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admin /16 June, 2010
MINING giants have complained after a meeting in Canberra today that their demands on tax are still not being acknowledged by the government – even as Kevin Rudd confirms he is considering requests for special treatment from different resources sectors.
BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata met the Rudd government in Canberra today and released a joint statement saying it had given no acknowledgment that their key concerns would be addressed.
BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers, the Australian managing director of Rio Tinto David Peever and Xstrata Coal chief executive Peter Freyberg met Wayne Swan and Resources Minister Martin Ferguson this morning.
The companies said they had outlined three key areas of concern with the proposed resources super-profits tax during the meeting.
Those were about the retrospective application of the RSPT, the need for an effective tax rate that retained Australia’s international competitiveness and stability arrangements for the taxes and royalties around existing and new projects.
admin /16 June, 2010
Govt under scrutiny over mining tax ads Yahoo!7 June 16, 2010, 9:30 pm Related Links Story: Big mining still at odds with government The Rudd Government is facing an inquiry into its broken promise on political advertising. 7News can reveal a public servant who recommended the advertising watchdog be dissolved is now being paid Continue Reading →
admin /16 June, 2010
Why the Wind Market is Hurting
Texas, United States At first glance, last year’s 10 gigawatts of wind installations in the U.S. make it seem like the market is in good shape. But those numbers don’t tell the real story of the difficulties the wind industry is facing.
In 2009, financing was the big issue for the industry. There simply weren’t enough financial players healthy enough to put money into projects. The grant program created under the stimulus package helped move a number of projects forward, beefing up the installation figures for last year.
But today, financing isn’t necessarily the main problem; it’s demand. Due to a number of factors exacerbated by the dismal economy, some developers are simply unable to take advantage of the stimulus dollars available. Only 540 MW of wind capacity were installed in the first quarter of 2010, down from 2,800 MW in the first quarter of 2009.
admin /16 June, 2010
Wanted: some belief in a leader :
As I lay in bed one freezing morning lately I wished it would rain so I wouldn’t have to get up and go jogging. But it’s a free country – if I disliked the idea of going out into the cold so much, why didn’t I just stay in bed? Because I knew if I wanted to be fit there was a small sacrifice involved. I also knew that when I make an effort I feel better than when I don’t. All of us make similar decisions every day.
There’s no law against wanting to have your cake and eat it – which is just as well because people do it all the time. This, I suspect, is a big part of Kevin Rudd’s problem. When Tony Abbott began worrying people by branding the emissions trading scheme a great big new tax on everything and the public’s enthusiasm for action on climate change began to slip, Rudd assumed we’d all be quietly relieved when he dropped the idea.
Instead, he’s been amazed to discover that decision caused him to drop hugely in our esteem. Why? It’s just a case of us wanting to have our cake and eat it. We wanted to worry about what the trading scheme might do to our cost of living but we also wanted action to reduce climate change.
admin /16 June, 2010
Olympic Dam expansion at risk over tax: Morgan Stanley
BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam site in South Australia. Source: The Australian
BHP Billiton’s massive Olympic Dam expansion project could be the next project put on hold because of the government’s resources super profits tax, according to Morgan Stanley.
Analyst Craig Campbell said in a note this morning the project, which is the world’s largest uranium deposit, would likely follow a series of projects put on hold if the tax remains in its current form.
admin /15 June, 2010
Tiny desert town goes solar in a big way
Grist’s Dave Roberts sent out a Tweet to his Tweeps today asking which city has installed the most solar. I’ve got an answer for you, Dave: Nipton, California.
The desert micropolis — population 38 — announced Thursday that it had installed a solar array that will provide 85 percent of the town’s electricity. (The population of this outpost on the edge of Mojave National Preserve spikes to 250 or so during tourist season.) The solar system is ground- rather than on rooftop-mounted, and only generates 82 kilowatts. But what is notable is the technology developed by Skyline Solar, a Silicon Valley startup I first wrote about for Grist last year.
The company’s power plants resemble solar thermal parabolic trough installations. They deploy long rows of mirrors which heat tubes of liquid that that suspended over the arrays. The heat turns the liquid into steam, which drives an electricity-generating turbine. Skyline’s system is purely solid state, however.
