Hazelwood Power Station - The Dirty Details
Hazelwood power station, located in the Latrobe Valley, is Australia's dirtiest power station and #1 emitter of dioxins.
Hazelwood burns brown coal, which one of the most polluting ways to produce electricity. And as a result, pumps out more than 16 million tonnes of greenhouse pollution each year. That's almost 15 percent of Victoria’s annual greenhouse gas emissions and 3 percent of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions, all on its own!
As well as being a huge greenhouse polluter, Hazelwood is also a massive user of water and emitter of dangerous pollutants. It uses a whopping 27 billion litres of water a year. That's almost as much water as the whole of Melbourne uses in a month! If Hazelwood was closed much of this water could be returned to the struggling Latrobe River which flows into the Gippsland Lakes. Find out how. Furthermore, the National Pollutant Inventory shows that Hazelwood is the single largest source of dioxin pollution in Australia, as well as emitting 7800 tonnes of hydrochloric acid each year. That's nasty!
The funny thing is that the company that owns Hazelwood, International Power, recently flagged to the Federal Government that they would be prepared to close the power station with the right financial incentives. Get the juice straight from the horse's mouth.
So this year, Environment Victoria is spearheading a major campaign calling on the state and federal governments to close Hazelwood Power Station by 2012, and replace it with a combination of renewable energy, energy efficiency and as a transition fuel, gas.
We've released a report that shows how Hazelwood can be replaced as soon as the end of 2012. All while maintaining energy security, cutting Victoria's greenhouse pollution by 12 percent and creating more jobs than Hazelwood currently provides. Check out our report here.
Help us Replace Hazelwood
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Built in the 1960’s and was scheduled to close down in 2005 until its life was extended by the Bracks Government.
There's a mountain of things you can do to get involved in the campaign. Jump on board here
Keep up to date with all latest news on the campaign at the Replace Hazelwood archive
Check the official Replace Hazelwood website
