13 February 2024.
AgForce invites you to contribute to a fighting fund set up to strengthen our defence against Glencore’s proposal to pump dirty emissions into the Great Artesian Basin.
The threat facing the GAB
By way of background, AgForce has squared up against mining giant Glencore by underwriting and leading legal action to stop industrial waste being pumped directly into the Great Artesian basin. We seek to resolve this out of court but are prepared to go to the Federal Court if necessary. We will leave no stone unturned in this campaign.
In short, we are seeking to have the federal decision of 9 February 2022 under the EPBC Act revoked. We have strong and detailed legal advice showing we have a valid argument and good prospects of success. The Federal Minister has the authority to revoke the 2022 decision and we have provided the detailed reasoning that we believe allows her to make that revocation. We are concurrently preparing filings in case we need to take it to court.
Donations received will offset some of our underwriting risk.
That the idea was even conceived beggars’ belief, but that it is most of the way through the approvals process with no guarantee it won’t be approved is staggering and simply unacceptable.
Communities are angry, frustrated and deeply concerned.
Imagine if Glencore proposed pumping industrial waste into for example Sydney Harbour or the Great Barrier Reef. Yet, here we are very close to Glencore having all the approvals it needs to do exactly that to the Great Artesian Basin.
And let there be no doubt, this proposed ‘pilot’ by Glencore is not reversible. If it proves what already seems abundantly obvious to AgForce, the process cannot be reversed. We will have dirty emissions from a coal fired power station circulating forever in our Great Artesian Basin.
We’ll keep you informed of where we are at every week through ACTION.
What AgForce is doing
1. Completing a strong submission to the Parliament of Australia Senate Enquiry. AgForce will also undertake some activities to encourage as many submissions as possible and would welcome other organisations doing the same. More information can be found here and details on how to make a submission can be found here. All Australians will ultimately suffer if we start to poison the GAB.
2. Ensuring we are as well prepared as possible for our opportunity in the Federal Court. As part of that we continue to seek funding and other support as people and organisations are able. If you can, please donate here.
3. Seeking Federal reform of the EPBC Act as the relevant Act in ensuring protection of the GAB and no repeat of the current Glencore/CTSCo issue.
4. Supporting the state-based activities where we can, including signing and spreading this petition on social media. We are hopeful of the State Government declining the current Glencore/CTSCo application/EIS process in the short term.
Help spread the word
AgForce has developed a sign to help raise awareness of the threat to the Great Artesian Basin. The sign can be put up anywhere, such as on a shop window or on a gate/fence. Please download the sign here, print and put up these signs to help us spread the message about the Great Artesian Basin far and wide!