State-owned miner slated over contest

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An "irresponsible" essay competition run by state-owned coalminer Solid Energy is trying to convince high school pupils that coal is good, a Christchurch teacher says.

The pupil who writes the best essay on the role of coal in sustainable energy solutions for New Zealand will win a week-long trip to China for the World Expo. Solid Energy is a sponsor of New Zealand's pavilion at the expo.

The contest is open to year 11, 12 and 13 pupils in the key coalmining areas of the West Coast, Southland and Waikato, as well as Canterbury, the home of Solid Energy's renewables subsidiary, Biodiesel New Zealand.

Aranui High School geography teacher Chris Henderson said the competition was trying to "catch" pupils before they were fully educated on sustainability.

"They're trying to convince kids that coal is a good thing and coal is an option," he said. "It's an indirect marketing strategy, not just at kids but their families as well."

Henderson said coal's extraction and consumption could be viewed only as environmentally invasive.

"I find Solid Energy's invitation to students to contribute an essay on coal's role in sustainable energy solutions irresponsible and misleading," he said.

Solid Energy communications director Vicki Blyth said it was "very sad" that opponents were trying to stop the debate on the "issues that face the planet", and the winner would not necessarily agree with the company's view.

The competition's conditions stipulate Solid Energy may "reasonably request" the winner to make presentations to other schools and organisations while in China.

WWF New Zealand climate change programme manager Peter Hardstaff said it was a "real concern" for such a competition to be run in schools.

"It seems like a bit of a public relations blunder," he said. "It's pretty questionable at the very least."

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said coal could never be used sustainably and the competition was part of a global propaganda exercise by the coal industry.

"Like any mineral, it's a finite resource and ... in terms of the capacity for the atmosphere to absorb greenhouse gases, coal is one of the key drivers to cooking the planet," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News