Hazelwood threat as reporte in news

BY FIONA BROOM
18/06/2009 11:05:00 AM
EXTREMIST environmental group the Earth Liberation Front said threats made to a Latrobe Valley power station CEO could be carried out if the station continues to operate.
International Power Australia and Victoria Police are remaining tight-lipped over a threatening letter delivered to Hazelwood Power Station CEO Graeme York on 3 June.

The environmental group, listed by the FBI in 2005 as the number one domestic terrorists in the United States, hand delivered the letter to Mr York's home address in Berwick.

The letter said as a power station CEO, Mr York was responsible for destroying the environment and his property was under threat if the station continued to operate.

``As the chief executive officer of Hazelwood Power Station, you are responsible for the dirtiest power station in Australia and the most polluting in the industrialised world,'' the letter said.

``We hold you personally accountable for this assault against our earth.

``Your property will not remain safe so long as Hazelwood continues to pollute at such an inexcusable level.''

The group said it was a nonviolent organisation, despite claiming responsibility for hundreds of property attacks across the world.

ELF spokesman Jason Crawford told The Express the group's actions were ``wholly justified'' and ``only time will tell'' if this was the beginning of a larger campaign in Australia.

``It would be fair to assume that some people are willing to damage his (Mr York's) property or the property of Hazelwood in an attempt to reduce the financial incentive behind the destruction of the environment,'' Mr Crawford said.

``Until politicians and corporations put life ahead of profits the ELF - or any citizen of the planet for that matter - are wholly justified in destroying or threatening the destruction of property belonging to the polluters.''

Premier John Brumby said ``ecoterrorist organisations'' who thought they were above the law were ``completely unacceptable''.

``For people to take the law into their own hands, to threaten individuals, is completely unacceptable,'' Mr Brumby said.

``If we need to strengthen the law in this regard in Victoria or if it needs to be strengthened nationally, that's what will occur to protect people who are acting appropriately for their companies and acting within the law.''

An International Power Australia spokesperson said the matter had been referred to Victoria Police.

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Comment by peter b dunn on June 18, 2009 at 9:25pm: Qld coal mine diorreah link

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A coal mine has been blamed for an outbreak of diarrhoea in a central Queensland town.

Most of the 437 people who live in Bluff, 94km east of Emerald in the Central Highlands, have had the 'runs' since water was discharged from the nearby Ensham coal mine after it was flooded by rain last year.

"I put it down to the water," resident Tim Cumming told AAP.

"I'm sure the old girl's not poisoning me.

"It can't be her cooking. I'd be dead by now if it was."

Mr Cumming said the linking factor in the outbreaks of diarrhoea was the water supply.

"Look, we all can't be eating the same food ... we put it back to the water."

Mr Cumming said the water from the Ensham mine flowed into the Nagoa River to Bedford Weir, from where Bluff obtains its drinking water.

The water then flows into the MacKenzie and Fitzroy rivers to Rockhampton.

Mr Cumming said his major concern was the pollution of the region's rivers.

"We have to have coal mines to keep the bloody country afloat ... but on the other side, how about we look after our own backyard and clean up what we've got here," he said.

The Environmental Protection Agency allowed further discharges of water after recent falls of 120mm at the mine site.

After similar discharges last year, retired Monash University professor and international water quality expert Barry Hart, said the discharge caused poor drinking water quality in communities along the rivers.

The discharges are also a worry for rural lobby group AgForce, which has, for some time, expressed concern about the impact of mining operations on water quality in central Queensland, given the intensity of mining in the region.

"This is causing concern for irrigators and livestock producers, as well as local communities, because of the potential long-term impact of salty water on farmland, livestock and river viability," said AgForce vice-president Ian Burnett.