birding-aus

Leard Forest under threat

To: "" <>
Subject: Leard Forest under threat
From: Russell Woodford <>
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 04:29:41 +0000
Some info about forest clearing in preparation for a mining project. The 
language is rather emotive but if it’s accurate then we need to get on board 
this campaign.

Russell Woodford
Birding-Aus List Owner

[http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/action.retrievefile.do?ea.client.id=1845&ea_filename=GPUK%20template%20green%20logo.png]<http://www.e-activist.com/ea-campaign/broadcast.response.do?ea.url.id=238661&ea.campaigner.email=0D5yOhPRScl0%2B7bUC3jP4thhH4jjbgirO%2FN%2BTU4ETcza3xEzZ4tJzA==&ea_broadcast_target_id=0>



I’m writing this from my laptop at the Leard Forest Coal Blockade in northern 
New South Wales with a breaking update and an urgent request for your help.

Right now, mining giant Whitehaven Coal is sending an army of bulldozers to 
flatten this ancient forest -  teeming with threatened species hibernating for 
winter - to make a monster coal mine. We’re forming a human blockade which is 
just managing to hold off the bulldozers before they can cause any more carnage.

Our blockade can’t permanently halt the bulldozers. To really stop this latest 
threat, we need to shame the same politicians who approved this destruction to 
immediately intervene and call off the clearing.

That’s where you can help today. We’ve launched an emergency petition to newly 
installed NSW Environment and Planning Ministers - Rob Stokes and Pru Goward - 
asking them to stop the animal slaughter in Leard State Forest and save this 
irreplaceable 
environment.<http://www.e-activist.com/ea-campaign/broadcast.response.do?ea.url.id=238662&ea.campaigner.email=0D5yOhPRScl0%2B7bUC3jP4thhH4jjbgirO%2FN%2BTU4ETcza3xEzZ4tJzA==&ea_broadcast_target_id=0>

[Take action to save the 
Leard!]<http://www.e-activist.com/ea-campaign/broadcast.response.do?ea.url.id=238663&ea.campaigner.email=0D5yOhPRScl0%2B7bUC3jP4thhH4jjbgirO%2FN%2BTU4ETcza3xEzZ4tJzA==&ea_broadcast_target_id=0>

You wouldn’t believe some of the lines we’ve read in mining giant Whitehaven’s 
so-called ‘Biodiversity Management Plan’. On tree removal, they’ve told 
contractors to simply shake trees marked as containing hollows with machinery 
“to encourage any animals remaining to leave the hollows and move on”. Then 
they should “gently” push the tree over with their roaring bulldozers to avoid 
injuring or killing hibernating bats and nesting owls [1].

Yep, they’re actually serious! It’s so dodgy it sounds like a bad joke -- but 
this is the very conservation plan to which our politicians have given the seal 
of approval.

Thankfully, public opposition to this rapid and badly planned forest clearance 
is growing, even inside NSW Parliament House. Environment Minister Rob Stokes 
told journalists on Friday he’s “concerned” and that the community has a 
reasonable expectation that due process and community consultation should take 
place [2].  Labor and Greens parliamentarians have also spoken out against the 
clearing of this forest. The future of the Leard State Forest is now firmly on 
the political agenda, so now is the time to act.

Add your name today to stop the Maules Creek Coal Mine. We’ll hand deliver it 
to the Environment and Planning Ministers during a snap rally in Sydney on 
Wednesday.<http://www.e-activist.com/ea-campaign/broadcast.response.do?ea.url.id=238664&ea.campaigner.email=0D5yOhPRScl0%2B7bUC3jP4thhH4jjbgirO%2FN%2BTU4ETcza3xEzZ4tJzA==&ea_broadcast_target_id=0>

It's hard to put into words the carnage that has been unleashed in the last few 
days, and it’s going to get worse if we don’t get it stopped. We know that a 
coordinated, grassroots effort is exactly what can save the Leard from Big 
Coal. Just a few weeks ago, activists at the Bentley Blockade successfully 
prevented Metgasco from fracking in the local countryside. Let’s do it again in 
Leard State Forest and put an end to the Maules Creek Coal Mine.

With thanks and determination,

Nic Clyde
Senior Climate Campaigner
Greenpeace Australia Pacific

PS. Our work today, both on-the-ground and at NSW Parliament House, is a truly 
grassroots, people-powered campaign. Earlier this year, Greenpeace supporters 
pooled over $180,000 to pressure politicians, generate media coverage, and 
arrange direct, on-the-ground interventions just like this. Today we’ve reached 
a crucial moment, and an opportunity, to save Leard State Forest. Our action 
fund is really making a difference -- so thanks if you were able to donate. 
Now, let's ramp our efforts once again to protect this place. Please make sure 
your name is on this emergency 
petition.<http://www.e-activist.com/ea-campaign/broadcast.response.do?ea.url.id=238665&ea.campaigner.email=0D5yOhPRScl0%2B7bUC3jP4thhH4jjbgirO%2FN%2BTU4ETcza3xEzZ4tJzA==&ea_broadcast_target_id=0>

[1] Whitehaven Coal Maules Creek Biodiversity Management Plan, 16 May 2014.

[2] Patience wears thin as miners drag out environmental plan for Leard State 
Forest, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 May 2014.




[http://www.e-activist.com:80/ea-campaign/broadcast.record.message.open.do?ea.broadcast.id=45962&ea.campaigner.email=0D5yOhPRScl0%2B7bUC3jP4thhH4jjbgirO%2FN%2BTU4ETcza3xEzZ4tJzA==&ea.client.id=1845&ea_broadcast_target_id=0]

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