Greens would shut a coal industry worth $60bn in export revenues Greens senator Bob Brown talking about coal Source: The Daily Telegraph THE stated aim of Greens leader Bob Brown to replace the coal industry with renewable energy would, if it could somehow be achieved, wipe out an industry that directly and indirectly employs about 140,000 people and is to contribute $60 billion to Australia's export revenue next year. Black coal is the nation's biggest export earner and Australia is the world's biggest exporter of the fuel and steelmaking material, which mostly ends up in Asian power stations and steel mills. Speaking to ABC TV's Insiders on Sunday, Mr Brown said the aim of an Australian carbon tax should be to shut down the local industry. That (mine closure) has to be the outcome. You know the coal industry has to be replaced by renewables," Mr Brown said. In the interview, Mr Brown, whose party assumes the balance of power in the Senate on Friday, made it clear he wanted whatever scheme comes into play to hit the big exporters, like Australia's biggest coal producer, Xstrata. So his aims stretch to more than just the closure of the coal-fired power stations in Australia and the mines that supply them. Last year, Australia produced a total of 425 million tonnes of both black and brown coal from mines in all states, except the Northern Territory. Sixty-five per cent, or 275 million tonnes, of this was exported. Brown coal, the high-polluting, low-cost coal used in Victoria's power stations, made up 71 million tonnes, or 17 per cent of the total. The low-quality brown coal, which is likely to be the first power source phased out in Australia if carbon prices rise, is not exported. Even putting aside the massive economic task of replacing Australian coal-fired power with renewables, and the effect this would have on power bills with current technology, it is not clear how renewables could replace the nation's exports or their revenue. Of the 275 million tonnes of exports, about half was coking coal, which is added to iron ore in the blast furnaces of steel mills to produce steel. The carbon emissions are high -- which is why local steelmakers BlueScope and OneSteel face big hits from a carbon price -- but there is not a good alternative. Yesterday, opposition resource spokesman Ian Macfarlane pointed out the gassiest mines (which were targeted under Kevin Rudd's planned emissions trading scheme) were coking coal mines: "There is no alternative to using metallurgical coal and you certainly can't use a solar cell inside a blast furnace to produce steel," Mr Macfarlane said in answer to Mr Brown's comments. One of the big issues miners have in the carbon tax debate is that methane emissions from mines could be taxed. The Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences forecasts black coal exports worth $46bn this financial year, which would be 25 per cent of the nation's total mineral and energy exports. This figure is expected to rise to $60bn in 2011-12 as prices and production volumes rise on the back of increased demand and coal infrastructure capacity. Of the $60bn, 70 per cent, or $42bn, will be from coking coal for steel mills, which is better quality and can fetch twice the price of thermal coal. Coking coal is mainly produced in the Bowen Basin of Queensland, though BHP operates some mines in the Illawarra region of NSW. Most of the nation's black thermal coal comes from the Hunter Valley in NSW and is exported through Newcastle, the world's biggest coal port. About 54 per cent of all of Australia's power stations are fired by black coal, and another 22 per cent, all in Victoria, by the dirtier brown coal. This leaves more than three-quarters of the nation's power stations to be replaced if Australia is to get rid of coal-fired power. Industry estimates being put to government in the current debate on a carbon price say it will cost at least $30bn to replace coal-fired power generation in Australia with gas-fired power. But this would not be the only cost, because production of gas-fired power is more expensive than coal-fired and this would flow through to power bills of companies and individuals. The cost to move completely to renewables has been estimated at $150bn. But even if these funds were available and enough subsidies put in place to make operating them viable, there is also the problem of finding enough space in suitable locations for all the wind turbines and solar panels that would be needed. The Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata is our biggest producer, selling about 70 million tonnes of Australian coal a year -- 62 million as exports. Xstrata is followed by BHP Billiton, which produces about 60 million tonnes, but makes much more money because of its high proportion of coking coal production. Rio Tinto comes in third, with about 43 million tonnes when production from its listed subsidiary Coal & Allied is included. Coalminers pay their workers an average of $100,000 a year compared to average national wages of about $67,000.