Coal clean-up efforts 'struggling'

The federal government has got it wrong on emissions trading by not doing enough to clean up coal, the industry says.

A company called ZeroGen wants to build a coal-fired power plant that will bury most
of its emissions underground, using Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology.
CCS is held to be crucial to the future of Australia's massive coal industry because
it could turn coal into a low-emission fuel.
Australia is the world's biggest coal exporter, and about 80 per cent of our
electricity comes from coal.
But ZeroGen's demonstration plant, planned for central Queensland in 2012, could be
in trouble.
The company has written to the federal government saying emissions trading will pose
a "barrier" to the development of CCS.
The letter says the scheme is too soft, so the incentive to invest in CCS is not
strong enough.
"Australia's 5 per cent carbon reduction target accompanied by a weak carbon price
will be nowhere near sufficient to generate the scale of investment needed to make
clean coal technologies economically viable," the letter says.
The company also wants to be allowed to pump carbon emissions into the air for free.
Under the government's plan for emissions trading, due to start next year, a
coal-fired power plant using CCS won't have to pay for emissions buried underground.
But it will have to pay for emissions that go into the air.
ZeroGen says its demonstration plant is high-risk and expensive, so it shouldn't
have to buy permits at all.
Federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has backed ZeroGen's concerns and has
called on the government to do more to help the company.
"The Rudd Labor government's promises to support clean coal technology have been
exposed as a sham," Mr Turnbull said.
"Australia is the world's largest coal exporter and there is therefore no single
low-emission technology of more importance to Australia than Carbon Capture and
Storage."
The opposition would not be drawn on what the government should do to boost CCS.
Federal Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said Mr Turnbull should not be calling
for changes to emissions trading when the opposition was in "chaos" over whether it
supported the scheme at all.
"Providing more free permits to industry would leave less money to help households,
pensioners and carers adjust to the impact of a carbon price," Senator Wong said.
She said CCS was crucial to cutting emissions, and the government was helping out
with $500 million in investment - money ZeroGen could apply for a share of.
Last year, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh provided $100 million for ZeroGen's
feasibility study.
The Australian Coal Association kicked in the remaining $25 million for the study,
which is expected to be finished this year.