Different dimension to dirty dairying

Why is Fonterra burning so much coal?

The Press reports that the Bathurst coalmine at Coalgate presently ‘‘supplies Fonterra’s Darfield milk-processing factory with about 65,000 tonnes of coal a year and may increase that over coming years’’ (Jan 18).

Through its TV and PR spin, Fonterra claims to be clean-green and a people-friendly producer.

But behind that facade, Fonterra is a dirty industry that adds to rather than decreasing its carbon pollution by burning coal when it has the finance and capability to switch to cleaner sources of energy.

Worse, Fonterra is helping Bathurst Mining take us backwards instead of forwards to a carbon-free emissons future. Brian Turner

Waikuku

Bad rap well deserved

Coal deserves the bad rap it’s getting. As if the contribution (to greenhouse gases) of burning coal weren’t enough, a further environmental effect is being seen. Stuff reported on the owner of the Coalgate mine near Christchurch being fined for runoff risking the habitat of our most threatened fish (Jan 26).

Ironically, confirming the interconnectedness of natural systems and supporting assertions that coal must stay in the ground, streams flowing into Lake Waihora (aka Ellesmere) were contaminated by sediment as a result of heavy rainfall. ACD (athropogenic climate disruption) has resulted in unanticipated extreme weather.

A threat to a Ngai Tahu taonga (treasure) is paid off with $10,500. A commensurate figure for threat to a human treasure (for future generations) will be calculated at what? And paid by whom? Sharyn Barclay

Upper Riccarton