In an act of environmental vandalism U.S. multi-national Alcoa has signed a deal to purchase brown coal powered electricity from Loy Yang Power from their power stations in Geelong and Portland both fired by extremely dirty brown coal.
Alcoa has received cheap electricity over the last 30 years in Victoria equivalent to a subsidy of $4.5 billion dollars. It now plans to continue to use up to 20% of Victoria's electricity consumption using brown coal for decades to come. This company has again put profit before people and the planet. Instead of using a fraction of its vast reserves to build wind farms or geothermal plants to power its consumption it has gone for the cheapest dirtiest source of power around and to hell with the climate.
The Brumby Government says that this deal has nothing to do with them but they have allowed it to happen. They have not regulated to prevent this debacle. Additionally they have not reversed Kennett's disastrous privitization of electricity and instead use private ownership as the excuse to wash their hands of any responsbility for the fact that 85% of Victoria's greenhouse emmisions come from brown coal powered electricity.
The Union movement again stands condemned for its short sighted policy welcoming this announcement for protecting jobs whilst they do virtually nothing to protect the jobs of workers threatened in the renewable sector in stalled wind farms, solar power plants and now the insulation industry.
It is clear that only a sustained campaign of mass civil disobedience will bring this foolish government and their corporate paymasters to heel or Victoria will be burning brown coal for decades polluting the atmosphere whilst we await the great god of clean coal to emerge from the skies.
NO MORE BROWN COAL ELECTRICITY
MASSIVE PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLES
RENATIONALISE VICTORIA'S POWER
STOP RUN AWAY CLIMATE CHANGE.
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Alcoa deal locks in jobs