MUSWELLBROOK Shire mayor Martin Rush believes the Australian Coal Association should be addressing the capacity of infrastructure in Muswellbrook before its concerns of the introduction of the Federal Government’s proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).
In the past fortnight, the association has launched a campaign warning of the consequences of the new tax on coal mines.
On Tuesday, the association’s executive director Ralph Hillman met with councillors to seek support and explain the impacts of the CPRS.
Mr Hillman said if the tax was introduced into Parliament on November 26, it could make some NSW coal mines uneconomic and prevent others from opening, leading to thousands of jobs disappearing in the nation’s coal industry, including the Hunter.
The association’s campaign, ‘Let’s Cut Emissions, Not Jobs’ is asking for public feedback and Mr
Hillman said there already had been a substantial amount of emails and visits to the website protesting against the new tax on coal mines.
But Cr Rush said there were other issues to be looked at first.
"Far more important than the impact of the CPRS on future growth of the mining industry is the capacity of the rural road networks, health services, community infrastructure including waste and water and child care services to support that growth," he said.
“The infrastructure contribution isn’t there because the coal industry and the state government have not made any adequate contributions to the local community to enable potential growth.”
Mr Hillman said after the meeting it was obvious the Muswellbrook community had mixed feelings about the coal industry and the wealth it had received.
“In some parts of central Queensland where mining is booming, the towns are all incredibly prosperous, but in Muswellbrook the flow-through isn’t quite as evident yet.
“But if the new scheme is introduced, it could cost the coal industry $14.5 billion over five years and then there would be no chance for the town to achieve what it wants from the mines, as it would cost jobs and cost wealth.”
Mr Hillman said the coal industry accepted the science of global warming and supported action to reduce harmful carbon into the atmosphere.
“What we are asking the government to consider is free permits for coal as it is too hard to measure the methane that comes up from the ground during mining,” he said.
“This reduction scheme is badly flawed in its treatment of coal.
“The proposed plan would not cut carbon emissions, but will cost the coal industry thousands of jobs.”Mr Hillman said it’s estimated the new tax would impose an additional average cost of $4 per tonne of coal, with some mines estimating an extra impost of $7 per tonne.
“Independent economic modeling of the impacts of the scheme has predicted that 16 coal mines will close prematurely and more than 9000 direct and indirect jobs will be lost in the first nine years of the scheme.
“Therefore every tonne of coal not produced in Australia as a result of this tax will simply be produced by our overseas competitors who are not being penalised in the same way by their governments.
“Both the United States and European Union have specifically rejected taxing coal mines and both produce far higher emissions than we do.”
Mr Hillman said the coal industry had planned to spend a billion dollars over the next 10 years in developing technology to cut carbon emissions from coal fired power stations by up to 90 per cent. “All we are asking for is the introduction of a fair emissions trading scheme,” he said.
People can learn more about the new tax on coal mines and register their concerns about the impact it will have on communities in regional NSW at www.cutemissionsnotjobs.com.au
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