Hutton attacks carbon dioxide storage plan
The release of land to mining organisations to find carbon dioxide storage locations was an excuse for the coal industry to continue with an outdated industry, according to veteran environmental campaigner Drew Hutton.
“It’s an excuse for the [coal] industry to keep going when there is no viable future for them at all,” the former Greens spokesman said.
“It’s just a spin exercise, a PR exercise, on the part of the coal industry to give life to an industry way past its used by date.”
Mr Hutton said he supported trials of new technology but was sceptical of industry being able use this technology on a broad scale.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy said tenders were released last week for exploration of land in central and south west Queensland, including the Western Basin, for its suitability to store carbon dioxide gases.
“We have released the land for organisations to register their interest and pitch up some ideas if they want to,” he said.
He said the project would capture CO2 gases, mostly from power stations, and store it underground but at this early stage the specifics of the project were unclear.
“This is releasing the land to the experts to have a look at [the] options,” he said.
Mr Tony Steeper of the Cooperative Research Center for Greenhouse Gas Technologies said trials of the technology had been underway in Otway, Victoria, since 2003 with a storage well currently holding 60,000 tons of carbon dioxide.
There is so much going on behind the scenes of government that most citizens nevr hear about. This is one issue that deserves the space given here.