by Inside Story has run an updated and expanded version of my last post on Adani’s pretense that it is ready to start its mining project at a moment’s notice. The main new point is a suggestion for how a federal Labor government could close off the Galilee Basin without a general moratorium on new coal mines. If federal Labor wins government in May (as seems highly likely), it will need to face up to the issue later this year. First of all, it will need to develop a coherent policy on phasing out coal exports — ideally involving a ban on new coalmines, though this is almost certainly too much for Labor to contemplate. That proposal also faces the counterargument, put forward by both mining companies and unions, that reduced Australian exports would be replaced by lower-quality
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Inside Story has run an updated and expanded version of my last post on Adani’s pretense that it is ready to start its mining project at a moment’s notice. The main new point is a suggestion for how a federal Labor government could close off the Galilee Basin without a general moratorium on new coal mines.
If federal Labor wins government in May (as seems highly likely), it will need to face up to the issue later this year. First of all, it will need to develop a coherent policy on phasing out coal exports — ideally involving a ban on new coalmines, though this is almost certainly too much for Labor to contemplate. That proposal also faces the counterargument, put forward by both mining companies and unions, that reduced Australian exports would be replaced by lower-quality coal from other countries.
The argument has some force, but there’s a way of taking it into account. Australia’s benchmark export is Newcastle coal, with an energy content of 6000 kilocalories per kilogram and a correspondingly low ash content. The premium for this higher-quality coal has risen greatly, though it has declined somewhat in recent years. Galilee Basin coal’s heat content, by contrast, is estimated at less than 5000 kcal/kg, and its ash content is 26 per cent, worse than coal from many competing countries. A policy that stops short of a blanket ban but requires new mines to supply coal of, say, 5500 kcal/kg or more would put an end to any idea of developing Galilee, while allowing for some smaller, higher-quality projects to proceed.
Further suggestions would be appreciated.