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By Alan Moran

Rio Tinto’s [Paywall] announced closure of its aluminium smelter in New Zealand due to uncompetitive power prices is a reminder of the vulnerability of Australia’s four remaining smelters, all of which face sharply higher prices courtesy of government energy policies. With energy costs comprising about a third of their total costs, smelters are industry’s bellwethers of future energy competitiveness and all four of Australia’s are on national suicide watch.

As a result of subsidies to wind and solar, these expensive and unreliable energy sources have caused high customer costs, both directly and indirectly, while also diverting the nation’s investment resources into avenues that actually damage the economy. (more…)

Environmentalist Michael Shellenberger was named Time magazine Heroes of the Environment (2008). He wrote an article for Forbes entitled On Behalf Of Environmentalists, I Apologize For The Climate Scare.

According to Shellenberger, “Forbes has censored my article.” (https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1277611390195216390 30 June 2020)

The article has been reposted here: https://environmentalprogress.org/big-news/2020/6/29/on-behalf-of-environmentalists-i-apologize-for-the-climate-scare

Alternate PDF version: https://saltbushclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/shellenberger-apology.pdf [303 kB]