(via the Southland Times public opinion column)
There are holes and there are holes (editor's choice of title)
Solid Energy's bullish chief executive, Don Elder, is not worried about his open-cast lignite mine being a blot on the Southland landscape. It will be no bigger than a paddock, he claims.
Mining company executives around the world should talk to Dr Elder about this.
Their mines are massive holes that wreck the countryside - great clomping clydesdale horses compared to the tiny Welsh pit pony Dr Elder promises.
Mr Elder's assurances sound fanciful.
He didn't mention greenhouse gases at the Southern Primary Sector Business Forum. At least The Southland Times journalist didn't report anything on that critical issue. (It was good to see that Solid Energy has regained its courage and allowed reporters into its public meetings again. Perhaps they felt there would be no awkward questions from the business people there.)
The problem, and it's a serious problem, of the millions of tonnes of gas that result from lignite being exposed, processed and used in whatever form it finally takes (briquettes, urea, diesel) is never honestly addressed at Solid Energy meetings.
They talk of pumping carbon dioxide into the seabed of the Great South basin or planting trees to make up the gases they will release, but it's all very unconvincing and seriously lacking in detail. Perhaps it's questions around those plans that Solid Energy and its talk-it-up chief executive fear from ordinary people.
Robert Guyton
Riverton
Thursday, August 11, 2011
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2 comments:
Fair call. Some answers to valid questions shouldn't be too much to expect. Perhaps the detail is being hidden in a large hole?
Trouble is, asking questions through the letters column doesn't get answers from the horse's mouth. Plenty of ordinary folk out there who know a lot about it though. Those that came along to the public meeting at the library were very well informed and their views didn't align with Elder's at all.
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