Australian Climate Activists to Rally at NSW Coal Power Plant

By Angela Macdonald-Smith

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Australian climate-change activists plan to converge tomorrow at the largest power plant in New South Wales state in the next act of a campaign that has included blocking coal railways and scaling smokestacks.

A ``couple of hundred'' demonstrators are expected to rally at the gates of Eraring Energy's 2,640-megawatt plant on Lake Macquarie north of Sydney, said Steve Phillips, a campaigner with Newcastle-based group Rising Tide Australia. Some will remain for a nine-day vigil until United Nations-sponsored climate talks start Dec. 1 in Poznan, Poland, he said.

Australia, the world's biggest coal exporter, generates more than 80 percent of its electricity from the fuel, which emits more greenhouse gases when burnt than natural gas. The Eraring generator is the biggest single source of carbon dioxide emissions in New South Wales, according to Greenpeace.

``The UN climate talks are very important and we want to put pressure on Australia to carry themselves appropriately at those talks and highlight the need for emissions to stop rising and start falling,'' Phillips said by telephone from Newcastle. ``We have to get rid of coal, which is the biggest cause of the problem and so we're demanding the government announce a phase- out of coal-fired power stations.''

Protesters have been asked to bring to tomorrow's rally an image of someone or something threatened by climate change and will attempt to pin those to the fence of the power station site, Phillips said. There are no plans to attempt to disrupt the plant's operations, he said.

Rochelle Reynolds, a spokeswoman at New South Wales state- owned Eraring Energy, couldn't be reached for comment. The New South Wales Police won't comment on any potential operation at the site, said Dave Rose, a spokesman.

Australian Greens climate change spokeswoman Christine Milne will be among the speakers at tomorrow's rally, which is supported by Friends of the Earth, the Australian Student Environment Network and Greenpeace, Phillips said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at amacdonaldsm@bloomberg.net