Greens MLC Robin Chapple said that the EPA’s own report on the Griffin Bluewaters III and IV power stations spoke volumes about its potential to drag Western Australia’s already excessive carbon emissions further into the red.
Mr Chapple said that vague promises of the project being ‘carbon capture ready’ were not a sufficient reason to approve fundamentally carbon-intensive sources of energy.
“The EPA’s report speaks for itself: “the 'where, when and how' of the carbon capture and storage has not been delineated.” Nowhere has carbon capture been demonstrated to work and no one knows how much it would cost or what its impacts would be. Yet Griffin cites carbon capture as an offset and the EPA gives the project the nod.”
“Does the Department of Transport give conditional approval for a brakeless car to be on the road, because the manufacturer promises to install brakes at a later date?”
“It’s well known that Griffin is in financial difficulties so for it to make a medium-to-long term promise like that is doubly laughable.”
Mr Chapple said that WA was already well in excess of its targeted emissions and said that the projected 3.1 million tonnes of CO2 that the plants would emit each year would make meeting WA’s emissions reductions target even harder.
“Our emissions reductions target is currently a modest one – to bring our emissions down to 1995 levels or 54 million tonnes a year. We are currently at around 80 million tonnes and the Bluewaters project would drag us in exactly the opposite direction we want to be going.”
“We know that the State Government is devoid of leadership when it comes to energy alternatives. It is sad to see that the decision makers at the EPA are either powerless or gutless when it comes to this State’s energy future.”
- Media Contact: Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255
