Last week Rod was literally “at large”, appearing at Planning and Assessment Commission (PAC) hearings in parts of NSW where most economists fear to tread – Dunedoo and Boggabri.

The PAC hearing at Dunedoo was about the Cobbora coal project, on which we made a submission in November.  This state owned coal project proposes to transfer around $3b from the people of NSW to favoured coal-fired electricity generators.  In the words of the project’s economic assessment by Gillespie Economics:

The extent to which lower cost coal provided to electricity generators is passed through to electricity consumers in the form of lower cost electricity will depend on the level of competition faced by electricity generators.

Rod outside the PAC hearing in the Dunedoo Jubilee Memorial Hall

Rod told the PAC panel that providing three generators with subsidised coal is hardly the best way to promote competition in the National Electricity Market  or to improve the welfare of the NSW public. Other regular criticisms also came up, such as exaggerated employment figures from input-output models, assumptions of perfect ecological offsets, no social costs, treatment of greenhouse emissions and the inclusion of widely-criticised “social value of employment”.

Rod at the Tarrawonga PAC

Further north in Boggabri, Rod appeared at the Tarrawonga Coal Project PAC.  He pointed out that the project’s economic assessment gave decision makers little indication of where benefits from the project would actually end up, exaggerated employment figures through input-output modeling, made no consideration of alternative projects such as locally-favoured underground mining, externalities and greenhouse emissions.  These points had largely been covered in our written submission in February this year, which was not addressed at all in the proponents response to submissions.

Rod also managed to have a bit of fun – see photos below.  Thanks to everyone who helped with the trip, especially Bev Smiles from the Mudgee District Environment Group, Phil Laird from Maules Creek Community Council, Jane and Milton Judd from Friends of the Pillaga and James Tremain from the Nature Conservation Council of NSW.