Caterpillar Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, said the proposed 40 percent tax on profits of Australian mining operations, the company’s sales in the country hurt. “Together with our dealers and customers in the region, we are concerned about the potential impact of the proposed change in tax policy will have on the production of mining equipment and our sales in Australia,” Caterpillar spokeswoman Kate Kenny said. (more…)
The Secretary of State for Western and Northern Australia, Gary Gray, said on Monday the state business lobby group has been hypocritical in its opposition to the proposed super-profits. Western Australia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) opposes the tax, but also has released a report predicting the state will need 500,000 more workers over the next 10 years mining sector growth process. Gray said that the Board is contradictory and needs to clarify its position. (more…)
Relying on the word “partnership to protect our common environment,” Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana and British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell signed an agreement prohibiting the production and coal and gas in the transboundary Flathead River drainage.
Schweitzer and Campbell met on Thursday in Vancouver, British Columbia, to complete the pact for the protection of the land to the north of Glacier National Park.
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