It’s not a particularly radical scheme – and one which will ultimately depend on the dubious marketing of carbon permits in around four years time. However, the Australian government’s plan to cut global greenhouse gas emissions has the mining industry in a tizzy. Coal mining companies are resorting to the kind of doom-laden predictions they made a year ago, when threatened by a “super profits” tax.
In fact, according to one report, the scheme will see coal miners “like global giants Xstrata Ltd, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton” being eligible for a A$1.3 billion compensation package. And the tax will add an estimated average of only A$1.80 per metric ton to the cost of mining coal “at a time when coal prices are at near record highs…”
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=11055.