Smoke screen: how Australia's biggest polluters have been free to increase emissions

For nearly 40 years, black coal has been mined at Myuna, an underground operation a short drive south-west of Newcastle. Each year about 2 million tonnes is dug up, dropped on to an overland conveyor and sent to the Eraring power plant next door to be burned.

The Port Kembla steelworks in New South Wales.
The Coalition’s safeguards mechanism was intended
to protect trade-exposed industries, such as steel and
aluminium, while ensuring emissions did not increase,
but its failure has raised serious questions.

Although the New South Wales mine isn’t new, its operation under owner Centennial Coal has changed over the past couple of years, leading to a dramatic increase in greenhouse gas escaping its coal seams.

Emissions at the mine in 2017-18 were 65% above the government-agreed limit for the site. New data published just before Christmas show Centennial was also in breach last financial year, with carbon pollution at Myuna 47% above its limit.

In an era in which political battles are fought over how to meet climate targets, an emissions rise of this proportion – nearly half a million tonnes at one site over just a couple of years – is noteworthy. Along with similar examples at other industrial sites, including those owned by BHP, Chevron and a range of other fossil-fuel companies, it helps explain why official data says the Morrison government will fail to cut emissions to 5% below 2000 levels in 2020 as it claims.

Read the story from The Guardian by Adam Morton - “Smoke screen: how Australia's biggest polluters have been free to increase emissions.”