Tessa Akerman, The Australian An environmental group has sought to stop the state government-owned timber company VicForests from logging areas home to the Greater Glider and the critically endangered Leadbeater’s…
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Peter Hannam, SMH A Labor government in NSW would expand national parks to protect koalas, curb feral horses, and step up climate change action including setting a target to source…
Dr James Whelan, the researcher and community organiser for a not-for-profit environmental legal practice, will brief Lake Macquarie councillors on Monday night on the remediation of two local power stations and their associated…
The NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has renewed the five-year licence without significant change to pollution controls at Delta Electricity’s Vales Point Power Station at Mannering Park. The licence renewal…
By Lisa Cox Bylong Valley residents hope Rocky Hill decision will sway state commission to reject proposed open-cut mine. Activists and residents fighting against a proposed coalmine in central New…
By Adam Carey and Ed Bourke A waste-to-energy plant planned for the Latrobe Valley could burn the equivalent of more than half of Victoria’s domestic rubbish. Garbage from 1.4 million…
By Pheobe Maloney NSW Labor’s energy spokesperson Adam Searle says Labor would direct the Environment Protection Authority to review the licences of the state’s five coal-fired power plants if the…
By Peter Hannam A Daley Labor government would review the emissions standards of all NSW’s coal-fired power plants and finalise a 10-year plan to improve air quality in the state….
By Carrie Fellner The NSW environment watchdog has launched an investigation into revelations a coal waste product sold by AGL to “various markets” has tested positive for elevated levels of…
By Joanne McCarthy COAL ash with elevated heavy metal levels could have left AGL’s Bayswater and Liddell power station sites since 2015, breaching environmental orders and ramping up calls for…
By David Barnden In a world first, 23-year-old Mark McVeigh has filed a legal action alleging the trustee of his retirement fund, the Retail Employees Superannuation Trust (REST), breached the fiduciary duties…
THERE is no doubt that when the NSW Environment Protection Authority issued a clean-up notice to Delta Electricity in October, after suspected asbestos and other demolition material was found at…
By Joanne McCarthy THE state’s environmental watchdog has been slammed after suspected asbestos waste and a “large stockpile” of demolition waste was found across a 30,000 square metre area at…
By Lisa Cox Court hears department and VicForests have not protected minimum area of old-growth forest required by law in East Gippsland. Logging in old-growth forests in Victoria should cease,…
A public forum on the ‘Health impacts of coal-fired power stations in NSW’ was held on Wednesday, November 28 at Uniting Church Parish Hall. Speakers at the forum included Dr…
Publicly available air quality monitoring should be conducted at Wyee, a community with an aging coal-fired power station, but with no current air monitoring, according to a new report into…
By Michael Slezak An environmental lawyer says there are serious questions about the legality of almost all logging in Victorian state forests. An ABC investigation has revealed that thousands of…
By Peter Hannam Air pollution from NSW’s five coal-fired power stations carry a “substantial health burden”, including leading to an estimated 279 deaths a year with thousands more to come…
By Michael Slezak and Penny Timms Thousands of hectares of state forest appear to have been logged or earmarked for logging illegally, an ABC investigation has found, amounting to what…
By Matthew Kelly A 2016 NSW EPA compliance report on Vales Point power station’s ash dam highlights numerous concerns about ongoing problems with the management of contaminated wastewater. Yet two…
By Peter Hannam Pollution controls for major coal-fired power stations in NSW are so weak that they are comparable to “fairly under-developed third world countries”, a US energy expert says….
By Michael Slezak The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has revealed its new chairman as Dr Ian Poiner — who has until now led a different organisation, which has…
By Ben Potter Whitehaven Coal has buckled to activist shareholders and agreed to look at further disclosure of its climate related risks after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission warned…
By Jack Kerr It is 30 years since Victorian legislation was changed so illegal polluters could be sent to jail, and environmental lawyers like Brad Jessup believe it is time…
By Ruth Williams Industry super fund REST is facing a new federal court legal battle over claims it breached its trustee duties by failing to properly factor climate change-related risks…
Calls for tougher penalties for wildlife injuries Environmentalists are calling for tougher penalties for people who kill or injure protected wildlife. It comes after a New Zealand man was jailed…
By Australian Associated Press Pollution from coal-fired power plants in Victoria’s east is higher than acceptable according to international experts, as the environment authority reviews operating licences. Emissions of sulphur…
By Michael Slezak Adani’s plan to take 12.5 billion litres of water from a river in drought-stricken Queensland is a step closer to happening, according to environmental groups, after the…
By Joanne McCarthy THE NSW Government should reject a planned upgrade of Bayswater power station until owner AGL installs air pollution reduction technology that is standard in America, Europe, China and…
By Phoebe Moloney The NSW Environment Protection Authority has signalled it will be altering Mt Piper’s licence to bring it up to standard with the air pollution requirements placed on all other coal fired…
By Rebecca McDonald The state’s planning tribunal has rejected a push by Wyndham residents to stop a huge expansion of the notorious local tip. Wyndham City wants to increase the…
Newcastle Herald editorial THE Australian Government’s Institute of Health and Welfare estimates that 3000 Australians each year die because of urban air pollution, with the health costs from mortality alone…
By Joanne McCarthy AUSTRALIA needs a national pollution watchdog with “teeth” after two decades of pollution monitoring by the states that has failed to protect the environment and the community, a 20-year…
By Jennifer Thompson Fourteen of the UK’s biggest pension funds have been warned by lawyers they risk legal action if they fail to consider the effects of climate change on…
By Christine McKee STANWELL Power Station was in the direct line of fire at two community forums in Rockhampton and Gladstone last week, where organisers said Central Queenslanders were being…
By Michael Slezak The Turnbull Government’s $444 million grant to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation contravened its own guidelines for the allocation of such funds, according to environmental lawyers and…
By Willow Aliento The Walker Corporation has come under the spotlight for its masterplan at Toondah Harbour redevelopment on Brisbane’s Moreton Bay that encroaches on mangroves protected under the Moreton…
By Jamie Williamson An individual member is taking a $50 billion superannuation fund to the Federal Court for failure to disclose its exposure to climate change risk and preventative actions….
By Michael Slezak The risk that your super could take a hit to its bottom line because of climate change could soon be something your fund is legally obliged to…
By NITV Staff Writer A royal commission in South Australia has heard evidence from an Indigenous group of who want to enshrine Aboriginal water rights in national law. The Murray-Darling…
Australian Associated Press Australia is breaching international standards in its handling of water resources and the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, traditional owners will tell South Australia’s royal commission. A submission by…
By Heidi Kraak A Latrobe Valley environmentalist and an Environmental Justice Australia lawyer have expressed concerns around potentially toxic ash which could be produced by the burning of municipal waste…
While Queensland members of the Liberal and National parties push for the federal government to build new coal-fired power stations, experts warn it could put communities at risk of increased…
By Paul Karp Inquiry dominated by Labor and Greens says finance minister should gain joint responsibility for $5bn NAIF Oversight of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility is “severely inadequate” and…
By Joanne McCarthy THERE are calls for Upper Hunter coal mines to be temporarily shut down when air quality is hazardous to human health after a NSW Government review found…
By Heidi Kraak A community advocate has welcomed the inclusion of a clause in an environmental protection bill before the Victorian Parliament that would allow the community to enforce pollution…
What is EFIC? How is it relevant to Adani’s ambitions in Australia? Could EFIC’s directors be in breach of their duties if they finance Adani? David Barnden from EJA addresses…
By Giselle Wakatama , Annabelle Regan and Ben Millington Plans for a $5 billion coal terminal in the world’s biggest coal port in Newcastle have been scrapped. The huge investment to expand Newcastle’s coal export…
By Peter Hannam The $5 billion-plus Terminal 4 coal export expansion planned for Newcastle has been scrapped after demand for the fossil fuel failed to increase as expected. Port Waratah Coal…
By Ian Kirkwood and Matthew Kelly PORT Waratah Coal Services (PWCS) has formally cancelled the controversial T4 coal loader, putting a final end to a project that had been in…
By Bryce Eishold Concerns surrounding toxic coal ash ponds have been raised in a supplementary submission by Environmental Justice Australia as part of the EPA’s review into the region’s brown…
By Jane Bardon The Australian Tax Office is investigating the Chinese-Singapore-owned company building the Northern Gas Pipeline from the Northern Territory to Queensland over how the project is being financed….
By Joanne McCarthy LIDDELL and Bayswater coal-fired power stations were granted exemptions in 2017 to nearly double allowable nitrous oxide pollution despite levels of the toxic emissions in the Hunter…
By Ben Millington The ageing Liddell power station is allowed to emit nearly three times the amount of toxic nitrogen oxide that is accepted as world’s best practice, according to…
By Louise Nichols Environmental Justice Australia and the Construction Forestry Energy and Mining Union (CFMEU) have welcomed AGL’s decision to turn down Alinta’s offer for the Liddell power station. AGL’s Board told…
By Dominica Sanda, AAP NSW’s Liddell power station has been allowed to emit almost double the level of nitrogen oxides a plant of its age would normally be limited to,…
By Joanne McCarthy POWER generator AGL Macquarie was granted an exemption in 2017 to emit toxic nitrogen oxides from Liddell power station at up to 14 times international best practice levels despite…
By Peter Hannam The Liddell coal-fired power station was granted a special exemption allowing it to pump out toxic nitrous oxides at almost twice the rate allowed similarly aged plants,…
THE Federal Court last week continued an injunction brought against VicForests by the Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum, preventing VicForests from harvesting timber in five coupes in the Central Highlands and…
By Kellie Lazzaro Environmentalists are celebrating after the Federal Court extended a logging ban in the Central Highlands in Victoria until next year. The Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum group is…
Court grants injunction to Friends of the Leadbeater’s Possum to protect mountain ash forest until 25 February By Calla Wahlquist VicForests has been banned from logging in areas of sensitive…
By Louise Nichols A face to face meeting between senior state bureaucrats and community advocates to discuss worsening air pollution in the Upper Hunter highlighted the need for a regional…
By Peter Hannam The state’s five coal-fired power stations are allowed “unnecessary variation” in their pollution and operate “well below” licensed limits, providing scope for more consistent and tighter controls, the…
Given the known failures of carbon capture and storage – and given that the federal government has lost millions of taxpayers’ dollars to CCS already – investing in such technologies…
By Joanne McCarthy THE NSW Department of Planning will start “unannounced” night-time inspections of Hunter coal mines after years of community dust complaints – and has issued a media release to let…
By Mark Rayner Lithgow residents should be concerned the owners of Mt Piper power station and the NSW government are failing to accurately measure pollution data, an environmental legal expert…
By Andrew Thorpe NEW DATA from the National Pollutant Inventory shows Gladstone’s fine particle emissions remain at concerningly high levels, according to environmental researchers. The data relies on self-reporting by…
By Calla Wahlquist Survey says airborne mercury pollution from stations in Victoria’s Latrobe valley increased 37% in just 12 months Airborne mercury pollution from coal-fired power stations in Victoria’s Latrobe…
By Joanne McCarthy DANGEROUS fine particle emissions from Bayswater power station jumped by 69 per cent in 2017, according to new national data showing the Hunter’s biggest air polluters are releasing…
By Lisa Martin, AAP State and territory government are accused of “being out to lunch” when it comes to fighting for clean air after many of Australia’s largest polluters reported…
By David Barnden IN THE aftermath of the Tathra bushfires in March, the Australian Prime Minister denied the impact of climate change on human safety. Malcolm Turnbull started out his…
By Peter Hannam A NSW upper house inquiry has opposed approval of a giant waste-to-energy incinerator planned for Sydney’s west, agreeing that community engagement by its proponent did not come…
By Peter Hannam, with AAP The Victorian government has made short-term extensions to three of its regional forest agreements (RFA) allowing logging of native forests, but also announced new limits…
By Benjamin Preiss A western suburbs council is warning of an environmental crisis over a rapidly-filling rubbish tip caught in a legal impasse over its expansion. The Wyndham City Council wants…
By Bronya Lipski The dream of carbon capture and storage (CCS) continues to keep the coal industry and its political backers hopeful for the future. But at what cost? In…
By Gregg Borschmann The Federal Government is staring down the prospect of legal challenges to a series of forest agreements allowing logging in native forests across Australia. The Commonwealth is…
By Peter Hannam AGL Energy’s $200 million upgrade of its Bayswater power station is a missed opportunity to curb the country’s largest source of asthma-inducing sulphur dioxide, says the not-for-profit…
By Michael Slezak Northern Territory government-approved land clearing likely to cause up to 3 megatonnes of C02-equivalent greenhouse gas emissions A landmark court case in the Northern Territory is set…
By Benjamin Preiss Victoria’s pollution watchdog has failed to properly monitor air quality across the state with many highly-populated centres going unchecked, a scathing review has found. A report by…
By Melissa Iaria, AAP The future of the endangered leadbeater’s possum remains in limbo following a Federal Court judgment. It is the emblem of Victoria on the brink of extinction,…
By Graham Lloyd Deep in East Gippsland’s Kuark forest, ancient trees tower overhead, the scent of sassafras wafts on the breeze and birdsong fills the air. Old-growth trees such as…
Some residents living near Australia’s remaining brown coal-fired power stations believe dangerous levels of emissions are causing sickness and even premature death — while environmentalists allege Australia has lax standards…
By Farrah Tomazin The Andrews government has spent years investigating claims of unlawful logging against its state-owned timber company without enforcing any penalties. Documents reveal Victoria’s environment department is currently…
By Adam Carey Victoria’s environmental watchdog is reviewing the licences of the state’s three remaining coal-fired power plants, amid claims toxic emissions have contributed to an unusually high number of…
By Joanne McCarthy UPPER Hunter residents have sought an urgent meeting with the NSW Environment Protection Authority after data showing a dramatic spike in Singleton emergency department admissions in 2017…
By Joanne McCarthy FOUR police vehicles sat in an isolated carpark for more than 90 minutes on February 4 carrying police waiting for a protest that never happened, while monitoring people…
By Heidi Kraak About 30 people attended an Environment Justice Australia public forum in Traralgon last week to discuss an Environment Protection Authority review into Victorian power station licences. EJA…
By Lisa Cox Global warming wiped out the Bramble Cay melomys – the first mammalian extinction in the world to be caused by climate change – but a straightforward plan…
