A STEP BACKWARDS? OR POLITICAL NECESSITY!

Between a Rock and a Hard Place?

The Australian government under new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (He’s back for a second run!) has proposed removing carbon taxes from businesses in their country.  Plagued by rising power costs, the Australian public is disgruntled by the impacts of this tax.

The move will lower power cost for the average Australian household by $4 per week.  On the other hand it is expected to save billions of dollars for companies such as mining giant BHP Billiton, Qantas Airways and Bluescope Steel as well as close to 300 of Australia’s biggest polluters.

As reported by Reuters news service;

“Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he wants the fixed price on carbon emissions to end on June 30, 2014. A floating carbon price, or emissions trading scheme (ETS) that will be linked to the European carbon market, will start the following day, a year earlier than planned.”

It will throw Australia into the European carbon market which has seen carbon prices dropping.

“Europe has seen a big switch back to coal with the falling carbon price. So a lower price for coal and a lower carbon price in Australia could be good for coal and bad for gas,”

So the bottom line comes down to politics.  Kevin Rudd’s government is struggling to maintain control and the option is the conservative party led by Tony Abbott who vows to scrap the carbon tax altogether!

Opposition leader Tony Abbott dismisses the ETS as a “so-called market in the non-delivery of an invisible substance to no-one”.

Does it appear that $4 a week is too much to the Australian public to bear for trying to protect the environment in the worlds largest per capita polluting nation?

Will High polluting coal make a resurgence in the world of power, will carbon emissions continue unabated?

Maybe Australia should try harnessing it’s abundant sun and wind energy and keep their carbon taxes!

Read the full article at the reuters link;

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/16/australia-carbon-idUSL4N0FM05620130716

Can power be generated from Vegemite?