Energy

CSG extraction must stop for the well-being of Australia and its farmers

Posted on August 12, 2015

A recent study[1] commissioned by the Queensland Government has found irreversible damage has been caused by the release of toxic chemicals and gases into the local environment near Chinchilla. The study indicates that the experimental plant run by Linc Energy is by far the most likely culprit. The Pirate Party, whose official policy includes a moratorium on coal seam gas (“CSG”) extraction[2], believes that this damage is unacceptable and that all CSG extraction should cease until the risks involved are properly understood and protected against.

The Pirate Party is also concerned (although unsurprised) that, while the study has been released to Linc Energy, it has not yet been released to nearby farmers and landowners. Notes released by the ABC detail “explosive levels” of hydrogen, and also highlights that four researchers were hospitalised while testing at the site, most likely due to elevated levels of carbon monoxide. The Pirate Party believes that landowners must immediately be made aware of the presence of dangerous levels of toxic chemicals and gases.

Pirate Party Deputy President Michael Keating commented: “State and federal government preference for mining over food production is dangerously shortsighted. Coal seam gas extraction risks agricultural land for short-term economic benefit and, as this report demonstrates, the risk is just not worth it. With a growing population and increasing risk of drought from climate change, gambling with agricultural land is folly.”

“This one incident has impacted hundreds of square kilometres of agricultural land. We cannot afford to keep losing prime farming land to these experiments, not when the lives and fortunes of our farmers are at risk. Our governments must step in to secure the safety and livelihood of our farmers,” Mr Keating continued.

The Pirate Party remains committed to the environment and ecology of Australia, and supporting the livelihoods of Australian farmers.

[1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-10/linc-energy-secret-report-reveals-toxic-chemical-risk/6681740
[2] https://pirateparty.org.au/wiki/Policies/Energy,_Environment_and_Climate_Change#Preserving_Australia.E2.80.99s_ecology

No backward step on climate change

Posted on March 28, 2014

Pirate Party Australia welcomes the upsurge of interest in renewable energy and climate change that the Western Australian Senate Election campaign has generated. An overwhelming 97 percent of climate scientists now believe human activity is causing global warming, and the cost of the failure to act is growing[1]. This is a call to action for all parties and candidates who support science and evidence-based policy making.

Pirate Party Australia endorses a rapid and large investment in renewable energy sources beyond that which is currently proposed[2]. In the absence of such an investment, Pirate Party Australia will firmly defend existing climate change mechanisms including the Renewable Energy Target, the Carbon Tax/ETS, and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. Pirate Party candidates will oppose any attempt to undermine or remove any of these instruments.

“Pirate Party candidates stand on the side of science,” said Fletcher Boyd, lead candidate for the Senate in WA. “No Pirate Party candidate will give ground to anti-science and demagoguery.”

Pirate Party tackles Australia’s energy crisis

Posted on August 18, 2013

Pirate Party Australia is pleased to announce its signature infrastructure project — a renewable energy rollout that aims to provide Australia with 100% reliance on renewable energy within 10 years[1].

The time when renewable energy was unaffordable, impractical, or technologically unachievable has passed. Renewable energy has evolved remarkably in the last few years. Technology has improved and become vastly cheaper, and credible organisations have produced costed, modeled and technologically sound blueprints for a full transition to renewable energy.

Australia’s leading renewable energy think tank, Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE), has developed a clean energy plan which features deployment of concentrated solar power (CSP) facilities supplemented with wind and biomass sources. CSP is already in use in Spain and the United States, and Australia is in a uniquely strong position to transition to solar energy due to its size and natural advantages.