Home

Scam awards to honour mining industry

Winners announced this morning - see below.

The Environment and Community Scam Awards, attended by members of coal affected communities from around NSW, will be held outside the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Terrigal this morning, to recognise and denounce the irreversible impacts of coal mining on communities and the environment.

The awards ceremony is a protest against the NSW Minerals Council’s Environment and Community Conference, which will be held inside the hotel, for $1000 per ticket.

Where: Crowne Plaza Hotel, Pine Tree Lane, Terrigal

When: 11am

Georgina Woods, spokesperson for Rising Tide said, “At more than $1000 per ticket, the industry schmooze can hardly be considered open to the "community. Coal mining destroys remnant bushland, cracks river beds and fuels climate change. The Scam awards recognise the depths of environmental and social depravity plumbed by mining companies in NSW.”

“We asked people from coal-affected communities to nominate mining companies who had clearfelled the most woodland, lost the most water, created the most dust, or contributed the greatest quantity of greenhouse gas pollution.”

Winners announced this morning include:

"DEAD FISH AWARD" - Awarded for the biggest abuser of water resources

Peabody Energy, for the destruction of the Waratah Rivulet, a stream which once provided a third of the water for Woronora Dam.

"MOONSCAPE" AWARD - Awarded for the destruction of the most bushland

Idemitsu for the wanton destruction (300ha so far, an more to come) of Leard State forest, the second largest remnant forest in the Liverpool plains area, to make way for the Boggabri Coal mine.

The full awards list follows below.


“When you take a step back and consider the impacts of the coal mining industry as a whole, as we will do at tomorrow’s ceremony, you can see that the economic benefits are dwarfed by the harm inflicted on the environment and on people who have to live with coal mining.

“It is clear that the State Government needs to conduct a cumulative impact assessment of coal mining in the Hunter, Western and Southern Coalfields, and give the community some justice.”

ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITY SCAM AWARD WINNERS!

  • "MOONSCAPE" AWARD - Awarded for the destruction of the most bushland


And the winner is....
Idemitsu for the wanton destruction (300ha so far) of Leard State Forest, the second largest remnant forest in the Liverpool plains area, to make way for the Boggabri Coal mine.

  • "BLUE STUBBIES" AWARD - Awarded for the biggest longwall subsidence crack


And the winner is....
BHP Billiton, for the Dendrobium mine, where a community consultative committee member fell down up to their shoulders in a crack.

  • "GOLDEN GAG" AWARD - Awarded for the most ingenious community consultation scam


There was hot competition for this award and many nominations were received. Some simply couldn't be separated:

* Centennial Coal, for the $25 000 put up or shut up bribe to mine affected landholders requiring them to support the Anvil Hill mine proposal and refrain from criticism.
* BHP Billiton, for attempting to silence members of a Community Consultative Committee by banning them from speaking publicly about mining damage to the Cataract River in Sydney's water supply catchment.
* Peabody Energy, for sending the police around to the house of residents who had made a noise complaint, warning them not to approach the company.
* Centennial Coal, for firing consultants who resorted to telling the truth about what underground mining was doing to the endangered Newnes Plateau Shrub Swamps.

  • "FLASH FLOODING" AWARD - Awarded for the project making the single biggest contribution to global climate change


Now these are meant to be ‘industry’ awards but undoubtedly the most conspicuous activity in this regard came from the public-sector arm of the NSW export coal industry, the NSW Government.

* The Iemma NSW Labor Government, for the approval to double the export capacity of Newcastle port, the world’s Biggest Coal Export Port. In early 2007 the Iemma government approved NCIG’s proposed third coal loader on Kooragang island and the Port Waratah Coal Service expansion – the combined projects will increase coal exports from Newcastle to over two hundred million tpa, creating GHG emissions equaling the entire Australian greenhouse contribution from all sources.

  • "GOLDEN RESPIRATOR" AWARD - Awarded for the worst dust emissions from an open-cut project


And the winner is...
Bengalla Mining Company, for the Bengalla open-cut coal mine near Muswellbrook.

  • "SPINNING TOP" AWARD - Awarded for the biggest Spin campaign


And the winners are:

NSW Minerals Council, and their spin doctor in cheif, Nikki Williams, for the multi million dollar ad campaign: “Life: Brought to you by Mining”, and to Nikki personally for her tireless efforts to confuse the public about the link between coal and climate change.

  • "DEAD FISH AWARD" - Awarded for the biggest abuser of water resources


And the winner is...
Peabody Energy, for the destruction of the Waratah Rivulet, a stream which once provided a third of the water for Woronora Dam.

  • "FORCE MAJEURE AWARD" - Awarded for the most creative response to a logistical nightmare


And the winner is....
Hunter Valley Coal Chain Logistics Team, for overseeing the grounding of the Pasha Bulka.

  • "NEW KID ON THE BLOCK AWARD" - Awarded for the most inappropriate new project


Kores of South Korea, for the Wallarah 2 mine proposal which would see longwall mining under Jilliby Creek in the Central Coast's water supply catchment and a coal handling plant built to spread dust over one of Australia's biggest growth areas for the next 40 years.