{"id":78549,"date":"2020-09-30T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/australia-approves-major-new-fossil-fuel-projects\/"},"modified":"2020-09-30T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T09:00:00","slug":"australia-approves-major-new-fossil-fuel-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/australia-approves-major-new-fossil-fuel-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"#Australia approves major new fossil fuel projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Australia app<\/a>roves major new fossil fuel projects<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n The coal seam gas development has generated widespread local opposition
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Australia has approved two major new fossil fuel projects that proponents in the climate change-vulnerable nation say will create badly needed jobs despite growing concerns over emissions.<\/p>\n


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Authorities in New South Wales state on Wednesday announced conditional approval for a Aus$3.6 billion (US$2.6 billion) coal seam gas development that has generated widespread local opposition.<\/p>\n

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said she was “relieved” that an independent commission had given energy firm Santos the green light to proceed, adding that gas was a “central part of our energy security into the future”.<\/p>\n

The project is a keystone of conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s plan for a “gas-fired recovery” of the coronavirus-hit economy, as Australia grapples with its first recession in almost 30 years and a million job losses.<\/p>\n

Up to 850 wells would be drilled on 1,000 hectares of a 95,000-hectare site, Santos said, with the potential to supply half the gas needs for the country’s most populous state.<\/p>\n

Conservationists have raised fears over the impact on vast tracts of forest and farmland near Narrabri, northwest of Sydney, as well as Morrison’s doubling down on carbon-emitting fuels.<\/p>\n

“With this approval, we risk becoming a fossil fuel pariah as the world transitions to renewable energies and countries strengthen their commitment to climate action,” Greens parliamentarian Cate Faehrmann said.<\/p>\n

Approval of the gas project came a day after Queensland’s government gave a final go ahead for the state’s third-largest coal mine, which officials say is expected to have an 80-year lifespan and employ 1,000 workers once operational.<\/p>\n

The sprawling project, which will provide steel-producing metallurgical coal, has proved less contentious due to lower expected emissions than nearby thermal coal operations, but is nevertheless set to raze a swathe of koala habitat.<\/p>\n

“Clearing those forests pushes this species closer to extinction,” Australian Conservation Foundation’s Gavan McFadzean told public broadcaster ABC.<\/p>\n

Resource-rich Australia has recently emerged as one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels, behind only Russia and Saudi Arabia by some estimates.<\/p>\n

The new projects come despite calls for the coronavirus crisis to spur a “green recovery” and just months after Australia emerged from the most severe bushfire season in recorded history.<\/p>\n

Almost 90 percent of Australians believe that climate change is a critical or important threat, according to a recent poll by Sydney’s Lowy Institute.<\/p>\n

Drought and water shortages\u2014worsened by climate change\u2014are seen as the top threat facing the country, above even the pandemic and the global economic crisis.<\/p>\n\n

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Australia doubles down on fossil fuels, firing up critics\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2020 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Australia approves major new fossil fuel projects (2020, September 30)
\n retrieved 30 September 2020
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2020-09-australia-major-fossil-fuel.html<\/p>\n

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