Victoria's Brown Coal Allocaion
Successive Victorian Governments have eyed Victoria's brown coal resources and seen a bonanza in waiting. With the world’s second largest brown coal deposit, and an estimated resource of 430 billion tonnes, it's perhaps not surprising governments see dollar signs and forget about the local and global impacts of new mines.
The last time coal was allocated in Victoria was in 2002, when three companies received a total of 17 billion tonnes to build so-called ‘clean coal’ projects. None of these projects materialised and the allocation was a complete flop. And yet the Victorian Government now wants to do it all over again. The map below shows the land up for grabs this time round.
Why it doesn't add up for the environment
If the Victorian Government proceeds with its reckless coal allocation plans by mid 2013, 41 billion tonnes of Victorian coal will have been allocated, which if burnt in conventional power stations would produce emissions equivalent to:
- 333 years worth of Victoria’s emissions
- 73 years worth of Australia’s annual emissions
- 25 years worth of India’s emissions
- 8 years worth of the US’s emissions
- 5 years worth of China’s emissions
Why it doesn't stack up economically
Apart from the shocking environmental impacts, the failure of past allocations and new economic research has shown that the allocation is not economically viable either. A report commissioned by Environment Victoria 'Undermined or overburdened? Victoria's brown coal: an economoic perspective' found that three factors prevent the development of viable new coal projects:
· low quality and high moisture of Victoria’s coal resource,
· the need to process brown coal to higher grades, and
· the transport costs of getting Victorian coal to Asian markets
Already the Victorian Government have delayed the allocation once. We know that the plan is environmentally and economically irresponsible. The Latrobe Valley and Gippsland needs a regional development and transition plan that is based on real jobs and industries, not phantom ones.
DRAW A LINE IN THE SAND. SAY NO WAY TO NEW COAL IN VICTORIA >
RESOURCES
Read our report 'Undermined or overburdened? Victoria's brown coal: an economic perspective'
Read our media release on the allocation delay
Head to CoalWatch for the full picture
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