Second smelter
Sir, — You state that there is no evidence to show that the building of a new smelter would raise the price of power. Even Mr Birch, when addressing a public meeting in Dunedin on October 7, 1980, admitted that tire cost of generating the additional power required to meet the extra consumption of a second smelter was between 2.5 c to 3c a unit and the price to the smelter will be 1.7 c to I.Bc a unit. . Therefore, it is obvious that we are subsidising the cost of power to the smelter. Mr Birch’s argument is that other economic benefits to the country will cover this subsidy. But the independent studies of the smelter by Professor van Moeseke and Murray Ellis both conclude that the smelter does not give a worthwhile rate of return. While there are such serious doubts, let us abandon ener-gy-intensive projects like the smelter and make better use of our limited resources. — Yours, etc., V. H. NELSON. February 25, 1981.
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Press, 27 February 1981, Page 12
Word Count
167Second smelter Press, 27 February 1981, Page 12
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