Dear Nevile,

A few weeks ago scientists announced that Arctic sea ice was at its lowest level since records began. At the rate the planet is warming (due to greenhouse pollution from fossil fuels like coal) the Arctic may be completely free of summer sea ice as early as 2015. That’s the same year that mining companies were planning to start shipping coal from T4 – their proposed massive new coal terminal in Newcastle. But they didn’t count on the strong community campaign against it. We’ve already delayed T4 by two years!

But we don’t want T4 delayed. We want it stopped. For the health of people living with the Hunter coal industry, already breathing unsafe levels of particle pollution, T4 needs to be stopped. For the vast areas of land and water in the Hunter and Gunnedah regions threatened by coal mining; for the globally significant wetlands of the Hunter Estuary, and the wildlife that depend on them; and for the millions of people around the world whose lives are threatened by climate change, T4 needs to be stopped.

Together, we can stop T4. Take action now: http://www.stopT4.org.au

Here’s how the campaign is going:

• On Monday, University of Sydney researchers released a report on ‘Health and Social Harms of Mining in Local Communities: Spotlight on the Hunter’. The report documents the risk of cancer, heart, lung and cancer disease and birth defects.

• There have been 36 air quality alerts for the Hunter Valley in the last month – an average of one a day. A recently installed air quality monitor in Stockton has revealed particle pollution exceeding the national standard. And this is now. What will the air in the Hunter Valley be like if coal companies get their wish, and the industry triples in size?

• We’ve just launched a new online action page. With a couple of clicks you can send a message direct to Premier Barry O’Farrell and Planning Minister Tim Owen, asking them to take a stand against T4. Please take action, then spread the word throughout your networks. Let’s swamp their in-boxes.

• We’ve also been working on a new T4 ad, targeting Barry O’Farrell and Tim Owen. If we can raise enough money, we’re going to put it in the Newcastle Herald. We’re also about to embark on a letterbox leafleting drive with the ad. Do you have some time to letterbox your area? Drop us a line if you do. To see the ad or donate money to get it in the paper, please click here.

• Planning Minister, Brad Hazzard, has sent the T4 Proposal to the NSW Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) for review. The Terms of Reference for the PAC can be downloaded here. The PAC will be holding public hearings in Newcastle in early 2013 (probably February), to assess the merits or otherwise of the T4 Proposal. They will be calling for both written and oral submissions. Now, we are not naive here at CTAG. We have seen how corrupt the NSW planning process is when coal companies are involved. So we’re fairly certain that the PAC will recommend approval of T4. Nonetheless it’s an important process to engage with, to further delay the T4 approval process, and to give the PAC all the ammunition they need to make the right call. We will be calling on you to make your voice heard to the PAC over the next couple of months, so keep an eye out.

• We fundraised $5000 for our air monitoring program! Thanks for your generous donation! We will be hiring equipment soon, to begin making independent measurements of the air quality along the coal rail line. Industry recently did their own air quality monitoring. You might have seen our criticism of that study in local media.

That’s all for now. We’ll be in touch soon. Don’t forget to do the online action and tell your friends about it.

Thanks again for your support!

Annika (Hunter Community Environment Centre)

On behalf of theCoal Terminal Action Group
http://coalterminalactiongroup.nationbuilder.com/

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coalterminalactiongroup · Australia
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