Australia: Coal Industry Expands, Faith in Its Future Declines

The Australian government’s cap and trade scheme to reduce the country’s carbon emissions seems to be a serious attempt to wind back coal production, but the coal industry continues to expand and environmentalists are expressing disbelief.

The recent concern stems from Queensland State Premier, Anna Bligh’s endorsement of plans to spend more than $6 billion mining 1.4 billion tonnes of coal for export.
Australia is already responsible for a third of the world’s traded coal and is the world’s fourth top consumer of coal.

Mackay Conservation Group coordinator, Patricia Julien, fears that state and federal government investment in coal might see Australia “left with a stranded dinosaur industry.”

Australia’s large commitment to coal should come with a moral obligation and a responsibility for carbon emissions worldwide, she said, particularly as the country invests more in expanding coal exports than in cleaning up their use.

Coal magnate, James Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, hints at a change in attitude within the industry in James Lovelock’s latest book, “The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning.”

“There is neither the time nor the resources to bury the carbon dioxide effluent of coal-fired power stations on a global scale,” he said.

Ms. Julien’s concerns are also for the annual billion-dollar revenue that’s added to government coffers from activity around the world-renowned Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.

The world’s largest continuous coral reef spanning 2,000 kilometers (1242 miles) of the Queensland coast, the World Heritage Site is currently threatened by climate change, water quality run-off, mass coral bleaching and outbreaks of crowns-of-thorns starfish. A recent study has put a $51.4 billion value on the whole coral reef.

Ms. Julien fears that revenue from this natural resource, and others in the region, will be forfeited for a mining industry she sees as having no future.

Epoch Times