07 September
2006 - Australia — Facing down stick-wielding
personnel, water-canon-spraying marine police,and
gun-wielding navy seals, five Greenpeace activists
in Thailand have delayed a shipment of Australian
coal from being unloaded at a controversial coal
plant in Maptaphut, Thailand.
The five activists chained themselves
to the pier bumper and hung banners that read
‘Coal = climate change, Clean Energy Now’. They
remained for two hours before being detained by
police with the help of Navy seals.
A 170,00 tonne carrier, MV Star
Europe, carrying a large shipment of coal from
Newcastle, NSW (the world’s largest coal exporting
port) has been anchored a few nautical miles away,
waiting for the area to be cleared.
The coal plant, BLCP, is jointly
owned by Banpu and Hong Kong based China Light
and scheduled to open in October. BLCP is a classic
example of dirty international financing by the
likes of Asian Development Bank and Japan Bank
for International Cooperation.
"The BLCP coal plant will
exacerbate the impacts of climate change, which
is already starting to exact a heavy toll on the
people and economies of Thailand and Southeast
Asia. It does not help that Australia is fuelling
climate change in the region with its coal exports,"
said Tara Buakamsri of Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
"Thailand must stop any
further use of coal and put a policy in place
for the massive increase of renewable energy and
energy efficiency projects."
The 1,434 MW BLCP coal plant
will release nearly 12 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide annually, and once in operation
this plant alone will cause Thailand's carbon
emissions to rise by almost 6 percent a year,
according to Greenpeace projections.
Coal is the dirtiest of fossil
fuels, emitting 29 percent more carbon per unit
of energy than oil and 80 percent more than gas,
and contributing significantly to climate change.
"Coal and coal-fired power
stations have been strongly opposed by communities
in the region. However, the Australian government
refuses to take action on global warming while
ignoring climate impacts on its own citizens and
other countries in Asia. The whole region will
be further threatened by the increase of investments
in coal power plants across Asia many of which
will rely on the supply of Australian coal."
said Catherine Fitzpatrick, Greenpeace Australia
Pacific energy campaigner.
