Thread by @coalaction

A 🧵about #coal & snails.
17 years ago, all 6000 of a rare & endangered species, a newly-discovered giant land snail, Powelliphanta augusta, were taken fm their only home, on the West Coast, to make way for an opencast #coal mine.
Where were they moved to? 🧐
...a fridge ❄️ /2

Later, about 4000 were moved to other parts of the Denniston Plateau, in an effort to see if they will survive there. This is still unknown: the survival rate is low.
In 2011 800 snails died when the fridge malfunctioned and they froze to death. 🥶😱 /3
bbc.com/news/world-asi…

In 2016 state-owned #coal company Solid Energy washed its hands of the snails - despite having destroyed their habitat & failing to "rehabilitate" the sites where the snails used to live.
Solid handed over all responsibility to DOC /4 nzherald.co.nz/nz/decade-long…

These giant carnivorous snails are rare and precious.
Further down the plateau a cousin was found: the Powelliphanta patrikensis, also found nowhere else.
@comingupcharlie wrote a huge story on them in @NZStuff in 2018 that's well worth a read
/5
interactives.stuff.co.nz/2018/10/what-h…

Today, 16 years later, the snails live on in their fridge in Hokitika. DOC is still looking after them. Solid Energy went under and sold its mine to BT Mining (Bathurst Resources & Talley's). Min Conservation @PotoChchEast is in charge of these snails.
/6
scoop.co.nz/stories/AK2004…

The last fragment of P. augusta’s home is on a corner of the Denniston Plateau, at Deep Creek. It's a pristine area, but there's a hitch.
Under Deep Creek is a large #coal measure.
Now DOC is reclassifying of all its land, including this area & the Denniston Plateau
/7

The mining industry says it can still mine a "Conservation Park". BT Mining has rights for the coking coal seams under both Deep Creek and Denniston. Enough coking coal to export for 30-40 years, well past the time we need to stop burning coal, to limit warming to 1.5˚C.
/8

Is this how we should treat our most rare and precious species? Keep them in a fridge? Seriously?
To give these snails a chance, sign our petition calling for their strong protection through a Scientific Reserve. 8/8
community.greenpeace.org.nz/petitions/save…

Oh, and there’s more. Bathurst Resources was forced to close its Canterbury Coal mine because it was taking five times the coal it had consent for. It was fined at least twice for runoff it had no consent for, threatening the habitat of the endangered Canty mudfish.