The Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS -- or "crap arse") is currently on public exhbition for a limited time only! 

Rising Tide has made it remarkably easy for you to make a submission to this process. Follow this link and fill out the webform to make a submission to not one but TWO public exhibition periods.  

The more conscientious should write longer submissions one for each process and send  them in yourself.

Activists occupy the coal yards at Bayswater Power Station: 1st November 2008

• Here is slick image gallery of the protest
• Here is the cluncky version of the image gallery

29 people have been arrested after a climate change protest at Bayswater power station today.

Economist Ross Garnaut’s Supplementary Report, released today, is a “cop-out” according to climate action group, Rising Tide.

The Hunter Community Environment Centre has revealed that if the NSW coal industry continues to expand at the rate it has for the last 10 years, the coal reserves will be exhausted in just 35 years. At that time, so-called "clean coal" technology will still be in its infancy .

Clearly, the promise of "clean coal" is irrelevent to the debate about the future of the NSW export coal industry.

Rising Tide Newcastle has hit out at the Labor party this week for what it says is misleading and cowardly greenhouse emissions policy that will condemn NSW to accelerated climate change.

NSW is directly responsible for 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent entering the atmosphere every year. Carbon dioxide released from exported NSW coal which is burnt overseas, comes to an additional 220 million tonnes per year. Neither figure shows any indication of falling in the foreseeable future.

“The trajectory NSW is following is going to devastate the ecology of this state. The Labor Government’s plan does not cut emissions by anywhere near the degree necessary to avoid a 2ºC warming scenario, which will lead to nearly 80% loss in coral reef systems globally and an up to 70 per increase in forest fires in the coming decades.

Climate action group Rising Tide Newcastle have slammed the proposal by the Federal Opposition to spend half a billion dollars of tax-payers money on dubious “clean coal” technology. The new plan announced by opposition leader Kevin Rudd aims to have "clean-coal" fired electricity in the national grid by the year 2020.

The coal industry's response to climate change is looking more and more dubious, with reports this week that carbon dioxide pumped underground by US researchers is dissolving the minerals that should keep it there.

The NSW Government is currently making plans to increase electricity supply in the state, due to growing demand. Although are there are sustainable ways to solve the problem, the government has indicated that the outcome will instead be new coal-fired power stations. Due to our dependency on coal, electricity generation in Australia already accounts for about half our greenhouse pollution emissions, and is therefore our major contribution to global climate change. In NSW, approximately 90% ofelectricity is produced from the combustion of coal.