Australia's gas future under scutiny 4 Corners tonight, page-7

Rather than coal being a Right Wing or a Left Wing issue, it should be an economic issue.

Over the past two decades it provided a significant amount of work in regions of NSW & Qld,
supported small service supply businesses and of course yielded about $3 billion a year in
royalties to both Qld & NSW.

It shared the lead in export earnings with iron ore
and without it Aus would have run massive trade deficits for decades.

That said, however, the taxpayer should not be expected to foot the bill for LNG infrastructure
because due to the conflict between the Libs & Labor on energy policy , such infrastructure is likely to be
a balls up rather than a viable transition to a lower carbon future.

IMO an LNG policy is not an industrial policy let alone an economic plan but instead use
of taxpayers funds to benefit a few.

IMO government support for cleaner coal technology development to match LNG emissions levels
would make more sense because it would achieve similar environmental results without killing off
out Golden Goose.

In summary, new coal fired generators would have to capture 50-60% of their CO2 emissions to compare
with LNG but given the rate of technological advance , this should be possible, IMO. Just have a look
at the ICE fuel efficiency and NOX emissions reductions over the past 10 years.

"Natural gas is a fossil fuel, though the global warming emissions from its combustion are much lower than those from coal or oil. Natural gas emits 50 to 60 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) when combusted in a new, efficient natural gas power plant compared with emissions from a typical new coal plant"