View from the tree-sit

An activist is suspended high up in the air from a tree-sit attached to two excavators and two bulldozers to prevent ongoing destruction of the Leard State Forest by Idemitsu’s Boggabri Coal, who were given approval to quadruple the impact of their mine on the forest by Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke late yesterday afternoon.

A spokesperson for Front Line Action on Coal, Jonathan Moylan, says that Tony Burke has failed to meet his obligations under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act by approving the Boggabri expansion and Whitehaven’s adjacent Maules Creek Mine.

“Tony Burke should hand in his resignation letter today,” Mr. Moylan said.

“These mine expansions would destroy thousands of hectares of old-growth forest including critically endangered habitat for koalas, swift parrots, and regent honey-eaters, as well as destroying farmlands and depleting the water table.”

“Tony Burke has failed to consider the false statements made by Whitehaven about their offsets and refuses to reveal which state government condition was illegal.”

“State and Federal governments are failing to apply the law and put the community’s interests first, so now it is up to the community to stop it.”

Community organisations are fundraising for legal action against the mine approvals via the Hunter Community Environment Centre, and FLAC has vowed to wage a campaign of non-violent civil disobedience and divestment from banks that fund the projects.

The buzz of celebration among the crowd out here at camp stands in marked contrast to the frowns and bellyaches that must fill the board-rooms of Australia’s coal companies… we have plenty to be happy about!

Tuesday marked our six-month anniversary of our outpost of dissent nestled in a thriving Box-Gum Woodland forest at the edge of the Liverpool Plains. The same day we heard news that 84-year-old birdwatcher Russ Watts had his charge dropped without explanation after he sat on the haul road taking coal out of the Boggabri Coal Mine for six hours last September. And today at mid-day, frustrated coal train drivers in the Hunter began a 48-hour strike as Pacific National refuses to negotiate in good faith and keeps coming back with lower wage offers. So much for the industry’s commitment to jobs – BHP Billiton have also announced that twenty apprentices will not be getting permanent contracts at the end of their two-year apprenticeships at the Mount Arthur open-cut near Muswellbrook. China also announced this week that it would be capping coal use as the world shifts to sustainable energy.

Whitehaven and Idemitsu have finally been exposed for misleading the state government’s Planning and Assessment Commission by trying to pretend that degraded agricultural land in their “offsets” is actually critically endangered Whitebox Gum Woodlands. Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke, who was expected to make a decision on the Maules Creek Coal Mine yesterday, announced that he would be delaying his decision until the end of April while he assesses the cumulative impacts of the Maules Creek Coal Mine and Idemitsu’s Boggabri Coal Mine on matters of national environmental significance. It shouldn’t be hard to do, since the damage to critically endangered communities and nationally threatened species would be permanent if the mine and mine expansions proceed, and the potential “offset” land does not exist.

Burke’s announcement was quickly followed by howls of protest from the NSW government, who accused him of “playing politics”. This is the same state government that promised to protect Tier 1 biodiversity areas and productive farmlands like Leard Forest and Maules Creek in order to get elected, and then caved into the coal industry as soon as they got in. The day is coming soon when we will realise that the community is more powerful than the coal industry.

Pit meets banner meets forest

This morning Front Line Action on Coal hung a huge “The Burke $top$ Here” banner at the point where the Tarrawonga coal mine meets our forest. It’s a jarring and confronting sight, as every day more forest is being knocked down by bulldozers at the neighbouring Boggabri Coal Mine, ready for blasting and stripping. This is what is at stake. Our message was clear – if Tony Burke is serious about assessing cumulative impacts, he must call in the rest of the Boggabri expansion for federal assessment. Up to this point, Burke has resisted assessing most of the high-value forest which would be affected by Idemitsu’s expansion. There is no reason why it shouldn’t be assessed, because once it’s gone, we can never get it back.

Earlier this week we also got a visit from two North American activists who have been campaigning against mountain-top removal coal mining in Appalachia and open-cut cyanide-leach gold mining. Before a night-time rapping session, they presented the Beehive Collective‘s “True Cost of Coal” graphic, which tells the story of coal in Appalachia from pre-settler Cherokee communities to the movement taking the US beyond coal.

One more piece of good news: our friends at SumofUs have submitted a petition to ANZ bank with 13,682 of your signatures calling on the bank to divest from the Maules Creek Coal Mine – for real this time!

The next three months are crucial, and we want you to join the throng! Come out to camp, take action wherever you are, and build the movement. Coal is over, and people power is in.

It’s hard not to notice the broad smiles on Maules Creek farmers’ faces this week as the last two days gave the soil another good soaking. Frogs, lizards and other critters are becoming more noticeable as the creeks fill with life-giving water, a sight we have rarely seen in the six months we have been in the forest.

There might be another reason behind the smiles as the Maules Creek mine and its devastating impacts if it gets approved are now firmly on the national radar and the spin from Whitehaven about offsets, mine impacts and profitability have been exposed. That should focus Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke’s mind as he decides whether to approve the Maules Creek mine and part of Idemitsu’s Boggabri coal mine next Friday.

Unfortunately, despite the valiant efforts of nearby independent MP Tony Windsor, Burke will not be making a decision on impacts of the mine on invaluable water resources, because apparently water is not a “matter of national environmental significance”. He also won’t be making a decision based on the increase in asthma in children, the dislocation of farmers or townspeople with sky-rocketing rents, or the astronomical greenhouse emissions of the mine (which, according to Ian Lowe, would make the Maules Creek mine the 75th largest emitter in the world if it were a country).

Tony Burke has to decide whether the mine will have a significant and irreversible impact on critically endangered ecological communities of Whitebox, Poplar Box, Yellowbox and Pilliga Box, as well as nationally threatened species like the Diamond Firetail, Masked Owl and the Yellow-Bellied Sheath-Tailed Bat. His decision should be easy enough. Since Leard Forest is the largest native forest in the Liverpool Plains, similar land to offset the impacts of the mine does not exist. Whitehaven has promised to buy degraded agricultural land to offset the mine, but under new national criteria, these offsets don’t count. Which is fair enough, since koalas are not going to hang around for two hundred years waiting for the scrub to grow back.

An easy decision perhaps, but he is also under a tremendous amount of pressure from Whitehaven and the NSW Minerals Council, who like to claim that the sky will fall in and we’ll all be sent back to the stone age if every proposed coal mine is not approved regardless of how destructive it may be. But September 14 this year is our opportunity to remind politicians that we choose the government, not the coal industry. So before next Friday, contact Burke directly or through the letters page of your local newspaper to let him know that his decision on the Maules Creek mine will be remembered for seven months.

Sharyn Munro speaks to a packed crowd

We’ve been tremendously privileged to have award-winning author Sharyn Munro, author of Rich Land, Wasteland, at camp. The Maules Creek Hall was packed to capacity last night as Sharyn, a resident of the Upper Hunter, recounted her stories of touring communities affected by mining and detailed the destruction of our foodbowls, the toxic effects of blasting and dust on health, and the conservative communities across NSW and Queensland who are successfully using civil disobedience as reason and logic fail to cut through the massive power imbalance between farmers and miners. By standing together as unnatural allies with a proportionate response to the threat to our communities and land-base, we become an unstoppable force.

Four things everybody can do:

1. Publicly contact Tony Burke and remind him to do his job.

2. Close your accounts with ANZ and tell them why – have a look into what your bank or superannuation fund is up to.

3. Come out to camp! Now is the time for action on the ground.

4. Tell everybody about the rally against the proposed fourth coal terminal in Newcastle on March 16. This unites everybody in the Hunter, Gunnedah and the West affected by this dying industry.

We’ll leave you with an inspiring story in the Australian about poor Whitehaven, who have recently had to admit how tight the company is.

Hi all,

Another fun action outside the Whitehaven haul road just to let them know how we feel, and to let Tony Burke know it is ok ( and right) to say no to Coal and that Open cut don’t heal.

It has been a blessing with all the rain, the forest is greening up and the rivers are in flood the farmers are very happy, and the forest floor is very spongy so they have not be able to do any more clearing, tomorrow may be another story!!! BUT the weather does have a down side, both mines are still in operation and there for blasting is on going, When they blast in wet or damp conditions the ANFO (explosives) don’t burn efficiently and give off a much more deadly gas of  Nitrogen Dioxide and Oxides of Nitrogen, PAH (Polychromatic Hydrocarbons), BTEX, PCB’s. ANFO also has impurities added including MERCURY, LEAD, and CADMIUM, this gas will kill you!!!! A few of the close neighbours to these open cut coal mines have already be very sick, they have seen birds fly in to the orange cloud of death and fall out of the sky DEAD!!!

Stand and Protect

Love and Respect

Muzz

Day 176-178.

Day 176 :- A great day for the Leard State Forest. Some of the mob from Narrabri and Gunnedah came in to camp to do a welcome and blessing for us, we also had a good crew form Newcastle and Sydney stay for the long weekend, much fun and connecting was had ..

Day 177:-  RAIN !!!!!  the drought has broken, with very little rain in our 177 days it has gotten very dry with  fires from lighting strikes in the area. The rain has been very welcome by the Farmers in the area. WE are hoping to get follow up rain the the next two weeks..

Day 178:- The camp is very happy to have Sharyn Monro author of Rich Land Wasteland staying at the camp for the rest of the week. She will be also be giving a talk at the Maules Creek hall on Friday the 1st of February at 7.30 pm   hope to see you all there .

Stand and Protect  Love and Respect

Muzz

Stand and Protect

Love And Respect

We Stand strong for the week, for what’s right, for what’s moral…

We Protect the right to farm and grow good food for all, the right to be heard, the right to clean air, clean water…

We Love  where and how we live, we love  the Leard State Forest with it’s 396 native species of  plants and animals, WE LOVE LIFE….

WE Respect all those that have walked the land before us, we respect the future of those that will walk in our path….

WE are strong and do not fear…

WE are tenacious and will NOT give in…

WE are many and are growing every day

WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING  FOR, THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW !!!!!!

We will keep this forest forested for open cuts don’t heal !!!!

This is the  time to stand up and protect what we love and should respect…

Muzz

hi to all ,

Keeping busy as all ways in camp , reading what the press puts out ” there has been many lately  “, keeping up to date  on the many actions and protests in Australia and the around the world. The actions against ANZ have been very moving for us in the camp, all over this land the OUT OF ORDER has been great to see as well as the DIE IN in Brisbane  and has given me many laughs that has been much needed.

WE have been having an action a day here on the haul road just to let them know we are here and growing in numbers so don’t feel left out and join us on the front line. Those that are here can not stay that long and will need others coming  and then going.  so please let me be a nag and get here if you can even if only over night you are all needed.

So back to the environmental disaster taking over the Leard State Forest!!!! If you Google Earth the Leard State Forest, link hhttp://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmaps.google.com.au%2Fmaps%3Fll%3D-30.606447%2C150.153236%26spn%3D0.080226%2C0.169086%26t%3Dh%26z%3D13&h=oAQEMW0AGere :-

The scar at the top is the Boggabri Open Cut Coal Mine  that’s the one IN THE FOREST and where they are NOW clearing more of this magnificent  tier one biodiversity forest

The scar just below is the Tarrawonga Open Cut Coal Mine, just so you can know !!!!! what its all about,  so I’ll see you all out here at some point !!!!!

Standing and Protecting

Loving and Respecting

Muzz

People are  coming into camp!! so good seeing old friend again, and looking forward to meeting new ones.

So this is what we are up against, two open cut coal mines.. The first one is the Tarrawonga open cut coal mine  owned by Whitehaven Coal, right on the border of the Leard State Forest, was opened in 2001

The second open cut coal mine is the Boggabri Coal mine, This is too an open cut mine about 3km by 4 km pit  in the Leard State Forest and it is getting bigger, and Bigger  IF Thayer extension is a approved at the end  of this month it will devastate   1/4 of the Forest. This Environmental disaster has been operating for 6 long years, they have been using very cheep and nasty basting explosive, which contains impurities like:- Mercury, Lead, Cadmium, these heavy metals accumulate in the environment and is very toxic to all live forms..

And last but not least the Maules Creek Open Cut Coal Project which every one NOW knows about, and if this other Environmental disaster is approved it will take out the other 1/2 of the Leard State Forest endangering the wild life, and the farming community of Maules Creek.  THIS CAN BE STOPPED !!!! AND MUST BE STOPPED !!!!!

So come and spend some time in the Leard State Forest and put an end to this mindless madness.

THIS OUR FOREST NOT A MINE FOREST !!!

Stand And Protect

Love and Respect

The Gomaroi elders visit the Leard State forest
Very upset at what they saw

Hi to all, It has been a very big day in the camp.

On the  way in to Boggabri I saw a rather big bull dozer come in the Boggabri hall road ready to take out the bigger trees in the Leard State Forest, not good and not happy!!!

After lunch we had a visit from the Gomaroi elders they where in tears when they saw the mines in the Leard State Forest. They spoke of there love for this land and how  important it is that they stop the mindless destruction of the last of the forest in the area.

On the 26th of January ( Survival day or invasion day) they will be coming back in to camp with as many mob as they can get for a smoking ceremony in the forest. Hope to see as many of you here as well.

STAND AND PROTECT

LOVE AND RESPECT

Muzz