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Ultra Clean Coal Project, Cessnock

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Speakers - Hickey Mr Kerry
Business - Private Members Statements

      ULTRA CLEAN COAL PROJECT, CESSNOCK
Page: 1970

      Mr KERRY HICKEY (Cessnock) [5.45 p.m.]: I advise the House of the initiatives taken in the Cessnock electorate to help reduce CO 2 emissions across the world. To reduce CO2 emissions the Ultra Clean Coal Project in Cessnock is able to wash coal, take the stone and the impurities out of coal, obtain the carbon content and briquette that carbon content, break down the carbon and blow it into the turbines, thus giving a much brighter spark or a much better burn with a lot fewer CO 2 emissions. When I was Minister for Mineral Resources I was fortunate to visit Japan and meet with the Mitsubishi group, which studied the process in 2004. It is now testing that process.
      That is great news for Cessnock. The test plant has been located in the area for the past three years and is now to be made larger. It will test burn the briquettes and produce power within the grid system. It is good to know that the Government Ministers are working in a constructive way. The plant has the potential to reduce CO 2 emissions by 24 per cent to 27 per cent. Applying that process, once it is proven, to all the world's generators, will have a major impact on CO 2 emissions. Members who represent Sydney electorates talk about addressing climate change by reducing CO 2 emissions, but they continually use the city transport systems. The impact of those CO 2 emissions on global climate change is immense.
      The Fidel or White Mining Group, under John Langley, a great ambassador, is testing the CO 2 briquettes. It has put millions of dollars into this project each year and has worked tirelessly. Travis Duncan first came to see me when I was Minister for Mineral Resources about transforming the briquettes before there was any public pressure, before any talk of climate change, and before Coal21. The group should be congratulated and thanked on the hard work it has done. We will never avoid coal being a baseload for power stations. We need to find better ways of producing electricity using coal and the White Mining group is working hard to do just that. John Langley is working extremely hard to promoting the process.
      The Minister for Lands allocated funding for this project, which will benefit not just Cessnock and New South Wales but also the world. Once this process is up and running and it is being utilised it will reduce CO 2 emissions by 24 per cent or 27 per cent. That will go a long way towards reducing global warming and the heating of the earth. I spent up to a week with John Langley selling this proposal to the Mitsubishi group and saw it go from a small sample plant to a plant that is generating electricity for the grid. I know this is only the first step of many. I wish the company well and I hope that the project succeeds. It is a great news story. This group worked tirelessly on it and invested its own money. It had the foresight and vision and the project should be promoted positively. It goes to show that the coal industry is not a dirty industry; it is promoting itself in the long term. At the end of the day this is about ensuring that we have cheaper electricity for the benefit of all.


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