Facts will reclaim coal’s ‘cool’
LABOR’S war on coal has exposed puzzling paradoxes and a damaging ignorance of reality.
The real travesty, though, is that the Liberal-National Party has failed to go for the jugular and plant a stake in the ground in North Queensland for mining and the cheap energy fossil fuels provided.
Or could provide, if overly strict regulations on new mines and power stations were relaxed.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan has been unashamedly pushing the coal barrow but his Coalition partners have been content to simply slag off on Labor rather than come out with serious pro-coal policies to assure Australia’s energy future, keep power prices at least somewhat affordable and guarantee North Queensland’s and the whole state’s prosperity.
Labor Leader Bill Shorten has publicly opposed Adani’s planned coal mine, which not only puts him at odds with the Queensland Labor State Government, but also members of his Cabinet. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said he supports Adani but it’s just lip service.
Real support is actions, not words: actions such as following America’s lead and standing up to the climate change alarmist industry.
The absurdity – and hypocrisy – of anti-coal fanaticism is exposed when you simply replace emotion-charged hyperbole with data.
On one hand, anti-coalers scream that taxpayer money shouldn’t go to billionaires to fund private enterprise such as Adani. But taxpayer money is used to subsidise renewable energy projects owned by billionaires.
Finance for Adani would be a loan paid back with interest but renewables subsidies are gone forever. What’s a worse deal for taxpayers?
Billionaire Elon Musk has charmed untold millions in subsidies from governments for his Tesla electric cars … and then launched a rocket using kerosene. Musk is held up as an environmental champion but surely his use of fossil fuel to power his rocket will make governments realise CO2-emitting power isn’t as bad or obsolete as activists try to make out.
Governments around the world have spent an estimated $US1.2 trillion on clean energy investment in just the past four years.
But the global supply of energy by renewables is estimated by British Petroleum at 3 per cent.
The International Energy Agency’s estimates range from about 13 per cent to 25 per cent, and this includes burning wood, rubbish and dung.
To put that in perspective, 1.2 trillion seconds equals about 38,000 years. This is a grievous amount to spend for such a small impact. Especially when the effects on world temperatures will be a fraction of 1C and won’t be felt for decades.
The Australian Government estimates it would cost $219b to switch the nation completely to renewables.
And let’s not forget that the North is a cyclone zone, and any solar farms or bat and bird-killing wind turbines close to the coast will be destroyed in the next big blow. From where will we get our energy then?
According to The Australian newspaper, more than $60 billion in renewables subsidies would be paid by 2030, about twice what the car industry received over 15 years and enough to build 10 large nuclear reactors. The figures make it clear that rather than doubling down on the renewables pipe dream, we should be making coal “cool” again.
Let’s roll out the red carpet to miners and frackers. Let’s establish North Queensland as the home of mining prosperity and energy security.
Last year, Aussie coal exports were worth a record $56.5 billion, and Queensland is due to earn $4 billion in coal royalties this year.
Imagine the cash flow if we fully exploited our natural resources?
Nuclear is a dirty word but we have enough uranium in the North to be a world leader in cheap, clean nuclear power production.
Green groups’ refusal to support emissions-free nuclear energy is the clearest evidence that the goal is not simply “saving the planet”, it’s about bashing big oil and coal while forcing poor people to cook and keep warm with choking fires of wood, dung and rubbish, including plastic.
But the biggest losers are consumers, who will be forced to pay exorbitant prices for unreliable, inefficient and expensive renewable energy.
All we need is for someone in politics to wake up and seize the initiative.
THE ABSURDITY – AND HYPOCRISY – OF ANTI-COAL FANATICISM IS EXPOSED WHEN YOU SIMPLY REPLACE EMOTION-CHARGED HYPERBOLE WITH DATA