News

International News Comment & Analysis Australian News Cultural Dissent Loose Cannons Cartoons

Hot Topics

Environment Workers & Unions Latin America Anti-war Art & culture Asia Region Indigenous rights

Discussions

GLW Discussions List Links Bolivia Rising Ecuador Rising LeftClick Live from Palestine

Advertising

The following ads are selected by google. For more info click here.

BRIEF, AUSTRALIA
Climate protest stops aluminium smelter

Simon Butler

13 June 2009

Police arrested four climate change activists on June 9 after their protest stopped production for five hours at Australia’s largest aluminium smelter at Tomago, near Newcastle.

The two smelters in the Hunter region, at Kurri Kurri and Tomago, consume about 15% of NSW’s electricity. But huge government subsidies mean their energy costs per megawatt are one-sixth of that paid by households.

If the Rudd government’s planned Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme becomes law, smelters like Tomago will have 90% of their carbon credits paid for by the public.

Protest organising group Rising Tide called on the federal government to use the money now spent on subsidising polluting coal-fired smelters on renewable energy projects instead.