Mining Firms Meet on Australia Carbon Plan amid Voter Backlash

Australia’s government said a group of mining companies includini want to buy a rock crusherg BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) and Rio Tinto Group will meet today to suggest changes to Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s plan to introduce carbon trading. The discussions come amid industry and voter opposition to the proposal to begin an emissions trading system next July.

Support for the ruling Labor party fell to a 15-year low in a Nielsen opinion survey published in the Age newspaper yesterday, which showed 59 percent of voters oppose carbon trading. Under the system, companies would be charged a fixed cost per ton of carbon for the first three to five years before trading begins. The government, which is yet to announce the starting price, has said more than 50 percent of the carbon revenue would be used to assist households, with the rest to help companies adjust and to fund clean energy projects...