From
@A T S on the RNU thread:
Post #:75229700In more positive news:
* AFR reported yesterday:
Rio Tinto’s Boyne aluminium smelter would stay open until at least 2040 under a preliminary deal with the Queensland government, which could require taxpayers to spend hundreds of millions of dollars protecting 1000 jobs at the site. Queensland Premier Steven Miles announced the agreement at the smelter near Gladstone on Thursday, in a major step towards securing the future of the manufacturing site with a big carbon footprint and marginal financial performance.
Govt support for big industry/smelter jobs, even those with far grubbier GHG emissions is a positive sign for QPM
* Also reported in the AFR is the creation of a new lobby group Coal Australia, supported by Whitehaven (new owners of Daunia & Blackwater mines).
Bowen Coking Coal chairman Nick Jorss will be chairman of Coal Australia, which he said would not compete with other industry associations like MCA. “Coal Australia has a simple mission to unleash the pride in the coal sector and the tens of thousands of people within it,” he said. “It is not about supplanting the work of the MCA or QRC. We need more voices for mining, not less. Coal Australia’s voice comes directly from coal workers and our communities who do so much to help underpin our economy and our prosperity,” Mr Jorss added.
Whitehaven managing director Paul Flynn said his company would remain an “active member” of other industry associations, and he expected Coal Australia to work “alongside” those groups. “There’s something like 300,000 Australians employed in coal mining and related industries in this country and its scale and economic contribution is not well understood or is deliberately understated,” he said.
“The time is right for us to come together to advocate for the interests of our industry, our people and, importantly, the regional businesses and communities that rely on us for economic opportunity and security. ”The MCA’s Mr Michelmore said the demonisation of coal in some sections of society had put the industry under huge pressure, and he said it was “understandable” that coal miners wanted a louder voice.
“I think the coal guys are feeling they are being lambasted at every post, and they need, as a group, to work together to make sure the right messages are getting out, so I think it is a specific thing with coal,” he said.Perhaps some of this social licence messaging will include something like 'we are reducing our emissions by capturing more methane from our operations and using it to supply electricity to the grid through our partners QPME'!
* Along with the
Safeguard Mechanism's alleged financial penalties of $250 per tonne of CO2-e, new methane satellite monitoring technology is coming. The Australian Government recently joined a similar program
LandSat Next, with a $207.4M commitment over four years. Perhaps they will step up similarly to actively meet their part in the Global Methane Pledge and associated
LNG Value Chain.
As we know, the
Bowen Basin is a supercontributor to Australia's methane emissions.
Time for the met coal miners to get on board the MGP & NQGP, and for the government to provide appropriate carrots and sticks to drive down the sector's emissions.
Happy Friday All
(20min delay)