Whitehaven’s solutions to reduce emissions at Winchester South are a joke

Community groups say it is “ridiculous” for Whitehaven to suggest its workers carpooling could seriously help mitigate the massive greenhouse gas emissions from its planned Winchester South thermal and metallurgical coal mine in Central Queensland.

In its recently published revised Environmental Impact Statement, the company also suggested keeping the diesel engines of vehicles and machinery at the mine site in tip-top shape as a way to keep emissions down.

Environmental Advocacy in Central Queensland director Dr Coral Rowston said, “To suggest that car-pooling and maintaining their diesel engines as key measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions reduction is plain ludicrous.  Winchester South will be responsible for creating nearly 600 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, and these tokenistic measures is a bit like trying to stop a freight train with a toothpick.

“These are basic industry practices and Whitehaven shouldn’t be patted on the back for suggesting them. It also shouldn’t be up to Whitehaven’s workers to mitigate the emissions its bosses are creating.”

Whitehaven says Winchester South will be responsible for 17.4 million tonnes of direct and indirect emissions (scope 1 and 2) during its 28-year lifespan – emissions that will be counted in Queensland’s greenhouse total even as the state attempts to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.  A further 567 million tonnes of emissions will be released after the coal leaves the mine site.

Winchester South is one of the 18 fossil fuel projects the federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek is currently reconsidering due to the impacts that climate change has on matters of national environmental significance.  In Central Queensland, these include threatened species and communities like the koala and greater glider, Ramsar listed wetlands like the Shoalwater Corio Bay wetlands, and globally special areas such as the Great Barrier Reef.

“Allowing Whitehaven to get away with such a carbon intensive project will unfairly shift the responsibility onto other sectors to reduce their emissions. Ordinary Central Queenslanders and other, less polluting industries shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of emissions reduction responsibilities while gargantuan coal mines continue to pump out climate-wrecking levels of greenhouse gases.

“The Albanese Government has just signed the Global Methane Pledge, committing Australia to doing its fair share to ensure global methane is reduced. 

“There’s no way that you can reduce methane emissions meaningfully while opening new mines like the Winchester South project.

“As Australians suffer the impacts of ever worsening, fossil-fuel driven weather events, it’s more important than ever that entirely new greenfield coal mines are not being approved,” said Dr Rowston.