Zero Waste Australia

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Australia should use more of its locally produced natural gas in power generation to help reduce carbon emissions harmful to the environment, said Colin Barnett, premier of Western Australia.

Building a pipeline across Australia to take gas from fields in the northwest to the most-populous southeastern states would help cut emissions blamed for global warming, Barnett said today at a conference in Perth. Such a move would be ``easier'' than introducing a carbon tax, or trading system, which are also part of any comprehensive plan to tackle emissions, he said.

Australia's federal government plans to introduce a carbon trading system in 2010 as part of a plan to tackle climate change. The plan has met opposition from Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Chevron Corp. and other liquefied natural gas producers concerned the additional costs will stymie new projects. Australia gets more than 80 percent of its electricity supplies from coal.

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