The path for the Hunter Valley's final exit from coal has become clearer. The Labor government's key climate change legislation - the Safeguard Mechanism - is moving through the houses of Parliament.
Firmly in the government's sights are the Hunter's giant coal mines. These mines will be directed to substantially reduce scope 1 emissions by 2030. For coal mines, scope 1 emissions are greenhouse gases that leak from coal seams during mining, and the greenhouse gases that are emitted by a mine's vast fleet of diesel-powered shovels, dozers and trucks.
