Labour on lignite

It's a big NO from the red team.
TV3 News reports:

Labour's lignite mining policy is as follows:

The Labour Party will not allow Solid Energy to mine for liquid fuels in Southland because of the increase to greenhouse gas emissions, it has been announced today.

Party leader Phil Goff was joined by a number of other Labour MPs today at Auckland’s Wynyard Quarter for the unveiling of the party’s climate change and environment policies.

Solid Energy’s project to mine for low-energy lignite coal to convert to fertiliser and diesel is estimated to be worth billions of dollars.

Labour’s policy means it could not allow the project to go ahead because it would increase the nation's greenhouse emissions by 20 percent.

Tree planting would not be enough to offset the impact. Only emission capture would be acceptable, but the technology was currently experimental, the party says.

New Zealand had immense lignite resources, but the environmental case against large-scale mining was overwhelming, it says.

"Labour does not support the mining of lignite, and its conversion to liquid fuels using current technologies, because of the high volume of greenhouse gases produced,” Mr Goff says.

Mr Goff says New Zealand's natural environment was "the essence of who we are" and the Rena disaster was a reminder not to take our "good fortune for granted".