I live about 10 minutes' drive from Morwell, a town that simply feels like decay. Unemployment is among the highest in Victoria, the stress of losing jobs or homes is fuelling a drug crisis and it seems as if things can only get worse.
It鈥檚 hard to walk down empty streets with boarded up shopfronts and not feel worried about Morwell鈥檚 future. Following news that
One outcome of last year's inquiry into the Morwell Mine fire in Victoria's Latrobe Valley was the discovery that the default plan for 鈥渞ehabilitating鈥 the mine would be to let it fill with water naturally, perhaps to become a recreational lake. The hitch: it would take more than a hundred years to fill naturally and the water quality would be terrible due to pollution from coal seams.
ENGIE, the French company that owns two of Victoria's coal power stations, announced on November 2 it will close the oldest, Hazelwood, by March, and is selling the other, Loy Yang B. The power stations are in the Latrobe Valley, east of Melbourne.
Hazelwood Power Station, Australia鈥檚 dirtiest power generator and many decades past its 鈥渦se by鈥 date, will finally close on March 31.
Hazelwood鈥檚 closure is symbolic because of its size, its history and because it provides 20% of Victoria鈥檚 power. But technological advances and environmental concerns have finally caught up with it.
In May, majority owner ENGIE鈥檚 CEO Isabelle Kocher said the company was reviewing its remaining coal plants one by one and would close those with the most outdated technology.
Clearfelling old growth forest in Tasmania. Previously destroyed for woodchips, native forests are now in danger of being burned to create electricity.
Reports that the owner of Victoria鈥檚 Hazelwood coal power station, GDF Suez, has been considering plans to convert it into a co-firing facility, allowing it to burn native forest waste as well as brown coal, have been slammed by environmentalists.
On May 28 members and supporters of Climate Action Moreland rallied to urge the government to close Hazelwood power station.
Hazelwood is Australia鈥檚 dirtiest power station. Burning brown coal in Hazelwood creates 15% of Victoria鈥檚 greenhouse pollution, a huge 16 million tonnes a year. It uses 27 billion litres of water a year, and it's Australia鈥檚 biggest emitter of dangerous dioxins. It is old, inefficient and hopelessly out-of-date.
