Is Brown Coal Really the Planet’s Saviour?

Few could accuse Mantle Mining company director Ian Kraemer of lacking rhetorical ambition. Attending a public meeting in Bacchus Marsh recently to explain his plan to turn local farmlands into a brown coal mine, Kraemer was keen to talk up his environmental credibility. “Brown coal”, he told locals present, “has the ability to be the saviour of the planet”.

Now, given brown coal’s status as one of the world’s most polluting fossil fuels, this seems an odd statement. Yet Kraemer is adamant it can be defended. Mantle, he says, plans to use a special technique developed by another company, Exergen, to remove moisture from the coal, thereby reducing its greenhouse emissions by up to 40%. Given that countries such as China and India are likely to use brown coal for some time to come, he argues, it makes good environmental sense to help them to burn it in a cleaner way.  Read More

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