Victory for Margaret River coal campaign

An important victory was won on March 21 when the Environmental Protection Authority released its decision that the "Vasse Coal Management’s coal mining proposal is environmentally unacceptable".

"In effect, this is an EPA 'no' to the proposal," EPA Chairman Paul Vogel said.

It is still possible that the state government could overrule the EPA decision but No COAL!ition spokesperson Ian Parmenter explains (below) why this would seem unlikely.

Safe Climate welcomes this victory and gives hearty congratulations to the No COAL!ition and to all who have been involved in the campaign against the mine.

Message from Ian Parmenter to supporters

Well, today has been momentous.

In essence, the EPA has ruled that "there is likely to be significant impacts, or risks, from the proposal on the Leederville and Sues Aquifers, and on significant environmental values, including the social surrounds of the Margaret River region, which these aquifers support". EPA chief Dr Paul Vogel has said a clear 'no' to the LDO mining project. See below.

The only action which can reverse the EPA finding is if the Minister for the Environment, Bill Marmion, were to over-rule the decision.

In the current climate, and in view of the Premier's being 'no fan of the project', it seems that the Vasse Coal Project is, appropriately, doomed to fail.

I've received many emails of thanks and congratulations on this achievement from many people either involved in this fight or those who simply are aware of what's been happening .
I will get round to responding individually to everyone but can I just say that this has been an amazing team effort on the part of so many people, both local and from interstate and overseas, and they all deserve a standing ovation.

A TV journalist asked me today if this was a victory for common sense. I said 'no', it's a victory for community, and all those who have worked so hard to build the massive resistance to the potential destruction of one of the world's great biodiversity hotspots, to say nothing of the businesses and lives of local people.

But this is just the start. What we now have to do is make sure that our precious region is quarantined for all time from the devastating effects of extractive mining, whether it's coal, gas or oil.

Bravo and hoorah to all...

Cheers, Ian.

21 March 2011