PM Tony Abbott’s ‘coal is good for humanity’ remarks derided

Michael Allan McCrae | October 13, 2014 | 4:46 pm Energy Top Companies Australia Coal 

Comments by Australian PM Tony Abbott at the opening of Caval Ridge open pit metallurgical coal mine enflamed social media.

“Coal is vital for the future energy needs of the world,” said Abbott at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the US$4.2 billion mine to be operated by BHP Mitsubishi Alliance.

“So let’s have no demonisation of coal. Coal is good for humanity.”

The Guardian and ABC News led with the remarks in its coverage.

The Guardian article ran up the front page of Reddit.

People reacted on Twitter.

 

 

Image by Andreas Eldh

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6 Comments

  • allritejack

    Typical reaction from the anthropogenic global warming lemmings. The same people who drive cars, own umpteen electronic devices, drive and fly all over the place, use electricity and other fuels, but they don’t want any mining or power generation that make their comfortable, vain lives possible.

  • bobby44

    Coal may have taken millions of years to form BUT it has formed and is present for responsible use today. Not like the alternatives that are still years away.

  • Rod M. Kerr

    Unless they can burn it cleanly and dispose of tailings cleanly coal is the scourge of mankind with the type of poisons it spews forth. CO2 is nothing but poisons such as mercury and hydrogen sulfide are real and detrimental to all life.

  • rodiswrong

    Correction Rod….”sin” is the scourge of the earth, not coal. Try some Sunday School training instead of the nit wit books you’vee been reading or the leftest kooks you’ve been listening too.
    Secondly, if you don’t like coal – try nuclear energy -still the safest bet around.

  • name

    This just shows how misunderstood coal is. This is a metallurgical coal mine. Met coal is used for steel making not for anything to do with energy. If someone can make steel from wind or sun then maybe we can start demonizing coal.

  • Mark

    This page certainly attracts some strange people…coking coal, not thermal coal here! With regards to the fool who suggests Australians have a vain way of life by using electronic gadgetry and travel too much, but argue about some current means of power generation – these Australians are in (again) the lunatic minority. Apologies for our political leader but I am not sure that he knows the difference in these two coal types…Solar and wind power do not validate their own cost as yet – both still need government subsidies to “look” viable.

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