Tell Southland District Council it’s time to say NO to new coal mines!
Southland District Council has granted Bathurst Resources access to more Southland land for coal mining – potentially allowing them to extend their Ohai coal mine and dig up more coal to sell to Fonterra.
Southland District Mayor Gary Tong has backed the expansion of coal mining, but says “we’re going to hear from others, and the Government, who say we shouldn’t be using fossil fuels.”
We think Gary Tong should hear from people – lots of people – that in a climate emergency it’s utterly unacceptable to allow new or expanded coal mines. CANA is calling for the Government to ban new and expanded coal mines, but until that ban is in place, the pressure has to go on local councils to reject applications to mine more coal.
Please email Gary Tong at communications@southlanddc.govt.nz and tell him, politely but firmly, that Southland District Council has made the wrong decision by allowing this access agreement.
Tell him that Southland District Council should not grant resource consent for any new or expanded mines.
And remind him why, in a climate emergency, we have to stop mining and burning coal.
– Tim Jones
“Coal is responsible for about 40 percent of CO2 emissions each year, making it central in efforts to keep within the 1.5C target. To meet this goal, agreed in Paris in 2015, global emissions need to be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 and to nearly zero by mid-century.” Says this interesting Cop26 summary article https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/455658/cop26-agrees-new-global-climate-deal-with-last-minute-change-on-coal