Clarence Valley Council Urged to Act on Carbon Tax

The federal member for Page says she doubts that Clarence Valley Council will end up paying any carbon tax on its land-fill emissions.
The council could face a bill of more than half a million dollars, unless it can get carbon dioxide emissions below 25 thousand tonnes a year.
The decision was announced this week after an assessment by the Clean Energy Regulator.
But Janelle Saffin says the council has time to address the situation.
“The carbon price only applies to waste deposited after 1st of July,” she said.
“That means there’s time for Clarence Valley to put in further emissions reduction measures and potentially get under the threshold, and that’s what they’re working towards.
“Only this week they instituted a new waste-collection system.
“In Tweed Shire they’ve reduced their landfill emissions, and we’ve got the bio-char project happening at Ballina.
“So I don’t see why that can’t happen here,” Ms Saffin said.
Meanwhile, the Clarence Valley Mayor says the council can’t afford to pay a carbon tax.
Richie Williamson says measures are in place to limit landfill, including a new bin system, and a long-term plan to burn off gas is also being explored.
He says the council is not in a position to absorb any carbon costs.
“Unfortunately we will have to pass on the costs of that exposure, whatever they may be,” Cr Williamson said.
“We have not budgeted for this in this financial year, so we would hope that the government would be willing to work with councils on this issue to ensure that our exposure is both limited and certainly not this financial year,” he said.
Source: ABC News

2 August 12

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