Antinuclear

Martin Ferguson undermining climate change policy

Ministers accused of blocking energy greening
Sydney Morning Herald Marian Wilkinson, Environment Editor July 27, 2009

THE state and federal energy ministers, led by Labor’s Martin Ferguson, are being accused of undermining the Rudd Government’s climate change policies in light of a report which finds the national electricity market they oversee is discouraging energy efficiency and new renewable energy.

“Energy ministers are rewarding polluting energy and blocking efficiency and clean alternatives”, said Jane Castle of the NSW Total Environment Centre which commissioned one of the leading energy consultancy firms, McLennan Magasanik Associates, to report on the role of the National Electricity Market in climate change……………………

The report comes after Mr Ferguson launched an attack on environmentalists for failing to support the expansion of Australia’s liquid natural gas projects and uranium mining, saying they did not understand, “where our electricity comes from, who pays for it and what the future of the global energy landscape looks like”.

But Ms Castle accused Mr Ferguson of thwarting the Rudd government’s climate change policies. “He heads the Ministerial Council on Energy which is actively obstructing the development of energy solutions which would bolster the economy, create jobs and protect us from rising carbon costs,” she said. “His overblown statements are intended to simply disguise his defence of Australia’s biggest polluters.”

The consultants’ findings were backed by one of Australia’s leading renewable energy companies, Pacific Hydro. Its spokesman, Andrew Richards, said the energy ministers needed to intervene to get the National Electricity Market to “transition from the old way of doing things”. As a first principle, he said, the electricity market needed to include a commitment to climate change policies.

Martin Ferguson’s climate change policy | Marian Wilkinson | Environment and ALP

July 27, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics, uranium | antinuclear, climate change - global warming, nuclear, radioactive, uranium