Pleasant Dreams

Submission on the Mount Pleasant Optimisation Project economic assessment
by Rod Campbell and Tony Shields

The Australia Institute made a submission objecting to the proposal to expand and extend the Mt Pleasant coal mine in the Hunter Valley.

Claims that the project would generate around $1 billion in benefits are based on an assumption that large volumes of low quality coal can be sold at today’s prices out to 2048. This is unrealistic as it ignores recent write downs, the 11 other new coal projects recently proposed in NSW and the world’s efforts to tackle climate change. A 17% change in coal price would erode the financial case for the Mt Pleasant project.

Full Submission

Share