[Greens-Media]

Carbon storage liability issues will destroy 'clean coal' pipedream even
faster than technology failures

Hobart, Monday 19 May 2008 Australian Greens climate change
spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today called Martin Ferguson's
draft legislation for carbon storage a clear demonstration of the many
problems still bedevilling the proposed technology.

Senator Milne said, "This draft legislation perfectly demonstrates the
Pandora's box of liability issues facing carbon capture and storage that
can never be satisfactorily resolved.

"Aside from the tremendous remaining questions about whether the
technology will even work, the liability issue may ensure that so-called
'clean coal' projects never get off the ground. Coal corporations will
not commit to storing tens of millions of tonnes of CO2 unless they are
guaranteed that the governments will carry their liability in
perpetuity, and no one government can bind future governments to ensure
that will be the case.

"You would have thought that, after Ok Tedi and so many other examples
in recent years, no government would readily facilitate companies
walking away from their long-term pollution liabilities. But this draft
legislation, released deliberately on a Saturday to avoid scrutiny,
appears to do exactly that by passing perpetual liability for carbon
leakage into public hands if the Minister issues a site closing
certificate.

"It is wrong to transfer the risk of worse climate change from carbon
leakage onto taxpayers and future generations. Working families care
about the world their children inherit and the costs that are imposed
upon them.

"The minister and industry are on notice that future governments will
not bound by this one. A future minister might care about the atmosphere
more than the coal industry and simply refuse to sign closing
certificates, ensuring that corporations continue to carry the
liability.

"I fully expect the coal corporations to launch a huge lobbying effort
to amend the draft to require the minister to issue a closing
certificate once certain conditions have been met. That has, after all,
long been the tactic of the nuclear industry around the world.

"The liability issues clearly demonstrate the folly of further
developing an industry which generates an enormous and highly dangerous
waste stream. Rather than spending billions on working out how to store
the waste and billions more on perpetual monitoring, surely it would be
better not to generate the waste at all and move to truly clean
alternatives.

"A myriad of renewable energy technologies provide that alternative and
are ready to do the job now. Every dollar we spend on coal is a missed
opportunity which will further undermine Australia's competitive
advantage. Ministers Ferguson, Wong and Garrett are desperately trying
to perpetuate the coal age when the solar century has already started.

"Martin Ferguson revealed the government's true priorities, in saying
that making geosequestration work is vital to the long term
sustainability of the coal industry. The Government should fund
technologies that promote the long term sustainability of the planet,
not the coal industry."


Tim Hollo
Media and Communications Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
+61 (0)2 6277 3063
+61 (0) 437 587 562
www.christinemilne.org.au

Come join the discussion at http://greensblog.org

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