Coal is king

Millions of tonnes of dredged mud is to be dumped near the Great Barrier Reef with the approval of the Australian government (International, 1 February). This will allow for a major expansion of Abbot Point port, which will be used to export 120 million tonnes of coal a year from the Galilee Basin mines. This coal is worth A$16 billion (£8.52bn), creating 20,000 jobs and A$40bn tax revenues.

Meanwhile, Europe is the largest importer of coal from the United States and more than 1,200 new coal plants are being planned or built worldwide, with no sightings of the mythical carbon capture and storage beast. Eminent environmental economist Bjorn Lomborg calculated that the US$130bn (£79bn) that Germany has invested in solar PV will have the effect, by 2100, of delaying the progress of climate change by a magnificent 37 hours.

No wonder Australia and other countries have come to their senses; having seen through the green scam, they are growing their economies with coal, shale gas and nuclear. British politicians, and a certain Scottish one, should stop the green bluster and admit that they cannot and never will unilaterally “save the planet”.

Clark Cross

Springfield Road

Linlithgow, West Lothian