12/07/2005 - Australia
is home to one of the dirtiest power plants
in the world: 40-year-old Hazelwood power
station in Latrobe Valley, Victoria, spews
out an astonishing 1.58 million tons of CO2
every month.
Yet deliberations are currently being held
to decide whether to extend the life of Australia’s
most polluting power station to 2031. Hazelwood
would be allowed to keep polluting for another
22 years, as decommissioning was planned for
2009.
WWF analysis has revealed that Hazelwood
is the dirtiest plant of its scale on a list
of power stations operating in leading industrialised
countries. It produces more CO2 per unit of
electricity than the dirtiest plants in countries
like the United States, Germany, Canada, the
United Kingdom and Japan.
“In many ways Australia can be regarded as
a modern country that plays a leading role
among industrialised nations but not when
it comes to electricity generation,” says
Australian PowerSwitch! campaigner Anna Reynolds.
Hazelwood - built in 1964 using technology
from the 1950s – is a perfect example. Despite
a $ 500 million upgrade over the past eight
years, climate pollution from the plant increased
by 2.7% between 1998 and 2004.
But the Victorian government still has not
ruled out that more CO2 will be pouring out
of Hazelwood’s dirty smokestacks. A lifetime
extension of 22 years would cause additional
pollution of about 340 million tons of CO2
- the equivalent of putting an extra eight
million new cars on the road.
This stands in sharp contrast to the government’s
intention to reduce Victoria’s greenhouse
gas emissions by up to 8.3 megatons a year
by 2012.
“Victoria’s 5-star energy efficient homes
standard is expected to save 200,000 tonnes
of greenhouse gasses per annum within five
years – just five days of Hazelwood’s operations
would cancel that benefit,” says Anna Reynolds.
According to WWF research, Australia’s future
energy can be met from cleaner energy sources
already available and reductions in demand
rather than increases in highly polluting
sources such as brown coal. The PowerSwitch!
from coal to clean is possible.
Today Australia is one of the most coal-dependent
countries on Earth, after Poland and South
Africa. 78 per cent of Australia’s electricity
is generated in coal-fired power stations
like Hazelwood, producing tons of CO2 emissions
every minute.
CO2 is building up in the atmosphere, causing
a dramatic increase in the Earth's temperature.
“This greenhouse gas pollution from coal power
stations is driving global warming,” says
Anna Reynolds.
Climate Action Network Australia, a WWF partner
organisation, has set up an action to urge
Steve Bracks, Premier of Victoria, to decide
against the Hazelwood extension.
PowerSwitch! activists are asked to support
the fight for a switch from coal to clean
in Victoria and send a fax to Premier Bracks.
