Good Environmental News You Might’ve Missed Recently

These big wins for Aussie conservation deserve more attention.

 

There’s plenty of bad, sad, news going around the last few weeks (Read: last two years), but there are a few key wins for big environmental campaigns recently that haven’t been given the joyous reaction they deserve.

We want to celebrate the good news when it comes along, especially when so many people fight to make it a reality. Here’s the wrap up of good environmental news you might’ve missed in the last few weeks.

Hobart City Council votes to reject the controversial kunanyi /Mt Wellington cable car project

 

 

Announced just last night, after five hours of rigorous debate and years of public discussion, the Hobart City Council has voted 9-3 to reject a proposal for a cable car that would run up the face of kunanyi / Mt Wellington, cutting across the iconic Organ Pipes.

Good choice we say! 

It’s a project that’s divided the Hobart community for aaages, and a recent report on the proposal by independent planner’s flagged 21 reasons why the cable car shouldn’t go ahead. Nice to see politicians siding with the evidence! 

Deputy Lord Mayor Helen Burnet was one of the councillors who voted to reject the proposal, saying, 

‘This is not the same as negotiating with a developer about their own private land … we are the custodians, the caretakers of that land…Not enough care has been taken with the most loved feature of the mountain which is the Organ Pipes.’

Hear Hear Helen!

 

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Oil and gas giant Santos has forfeited its right to explore the Great Australian Bight 

 

 

You might recall at the start of last year (maybe not, it was a wild time) that Norweigan oil company Equinor bailed out of plans to drill for oil in the Great Australian Bight, in a major win for the nation-wide Fight for the Bight campaign. 

Well now, one of Australia’s energy giants, Santos, along with Murphy Oil Corporation, have followed suit, surrendering their rights to explore the area for oil as well. 

‘The Santos strategy is to build and grow around our five core long-life natural gas assets and the Great Australian Bight falls outside these assets,’ a Santos spokesperson said. 

With Santos bailing on the Bight, the only company left standing with the right to explore is Bight Petroleum, however its request to extend its work program was knocked back in Feb by the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA), so its time is almost up!

 

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Work on proposed mine expansion in Tassie’s Tarkine Wilderness paused thanks to conservationists

 

 

A highly protested mining expansion project in Tassie’s iconic rainforest takanya / Tarkine, by minerals mining company MMG, has been forced to be put on hold after legal threats from The Bob Brown Foundation.

The proposal is currently undergoing a full environmental assessment, but despite this, MMG has still pushed forward with work on the site. That is until it received a letter from The Bob Brown Foundation threatening legal action if they continued work before the proposal was approved. 

There’s been back and forth between MMG and The Bob Brown Foundation over whether the company had the right to continue preparation work, but ultimately, the project’s been halted. For how long, we don’t know. 

‘Its sudden cessation of work after receiving our letter indicating we would take court action indicates that their own legal advice concurs with ours,’ said Bob Brown. ‘The arrogance of this company proceeding as it has is monumental.’

 

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Feature photo by @henry_brydon