My last diary was about a high-profile Greenpeace protest at a coal power station. Here's more anti-coal protest news down under, this time a tiny protest group getting taken to court by "Big Mining" and (so far) winning.
A environmental group where I live has taken on a big coal company, writing a satirical report - and landed in court. Save Happy Valley Coalition generously took the liberty of writing the Solid Energy coal company's 2006 Environment Report, which I thought was rather a nice gesture. It saves the coal company and its lawyers time for more important things, like throwing their weight around to get new open-cast mines in beautiful natural habitats. But the coal co didn't see the funny side.
Thankfully, the judge hearing the injunction got the joke and allowed the report to stay on the environmental group's website. Details and links below the fold.
Solid Energy is (from their website) "New Zealand's leading producer and distributor of high quality coal for export and for New Zealand markets," operating underground and open-cast mines. Solid Energy sees coal as the future because, again from their website:
Known global oil and gas reserves will be largely exhausted within 20 to 50 years, but abundant and accessible coal reserves will last more than 200 years. New Zealand's coal reserves are estimated to represent 1000 years of supply at the current rate of coal use in the country's primary energy production.
Renewable energy sources remain expensive and it is likely to be several decades before they become economic. Coal can bridge the gap as gas and oil reserves run out and hydro electricity opportunities diminish.
I know New Zealand has a clean, green reputation (less than 5% of our electricity comes from coal, and about 70% is from renewable sources like hydro, geothermal and wind) but the truth is that NZ is a rather large per-capita exporter of coal. But I'm not sure if I'm allowed to spread that around, as it might hurt our green-oriented tourism industry. So keep it to yourself please. Thanks!
Anyway, Solid Energy wants an open cast mine in a beautiful area of the South Island known as Happy Valley. A local environmental group, Save Happy Valley Coalition is opposing this.
So SHVC wrote a 2006 Environment Report for Solid Energy, which is prominently available at the SHVC website. The satirical report is very funny and well worth the read. It's a very impressive, prefessional-looking glossy 12-page PDF in two parts. Well, off you go, read it!
Or at least, check out my favorite highlights:
This year Solid Energy successfully extracted more than 4.7 million tonnes of coal, contributing more than 10.3 million tonnes of climate-changing carbon dioxide to the global atmosphere. We made progress with our mountain-top removal project (despite significant delays), and used a legal loophole in Court to continue driving an endemic New Zealand species to extinction without prosecution. ...
This year we continued to use spin to clean up pollution of streams and rivers at the Stockton Opencast Mine. Our biggest problem is Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) - rivers are polluted when the copious rain dissolves sulphides in crushed mine rock to form sulphuric acid. ... Cleaning up involves huge expenditure ... It is much cheaper for us to 'solve' the problem by changing the name. We now call AMD acid rock drainage (ARD) to make it look like it is the natural rock of the coal plateau that is responsible for the pollution. ... We even went to court to ensure that the West Coast Regional Council use the term ARD instead of AMD. Disappontingly, some of our own scientists keep forgetting (or are reluctant to use our spin), so at times our documents continue to have AMD on one page and ARD on the next.
And that's all on the first page! Complete with before-and-after photos. Later, on the effect on biodiversity:
Nowadays, we have to apply for permits to continue causing destruction that we have caused for decades. This is because of the High Court finding (in the Forest and Bird case) that we do not automaticalluy have the right to kill any creature within our Stockton mining license. We are still taking our case to the Court of Appeal to overturn the decision. To mine profitably, we need the legal right to kill any creature, no matter how critically endangered.
And finally, from the Glossary of Terms at the back:
Historic mining - An hour ago
...
Too expensive - Over the annual net profit of $79 million for the previous year
*** *** ***
So, on to the legal action.
NZ Herald: Mining firm over-reacting to satire, say protesters
Mining company Solid Energy has been accused of badly over-reacting by going to court over a "satirical" document produced in its name. But the state-owned company says the "2006 Environmental Report" created by anti-mining protesters brings its name into disrepute and is no joke.
The Save Happy Valley Coalition of protesters, which has long been at odds with Solid Energy over its mining activities, used Solid Energy's company logo on the cover of the 12-page mock report.
Solid Energy responded by launching proceedings in the High Court at Christchurch claiming the document was defamatory. It was seeking an injunction, but was yesterday refused by a judge in a telephone conference. The company is now deciding whether to argue for it in a full court hearing.
Stuff.co.nz: Solid Energy fails to gag environmentalists
A state-owned coal company's attempt to stop an environmental group making fun of it was thrown out of court yesterday. ...
Solid Energy chief executive Don Elder said earlier yesterday the coalition's document did not belong in the public environment. Dr Elder told a parliamentary committee yesterday the document, while comical, was defamatory.
Great to see satirical work is still being defended here, where we don't have anything like the U.S. First Amendment to protect tiny protest groups from the big guys who try to silence them.