Coal

Analysis and Comment (32)

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Bill McKibben presents "Do the Maths" at the Seymour Centre at the University of Sydney on the 4th June 2013. Matthew Rimmer

Do the Maths: Bill McKibben argues for divestment

By Matthew Rimmer

In June 2013, author, activist and academic Bill McKibben is visiting Australia and New Zealand as part of the Do the Maths tour. He has been discussing the carbon bubble, fossil fuels, climate change…
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Contrary to rumour, the future of Australia’s coal industry is looking pretty solid. Joost J Bakker IJmuiden

Coal: full steam ahead?

By Ashton De Silva, RMIT University

Is coal in trouble in Australia? The Bureau of Resource and Energy Economics recently revealed A$150B-worth of mining and energy projects have been mothballed in the last 12 months. The media is reporting…
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The lack of transparency for the economic modelling of the Galilee Coal Project means the public must rely on the word of Waratah Coal. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Can we trust Clive? Commercial-in-confidence coal mines

By Richard Denniss

Clive Palmer’s Waratah Coal claims its Galilee Coal Project, which will create four underground mines, two open-cut mines, and 468 kilometres of railway line in central Queensland, will bring economic…
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Will the Great Barrier Reef be declared ‘In Danger’? We’ll have to wait until next year to find out. AAP Image/Catlin Seaview Survey

UNESCO still worried about the Great Barrier Reef

By Colin Hunt

UNESCO, the body that lists world heritage areas, continues to express extreme disquiet about the state of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. But it has now postponed to February 2014 consideration…
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Coal threatens our future: what kind of investment is that? AAP Image/Paul Miller

Future Fund drops tobacco: should fossil fuels be next?

By Matthew Rimmer

After a year long public campaign, the Future Fund has today announced plans to end its $222 million investment in tobacco. The decision follows much debate about whether the Future Fund should engage…
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How will ASIC cope with the pressure it’s under to punish coal hoaxer Jonathan Moylan? State Records NSW

ASIC and the great coal hoax

By Clive Hamilton

Will anti-coal activist Jonathan Moylan receive justice if he is charged over his hoax? ASIC, which will formally interview Moylan next week, is under enormous pressure to “make an example” of the 24…
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Governments don’t seem to take seriously the health effects of coal mining. Ian Sanderson

Moylan’s anti-coal message is an international one

By David Shearman

Anti-coal protester Jonathan Moylan has said the main reason for his ANZ sharemarket hoax was his concern about the health impacts of coal mining at Maules Creek. He stressed the impact of the mine on…
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Do you value this? The Energy White Paper doesn’t. Green MPs

Energy White Paper plans to burn, burn, burn it all

By Chris McGrath

Burn it all. That is the plan in Australia’s new Energy White Paper. Released yesterday by Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson, it talks about responding to climate change while planning the…
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A coal ship caught on Nobby’s Beach in Newcastle. The city is the biggest in the world for coal exports. asnewlibrarian/Flick

Why Australia must stop exporting coal

By Peter Christoff, University of Melbourne

Why get worked up about our climate responsibilities when Australia’s contribution to global emissions – around 1.5% of the total – is small? Here is the usual reply. Australia’s domestic greenhouse gas…
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Given its parlous financial state, Queensland is within its rights to increase mining royalties. But why frame it as a surplus profits tax? AAP

Queensland coal: an accounting black hole

By Dick Bryan

The Queensland Government has decided to raise coal mining royalties. Seems reasonable, doesn’t it? A review of Queensland Pty Ltd by Peter Costello revealed a precarious balance sheet. Time to get things…
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If closing brown coal power plants is part of the lowest cost mix of emissions reduction opportunities, then they will close without additional payment from the government. ccdoh1/Flickr

Carbon price is about low-cost emissions reduction, not closing power plants

By Tony Wood, Grattan Institute

This week the Australian Government announced that the “payment for closure” element of the Clean Energy Future package would not proceed. The decision has saved taxpayers a multi-billion dollar outlay…
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Why hasn’t human health been considered in the push for expanded coal facilities? AAP Image/Paul Miller

Newcastle’s T4 project puts short-term profit before health

By David Shearman and Linda Selvey, Curtin University

A massive expansion of Newcastle’s coal export terminal has been proposed by Port Waratah Coal Services. Approval is likely soon, but the expansion’s effect on human health has been ignored in the project…
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The Federal Government has given the go-ahead to the Alpha coal development (this picture shows the existing trial mine), but will it ever be built? Greenpeace/Andrew Quilty

On Alpha coal approval, Burke clearly right in battle with Newman

By Chris McGrath

Picking who is right in political disputes is often hard but this one is different. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman was clearly wrong in stating that the Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke is…
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With Australia’s highest carbon intensity, Victoria’s Hazelwood coal-fired power station is a prime candidate to close down part of its generating capacity. AAP

The case for shutting down Hazelwood power station – some facts and figures

By Roger Dargaville, University of Melbourne

Under its Clean Energy Future, the Federal government will negotiate to close 2000 MW of the dirtiest fossil fuel power generating capacity in Australia by 2020. With the price on carbon now in operation…
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Coal’s toll? A Newcastle church cupola damaged in the 1989 earthquake serves as a memorial for the 13 people killed. Flickr/OZinOH

Earthquakes and mining – how humans create seismic activity

By Christian Klose, Northwest Research Associates

This week’s 5.3 magnitude earthquake that struck near Moe in Victoria’s brown-coal mining region of the La Trobe Valley brings to mind the 5.6 magnitude quake of 1989 in another coal-mining heartland…
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The ones on the left are on their way out. Richard Brand

Energy myths exposed: King Coal or King Solar?

By Ray Wills, University of Western Australia and Peter Newman, Curtin University

In our Conversation article, King Coal dethroned, we suggested that renewable energy investment was now outstripping fossil fuel power investment. Many welcomed the news that the future was arriving sooner…
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Minister Tony Burke is slowing down coal development in Queensland, but there’s more to it than saving turtles. Landfeldt/Flickr

Commonwealth and Queensland face off over coal and Great Barrier Reef

By Colin Hunt

The halt in the Alpha Coal Project approval process shows the Commonwealth is taking very seriously UNESCO’s recent report threatening downgrading the status of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area…
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Plans to transform Victoria’s Latrobe Valley into a mining export hub are misguided. AAP

A brown-coal export hub? Tell them they’re dreaming!

By Stephen King, Monash University

If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. And if wishes were new technology, then Victoria’s Latrobe Valley would be a mining export hub to rival the Pilbara. But wishes are neither horses nor new…
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Melting Arctic Sea ice should be the warning we need about expanding coal exports. Michael Sonnabend

On Arctic Sea ice melt and coal mine canaries

By Andrew Glikson

Despite peak global temperatures in 2005 and 2010 (unprecedented in the instrumental record), a recent sharp plunge in volume of the Arctic Sea ice and a spate of extreme weather events, coal mining, coal…
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India’s power needs are growing at a staggering rate and coal won’t do the job. NASA

How do you power a billion lives?

By Roger Dargaville, University of Melbourne

As the Australian Labor Party changes its stance on trading uranium with India, a pertinent question arises: why is India so keen to buy this controversial fuel? And what do India’s energy resources look…
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If we’re going to talk about how safe CSG is (or isn’t), we need to look at the full picture. AAP/Origin Energy

Coal gas seams good … until you measure the methane

By Colin Hunt

The Mineral Resources Rent Tax passed through the House of Representatives last week, but not without negotiations with the Greens and independent MPs. Perhaps the most significant outcome of negotiations…
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There are several options for future energy generation. We just need to get there. waldopepper

Stepping stones: the slippery path to a clean energy future

By Roger Dargaville, University of Melbourne

In news today, the Greens are calling for an end to federal funding for a proposed coal- and gas-fuelled power plant in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. Others have suggested the plant provides a source of…
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Solar is now a viable industry that should be taken seriously. AFP Photo/Sakis Mitrolidis

Solar will force coal and nuclear out of the energy business

By Andrew Blakers

A solar energy revolution is brewing that will put the coal and nuclear industries out of business. Solar is already reaching price parity with coal in many parts of Australia. In contrast to coal and…
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Julia Gillard claims Peabody’s $5bn bid shows international confidence in the coal industry’s future. AAP

Peabody’s bid for Macarthur Coal is hardly a carbon tax endorsement

By Ashton De Silva, RMIT University

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has claimed that US-based Peabody Energy’s $5bn takeover bid for Queensland’s Macarthur Coal represents an endorsement for the government’s carbon tax. But does Peabody’s…

Research and News (2)

Research Briefs (4)

Higher mortality in coal mining counties

University of Pittsburgh

Coal mining areas may adversely affect those who live and work in them. Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh studied…

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