SA Government shifts from clean wind back to dirty coal 

The Rann Government has been slammed by Greens MLC Mark Parnell for promoting ‘coal-to-liquid’ technology in the state’s far north, stating that it will produce more greenhouse pollution than conventional petrol or diesel.

“This is Mike Rann’s great energy leap backwards,” said Greens MLC Mark Parnell. “To say this coal fuel is ‘ultra-clean’ is like saying cigarettes are ‘ultra-fresh’.  

These coal plants don’t produce ‘clean’ fuel; they produce dirtier fossil fuels, with more greenhouse damage, than the petrol or diesel we currently use.

The technology is completely unproven.  According to the CSIRO, even in the best case scenario, more climate change producing carbon will be released by this process than by conventional fossil fuels,” he said.

 Brisbane-based Linc Energy has announced it will set up in SA to promote ‘several’ coal-to-liquids plants in the Arckaringa Basin.  This announcement follows the Rann Government’s embrace of a proposed new brown coal fired power station near Kingston in the state’s south east, and a recent report by Ernst & Young which states that SA has lost its national leadership on renewable energy.

“The Rann Government likes to think of itself as a climate change ‘leader’, yet it happily supports new coal projects in South Australia that will massively increase the state’s greenhouse pollution.  

 
“Meanwhile, the recent Ernst & Young report says we are about to lose our renewable energy ‘crown’ as companies move interstate to take up better opportunities.  Wind energy is being replaced by greenhouse hungry coal.

“The companies behind these schemes like to spruik jobs as the biggest benefit.  Yet truly clean, renewable energy alternatives such as wind, solar, wave and geothermal offer much greater potential for secure job creation in South Australia.  

“This is what this state should be embracing, not untried and untested dirty coal technology,” he said.

Coober Pedy Regional Times