To begin, here is an overview of local issues from Massey University, including the New Zealand index of Social Deprivation.

It should come as no surprise that the Buller coal-mining region is one of the most deprived in the country.

For the big picture, here is a seminal paper from the US on the overall cost to communities of mining, transporting, and burning coal.

NB: Coal prices have collapsed since this paper was published in 2011.  If the costs outweighed the benefits then, the balance must be far worse today.

Here are some useful links from OraTaiao, the New Zealand Climate and Health Council:

Fossil fuels, Climate Change and Health;

The 2017 Royal Society report Human Health Impacts of Climate Change for NZ has a section on outdoor air quality;

More recently, here is a 2019 Lancet report on climate change and health and a 2019 review of air pollution and health from the American College of Chest Physicians.

For those who want to go deeper, there is a large body of relevant scientific evidence from the Appalachian coalfields in the US, where coal is mined by much the same methods, and in similar terrain, as in the Buller.

The following is a list of publications from one researcher, Dr. Michael Hendryx, Professor of Public Health at Indiana University. The titles show the many ways by which coal mining poisons communities and blights children’s lives.

• Full cost accounting for the life cycle of coal.
• Unintended consequences of the Clean Air Act: Mortality rates in Appalachian mining communities.
• An examination of the effects of mountaintop removal coal mining on respiratory symptoms and COPD using propensity scores.
• Mortality in Appalachian coal-mining regions: The value of statistical life lost.
• Mortality from heart, respiratory and kidney disease in coal mining areas of Appalachia.
• Increased risk of depression linked to mountaintop coal mining.
• Appalachian mountaintop mining particulate matter induces neoplastic transformation of human bronchial epithethial cells and promotes tumor formation.
• Improving the environmental quality component of the county health rankings model.
• Self-reported cancer rates in two rural areas of West Virginia with and without mountaintop mining.
• Health-related quality of life among Central Appalachian residents in mountaintop mining counties.
• Association between mountaintop mining and birth defects among live births in Central Appalachia.
• Atmospheric particulate matter size distribution and concentration in West Virginia coal mining and non-mining areas.
• Childhood asthma in rural-urban areas.
• Chronic cardiovascular disease mortality in mountaintop mining areas of Central Appalachian states.
• Atmospheric particulate matter in proximity to mountaintop coal mines: Sources and potential environmental and human impacts.
• Personal and family health in rural areas of Kentucky with and without mountaintop coal mining.
• Air pollution particulate matter collected from an Appalachian mountaintop mining site induces cardiovascular dysfunction.
• Adult tooth loss for residents of US coal mining and Appalachian counties.
• A comparative analysis of health-related quality of life for US counties with and without coal mining.
• A geographical information system-based analysis of cancer mortality and population exposure to coal mining activities in West Virginia, USA.
• Higher coronary heart disease and heart attack morbidity in Appalachian coal mining regions.
• Ecological integrity of streams related to human cancer mortality rates.
• Lung cancer mortality is elevated in coal-mining areas of Appalachia.
• Relations between health indicators and residential proximity to coal mining in West Virginia.
• Hospitalization patterns associated with Appalachian coal mining.
• Residence in coal-mining areas and low-birth-weight outcomes.
• Mortality rates in Appalachian coal mining counties: 24 years behind the nation.
• Cancer mortality rates in Appalachian mountaintop coal mining areas.
• The public health impacts of surface coal mining.
• Increased risk of depression for people living in coal mining areas of central Appalachia.
• Atmospheric particulate matter in proximity to mountaintop coal mines: sources and potential environmental human health impacts.
• The long-term economic benefits of wind versus mountaintop removal coal on Coal River Mountain, West Virginia.
• Mountaintop mining consequences.
• Learning outcomes among students in relation to West Virginia coal mining: An environmental riskscape approach.
• Association between residence near surface coal mining and blood inflammation.
• Health disparities and environmental competence: A study of Appalachian coal mining.

The post Coal, Air Quality, Health and Deprivation appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Jeanette at the CANA gathering in Ashburton, 2017 Photo: Shannon Gilmore

The post CANA Newsletter March 2020 appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

The decision to protect a section of the West Coast’s Mt Rochfort Conservation area from becoming a coal mine – announced today by the Government – will come as an enormous relief to a lot of New Zealanders, Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) said today.

“This is a victory for the thousands who opposed this mine from across the country, for the precious ecosystem on the mountain, and for the climate,” said CANA’s Cindy Baxter.

Earlier this year CANA, with 350.org, delivered a 6000-strong petition to the Ministers involved in the decision: Hon Meghan Woods and Hon Eugenie Sage, urging them to protect the area.

The Te Kuha Mine Site as it would be seen from Westport – top of the ridge is now protected.

“We know the Government has a new policy to protect conservation land from mining, but they still had to make this decision within the restrictions of a law designed under a different policy.  It’s great However, it was clear from the outset that this 12ha area was of outstanding conservation value,” she said.

The 12ha section at Te Kuha was at the top of the mountain, and part of a wider, 109ha mine footprint.  From the 2015 DOC assessment (see page 10 – and a map on page 9) it was clear the mine site would be visible from downtown Westport, and from the hugely popular tourist road through the Buller Gorge.  The company, Rangitira Developments, had applied to DOC for access in early 2016, but the decision was delayed.

Meanwhile, late last year the Buller District Council granted Rangitira Developments a consent to mine the bulk of the 109ha footprint, in the Westport Water Conservation Area.

Forest & Bird (joined by CANA, and the Department of Conservation) have appealed it to the Environment Court, which will hear the case late next month.  The Department of Conservation originally made a very neutral submission to the Council, but is now appealing the decision.

“Stevenson’s mining has said it cannot proceed if DOC declined its application so we will soon find out whether that was just bluff to pressure a decision in their favour,” said Baxter.

“But meanwhile we – and the kiwi and gecko and this beautiful area – are celebrating.”

The post Te Kuha protection a “victory for the people, climate change, and great spotted kiwi” appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

The “good old days”? Former Solid Energy CEO Don Elder and Finance Minister Bill English turn the sod for Solid’s failed lignite briquetting plant in Southland.

The Government must step in to help the 113 mineworkers who’ve been dumped by Solid Energy today – and the communities around them – to begin a discussion about an alternative future for the West Coast that doesn’t rely on a boom and bust industry, Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) said today.

With coal prices forecast to remain at record lows into the foreseeable future, and with investors dumping coal across the world, banking on the coal industry to provide an economic future for the West Coast would be a risky strategy.

On Saturday, CANA released an update of its Jobs After Coal report, which shows that 111 jobs have been lost in the coal industry since March last year. With today’s announcements, that number is now at 224, even with Bathurst Resources’ efforts to dig up more domestic coal to keep itself afloat.

“Solid Energy is a stranded asset – even its chair has resigned because she doesn’t think the company has a future.   Yet the Government continues to push coal and other fossil fuels as a future for New Zealand,” said CANA spokesperson Jeanette Fitzsimons.

The report calls for the Coast – helped by Government – to begin a community-wide discussion to a “just transition” to a more stable economic future for the West Coast.   It lists examples of how other former coal communities have succeeded in turning themselves around.

The post Laid-off Stockton mineworkers and West Coast community deserve a future appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Jeanette Fitzsimons speaking in Blackball on Saturday.

There was a theme for this year’s May Day seminar at Blackball, up the river valley from Greymouth, and crucible for the formation of the mining unions:

“A Sustainable West Coast Economy: dream or possibility?”

CANA was invited to speak about “The problem with the extractive industries”. You can read my speech here – I launched our 2015 Jobs After Coal report, with updated figures on last year.

May Day is traditionally a celebration of the 40-hour week and the gains workers have made through union activity and solidarity. The latest example would be Unite forcing the end of zero-hour contracts with McDonalds.

It was sad to hear Garth Elliott, EPMU organiser for the Coast, lamenting that these days the consumer society and TV have lulled many people into accepting the unacceptable or expecting the union to negotiate for them without the collective support of its members. I couldn’t help thinking the same forces lull us into accepting climate change, or expecting the government to look after us.

Paul Maunder, conference organiser for a number of years now, began with an excellent definition of sustainability. I was looking forward to hearing Grant Robertson talk about their Future of Work commission to see whether Labour had taken on board the need for a Just Transition out of fossil fuels, but unfortunately he was not able to make it on the day. Neither was any MP of any party.

There is a lot of support on the coast for developing a new economy that relies on clean energy and jobs that are locally owned and deliver what the community needs – energy, housing, food, transport – the Just Transition CANA argues for in Jobs After Coal.  This was reflected in the record attendance for the day.

There are also those who cannot accept that coal mining will not return and are just hunkering down waiting for the price to rise, but I sense their numbers are waning.

Also waning are the numbers of jobs in the coal industry – our report found there are 111 fewer jobs this year in coal than last year. There’s no sign of the promised jobs at Denniston – and there are unlikely to be any time soon.

And no, the last thing we’re doing is “dancing on the grave of coal” as the NZ Resources website thinks we are – we are extremely concerned about the future of a region that has been left to drift by a coal industry that clearly isn’t going to lift a finger to help.

And of course there was the usual climate denier – a geologist and engineer who has worked in the coal industry, arguing climate change won’t be that bad, we can adapt to climate change, it has happened before, we can move around and grow different things from now, there is no proof, etc.

If anywhere in NZ could be expected to argue this, given the pain the coast is experiencing from coal layoffs, it is here, but there was virtually no support in the room. A volley of counter arguments erupted and we moved on.

The public is ready for new, bold ideas but generally their elected leaders are not offering them. An exception is the Mayor of Buller who is trying a number of projects to provide alternatives for his community, the hardest hit by layoffs at Stockton, where another “restructuring” is expected this week.

He thanked CANA for our contribution in Jobs After Coal and wants to keep in touch. But there is still no sign of the “Everyone round the table” Just Transition process that would ensure full community buy-in.

The Mayor of Greymouth said a sustainable future should be based on expanded coal mining.  I hope he reads chapter 2 of our report that goes into the grim outlook for coal.

The regional council did not address sustainability but their plan is open for submissions at the moment – and I hope they get them.

The West Coast Development Trust (DWC) didn’t address sustainability either, and put forward no concrete ideas. They seem mainly concerned to preserve the value of the capital they have – the $92 million given to the Coast to help with economic development in 2000 when the logging of old growth indigenous forests was stopped.

They run some training and business development programmes but their own administration costs $2-3 million. Everyone we talked to who had ideas and projects complained that you can’t get money from DWC for innovative ideas that would create jobs.

So, the new extractive industry the West Coast seems to need today is a way of extracting some of the people’s money from their Trust, some of whose members are elected, to finance a just transition away from coal, away from fossil fuels.

The post May Day at Blackball: we call for a new extractive industry on the coast appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Press release

The news that Bathurst plans to start mining at Denniston on 1 July is a tragedy for the stunning ecology of the plateau, Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA) said today.

“Not only is this a tragedy for the beautiful plateau, it is also a tragedy for the climate, as every new coal mine is stealing from our children’s future,” said Jeanette Fitzsimons, a spokesperson for CANA.

“It is a tragedy for the West Coast communities who will once again put their faith in the boom-bust of coal instead of building a more robust and reliable future.”

We know that this mine is not economic at current prices. Evidence at the Environment Court shows that Bathurst needs $160/tonne for the mine to be worthwhile and the current price is less that two-thirds of this.

“How are they going to pay the $22million compensation to DOC that is a condition of their consent?” asked Ms Fitzsimons.

“There is a real risk that this mine will fail economically and they will walk away leaving a massive hole in the ground, a permanently damaged plateau, an increase in climate-changing carbon dioxide emissions, and a default on their obligations to the Department of Conservation” she said.

Coal Action Network opposes all new coal mines but believes existing mines should be allowed to run their course, phasing out as their permits end and miners retire.

There is already five times more coal available to use than can be burned if the world is to remain below two degrees of warming, according to climate scientists.

The post Mining decision a tragedy for Denniston plateau appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Coal Action Network activist at the now mothballed Mataura briquetting plant – supposed to provide local jobs, but didn’t.

Further layoffs expected today at Solid Energy’s Stockton mine are a warning that coal cannot be relied on for community prosperity and jobs says Coal Action Network Aotearoa (CANA).

CANA’s new report, Jobs After Coal – a Just Transition for coal mining communities, released two weeks ago, documents the reasons for the world-wide decline in coal mining and argues strongly that workers should not be left to bear the burden of redundancies.

Jeanette Fitzsimons, one of the authors, said “Coal prices are not going up again any time soon, renewable energy is getting cheaper all the time, and climate change means that most of the coal currently available to mine can never be burned anyway.”

“This is all part of the ‘perfect storm’ Don Elder talked of before he resigned.”

“It is urgent to set in place a planning process for communities that are most affected. This should have been done two years ago when the redundancies started, rather than waiting until even more families are suffering.”

“The latest layoffs make it clear that communities cannot rely on a boom and bust industry for their job security.”

A “Just Transition” would provide central government help for a community-led process to analyse where the skills of miners can be transferred to other industries and develop local economic development based on local skills and opportunities.

“It needs to involve all parts of the community – councils, business, unions, iwi, polytechs, ngos,  to plan a future after coal.”

The report provides some snapshots of what other communities overseas have done to reinvent themselves after coal mining, and concludes that the West Coast could do the same with some government resources.

The post Solid Energy layoffs more evidence coal won’t provide secure jobs appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

Our new report released today.

It doesn’t include new mines such as Bathurst’s plans for the beautiful Dennison Plateau, where operations have stalled and 29 workers were recently laid off as the coal price has plummeted in the face of a global oversupply.

But imagine if the Government was to draw a line in the sand and state that there would be no more coal mines in Aotearoa.  If they did that today,  this would give coal mining communities the time to adjust, to plan a transition away from coal that involved the entire community, and led to a sustainable future.

This is the argument we set out in our new “Jobs After Coal” report, released today.

Our research has found that New Zealand’s coal mining communities generally have fewer full time jobs and lower per capita income than their surrounding region or district.

This is totally contrary to the coal industry’s claims of employment and prosperity.  Only two mining communities in the entire country have higher median incomes than their surrounding district and only one has higher employment.

It’s clear that coal does not bring the promised prosperity from digging up coal, coal that will ultimately end up in the sky when it’s burned, contributing to arguably the most pressing issue facing the world today:  climate change.

In our report we outline ways in which communities can transition away from coal to new sources of prosperity and jobs as international markets and climate change concerns lead the phase out of coal.

Coal is a boom and bust industry. When the bust comes, coal mining communities have been left with no support – except for plans for more boom and bust coal mines.  Over the last few years we’ve seen so many jobs lost, overnight, with families and communities thrown into chaos and facing an uncertain future.

In gathering information for our report, we called every single coalmine in the country, to find out just how many people are employed.  The final figure is 1259 jobs.

Yet the Government continues to go on about the need for coal mining jobs, pushing coal as a job creator, yet it barely blinks at the nearly 40,000 jobs lost in manufacturing in the five years to 2012.

The international situation, with record-low coal prices, and an oversupply, with countries like China and India moving to renewable energy and to cut pollution,  our coal industry is unlikely to recover any time soon.

Talk of a carbon bubble is now gaining traction as people begin to understand the idea that we have only a small ‘budget’ of carbon we can afford to emit to keep global warming below two degrees C.

Coal is a sunset industry, and fossil fuel investments will be left as stranded assets

We could pretty much consider Solid Energy as a ‘stranded asset’ these days, with banks forced to back a company that will continue to fail under the ongoing ‘perfect storm’ of low prices and the high dollar.

Over the last week we’ve seen two institutions move to divest themselves from fossil fuel interests:  the Dunedin City Council – and the Anglican Church’s New Zealand and Pacific Dominion – the first branch of the Anglican church worldwide to do so.

Jobs After Coal sets out many alternatives to mining, especially in renewable energy and an expanded use of wood. Mining skills are applicable over a wide range of different industries.  However, this transition will not happen without planning, leadership, resources, and involvement of the whole community.

We have to draw a line in the sand for the end of coal in New Zealand, then plan for the day that this happens. Involve the whole community and plan a transition that doesn’t dump people out of jobs overnight.

The sooner we prepare for a future where mining towns can determine their own paths without dependence on the vagaries of a dying industry, the better.

The post Coal communities deserve better than the “boom and bust” coal industry appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

It’s not to late to change banks in time for our week of action.

When we started our campaign against Westpac because of its investment in Bathurst Resources, the company bit back.

No, no, we don’t invest in Denniston, they said.

We were investing in Bathurst before they were planning Denniston, they said.

The facilities we have with them relate to their existing operations, they said. Nothing to do with Denniston, they said.

While we have written to Westpac to clarify all of these points, we haven’t heard back.  They’ve gone silent, instead promoting their so-called sustainability.  But Bathurst’s half yearly report, released recently, is very useful and has provided all the information we think we need.

It certainly doesn’t tell us anything that would lead us to call off the campaign, as Westpac thinks we should.

The Bathurst report (page 18) goes into great detail on its relationship with Westpac  – perhaps in response to our campaign.  Here’s the detail on Westpac from that report:

“In July 2012, the Group obtained a finance facility with Westpac New Zealand Limited for the acquisition of a new mining fleet. The total amount available and drawn on the facility as at 31 December 2013 was $3.5 million.”

This new mining fleet is currently being deployed at the Cascade mine, just down from Escarpment (Denniston).  The thing is, Bathurst’s mining all it can out of Cascade, because it needs as much money as it can to fund the new mine. 

Will none of that fleet be used to take the beautiful Denniston plateau apart?  Even if it isn’t, all of Bathurst’s mines are being used to finance the new one.  So it’s a bit silly to claim they’re not related.

It’s also a bit silly to claim, as they do, that their investments in Bathurst were made before the company had made any plans to mine Denniston.  Bathurst’s whole entry into New Zealand was always all about Denniston and the coking coal up on that plateau.  They’ve bought up all the mines they currently own in order to get this new mine (and the next five mines next to it) up and running.

Next quote from Bathurst’s report:

 “In addition, the Group has with Westpac New Zealand Limited a term loan $1.2m, finance lease facilities $0.3m, and bank overdraft facilities which were unused at 31 December 2013.”

There are no caveats here about where this money from Bathurst’s term loan with Westpac should be spent.  Again, this is about Bathurst having enough money to keep going and start digging up the Denniston Plateau.

Right now the company is in dire financial straits, not helped by the low price of coking coal.  But it’s abundantly clear to us that Westpac is helping this company keep afloat through both loans: the $3.5million loan for its mining fleet and the $1.2million loan and the finance lease facilities.

While Bathurst has said this all-time low price of coal means they won’t start digging any up yet, (while laying off 29 workers), once it gets all the permits approved, it plans to start readying the Denniston Plateau for mining.

We have yet to find out whether this includes removing all the “overburden” [read: beauty, biodiversity], but, with Forest & Bird, have called on them not to do this and for the Minister of Conservation to hold back his permission.

We also note that the Buller District Council is getting very excited about the planning permissions being signed off. It looks like Bathurst may be clear of all the red tape pretty soon.

So it’s still a great time –  if you’re a Westpac customer who wants to do something about Bathurst’s plans to dig up a beautiful part of New Zealand for coal that will ultimately end up in the sky and contribute to climate change – to

Sign up to Make the switch!

It’s not too late to switch away from Westpac in time for our Week of Action beginning 7^th April around the country.  So get switching people!

Final note: Westpac is also one of the banks propping up Solid Energy, who, along with Bathurst Resources, are both pretty shaky companies. You’d think they might learn that coal is a bad investment on so many levels.  Maybe they should follow the path of Bill Koch (younger brother to the infamous Koch Industries brothers), who is getting out of the coal mining industry because, in his words, it “has kind of died.”

The post The real deal on Westpac’s coal funding appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.

The beauty of the Denniston Plateau that Bathurst may remove for nothing. Photo: Forest & Bird

Coal Action Network Aotearoa today called on the Minister of Conservation, Nick Smith, to not issue Bathurst Resources the DOC consent it needs to enter and operate its planned mine on the Denniston Plateau, in light of the company’s terrible financial state.

Bathurst has announced today that it is making 29 workers redundant and that it’s not going to mine coal at Denniston until international prices have recovered. However, it intends to go ahead and set up everything else on the plateau in readiness for mining.

This could include the removal of the “overburden” – the beautiful, biodiverse-rich landscape.

“Bathurst is in a terrible financial state.  Like Solid Energy, it’s facing a ‘perfect storm’ of tanking coal prices and a strong NZ dollar – quite a different situation from 2008 when the company started sniffing around the West Coast for coking coal,” said Cindy Baxter of CANA.

“There is no way this company should go ahead with wrecking the plateau, only to sit and wait until the coal price improves, something international commodities commentators are not forecasting to happen any time soon, due to an oversupply in the market.”

“We could find ourselves in a situation where the company goes under, having destroyed the beautiful Denniston Plateau – for absolutely nothing.  The Minister of Conservation needs to step in and refuse to let the company do this,” she said.

“There is no way Bathurst will be able to front up any time soon with the $22 million promised to DOC in the deal Mr Smith made with the company.”

The latest statement from BRL shows the company is having to restructure to keep afloat, and is to shed 29 jobs, instead of providing the 225 jobs it keeps promising – the 225 jobs that would only be there if it ramped up production to one million tonnes a year.

The price of coking coal has tanked, miles below the $165 the company needs to even break even, let alone make any profit. This break-even price was confirmed in a “caucusing agreement” between Bathurst and Forest & Bird at the Environment Court in November 2012, when they agreed that “a minimum expected price for the project to proceed is perhaps US$190.”

See also CANA’s recent blog on Bathurst’s perfect storm.

The post Minister of Conservation should halt Denniston Plateau mining appeared first on Coal Action Network Aotearoa.