I find it easy to see him as a hero. This is the new platform people have to take to fight this corporate tyranny from the levels it has risen to. Below is an interview with Jonathon himself who says Jail is not as scary as a Coal Mine at Maules Creek is. He is a hero for the planet. The planet will take care of him. He has faith so strong this lad.
Published on 9 Jan 2013
SBS reporter Ricardo Goncalves
speaks to anti-coal activist Jonathan Moylan who earlier this week
issued a media release purportedly from the ANZ Bank withdrawing a $1.2
billion loan to Whitehaven Coal, which is developing a project in Maules
Creek in the Gunnedah Basin.Over the past month, there has been a great deal of talk about why I - a young translator from Newcastle - would risk jail to expose ANZ's investment in Whitehaven's Maules Creek coal project. But a more important verdict is expected to be passed down next Thursday, when the federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, is tipped to make a decision on the expansion of Idemitsu's Boggabri coalmine and Whitehaven's Maules Creek mine.
For the past few years, Maules Creek farmers have shown a great deal of courage in their attempts to prevent the biggest expansion of the coal industry in NSW. The increase in deadly coal dust, the draw down and potential contamination of the aquifer and loss of thousands of hectares of critically endangered forest threatens farmlands and animals such as koalas, not to mention people.
Rather than requiring the mine to rehabilitate the forest after 21 years, the state government has approved a plan that would leave a final void, or pit lake, that would drain the water table for 1000 years. Those are Whitehaven's calculations, not mine.
Most people would have given up and rolled over by now but the community has pushed on. Despite letters, research, submissions, meetings with ministers, rallies and direct action, they failed to receive the attention they deserved. Farmers have found that when a coal or gas company comes knocking on your door wanting to buy your land, you have little choice - if you refuse, the value of your property will plummet and the company can eventually resort to compulsory acquisition.
Over my lifetime, I have seen the world's largest coal export port - my home town of Newcastle - expand rapidly, doubling its output in 15 years, with an accompanying increase in dust, asthma and respiratory illnesses. Current expansions would double coal exports again. It would be irresponsible and irrational for me to do nothing about this. The coal expansion in the Liverpool Plains will directly affect me and my home town.
I joined the Front Line Action on Coal blockade in Leard State Forest because I believed that the Maules Creek community deserves our support. We will curse ourselves in the future if we are too cowardly to meet the challenge of rapid coal mining expansion with the response it requires today. Clicking ''like'' on Facebook will not be enough to save our health, forests, farmlands and climate.
The NSW approval for the Maules Creek mine was given by an unelected committee, the Planning Assessment Commission, which failed to assess cumulative impacts as required by the Director-General of Planning. A convoluted process initiated by the O'Farrell government prevents mine approvals from being challenged on their merits in court. Cut off from a democratic remedy, it is little wonder that communities across NSW and Queensland are standing in front of bulldozers and chaining themselves to gates. And sometimes, as we saw in Felton, Queensland, this month, the community wins.
Whitehaven is a company with political influence that small communities can hardly match. The chairman, Mark Vaile, is a former deputy prime minister and former leader of the Nationals. The main lobbyist, Liam Bathgate, is Barry O'Farrell's former chief of staff and ex-general secretary of the Nationals.
This conflict transcends politics and has brought together people from all walks of life. Last week's heatwaves and bushfires have thrown light on a greater threat. Allowing a massive expansion of the coal and gas industries when we need to invest in renewable energy means we are playing dangerous experiments with the Earth's natural systems, which we do not fully understand.
We are living in a dream world if we think that politicians and the business world are going to sort out the problem of coal expansion on their own. History shows us that when power relations are unevenly matched, change always comes from below. Every right we have has come from ordinary people doing extraordinary things and the time to act is rapidly running out.
Life, water, health and climate are things you cannot put a price on. For Maules Creek, it is up to Burke to pass sentence. In terms of the bigger picture, it's up to us.
Jonathan Moylan is a member of Front Line Action on Coal.
Images @ Melopopzdropz Flickr
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