Doing advocacy works.
Emailing your MP. Spending an hour on a Sunday writing a submission. Attending a public consultation meeting. Talking to your neighbours, friends and family about what matters.
Sometimes it’s slow, and it doesn’t always look so obvious – but advocacy works, and little by little, we’re making change together.
Here’s some proof coming out of NSW.
Community wins more accountability for power stations
Local advocacy has secured improved measures for community engagement from power station operators at Lake Macquarie.
It follows the EPA’s latest five yearly review of power station licences completed last year. During the review, hundreds of people across NSW called on the EPA to improve accountability, transparency and access to information, tighten pollution limits and enforce stronger protection for community health.
Thanks to tireless campaigning from community members, coal-fired power station operators – Delta Electricity, Origin, AGL and Energy Australia – will now have to report greenhouse gas emissions annually. Calls to add climate change and mitigation and adaptation plans added to licences continue, and the EPA has said it will consider this in the future.
Additionally, Community Consultative Committees will now be required across all four power stations at Lake Macquarie. This is an important improvement on community engagement.
These committees are vital avenues through which community members can obtain information about power station operations – and, importantly, these Committees require operators to engage with the community.
The committees are one of what should be many avenues for the community to access information. Power stations must be required to make information about the health impacts of coal power stations regularly available.
Power station facing court over mass fish kills
In case you missed it: Delta Electricity, operator of Vales Point Power Station, is facing court over allegations a pollution incident in 2022 killed thousands of fish and rays in Lake Macquarie.
Following its investigation after the fish kill, the NSW EPA says Delta allegedly breached a licence condition and could have prevented the fish kill if it had adequate equipment and processes in place.
Delta Electricity was back in court this week, where the trial date was set for 2 December 2024.
EPA gives power stations green light to pollute
In more disappointing news, the NSW EPA has only marginally reduced limits on the amount of toxic airborne pollutants coal-fired power stations are allowed to emit.
It means overall, Australia continues to have some of the weakest air pollution controls in the world.
But as ever – community advocacy continues. Locals are calling on the EPA to reduce air pollution limits, manage the risks posed by coal ash dumps, ensure accessible and accurate reporting on pollution levels, and require climate change plans from big polluters.
The fight to hold coal operators accountable for their harm to community and environmental health is rarely straightforward – which is why all wins are worth celebrating.
Thanks to persistent community advocacy, fossil fuel companies operating in Lake Macquarie are being held to increasingly higher standards of accountability, scrutiny and transparency.
Environmental justice means we all have access to accurate and regular information about the health impacts of coal, and opportunities to meaningfully have a say on what happens in our communities.
Let’s celebrate these wins – and keep up the pressure.