The Federal Government’s drafted Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is too wide ranging and not well thought out, Macarthur Coal’s chief executive officer and managing director Nicole Hollows told MINING DAILY.
“I am a strong supporter of reducing carbon emissions but there is a way you get from A to B and taxing fugitive emissions is simply not the way,” she said.
“We need to invest in R&D and smarter ways of mining the ore. I would prefer to invest in future technology that will help the industry rather than pay the same amount of money to the Government in the form of tax.”
Hollows said with the current economic turmoil being faced by all the major industries across the globe, now is the wrong time to introduce the CPRS.
“The scheme is still in its infancy stage and as such, we don’t know the consequences it will have,” she said.
“Moreover, the draft legislation has informed us of who will be covered under Government assistance and it seems Victoria’s brown coal producers are covered but not Queensland’s black coal producers. You cannot have one party included and another not.”
“Under these circumstances, the CPRS is simply not an incentive for miners to reduce their emissions.”
Hollows said the Government should take a breather and think twice about implementing the scheme.
“It is not about delaying it, it is about taking the time to fully understand the consequences and the impact that implementing a scheme like this will have.”
Hollows, who is also the Queensland Resources Council board president, was yesterday honoured with Veuve Clicquot’s “Rising Star” award.
Hollows was just 36 when she was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Macarthur Coal, a coal mining company with a turnover in excess of $400 million.
Under her leadership, Macarthur Coal has grown from 50 employees to over 300 employees and delivered strong profits in a difficult environment.