Update-Reports govt may bail out of ZeroGen clean coal project
A newspaper reported this morning that an independent review for the Queensland State Government has found that the ZeroGen carbon capture and storage project should be sold off and wound up.
Image courtesy of ZeroGen
The Weller Review said ZeroGen "has significant financial responsibilities in a highly technical, if not speculative, area". The Government will consider walking away from the $125 million project.
ZeroGen, to which the Government has committed more than $100 million, plans to trial carbon capture and story and aims to develop the world's first clean-coal power plant near Rockhampton by 2012.
In a statement, Energy Minister Stephen Robertson said the Government remained "committed to accelerating the deployment of low-emission coal technologies before 2020".
"The future direction of ZeroGen will be determined by Government in consultation with industry partners," Robertson said.
ZeroGen is due to complete a feasibility study into the technology by the end of the year.
According to the newspaper report, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said she would accept 177 of the Weller Review's 210 recommendations to abolish, merge or sell off hundreds of Government boards and statutory authorities.
Tony Maher, national president CFMEU Mining and Energy union, said clean coal technology would be put back a decade if the Bligh Government walks away from ZeroGen.
“It would be hypocritical and highly dangerous for the Bligh Government to pull the rug out from under an important carbon capture and storage project like Zero Gen.
“Today’s newspaper reports undermine the confidence in the very technology that will make the multi-billion dollar Queensland coal industry a low-carbon industry of the future,” said Maher.
According to Maher, thousands of Australian families in communities across Queensland depend on the coal industry to make a living and are banking on the development of new technologies that could help clean up the sector.
“The Weller Review is short sighted in its concerns about financial responsibilities of the Zero Gen project. We need to invest now to safeguard mining jobs into the future.
“The reality is science could hold the key to safeguarding the future of Australia’s mining industry while reducing dangerous carbon emissions,” Maher said.
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