Independents pledge to block Adani mine in event of minority government

Seven potential lower-house independents have signed a joint statement pledging to pursue a number of climate change actions in the event the election makes them kingmakers in the next parliament – including working to stop the controversial Adani coalmine.

 Kerryn Phelps with Andrew Wilkie at parliament in October.
The two independent MPs have joined other independent
candidates pledging support for major environmental action
should they be elected.

Andrew Wilkie in Denison, Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth, Julia Banks in Flinders, Helen Haines in Indi, Zali Steggall in Warringah, Rob Oakeshott in Cowper, and Oliver Yates in Kooyong, have signed a pledge coordinated by the Australian Conservation Foundation setting out 10 measures they will pursue in the next parliament in the event they win their seats, putting the major parties on notice in the event either has to form a minority government.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy and Sarah Martin - “Independents pledge to block Adani mine in event of minority government.”

EPA’s ‘secret science’ proposal being used by Big Oil to undermine clean water rules

Internal emails reveal two major fossil fuel trade groups are lobbying to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from updating a decades-old list of toxic chemicals found in petroleum wastewater — and they’re using the Trump administration’s controversial “secret science” proposal to make their case. 

An Exxon gas refinery in Baytown, Texas.

The EPA currently monitors for 16 types of chemicals in wastewater, or effluent, released by petroleum refineries under the Clean Water Act. However, in the more than 40 years since the list was developed, scientific understanding around the number of chemicals and their toxicity levels has grown. As a result, the EPA is in the early stages of determining whether the priority list of chemicals needs to be updated.

But according to emails released to the Sierra Club and reviewed by ThinkProgress, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) are lobbying to limit the scope of the EPA’s study.

Read the story from ThinkProgress by Kyla Mandel - “EPA’s ‘secret science’ proposal being used by Big Oil to undermine clean water rules.”