solicitor Kirsty Ruddock, acting for the Wildlife Preservation Society, said yesterday that she was surprised by the Government's response, given its rhetoric on climate change in recent weeks. "We thought that with some of these issues there was no scientific debate these days," Ms Ruddock said. "But effectively, the Government is saying, 'we dispute these matters and we're going to put you to proof on them'."
Last month, the Government's Climate Change, Risk and Vulnerability study found Australia could expect more frequent and extreme droughts, floods and storms, but less rainfall, because of previous greenhouse gas accumulation. Just days later, it signed an Asia-Pacific climate pact to fast-track technologies that reduce greenhouse emissions from coal. The commonwealth's chief scientist, Robin Batterham, has also warned that Australia faces "deep trouble" if it does not reduce greenhouse emissions by 50per cent by 2050.
Senator Campbell, as the respondent in the Federal Court case, refused to comment on the about-face yesterday. However, a ministerial spokeswoman said the Government was taking a strong international lead on the impacts of climate change. She added: "The minister would prefer that taxpayers' resources were used to reduce the impact of climate change, rather than on lawyers' fees."
The society's case, as the country's first litigation against greenhouse gas emissions under commonwealth environment legislation, relies on a precedent set last year by the full bench of the Federal Court over Queensland's proposed new Nathan Dam.
That decision broadened the commonwealth's assessment obligations under the act by finding that the indirect impacts a new dam would have on the Great Barrier Reef, such as increased chemical application and farm run-off, must be considered.
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