Claims by the coal lobby and aluminium manufacturers that an emissions trading scheme will cost jobs are deliberate mistruths according to NSW MLC Dr John Kaye. He said that the government is proposing to spend $200,000 per employee compensating the aluminium industry for the cost of its carbon offsets. “It would be better for the economy and the environment to send the industry offshore and invest that money in retraining” he told The Generator. “There are 73,800 clean, green jobs waiting for those workers if we get serious about reducing emissions by investing in renewable energy” he said. He was responding to the infamous “Let them eat coal” statements made by both the NSW Premier and the NSW Industry Minister, earlier this month. “Thanks to our reliance on coal, NSW is the dirtiest place in the world to make aluminium,” he said, “surpassed only by Victoria.”