How bad are the Alcoa aluminium smelters?
Alcoa uses 28% of the state’s electricity. We should not renew the contract that subsidises Alcoa and gives their smelters electricity priced at 1.4 cents per kw/h. These contracts are expiring in 2014 and 2016. If Alcoa wants to keep their aluminium smelters, Alcoa must be responsible for the 1,500 turbines to power them. What about the protests against wind power? Sure there is some resistance to wind power, but much of it needs to be put in context. Ted Baillieu, Liberal Party Planning spokesman, has had the most air time in the media, he has 46,000 Rio Tinto shares valued at $1.6 million, Rio Tinto owns and operates coal power stations, and is the main advocate of clean coal technology, which is unproven, and is lobbying for research subsidies to research pumping CO2 underground. Bird strikes are often cited in arguments against windpower. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the world’s biggest bird group, sells wind power to its members as a fundraiser. They do this bec
