The first major clearing of Leard State Forest for the controversial Maules Creek coal mine has been halted this morning by protestors that are suspended from the trees that are threatened with clearing.

Less than two weeks ago, the NSW Department of Planning and Environment changed the Biodiversity Management Plan for the Maules Creek project, allowing Whitehaven to begin their major clearing for the first open-cut pits in late Autumn and throughout winter, when many animals species are in hibernation, and vulnerable to injury and death from the bulldozers.

Maules Creek woman, Roselyn Druce is at the protest this morning and said, “Things are going to come to a head quickly if they keep trying to clear this forest during winter, they shouldn’t be there, and we will be doing everything in our power to stop them. The NSW Environment Minister, Rob Stokes, needs to intervene and give the wildlife of this forest a fighting chance.”

A blockade of the site has been underway for four months, and over 150 people have been arrested holding up work on the coal project because of the impact the mine will have on Leard State Forest and Aboriginal cultural heritage and the contribution the coal export industry makes to global climate change.

The company behind the mine, Whitehaven Coal, acquired the project during a merger with Nathan Tinkler’s Aston Resources in late 2011. The chairman of Whitehaven, Mark Vaile, was chair of Aston during the time when Maules Creek was first proposed and Tinkler’s companies were allegedly making improper political donations. Tinkler told the ICAC last week that it was Vaile that solicited donations from Tinkler and associates to the NSW National Party.

Ms Druce said, “We know the decision to approve this mine was wrong, but the system has failed us, and so we have had to take this extraordinary action to blockade the project and fight to save the forest.

“It has been very moving to see people come to this little community from around the country and make sacrifices to protect this area. Now that Whitehaven are seriously trying to clear the forest, I hope more people come and join the blockade. We’ve stopped them for today, but until the Environment Minister steps in to prevent this winter clearing, the protests will continue.”

Further information and comment: Ros Druce 0427 826 188

Follow the action on twitter at #leardblockade

Photos will available throughout the day here: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/pncj24l8lvv00/photo

Front Line Action on Coal Media Release
20 May 2014

Ride for the Leard State Forest

Today 5 tour cyclists will begin a fossil free journey travelling 400km from Newcastle to the Leard State Forest and the protest camp at Maules Creek. The group is raising awareness of the material effects of government corruption on the land, and in particular the environmental impacts to the critically endangered box gum woodland in Leard State Forest. The group will take approximately 6 days to travel the distance, riding through the Hunter Valley, along the coal chain.

“Cycling slows the journey down and makes you really look at the country you’re travelling through to get a sense of the environmental, and social impact of the coal chain” says ecologist and avid cyclist Poppy Danis
“We are witnessing the material effects of the corruption on both sides of government, in their eagerness to tear this country apart”

Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Coal project is Australia’s current largest coal mine under-construction, it is set to destroy approximately 2000 ha of the largest remnant woodland left on the Liverpool plains, Leard State Forest. This will mean significant loss of habitat for over 34 threatened species such as the Turquoise parrot, Yellow-bellied sheath tail bat and the Masked owl.

ICAC inquiry has heard Nathan Tinkler, former key stakeholder of the Maules Creek project, was a central figure in a series of allegedly corrupt schemes to get projects approved in NSW. The group supports a stop work at Maules creek project site and reiterates calls for a full judicial inquiry into the approval of Whitehaven’s Maules Creek Project.

For further comment

Poppy Danis 0410430100
Media Spokesperson
or
Meret MacDonald 0402017027
Media Spokesperson

Frontline Action on Coal teamed up with locals and The Wilderness Society this weekend for a birdwatching in the Leard Forest this weekend.

The Wilderness Society Media Release

The status of Leard Forest as a haven for rare and endangered birds has been confirmed during a weekend long survey of the Leard State Conservation Area, according to the organisers, The Wilderness Society.

36 bird watchers from Tamworth, Armidale, Sydney and Narrabri gathered to conduct surveys of the bird population.

Over 60 Species of birds were identified, including several threatened species.

However there were no flowering trees in the survey area, so the chances of spotting critically endangered Swift Parrots or Regent Honeyeaters were slim.

“It’s a pity NSW Forestry Corporation forbade the survey to take place in the Leard State Forest which is much larger and provides superior habitat and more chance of flowering trees”, said Wilderness Society representative Anna Christie.

“The tragedy for Leard Forest and all its animals and life forms is that it lies above thick seams of coal which are not far from the surface.”

“Given the Leard forest’s extensive ecological value, there was always a suspicion that the approval for Whitehaven’s Maules Creek coal mine was unlawful. We argue that this coal mine should halt immediately until ICAC corruption enquiries linking former mine owner Nathan Tinkler and bribes to the National party are fully resolved. Corruption like this threatens more than just endangered species. It jeopardises the very essence of democracy in this country.”

“It would be a tragedy for Leard Forest to be sacrificed when the era of coal will end well short of the life of the coal mine, leaving a stranded asset.”

Further Comment: Anna Christie, The Wilderness Society as part of the Leard Forest Alliance, 0425 322 186

Marion Rose was a good friend of the Leard Blockade who put in a lot of energy, including two arrests, in support of the campaign. Sadly, on the 7th of May Marion passed away. She will be greatly missed as her spirit and passion for the environment is truly inspirational. We received this letter from Marion soon after the last time she visited the Leard Blockade.

Our love and thoughts are with her family and friends.

---

 

Hi from Bondi Junction. What a contrast my life is here to life at Camp Wando! Mornings at the beach, the noise of the building site next door and unimaginably awful traffic, versus sunshine, socialising and starlit nights (pierced by the occasional police spotlight beam).

I have to admit that when I first visited Camp Wando during Act Up 3 I wasn’t quite ready for what seemed at the time something like being swallowed up in a time warp. Communal living, no hierarchy, lots of hugs, vegetarian food, hippy clothes. And did I mention hugs? For someone of my age (nearly 57) it was revisiting the 70’s. I really didn’t know people still did this stuff! Maybe that’s because I had been practising law in regional NSW for most of the last 20 years, as well as being head down arse up raising kids and paying off a mortgage – the kinds of things a lot of us get caught up in.

That feeling of disorientation didn’t last long. Pretty soon we all got to work. I not only learned what NVDA stands for (Non-Violent Direct Action) I learned about how to do it. I attended workshops about the how and what as well as the why. I listened to others talk about their stories and the reasons why they were there to stand up for what is right. The diversity of backgrounds and motivations is striking. Many were there because , like me, they are worried about the effects of global warming on the quality of life of their kids and grandkids. For others it’s the environmental destruction and loss of endangered wildlife.

One of the many things I admire about the way the Maules Creek protests have been run is the commitment to non-violence. One of the workshops I attended highlighted just how many different interpretations of the term “non-violent” there are. In spite of that, and the difficulties of managing all those different attitudes when huge numbers of people are involved in an action, the strictest of definitions of “non-violence” is adhered to. That means, among other things, no property damage and no disrespect to anyone. Including police and Whitehaven employees. I really admire that. I had a chance to see the power of that approach, and its skilfull execution when I spent most of a day locked on to a water pump on the banks of the Namoi River during Act Up 3.

Contrary to my preconceptions, the range of skills present at Camp Wando is huge. The level of expertise is also astounding. When you are “locked on” you get the full benefit, so far as possible, of that skill and expertise. I have never felt better supported than I did during that long, hot day on the banks of the Namoi.

I thought, as a lawyer with lots of experience in and out of Courts, that I knew a lot about advocacy, but on that day I learned about advocacy in the context of NVDA. I sat passively and listened to a young man ,who was present to support me, have a long dialogue with a security guard employed by Whitehaven. The guard had a pugnacious, even threatening at times, attitude. Just getting him engaged in a reasonable discussion was an achievement. Keeping cool, and not letting go of the moral highground by returning his aggressiveness was also a challenge. This young man did all that and more. He may not have changed the guard’s attitudes, but maybe he planted a small seed of doubt about what he is doing and why. Either way, he did great work. As an advocate who used to get paid for my work, I was full of admiration for the level of skill and commitment on display from someone who does it for no monetary reward.

After getting to the end of Act Up 3 without being charged with any offences, in spite of my lock- on, I travelled back to Camp Wando for Act Up 4. I was fired up by the enthusiasm of people at the camp. And I missed all those hugs!

This time it was very difficult to get close to the Leard State Forest, within which the massive clearing operation is happening, because of multiple police “roadblocks”. These roadblocks are in fact checkpoints where, if you look like a potential protester, you are turned back (often after suffering the indignity of having your vehicle searched), while miners and mine contractors are waved through. The effect of this is that many kilometres of public road are now devoted to the exclusive service of Whitehaven Coal, as are the working hours of large numbers of police who are detailed to sit beside a road for the whole of their shift.

The Leard State Forest has been closed to the public for months. The excuses given about why are frankly laughable. Everyone knows it is to keep protesters out.

I questioned the use of police powers under s. 186 of the Law Enforcement Powers and Responsibilities Act, designed for use in traffic emergencies, to hinder the movements of a particular group of persons. I was arrested and will be asking a Court to agree with me that those powers aren’t properly exercised when used as they were to stop me driving on the Manilla Rd near Boggabri.

From where I sit, especially after reading the revelations coming from ICAC at present, there is a need for the community to question why it is that this dodgy development was approved, and how come the citizens of NSW are funding, at apparently huge cost, the exclusion of protesters and the general public from a chunk of NSW? What kind of benefit do the citizens get for that? Or is it someone else who is getting the benefit?

Cheers

Marion Rose

TODAY: Tony and Nada Smark, farmers, and both 67 from and Castlemaine have halted work in Whitehaven Coal’s proposed Maules Creek mine site in the Leard State Forest, chaining themselves to construction machinery.

Tony and Nada are determined to see real change in the planning and development applications and approvals work. The couple, married 30 years, have experienced the devastation of communities being overpowered by construction companies, having their permaculture farm taken away from them in lieu of a freeway last year. They have now come to help save the Leard Sate Forest  “seeing all these young people putting themselves on the line, I thought ‘What am I doing?’ It’s time to put ourselves on the line.”

Nada Smark has more personal reasons for being in support of saving the Leard State forest, she quoted a poem by Drew Dellinger “It’s 3:23 in the morning and I’m awake. My great great grandchildren ask me in my dreams ‘what did you do while the planet was plundered? What did you do while the world was unravelling? What did you do when you knew?”

The action comes as disgraced business man, Nathan Tinkler, fronts the ICAC investigation that has seen several MPs step down, including Premier Barry O’Farrell last month. Tinkler’s Aston Coal 2 originally applied for the development of the Maules Creek mine before the company was absorbed by Whitehaven Coal. Aready, two Aston Coal 2 board members have been charged for failure to disclose political donations to the National Party during the time that the mine was being considered by the government.

Leard Forest Alliance spokesperson, Paul Grajewski, had this to say, “Nathan Tinkler and his many businesses are the subject of an extensive ICAC enquiry. We suggest that until investigations conclude, construction work at the Whitehaven Maules Creek mine should cease. It would be tragic if the last remaining intact area of critically endangered White Box Gum ecological community was bulldozed when in retrospect the mine should not have gone ahead in the first place.”

Today’s action brings the number of people who have chosen to take  arrestable action opposing Whitehaven Coal’s proposed mine this year to over 160 and once again highlights the diversity of protesters.

8:30am, police have arrived on the scene and have given on the spot fines to both Tony and Nada Smark aswell as photographer Rachelle.

Further Information:
Paul Grajewski, Leard Forest Alliance Spokesperson: 0498824700

Pictures available from: https://www.mediafire.com/#f5hyncqsaxmxb

Twitter updates: @FLACCoal and #LeardBlockade

For a reading of the whole poem by author and activist Drew Dellinger: Hieroglyphic Stairway

The Leard Forest Alliance says Whitehaven Coal has been secretly negotiating changes to its Biodiversity Management Plan with the NSW Department of Planning and Environment to allow them to keep clearing Leard State Forest over winter, in a move that will lead to widespread cruelty and death of threatened species and other wildlife.

The Plan previously required Whitehaven to avoid clearing in the winter months, because many species of wildlife go into hibernation or torpor, which prevents them being able to escape from bull-dozers and predators and dramatically increases the risk of death or injury.

Phil Laird said, “The Maules Creek Community Council wrote to the Environment and Planning Ministers through our lawyers this week asking them to intervene to protect the animals of Leard State Forest, but we have received word that these changes will be granted to accommodate Whitehaven’s desire to keep destroying the forest to meet their coal production timeline.

“We are frankly appalled that conditions put in place to protect wildlife would be torn up so easily by the Department of Environment and Planning. NSW has a new Premier, a new Environment Minister and a new Minister for Planning, but it seems we’ve still got the same old system that gives coal companies whatever they want, whenever they want it.

“The conditions, offsets strategy and environmental management of this mine are in tatters. We’ve been told that the wildlife will relocate when the clearing happens, but without this winter protection, that’s just not possible.”

Ecologist Phil Spark said, “Clearing the forest in winter will result in the displacement, injury or death of over seventy species of hibernating reptiles and frogs, bats and small marsupials that are sheltering in the hollow trees and logs to be cleared.  Those few that do escape the dozers will be likely be taken by predators.

“The Department is changing the rules to suit Whitehaven Coal and the wildlife of Leard State Forest is going to suffer and die as a result. Threatened snakes and bats, Squirrel Gliders and the Barking Owls which begin to nest in winter – all will be subjected to displacement, injury, or death.

“The other mining projects in the area have conditions that prevent them clearing in winter to protect the wildlife: without that winter protection the animals don’t stand a chance.”

Phil Laird concluded, “We’re pleading with the Environment Minister, Rob Stokes, to step in and stop this cruel and unnecessary haste and tell Whitehaven to stop clearing while the animals are hibernating.”

Further comment:

Phil Laird: 0428 712 622

Phil Spark: 0427 642 245

TODAY: Simon Wells, 55, of the Sunshine Coast has halted work in Whitehaven Coal’s proposed Maules Creek mine site in the Leard State Forest by chaining himself to construction machinery.

As disgraced businessman and former Maules Creek mine investor Nathan Tinkler prepares to face questioning from the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) this week, Simon Wells, school teacher and musician, is determined to see real change in the way mines are approved.

“It’s wrong on so many levels. We should be winding down, not expanding coal mining, it’s been commenced and allowed to continue with dubious lawful authority.”

The Leard Forest Alliance have called for a judicial inquiry into approval of the mine, citing the latest allegations from ICAC regarding questionably lodged political donations to the National Party and shady political decisions made in their wake as reason enough to halt all construction works on the controversial project. Former Deputy Prime Minister and National Party Leader Mark Vaile is the current Chairman of Whitehaven Coal.

“The Leard State Forest is irreplaceable – once it is gone, we lose it forever. Are we really prepared to sacrifice this rare habitat, teeming with biodiversity, based on decisions made in the context of corruption that the ICAC investigations have uncovered?” said Phil Evans, Leard Forest Spokesperson.

Simon Wells added, “It damages the local forest and its wildlife, the local residents, and the economy of the surrounding townships. Ultimately it contributes to global warming.”

Today’s action continues a ramped up effort by the Leard Forest Alliance, and others, to disrupt the construction and business operations of Whitehaven Coal. On Saturday in Newcastle coal trains headed for Kooragang Island were halted by Maules Creek mine protesters, and Sunday saw two mothers spend their Mothers’ Day locked onto construction equipment used for the construction of the Maules Creek mine.

Phil Evans continued, “We are calling on Premier Baird to show he is serious about cleaning up coal mining approval processes in New South Wales. A failure to halt construction at Maules Creek before any alleged wrongdoing by Tinkler is properly investigated is tantamount to business as usual, and represents no change to the previous administrations’ attitudes.”

Over 150 people have been arrested this year protesting Whitehaven Coal’s Maules Creek mine.

UPDATE 11:30am: Simon has been cut off and arrested.

Further Information:
Phil Evans
Leard Forest Alliance Spokesperson
0490 064 139
or
Ben Solity
Leard Forest Alliance Spokesperson
0407 063 057

Pictures available from https://www.mediafire.com/folder/qig6cqw6qq1kn/

Twitter updates @FLACCoal and #LeardBlockade

Two mothers have chained themselves to construction equipment at the site of Whitehaven Coal’s controversial Maules Creek mine site in the Leard State Forest halting work on the new rail line.

Felicity Crombach, 69, and Annette Schneider, 53, both mothers of two, have taken action on Mothers’ Day highlighting their concerns for the future of their children’s generation. The action comes the day after protesters shut down Newcastle coal trains for two hours.

Farmer Annette Schneider said, “My children have just started their adult lives and they should have a chance to determine their own lives, free from the effects of catastrophic climate change.”

“It’s up to governments to help us deal with this fossil fuel crisis. They are failing us and we need honest people in government to help us deal with the climate crisis.”

Maules Creek mine investors and key players have recently been implicated in the ICAC investigation and the subsequent corruption scandal sweeping NSW politics.

“There is so much corruption and I believe that mining companies run the government. They have professional lobbyists that pay to get into the ear of politicians. What option do we have? Everyday people can’t afford to pay for this privilege. It needs to stop,” Felicity Crombach, retired clerical officer, said.

The Leard Forest Alliance have called for the mine construction to be halted until a judicial inquiry has been conducted clearing any doubts about corruption in the approval process.

“We have witnessed the cancellation of three coal exploration leases in the wake of last year’s ICAC inquiries, with Maules Creek named in the Operation Spicer inquiry currently under way,” Leard Forest Alliance spokesperson Phil Evans said.

“Nathan Tinkler – a failed businessman and former key investor in the Maules Creek project – is facing allegations of making illegal donations to NSW politicians, while aggressively lobbying for the approval of the Maules Creek mine. This is just the latest in what has been a scandal-plagued project for Whitehaven, and we need to clear the air about what has really happened before this mine can continue in good faith.”

Further Information: Phil Evans (Leard Forest Alliance Spokesperson) 0490 064 139

Pictures available from https://www.mediafire.com/folder/9n0dpiq0ey96j/

Twitter updates @FLACCoal and #LeardBlockade

Update 9:15 am: Police rescue have arrived on the scene.

Update 11:30am: Our lock on mothers, Annette and Felicity, have been cut off and arrested.

Update 3:00pm: Our two mothers are back in camp after being processed at Narrabri Police station and fined with tresspass related charges. Of course, we spoiled them rotten with flowers and chocolate on their return, like every mother should be today.