Smog hangs over the coal mining town. Picture: Stewart Allen Source: News Corp Australia
END its dependency on coal or die.
That's the stark warning from business, civic and conservation chiefs who say Collie, the WA coal town 200km southeast of Perth with a population of about 7000 residents, is at a crossroads and faces "doom" if it doesn't adapt.
Three quarters of the Collie economy is tied to its two biggest industries: digging coal up in the town's coal mines and burning it in its power stations for much of WA's electricity.
But both are under threat from a storm cloud that threatens Collie's future, including:
● MOUNTING pressure on the Barnett Government to shift from coal-fired power towards cleaner energy.
● THE independent Australian Climate Commission warning 80 per cent of remaining fossil fuels must be kept in the ground to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
● FEDERAL environment department pollution data showing lead, arsenic and fine particle emissions have never been worse in the town.
● DOCTORS for the Environment spokesman George Crisp claiming residents are "almost certainly suffering ill health due to the coal industry".
● A SERIES of job cuts by both the town's coal miners, Premier Coal and Griffin Coal.
● THE Federal Government axing $450 million in funding for a carbon capture program that was pivotal to Collie coal's green credentials.
"Collie's in a holding pattern. Business is very slow and the real estate market has been diabolical," said resident Shane Golding, 57, who has two sons in the coal industry and was this week having a closing down sale at his video store of 12 years.
Businessman Peter Reuben, who owns Collie's two newsagencies, said Collie was "quiet – no doubt about it".
Bluewaters power station. Picture: Stewart Allen Source: News Corp Australia
The Collie basin holds an estimated 760 million tonnes of coal and the Department of Mines says it will last 100 years at current extraction rates.
Collie MP Mick Murray says the reserves are closer to 50 years' worth, while the Conservation Council WA says Collie has more like 20-25 years of coal – and the numbers will get even slimmer if Griffin Coal's Indian parent company Lanco-Infratech goes ahead with plans to boost coal exports to more than 15 million tonnes a year from Bunbury Port.
But everyone agrees changes are needed now to future-proof Collie.
"The resource won't last for ever, of course, but the town itself will survive," Mr Murray said, adding Collie would become more of a satellite city linked to the growth of Bunbury, 50km to the west.
Collie Chamber of Commerce chief executive Richard Jackson said the town was "not prepared, but preparing'' for life after coal, which would include more tourism and, perhaps paradoxically, more heavy industry.
"Tourism is growing and there is a growing demand for industrial land as Perth becomes urbanised," he said.
But Conservation Council WA director Piers Verstegen said there was a "massive vacuum " of economic strategies for life after coal. "They're polluting the town to the extent where health is being seriously affected to maintain jobs in an industry that's economically dying. Collie urgently needs a transition plan," he said.
WA Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said Collie could thrive by using its infrastructure and workforce to become a renewable energy generation hub.
Collie shire president Wayne Sanford agreed, saying: "Collie's real asset is not the coal in the ground, but the billions of dollars worth of power stations and transmission lines."
But Mr Sanford said there was "no need to panic" because, while coal stocks were finite, "it's not going to run out tomorrow. We're having discussions about what comes next".
And while renewable energy and gas is on the rise, Energy Minister Mike Nahan said coal still had a future because coal-fired energy remained the cheapest option for securing WA's power supply.
COLLIE'S shire president has lashed the Barnett Government for ignoring concerns over rising pollution levels in WA's biggest coalmining town.Craig Miller with his children Madlyne (4) and Andrew (2). Picture: Stewart Allen Source: News Corp Australia
The shire contacted WA's Department for Environment Regulation for answers after The Sunday Times on June 1 revealed a big jump in lead and fine particle emissions data compiled by the federal environment department.
But shire president Wayne Sanford said he was still waiting for answers.
"I'm disappointed the one department that should have been all over this can't give us an effective response. Give us an explanation," he said.
However, the DER said a response had been emailed to the senior council staffer who requested the information, who was now on leave.
The shire asked for answers after the Australian Government's latest National Pollutant Inventory showed Collie's coalmines and coal-fired power plants were producing more harmful emissions than ever.
Bruce and Heidi White recently moved to Collie from Fremantle. Picture: Stewart Allen Source: News Corp Australia
It included data on the Bluewaters power station releasing five times more lead and 400 times more fine particles – which have been linked to cancer and respiratory illness – than in the previous 12 months. The DER blamed the elevated levels at the Bluewaters plant on reporting methods, not more emissions.
But in Collie this week , father-of-two Craig Miller said pollution made him fear for the health of his children Madlyne, 4, and Andrew, 2. "Sometimes you don't know what you're breathing in. It worries me," he said.
Recent arrivals Heidi and Bruce White said harmful emissions would be a concern if they had children.
The DER oversees air quality testing for a range of pollutants and it said there had been no exceedences of national guidelines this year.
The WA Health Department said "hospitalisation and mortality data showed no observable difference" between Collie and the rest of WA.
Collie MP Mick Murray. Source: News Corp Australia
Collie MP Mick Murray said he did not believe heavy industry was affecting health. "I haven't grown another head or a third arm," he said.
Collie Chamber of Commerce chief executive Richard Jackson said many families had lived in the town for generations without ill health.
But Doctors for the Environment spokesman Dr George Crisp said there was "virtually no direct health information and very little exposure data for Collie, yet we know there is very significant harmful pollution".
WA's power supply is under a cloud as coal exports threaten to leave the state without enough fuel for its power stations in decades to come.
Lanco-Infratech, the Indian energy company that owns Collie coal miner Griffin Coal, wants to boost exports to more than 15 million tonnes out of Bunbury Port every year.
But Collie shire president Wayne Sanford warned that could drain the town's future coal reserves, leaving little to fuel the coal-fired plants WA relies on.
"The State Government and all the stakeholders should be having a discussion about the long-term sustainability of the coalfields," he said. "If there is a massive ramp up in the use of the coal resource, what effect does that have long term on the base-load power stations in WA? It can power the state of WA for 50 or 100 years, or do we dig it all out and export it in 15-20 years."
Mr Sanford, who works in the coal industry, said Collie's power stations were expanding their coal-burning capabilities .
"We need to look at how much coal we're going to send overseas and how much we need for the future of Collie and of WA," he said.
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