Greens call on NSW Government to reject nuclear option - 16 October 2006

NSW Premier Morris Iemma needs to guarantee that his government will not allow the construction of nuclear power stations or the transportation of nuclear waste in NSW, said Upper House Greens MP Ian Cohen.

“The Federal Government has yet again floated the nuclear red herring as evidence of its climate change credentials. The NSW Government has rightly rejected this option in the past - it is expensive, the construction, mining and transportation processes erase any greenhouse gas reductions achieved, and the time taken to plan and build nuclear power stations means it may be decades before they are up and running,” Mr Cohen said.

“We don’t have decades to confront the problem of climate change, especially when all that is achieved is the replacement of one environmentally disastrous fossil fuel with another.

“The Federal Government is right to be looking at alternatives to coal. Coal fired power is the single biggest generator of greenhouse gases in Australia. There is however, no point in diagnosing the problem if you can’t come up with an effective solution.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the NSW Government to show off its climate change credentials in the lead up to next year’s election.

“The Greens call on the Government to reject coal and nuclear, and instead focus on the comparatively cheap and abundant resources of solar, wind and other forms of renewable energy.

“The alternative for Morris Iemma is to risk being remembered as the man who joined John Howard in fiddling while home burns” Mr Cohen said.


Further Information: Michael Hidden 9230 3305 or 0431 320 085