Antinuclear

Australia’s Minister for Coal, and Nuclear? and – er Climate Change

Combet .. is also adamant the coal industry will continue to grow under a carbon price,…..he says a carbon price will make the nuclear option more economically viable…..

Can-do Combet well used to taking heat, The Australian,  Sid Maher, March 05, 2011As he approaches the sharp end of negotiations to flesh out the detail of the climate change framework announced by the Prime Minister, Combet makes several principles clear.

One is that there won’t be wholesale shedding of jobs in key high-emissions industries in any carbon pricing framework agreed to by the government.

A second point is that the carbon pricing framework won’t be sacrificing the competitiveness of trade-exposed sectors of the economy and that the changes that will be driven by the carbon price will take place gradually.

Combet, who represents the Hunter Valley seat of Charlton, is also adamant the coal industry will continue to grow under a carbon price, a view that has the potential to put him at odds with the Greens……..

He sees carbon pricing as an important economic change but emphasises that the changes it will drive will happen slowly.

“It will be a transformation that will happen over decades,” Combet says…….Coal does have a future,” Combet says. “It’s growing pretty fast and there are long-term contracts in place.” He says technologies will change, dramatically improving the efficiency of coal-fired electricity plants. “A carbon price will drive that.”……

And while he refuses to step away from Labor’s opposion to nuclear energy, he says a carbon price will make the nuclear option more economically viable…..

nuclear will be relatively less expensive compared to coal once you factor in the price of pollution. Gas, though, will become more competitive with coal-fired electricity. That’s where the next generation of investment, you would expect, would take place.”

Can-do Combet well used to taking heat | The Australian

March 4, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | climate change - global warming