Lifestyle | A better economy | Saving water
Coal and the Economy
The Coal Lobby is quick to point out that mining and it's related business bring lots of money into the local, state and national economies. But when you really look at it, you can see that that's not neccesarily the case:- CEOs, bosses and those high up in the corporate heirarchy get the most money, and come from the local community even less frequently than the miners themselves [see: jobs]. So the money really filters away from the local area, and into the cities, or even overseas.
- All the large coal companies, and a lot of the smaller ones are majority-owned overseas. This means that the money the companies quote as profit isn't actually staying in Australia, let alone the local area.
- All mining has detrimental effects on the local environment, and this filters down to other businesses. For example, the coal mines in the Hunter Valley destroy smaller businesses such as horse studs and vineyards.
- Ironically, these businesses sometimes employ more workers than the mines themselves, and are also more economically sustainable: While they may not make the same amount of profit per year, they can theoretically continue forever. Mines act more like a plague of locusts - coming into an area, pillaging for 20 years, then moving on - leaving a trail of destruction in their wake.
