Stop the Sale of Vales Point Power Station and Close It Down

It has been announced that the ageing Vales Point coal-fired power station on the Central Coast, NSW is to be sold by the Australian Delta Energy to the Czech fossil fuel investment company Sev.en, owned by billionaire Pavel Tykač.

Currently the sale is under investigation by the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) with its decision to be announced in mid-October 2022.

We oppose this sale as it is NOT in the local, state or national interest:
• Vales Point provides 11% of NSW electricity. We do not want this in foreign hands.

• Sev.en has reputation for keeping old and polluting power stations open longer than their use-by date and has indicated the same for Vales Point.

• Vales point already has an exemption licence to pollute over and above NSW emission controls. If the sale goes through, it will continue to pollute long past its slated 2029 closure date.

• Local health professionals have analysed government health data and found shocking evidence of high cancer rates among residents in suburbs surrounding the power station and its coal ash dam – each year an extra 107 cancer cases and 58 cancer deaths above the national average.

• The region has significantly higher than national rates of six cancers: Colorectal (14% higher), Head & Neck (26%), Kidney (23%), Liver (26%), Lung (28%) and Pancreatic (17%).

• 15% of Wyong and 11% of Gosford population suffer from 3 or more chronic health conditions including asthma, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, compared to 5% or less across Sydney.

• Childhood asthma in the region has also been found to be extremely high (50% greater than in Sydney in spite of city transport fumes) and there is strong evidence that students who attend schools within a 10 Km radius of a coal fired power station have a reduction in learning outcomes due to the emissions from burning coal.

“Future Sooner, local residents and health professionals are deeply concerned if this sale goes ahead it will extend the life of this filthy, old, polluting coal-fired power station and prolong the damage that is already affecting our health,” said Gary Blaschke OAM, resident of Lake Munmorah, cancer sufferer and Future Sooner spokesperson.

Future Sooner is a community action group working towards a clean energy future for the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie. Its members include residents and health professionals.