Hunter protesters have taken their fight to Sydney against the Kurri Kurri gas fired power plant.
Gas Free Hunter Alliance and other locals have headed to the Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Rob Stokes’ office with concerns of the climate impacts and long-term economic impacts of the gas project.
The group also has a 55,000 signature petition calling on the Planning Minister to reject planning approval for the project
The $600 million project has Critical State Significant Infrastructure status and is being built in a bid to fill some of the gap on the energy grid which will be left when the Liddell coal-fired power station in Muswellbrook shuts in 2023.
“Kurri Kurri needs jobs with a future, like renewable energy, not to be fobbed off with only a handful of ongoing jobs created using last century’s technology and more than $600 million of public money,” Kurri Kurri local Janet Murray said.
The Gas Free Hunter Alliance group is calling for the Morrison Government and the NSW Government to make urgent plans to invest in more clean renewable energy projects in the Hunter Valley to generate electricity and create new jobs, instead of funding new fossil fuel projects.
GFHA co-coordinator Carly Phillips said she had concerns about carbon emissions from the gas plant.
“The building of any new gas infrastructure is entirely incompatible with NSW and Federal Government targets of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, nevermind the fact that very few local jobs would be created,” Carly Phillips said.
“The conservative International Energy Agency has categorically stated that no new gas infrastructure can be built around the world if we are to align with Paris Agreement climate commitments of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees by 2050.”