An Australian state government leader intervened on Wednesday to fast-track a proposed coal mine days after voters rejected tougher action to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the country's general election.
The Carmichael mine proposed by India's Adani Mining in Queensland state was a bitterly polarizing issue ahead of Saturday's national election, which returned the conservative coalition government for a third three-year term.
The election result defied opinion polls that suggested the center-left Labor Party would win government and implement its policies of slashing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 45% below 2005 levels by 2030. The coalition had committed Australia to a target of 26% to 28% in the same time frame.
Queensland's Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she wanted a time frame agreed to by Friday to deal with the two environmental hurdles that are holding up the mine, which promises to create thousands of jobs in an economically depressed part of the state.
She said her own department would intervene by having the state coordinator-general attend a meeting on Thursday between Adani and the state environment department to set time frames for the approval processes for the miner's plans to manage a local finch population and groundwater.
"The coordinator-general has the powers to coordinate this process and, frankly, this needs to happen," Palaszczuk told reporters.
"I sense the frustration of the community. I'm frustrated. I think everyone's had a gutful of this," she added.
Labor lost all its seats in coal-rich Queensland outside the state capital, Brisbane, in the national election.
"I think the federal election was definitely a wake-up call to everyone. I hear that message," said Palaszczuk, who faces state elections next year.
Adani chief executive Lucas Dow said his company had been asking the Queensland government for "clarity of process and timing" of approvals for environmental management plans for seven months.
"Any time frame for a decision on these outstanding management plans longer than the next two weeks is nothing more than another delaying tactic by the Queensland Labor government designed to delay thousands of jobs for regional Queenslanders," Low state in a statement. "The Queensland Labor government has been reviewing these management plans for over two years now."
Queensland Resource Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane, a mining industry advocate, said the deadlines for Adani's environmental approvals "must be set in stone." Adani had already been going through the approval processes at the state and federal levels for nine years, Macfarlane said.
The federal government quietly gave its final approvals to the mine days before the election was called on April 11. Once the election was called, the government became a caretaker administration that could make significant decisions only with the opposition's approvals.
The government had accused Labor of sending mixed messages on Adani's future, talking up the importance of more mining jobs while campaigning in Queensland, and the importance of renewable energy while campaigning in Australia's largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne.
The Adani mine was initially proposed as Australia's largest mine, costing $16.5 billion and creating 10,000 jobs. But the plan has been scaled down after dozens of banks refused to finance the mine and Adani decided to use its own money.
Labor's call for more action on climate change was popular in some parts of Australia.
Former conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott was voted out of the Sydney seat he has held since 1994 in a campaign that focused on greenhouse gas emissions. The seat was won by independent candidate Zali Steggall.
As prime minister in 2014, Abbott repealed a carbon tax introduced by a Labor government.
Labor was also hurt by Queensland mining magnate Clive Palmer spending tens of millions of dollars of his own money advertising against Labor. No candidate for Palmer's United Australia Party was elected, but a vote-swapping dead he struck with the government boosted the government's vote.
DETROIT (AP) — The Oakland Athletics no longer have to wonder where they'll play the next few seasons. That won't make the long goodbye any easier.
The A's reacted to the announcement that this will be their last year in Oakland with a mixture of sadness and relief.
“At least as a player, you know where you’re headed,” outfielder Seth Brown said Friday before a game against the Tigers in Detroit. “There’s obviously a lot of moving parts, a lot of stuff we’re not privy to, so it’s just been kind of a waiting game on our end. Where are we going to go? Where are we going to be? So I think just having that knowledge -- at least we know where we’re going to be playing next year.”
Vivek Ranadivé, who owns the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, and Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher announced Thursday that the A’s will temporarily relocate to West Sacramento's Sutter Health Park for at least three seasons. The A's are moving to Las Vegas after a new ballpark is constructed.
The River Cats, who are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, will continue to play at the same facility.
Fisher was unable to reach an agreement with Oakland city officials on extending the lease at Oakland Coliseum, which expires at the end of this season. The A's have played in the city since 1968.
“There's direction now, which we've talked a lot about,” Oakland A's manager Mark Kotsay said. “We've got time to kind of reflect on what this really means from an organizational standpoint, the history that we've had in Oakland, with this being now the final season. There's a lot of emotion that goes behind this.”
It will not only cause some upheaval for the players and staff but also members of the organization that work behind the scenes.
“At the end of the day, we know where we're going to be for the next three seasons after the finish this year and that in itself gives a little bit of stability,” Kotsay said. “At the same time, in the present, it's challenging in certain ways to think about the finality of this organization in Oakland.”
Sacramento will be a much smaller environment to house a major league team. Ranadivé said the River Cats venue currently seats 16,000 when counting the stands, the lawn behind center field and standing room only.
First baseman Ryan Noda is concerned with the facilities. He's hopeful that significant upgrades will be made, much like the Toronto Blue Jays did at Buffalo's Triple-A facility. The Blue Jays played at Buffalo's Sahlen Field in 2020 in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“New walls, new dugouts, new locker rooms — everything they needed to become a big league stadium,” said Noda, who played some games in Sacramento as a minor leaguer. “As long as we can do something like that, then it'll be all right. But it's definitely going to be different than playing in stadiums that hold 40,000 people.”
Kotsay is confident the upgrades will occur.
“I know it will be of major league baseball quality,” he said. “It's has to be of major league baseball quality. I know the Players Association will make sure that takes place, as they did in Buffalo.”
For the rest of this season, the A's will have to deal with small home crowds and disappointed fans.
“We’re sad for the fans, the diehard fans, who always come to our games, always support us, always support the boys wearing the jersey,” Noda said.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, center, shakes hands John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics, before the start of a news conference where Fisher announced his team will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park, during a news conference in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4 2024.The A's announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, announces that his team will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park, during a news conference in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2024. The A's announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Sutter Health Park, home of the Triple A team Sacramento River Cats, is shown in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2024. The Oakland Athletics announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay walks to the dugout after making a pitching change during the eighth inning of the team's baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
