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WARRIOR JOINS THE GREENHOUSE BATTLE
By Amanda Hodge
The Australian
July 28, 2005

http://tinyurl.com/df7he

Greenpeace used its maritime warhouse the Rainbow Warrior to blockade
Newcastle's coal port yesterday in protest against Australia's contribution
to global warming.

The world's largest coal export terminal came to a standstill about 7am when
Greenpeace protesters anchored the ship in the channel leading to the
Kooragang and Carrington terminals.

About a dozen orange jump-suited protesters, bearing white Climate Action
Team bibs, also broke into the Kooragang terminal and climbed a coal
stockpile to unfurl a 60m banner.

The protest ended at noon when a police team stormed the Rainbow Warrior,
arresting captain Derek Nicholls and detaining the crew.

Four activists who chained themselves to a coal loader were also removed and
arrested after police spent several hours clearing a path through tonnes of
coal to bring in a cherry-picker.

The four were later charged with trespassing.

The Warrior docked in Sydney last Friday, just weeks after celebrating her
20th anniversary, to kick off a national campaign calling for Australia to
end its reliance on coal-fired power and switch to renewable energy.
Greenpeace spokesman Mark Wakeham hailed the protest as a success, despite
the arrests.

"We put the spotlight today on the fact that our No1 export is fuelling
climate change which comes back to haunt us," he said.

The Australian Coal Association condemned the protest as a "pointless stunt
which contributed nothing positive to the serious effort to reduce
greenhouse gases".

ACA executive director Mark O'Neill said Greenpeace was out of step with
mainstream environmental thinking, which recognised the importance of
technologies that reduced emissions from coal burning.

'If Greenpeace were more honest it would acknowledge that oil, not coal, is
by far the largest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
"Last-century-style environmental stunts launched from diesel-guzzling
flagships may be good for boosting membership, but they are no substitute
for positive engagement and action to deal with greenhouse gas emissions."

NSW Ports Minister Michael Costa denounced the protest as irresponsible and
"a black day for Greenpeace".

"There are more than 30 operating mines in the Hunter and Newcastle
coalfields - that's over 6800 jobs," he said.

"Hunter people will take a lot of convincing that coal is bad if this is how
(the Greenpeace activists) go about it."

Greenpeace called on premiers to commit to a 20per cent renewable energy
target by 2020, energy efficiency measures and a 10c-a-tonne coal levy for a
Hunter Sustainable Future Fund.

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Published by David Sunfellow
NewHeavenNewEarth (NHNE)
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