Energy experts are criticising plans made by state-owned miner Solid Energy, saying efforts to build a large export factory in Southland’s Mataura valley are uneconomic.
The state-owned miner’s lignite briquettes are expected to go on sale this year, but an ambitious plan to export the pellets overseas is now looking unlikely.
Which means less coal mined, and therefore lower emissions. Which can only be positive for our environment.
Meanwhile, the fact that Solid Energy was considering this plan at all shows that National's corrupted ETS isn't working. It was supposed to discourage the dirtiest of industries; instead the promise of subsidies for pollution seems to have encouraged them.