Prayers answered? Time for an Adani election

Perhaps god loves coal after all. Via Courier Mail:

ADANI is to tipped to start construction on its job-creating megamine before Christmas by unveiling plans to accelerate the project, which could finally spark pay rises for Queenslanders.

The Indian energy giant is preparing to sell down its interest in Abbot Point Port to finance a shorter railway between the Galilee Basin and Abbot Point by linking it with an existing Aurizon network.

About 3000 jobs will be needed to build an airport, worker site and the mine itself.

The massive workforce will likely push up wages as the labour market for construction and mining workers tighten.

Adani chief executive officer Lucas Dow said yesterday it would dramatically shorten its proposed railway, meaning it would not need to raise as much finance.

Initially, the cost of the rail line was about $2 billion and it sought to win a low-interest loan through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, but the Queensland Government refused to support the proposal.

The shorter, new, narrow gauge railway design will reduce Adani’s capital costs by about half.

It is understood to be holding talks with Korean finance companies who are interested in buying a stake in the port. It could be done within months.

This could be a gift from god for PM Property Council as he piles in behind the project all bulldozers blazing. When Labor goes dead against, the One Nation heartland sitting right on top of the Adani tenement will swing behind the Government.

It won’t be enough to change the election outcome by a long shot, not least because it will mean open war on the ground as the Australian green movement makes the Franklyn Dam look like a teddy bear’s picnic, but it will help the Coalition.

Meanwhile, at The Guardian Aussie emissions are growing again:

Australia remains on track to miss its Paris climate targets as carbon emissions continue to soar, according to new data.

The figures from NDEVR Environmental for the year up to the end of June 2018 show the country’s emissions were again the highest on record when unreliable data from the land use and forestry sectors was excluded.

It is the third consecutive year for record-breaking emissions.

If we don’t decarbonise electricity then we can’t decarbonsie transport and that’s all she wrote.

Bizarrely, Labor is mulling a resurrection of the NEG, at Domainfax:

Business groups and other stakeholders have despaired at the loss of almost a year of intense work and negotiation over the energy plan, which promised to provide investor certainty and consistent market rules after more than a decade of policy upheaval.

Senior Labor sources have confirmed the opposition is seriously considering resurrecting the National Energy Guarantee, subject to discussion with stakeholders, believing it could achieve the bipartisan support needed to broker an enduring ceasefire in Australia’s climate wars.

A future Labor government would seek to reduce Australia’s emissions by 45 per cent by 2030 but it is yet to outline how it would achieve this.

I can see the appeal of the politics, bridging the issue with bipartisanship. But the problem is the bloody thing is too complex to work and comes with huge unintended consequences such as locking the emissions target into a broken parliament.

Just boost the RET and add a storage component. It isn’t efficient but it will get the job done.

Save your energy for the fight against the gas cartel.