I don't disagree with you. It still may be the best for us to keep mining and exporting the stuff. Drying it out does make a difference because it means less of the burn energy is required to evaporate water as it combusts. Still massively worse than Nat Gas though from a Carbon perspective. The point I'm making is that Labor is totally contradictory in what they say and what they do: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/brumbys-dirty-secret-coal-for-export-20091013-gvnp.html
Gillard still rabbiting on about this "we must put a price on carbon" stuff, but if they meant what they said Nat Gas plants would make a far greater difference than new taxes.
