Greens want to put you in jail for seven years for burning coal after 2030, by Greg Brown.

The Greens want to criminalise the exporting and burning of ­thermal coal by the end of next decade, with up to seven years’ jail for executives of companies that break the proposed law.

Greens environment spokesman Adam Bandt will declare today that “coal kills” as he outlines an escalation of the party’s hostility to a mineral that makes up about 60 per cent of Australia’s baseload power generation.

Under the policy the Greens will take to the election, thermal coal exports would be phased out by 2030, as well as local coal-fired power production. There would be criminal liabilities for people who breached the laws, including jail time. There would still be a “short-term” role for coking coal, which is used to make steel. …

Stone-age reasoning:

Mr Bandt will use the death of more than 50 people in Californian fires this week to illustrate thermal coal’s deadliness.

“The reality is every tonne of coal that is burnt makes the bushfire threat worse … literally, coal kills,” he will say.

It’s ironic. Wildfires in California and bushfires in Australia are more intense because of changed forestry practices brought about by the Greens. Leaving the forests alone, especially eucalyptus forests, results in a huge build up of undergrowth and litter that makes the inevitable fire much worse.

Dumb Green “forest preservation” policies are the killer. But the grown-ups aren’t calling for Greens to be made illegal after 2030.

hat-tip Joanne