NSW Government: Don’t let miners pollute Methane unchecked!

Huge amounts of methane are released by coal miners directly into the atmosphere every year; seeping from underground mines as well as open cut coal mines. Check out our quick explainer video with science writer and presenter, Bernie Hobbs.

Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas which is 84 times worse than carbon dioxide for the climate in the short-term, but it is not treated as a pollutant by the NSW EPA.

It’s time to treat methane as what it is - a serious pollution problem - and with a new, incoming NSW Labor Government we have an opportunity to get this ...

Huge amounts of methane are released by coal miners directly into the atmosphere every year; seeping from underground mines as well as open cut coal mines. Check out our quick explainer video with science writer and presenter, Bernie Hobbs.

Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas which is 84 times worse than carbon dioxide for the climate in the short-term, but it is not treated as a pollutant by the NSW EPA.

It’s time to treat methane as what it is - a serious pollution problem - and with a new, incoming NSW Labor Government we have an opportunity to get this issue on top of their agenda.

Please write an email to your local MP, with copies to the incoming Ministers for Climate Change (Penny Sharpe) and Planning (Paul Scully), calling for a moratorium on new coal project approvals and a crack-down on toxic methane emissions from coal mines.

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Send a message to your local MP and the new Ministers for Climate Change and Planning

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Use the form below to send a message to your local MP and Minister for Climate Change Penny Sharpe, as well as Minister for Planning Paul Scully.

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Subject:

Congratulations on your recent election to the NSW Parliament.

I am writing to raise concerns about unregulated methane emissions from coal mines in NSW.

Methane is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short-term, and every tonne released puts us at risk of exceeding climate tipping points.

However, methane is not treated as a pollutant in NSW.

The NSW Net Zero Emissions Dashboard predicts that annual methane emissions from coal mines will actually increase substantially by 2030, while every other sector in NSW will decrease its emissions.

This is completely unacceptable and puts our community at risk of climate harm.

We need to urgently deal with this problem by treating methane just like any other pollutant and stop approving new coal expansions which make the problem even worse.

As the incoming MP for my electorate, I’d like to ask you to take up this issue and please contact the new Climate Change and Planning Ministers and ask them to ensure that:

1. The NSW EPA acts quickly, in accordance with its own climate policy, to make methane a pollutant for existing coal mines and set strict limits on its release, and

2. That a halt is placed on any new coal mine expansions.

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