[Greens-Media] MARK PARNELL MLC: 13 million black balloons/hour-Roxby's greenhouse legacy

[Parnell]

Media Release
Friday 7th August 2009

13 million black balloons/hour: Roxby's greenhouse legacy


The Roxby expansion will leave a massive greenhouse pollution legacy for future generations, says Greens MLC Mark Parnell.

Mr Parnell was speaking today at a protest action organised by the Young Greens to highlight climate change concerns about the Olympic Dam expansion project.

Using the image from recent Rann Government climate change TV ads, activists held 662 black balloons on the steps of Parliament House to represent the number of tonnes of greenhouse pollution the Roxby expansion will produce every single hour.

"Mr Rann's climate change ads on TV use black balloons to represent how much greenhouse pollution households produce," said Greens MLC Mark Parnell.

"Let's put these ads into perspective.  Each one of those black balloons on our TV screens represents 50 grams of carbon.   The Roxby expansion, if approved, will send out 13,240,000 of these black balloons to pollute the atmosphere every single hour.

"All our good work on wind power, solar power and energy efficiency over the last few years is going to be wiped out by the Roxby expansion unless the Government forces the world's richest mining company to radically reduce the amount of greenhouse damage it will cause," he said.

Today is the last day for public submissions on the Olympic Dam Expansion Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  Apart from greenhouse impacts, the Greens' submission highlights concerns about low royalties, groundwater pollution from toxic tailings and waste rock heaps, risks to the Cuttlefish at Pt Lowly, health risks from dust storms and poor worker safety standards.

"Despite years of work and 4,600 pages, BHP Billiton's EIS has holes bigger than their planned open pit.

"We know the social, environmental and economic impact of this mine expansion will be colossal.  What we don't know yet is whether the Rann Government will stand up to one of the world's richest companies to ensure South Australia is not left with a toxic hangover," he said.


For further comment contact Craig Wilkins on 0434 007 893




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