FIFTY companies were responsible for half of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions and would pay the bulk of the carbon tax revenue, the Climate Change Minister, Greg Combet, said yesterday.

In a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra, Mr Combet said about 1000 companies would pay the tax on carbon but only a small number would be the main contributors.

”The latest … data shows that the 50 largest polluters account for over 50 per cent of Australia’s carbon pollution,” he said. ”When you include sectors that will not be covered by the carbon price, the 50 largest polluters will be responsible for around two-thirds of carbon liabilities.”

The climate change department’s website says the top five emitters are Macquarie Generation, Delta Electricity, Great Energy Alliance, International Power and CS Energy. Next are TRUenergy, Eraring Energy, BlueScope Steel, Loy Yang and OzGen. Other companies in the top 50 include Woodside, Rio Tinto, BHP, Qantas, and Xstrata. (Read on …)

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras says it will beef up its New Zealand operations and remains on track to spend more than $150 million on exploration off East Cape in spite of protests.

It says it will resume its seismic survey when it is safe to do so. Police yesterday warned Greenpeace protesters to keep away.

Petrobras’ New Zealand project head, Marco Toledo, said that while there were “many things that can happen” it was too soon to consider pulling out and the company wanted to complete work that would lead to a decision to drill or drop the permit in three years’ time.

By sales, Petrobras is the third-biggest oil company in the world with sales of close to $150 billion a year. (Read on …)

Community concern about the dangers of petroleum exploration in New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone is justified. Exploration activities taking place there are not subject to adequate environmental regulation.

Exploratory drilling in the Raukumara Basin off East Cape will be in much deeper water than the Gulf of Mexico. That disaster cost the United States economy billions of dollars. New Zealand needs to learn that expensive lesson and make sure a spill doesn’t happen here. (Read on …)