Rio Tinto's threat of closing the Bluff aluminum smelter is an attempt to shift the cost of the plant's greenhouse emissions to the taxpayer, Minister Responsible for Climate Change David Parker said in Oamaru last night.
That threat had to be taken with a grain of salt, he told about 80 people at a climate change seminar sponsored by Meridian Energy Ltd.
Rio Tinto warned at a select committee hearing that if the Government went ahead with its emissions trading scheme, part of the move to reduce New Zealand's greenhouse gases and make emitters pay, in its present form it would move to shut down the Bluff aluminium smelter, which would be a major blow for Invercargill and Southland.
He had checked Parliamentary library records and found the smelter's owner had threatened that "three or four times in the last decade".
"Every time they are negotiating something that will cost them, they threaten to pull out."
The Government had taken care with the effects of the emission trading scheme on Rio Tinto, by giving it free emission trading credits equivalent to 90% of its 2005 emissions.
The company was being asked to pay for the other 10%.
"What they are doing is trying to maximise the cost to the taxpayers and reduce their own bill," he said.
Mr Parker defended Government action on climate change and the emissions trading scheme.
He was confident the legislation to introduce the scheme would be passed by Parliament.
"The reality is the trading scheme is simple - it puts costs on increasing emissions and rewards decreases," he said.
