We won! We stopped a new, dirty coal power station in QLD

Great news.. a win for the planet and a win for community action. After years of campaigning, on the 14th December 2023 the Queensland Government rejected the Galilee Power Station development application.

Friends of the Earth is proud to promote this win and to again ask for your support. Please donate now, your support enables us to continue our focus to shut down dirty coal facilities and to keep coal in the ground.

Just in case you missed it - we stopped a new coal fired power station being approved - the Galilee Power Station. It was like a flash back into the distant past; Waratah Coal Pty Ltd, owned by billionaire Clive Palmer, worked to have a dirty coal power station approved. 

The plan: the 1,400 MW Galilee Power Station (The Project) would have emitted 810 kg of CO2-e/Mwh, burnt 4 million tonnes of coal per year and ran for 50 years. Development of a new dirty coal power station would have limited Australia’s ability to fulfil its international greenhouse gas emissions reductions targets. It would have made it impossible for Queensland to meet its Climate Action Plan targets announced in July 2021. 

Friends of the Earth first started campaigning against the power station in 2007, and on the 2 November 2023, a partial win - the Queensland Department of Environment referral response to manage local environmental impacts supported its conditioned approval, and its refusal. For almost 2 years, the Minister for State Development, Steven Miles, continued to support the power station.

The Queensland Government's decision report said:

• "The Project, as proposed, would sit among the top 100 greenhouse gas emission sources in Australia.
• The Project as proposed would be the second highest emitter of total scope 1 (being the greenhouse gas emissions that are the emissions released to the atmosphere as a direct result of the activity, or series of activities at a facility level). in comparison with Queensland’s existing coal-fired power stations.
• The Project is expected to impede Queensland’s achievement of its renewable energy targets of 50% by 2030 and 70% by 2032, and the national and Queensland commitments to achieve net zero emissions by 2050."

Approval of the Galilee Power Station would have been disastrous for Australia, and the Great Barrier Reef. Australia and Queensland doesn't need another dirty coal fired power station, and in late 2023 - community action prevailed. We won.

Rejection of the power station is testament that community action makes a difference. Your generous donation makes a difference. With your help Friends of the Earth Brisbane is kicking off a new coal campaign. You can help by donating so we can maintain our focus to keep coal in the ground.

Thank you. Please contact us for additional information on how your one off or monthly donation will go towards keeping coal in the ground. We can not do this without your help.