Leave it in the ground

I attended a nice little gathering of a few hundred concerned citizens today, outside the State Premier's office in Sydney. There were eloquent speeches, loud choruses, and a general air of good natured dedication to a worthy cause.

The worthy cause is opposition to a proposed new coal mine. It's not any old coal mine. It's at Maules Creek near Narrabri in northern NSW. It would involve turning the ancient Leard Forest into a vast open cut hole in the ground. The carbon dioxide emissions produced when the coal from this one mine is burnt would be more than that of the entire fossil fuel industry of New Zealand. The land clearing may wipe out threatened species, and it could ruin the water table that supplies a national food bowl. 

How come this is still going on? The world is finally turning away from fossil fuels after all. Even the US is bringing in serious emission reduction targets now - putting to shame the current Australian government's pathetic target and its seeming determination to fail even to meet this. Solar electricity becomes cheaper by the week, and Australia is just about the best positioned country in the world to take advantage of it. You wouldn't know that from the government's attitude to it. And regarding the clearing of native forests and the protection of endangered species, we thought we had the planning controls and the environmental regulations sorted out to look after all this. But no, we're going backwards, faster and faster.

Over the last few weeks there was a series of bribery and corruption scandals in NSW politics. All kinds of shonky and illegal goings on were exposed in the world of political party fundraising. A premier resigned suddenly, the new one promised urgent action to reform the system (so urgent that it looks like being postponed now till after the next election). Secretive arrangements were ensuring access to ministers in return for large donations. Politicians and business figures have been officially declared by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to be corrupt, left right and centre. This is nothing to do with the Maules Creek mine, I'm sure. But it's a lot to do with why there's so little trust in our governments, state and federal, or the way they make their decisions.

By coincidence a very friendly young Japanese girl turned up in the front drive this afternoon while I was watering the garden. She worked for a company selling domestic solar electricity installations. I rarely give the time of day to the young Indians who turn up to urge me to switch my electricity supplier or telecommunications provider, but this was different. I've been keeping an eye on the solar electric option for a while. A few years ago governments were offering very generous buy-back rates for your surplus solar power. It was considered well worth while, both to stimulate the industry of the future and because the conventional peak power it replaced was so expensive. Suddenly all subsidies and incentives disappeared. The local solar industry reeled and squirmed, but didn't quite die. Definitely nothing to do with a powerful fossil fuel lobby, corrupt politics, and unreformed donation systems.

Unfortunately, our new electricity retailer refuses to supply you at all if you have solar electric panels! They just want to sell you lots of fossil-fuelled power - they're not at all interested in buying it off you!