REneweconomy By Jonathan Gifford on 25 January 2017 Peak renewables bodies are looking to mount a campaign to highlight the troubling implications of ERM Energy’s decision to pay shortfall penalties rather than purchase and surrender the certificates for which it is liable under the Renewable Energy Target (RET).
While ERM maintains it is meeting its formal obligations, critics counter that it is acting against the spirit and intent of the legislation and fear that other electricity retailers may follow suit.
ERM’s decision, announced on Tuesday, to pay a $123 million penalty rather than surrender its required number of large scale renewable (LGC) certificates is looming as a major challenge to the Renewable Energy Target and enabling legislation.
ERM predicts that RET compliance levels from electricity retailers may fall from the current and previous levels of 99%, to something like 80% this year, indicating that other retailers are looking to follow suit and pay penalties rather than acquire LGCs.
In short, it is looking increasingly apparent that due to unintended consequences of RET legislation, money meant to go towards renewable energy projects will instead go directly into government coffers, in the form of penalty payments.
“This is a litmus test, it’s a setup,” says the Australian Solar Council’s John Grimes. “I talked in detail at the time of the efforts of the Abbott Government to abolish to the RET that this issue was the ‘Cuckoo egg’ in the nest and the trigger for the government to re-litigate and abolish the RET entirely.”
Grimes says that as a likely shortage of large scale renewable projects and then LGCs – the result of the Abbott government’s “disruption” of the RET and sector – has directly lead to the decision by ERM and others to make penalty payments.
“The [federal] government can then say that this is an expensive scheme, that it costs money but doesn’t deliver renewable energy,” says Grimes.
The ASC says that it plans to “shine a spotlight on the commercial entities looking to skirt their obligations under the RET legislation.”
Grimes notes that as ERM serves commercial customers, it does not have a large residential customer base that could potentially make a switch of retailer on the basis of this week’s decision. The company is the fourth biggest retailer and the second biggest provider of electricity to the business sector.
The ASC has named the ANZ Bank as a major ERM Energy client and is looking to build a larger list of customers on which to put pressure.
The Clean Energy Council also notes that big customers of ERM Power include the New South Wales and Queensland Governments.
“These governments and other customers should be asking why ERM has made a decision not to meet their obligations or support renewable energy projects which will deliver major economic benefits to regional parts of Queensland and New South Wales,” said the CEC’s Kane Thornton, in a statement.
Clean Energy Regulator chairwoman Chloe Munro said it viewed the “intentional failure” to surrender certificates “as a failure to comply with the spirit of the law and an undermining of the objectives of the scheme.” She said the money would be better spent as an investment in a growing industry rather than a financial penalty that has no return.
We believe many customers would be disappointed to know that this money has not been used for the intended purpose,” she said…….http://reneweconomy.com.au/renewable-energy-groups-mobilise-as-erms-ret-shortfall-looms-as-major-test-51422/
January 26, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy |
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National Radioactive Waste Management Facility project 20 January 17 Community members are often concerned how a radioactive waste management facility will affect the reputation of their town.
In the week starting February 6 the project team will host a delegation from the Champagne region in France which hosts a low to intermediate-level radioactive waste management facility.
The delegation will include representatives from the French national radioactive waste management agency ANDRA. The international visitors can talk about the interaction of its facility in Champagne with the tourism and agricultural industries in their local areas.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and Geoscience Australia (GA) will visit Hawker and Quorn in the week starting February 6.
ENuFF[SA] https://www.facebook.com/sanuclearfree/
January 26, 2017
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AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump, South Australia |
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When it comes to supporting renewables, blue and red make green.
Among a dwindling number of politicians at the national level, there’s a pretend debate going on. Using all the scare tactics and rhetorical tricks they can muster, some apologists for the fossil fuel status quo would have you believe that we, as a nation, are divided about whether or not to move forward aggressively with clean, renewable energy like wind and solar.
But the simple truth is that there is no debate: The national verdict on renewables is already in. However they may have voted in the presidential election, Americans—of all political stripes, in red states and blue ones—are overwhelmingly voting yes on clean energy. Whether it’s because it’s good for the economy, the environment, consumers, or all three, citizens and their elected officials at the state level are throwing their full support behind the next energy revolution.
For evidence of clean energy’s bipartisan and cross-cultural appeal, one need look no further than the American heartland—the same part of the country that gave Donald Trump his victory—where governors, legislatures, and voters have come to see investment in renewables as something to be embraced wholeheartedly and unequivocally. Continue reading →
January 26, 2017
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How would you feel if your suburb was being used as a nuclear waste dump? MamaMia, 26 Jan 17 RACHEL WAGNER
There are so many stories of this country that we don’t often hear.
Incredible stories of the earth, and the power of its people.
Sun drenched plains stretching to the horizon. Rich red earth, hot against the cool blue sky. Dreamtime stories indelibly etched in every tree, every rock and every grain of sand.
This is our home, thought the Warlmanpa and Warumungu people.
What a perfect place for a nuclear waste dump, thought the Australian government.
When the Government first proposed Northern Territory’s Muckaty Station, near Tennant Creek, as the site of Australia’s first nuclear waste site, Kylie Sambo was just a school girl confused by a story on the radio.
She had no idea what it meant when her uncle told her it was her time “to be in front, fighting this problem.”
“Just remember,” he told her, “You may think you own the land. But the land owns you.”
Now, after eight years of fighting, the Indigenous activist can say she played an integral role in saving her family’s sacred homeland.
It’s the most amazing Australian story, this week on the Fighting For Fair podcast. It was the death of Kylie’s uncle that was the catalyst for her to take on the Government in a legal challenge to protect the land.
“I heard him through the winds. Through the birds. Through the trees – the branches as they rub against each other,” she said.
“Then I got the idea of making two things that I loved in my life work. My land, and my music. I combined them together and I created something great, something extraordinary, something that is true to me and something that will always be with me.”
A 16-year-old Kylie crafted a song that spoke of the injustice against her people.
Don’t waste the territory, this land means a lot to me / Been living here for centuries, this place we call Muckaty / Let’s get together and fight / Planting your poison in our land, just to get some cash in the hand / You’re drilling a hole right through my soul.
Historically, music and politics are intrinsically linked……..
On behalf of the traditional owners of the land, leading social justice law firm Maurice Blackburn took the case to the Federal Court where Kylie used her voice to fight the dump.
Alongside countless friends, family and supporters of the cause, the young rapper was able to stand up in court as a witness, bringing home a victory for the Warlmanpa and Warumungu people, and saving Muckaty from becoming a dumping ground for nuclear waste.
But as Kylie knows all too well, the fight is not over.
The government is still searching for a new site, with other areas of sacred land in contention and traditional landowners at the helm of the protest.
“As how far my culture goes, I will protect it and I will protect my land. So that’s what it took for us to win this case but there’s still more to come,” Kylie said.
“We don’t own the land. The land owns us.” http://www.mamamia.com.au/native-title-federal-court-case/
January 26, 2017
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aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, Federal nuclear waste dump |
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Paul Waldon Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SA 26 Jan 17 With Becquerel Awareness Day (Bad Day) approaching there is a call for people to reach out to their local politician, bring to their attention the dangers of a radioactive environment and food.
We maybe blessed here in Australia with clean and green food but there is contamination coming here from places like Japan, food too radioactive for the Japanese to eat, is sold to 14 different countries, Australia is one of them. Everyone that has a passion and a understanding of how important this issue is to this generation and future generations, PLEASE reach out and have a say to your local politician. I say it’s unacceptable to put contaminated food on the table for my children and grandchildren. I may have the strength to fight this alone but not the power to win, so I asking for a army to reach out to your local MP’s. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
January 26, 2017
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Governor Cuomo Announces Approval of Largest Offshore Wind Project in the Nation BY LONG ISLAND NEWS & PR JANUARY 26 2017 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced the Board of Trustees of LIPA voted to approve the nation’s largest offshore wind farm, and the first offshore wind farm in New York.
Long Island, NY – January 25, 2017 – Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the Board of Trustees of the
Long Island Power Authority voted to approve the nation’s largest offshore wind farm, and the first offshore wind farm in New York.
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January 26, 2017
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Journalists around the country are joining a Slack channel devoted to FOIA and Trump http://www.poynter.org/2017/journalists-around-the-country-are-joining-a-slack-channel-devoted-to-foia-and-trump/446640/ By Kristen Hare • January 25, 2017 A few days before President Trump’s inauguration, MuckRock opened up a Slack channel to help journalists better cover him and his administration.
As of Wednesday, 250 people signed up. Most are journalists, about half from national newsrooms and half from local newsrooms around the country. Update: As of Thursday, 1,500 people have signed up. Continue reading →
January 26, 2017
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Sea Level Rise Estimate Grows Alarmingly Higher in Latest Federal Report https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012017/sea-level-rise-global-warming-federal-report-donald-trump
NOAA’s latest report arrives, predicting worst-case scenario of 8 feet of rise by century’s end, just as Donald Trump takes office with pro-fossil fuel policies. New federal estimates say global sea levels could rise faster than previously thought, and the rise may be even worse in many coastal regions of the United States. Continue reading →
January 26, 2017
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Profit Margins : Once again, without positive earnings, it’s tough to calculate a meaningful profit margin for Uranium Resources. We have to ding it here again.
Return on Equity : The nuclear power stock falls short in terms of return on equity. Its early-stage investors have lost 54.65% in the last year. The equity situation isn’t great for other energy stocks, but it’s not this bad.
Is Uranium Resources a Nuclear Power Play?, I nvestment U by Samuel Taube, Investment U Research Team Wednesday, January 25, 2017 Nuclear power has seen better days. In recent decades, pressure from environmentalist groups, the high cost compared to fossil fuels and the perceived risk to public safety has beaten the industry down.
January 26, 2017
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Scottish cold war nuclear submarine collision kept secret for 43 years
Documents published by CIA reveal crash between US and Soviet subs a few miles off coast of Scotland in 1974, Guardian, Matthew Weaver, 26 Jan 17, Two nuclear submarines from rival sides in the cold war collided a few miles off the coast of Scotland in an incident that was covered up for 43 years.
The potentially catastrophic crash occurred in November 1974 when the SSBN James Madison, armed with 16 Poseidon nuclear missiles, was heading out of the US naval base at Holy Loch, 30 miles north-west of Glasgow.
Soon after leaving the port it hit an unidentified Soviet submarine that had been sent to tail it, according to a cable to then US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, marked “secret eyes only” [pdf].
The cable, sent by national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, said: “Have just received word from the Pentagon that one of our Poseidon submarines has just collided with a Soviet submarine.
“The SSBN James Madison was departing Holy Loch to take up station when it collided with a Soviet submarine waiting outside the port to take up trail.
“Both submarines surfaced and the Soviet boat subsequently submerged again. There is no report yet of the extent of damage. Will keep you posted.”
The cable was published by the CIA on 17 January as part of a mass release of more than 12m pages of previously classified reports in 930,000 documents.
The cable corroborates an until-now unconfirmed report on the incident in the Washington Post on 1 January 1975 by the investigative journalist Jack Anderson. He reported that the collision left a 9ft scratch on the side of the James Madison and that the two submarines came within inches of sinking one another.
Another document marked “top secret” [pdf]released in the same batch expressed alarm that the news of the collision had leaked.
It said: “On 3 January, the NID [National Intelligence Daily] ran an item on the collision just off Holy Loch of US Polaris submarine and a Soviet attack submarine. Unfortunately, Jack Anderson had run the same news in the Washington Post a day or two earlier.
“This pre-emption on Anderson’s part forced the surfacing (no pun intended) of a piece of information in a current intelligence 2 months after the event occurred. …..
Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said the secret cable exposed the “enormous risks” of nuclear weapons.
“The history of nuclear weapons is a history of near misses, accidents, potential catastrophes and cover-ups. This latest example joins 25 other near misses that could have led to nuclear war.”
CND is calling for an inquiry into Trident, the successor to the Poseidon programme, after it emerged that a malfunctioning missile with the potential to carry a nuclear warhead was forced to self-destruct in mid-air off the US coast last June.
Hudson added: “These enormous risks have to be acknowledged particularly when we also now face the increasing likelihood of cyber-attack on nuclear weapons systems. With advancing technological developments added to the already dangerous mix there can be no confidence that nuclear weapons are a credible part of British security in the 21st century……… https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/25/nuclear-submarine-collision-cold-war-cia-scotland
January 26, 2017
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Doomsday Clock ticks closer to apocalypse and 1 person is to blame Mary Bowerman , USA TODAY Network Jan. 26, Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight on Thursday amid increasing worries over nuclear weapons and climate change.
Each year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer or further from destruction. The symbolic clock is now two-and-a-half minutes from midnight, the closest it’s been to midnight since 1953, when the hydrogen bomb was first tested. Scientists blamed a cocktail of threats ranging from dangerous political rhetoric to the potential of nuclear threat as the catalyst for moving the clock closer towards doomsday.
“This year’s Clock deliberations felt more urgent than usual…as trusted sources of information came under attack, fake news was on the rise, and words were used by a President-elect of the United States in cavalier and often reckless ways to address the twin threats of nuclear weapons and climate change,” Rachel Bronson, the executive director and publisher of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said in a statement.
While many threats played into the decision to move the clock 30 seconds forward from where it was in 2016, one person in particular prompted the scientists to act.
“Never before has the Bulletin decided to advance the clock largely because of the statements of a single person. But when that person is the new president of the United States, his words matter,” David Titley and Lawrence M. Krauss of the Bulletin wrote in an New York Times op-ed.
The Bulletin pointed to President Donald Trump’s careless rhetoric on nuclear weapons and other issues as well as his troubling stance on climate change. “Current political situation in the U.S. is of particular concern,” Titley of the Bulletin Science and Security Board said. “The Trump administration needs to state clearly, unequivocally it accepts climate change caused by human activity…There are no alternative facts here.”
Last year, the clock remained at three minutes from midnight. It was moved to three minutes in 2015 where it was previously at five minutes to midnight.
Manhattan Project scientists, concerned about the first atomic weapons, founded the nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1945. They created the clock two years later, and update its minute hand each year……..http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/26/doomsday-clock-end-world-nuclear-weapons-climate-change-donald-trump/97077736/
January 26, 2017
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Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
A member of the media, wearing a protective suit and a mask, looks at the No. 3 reactor building at Tokyo Electric Power Co’s (TEPCO) tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan February 10, 2016.
A plan to remove spent nuclear fuel from Tokyo Electric Power Co Holdings Inc’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant hit by the March 2011 tsunami has been postponed again due to delays in preparation, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.
Work is now set to begin in fiscal 2018 at the earliest, the Nikkei said.
Removal of the spent fuel from the No. 3 reactor was originally scheduled in the first half of fiscal 2015, and later revised to fiscal 2017 due to high levels of radioactivity around the facilities, the Japanese business daily reported.
The timeline has been changed again as it was taking longer than expected to…
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January 26, 2017
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Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
I am sharing here with you a sample of Japanese Government propaganda, a video about Fukushima, claiming that everything is now fine.
By watching this propaganda video, you can imagine, you will get an idea of the intensity of propaganda that the Japanese government is subjecting its people with, thru all the government controlled mainstream media, claiming that all is very safely and controlled for everyone’s safety by a safety conscious government absolutely caring for its people safety. Nice, isn’t it?
Propaganda from PM Abe’s government forcefully pushing innocent victims back to live in highly contaminated areas, trying to make believe all is ok just in time for the coming 2020 Olympics. Like when they previously sent children to clean off radiation off route 6 just for propaganda’s sake !
Amazing, Chernobyl is still horribly contaminated after over 30 years, but Fukushima radiation is the new self cleaning kind that just…
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January 26, 2017
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Fukushima 311 Watchdogs
A residential area of namie-Cho, Namie-Cho, radiation measured 1.3μSv/h at 1 meter above ground and 16μSv/h at ground level
As Japan is trying desperately to use any tactics and resources such as “the cult like” ETHOS to incite refugees to return to their radioactive land, just in time to display the reconstruction of Fukushima to dumb tourists who will visit the prefecture during the next Tokyo Olympics, the reality of things with a Geiger counter and willing citizens paints a total different picture.
This is in Namie cho, a residential district in Fukushima.
What tourist won’t see while traveling Fukushima:
– Tons of highly radioactive waste buried hastily under the grounds of school grounds or abandonned at random on forests or radioactive ash poured into rivers.
– Tons of radioactive waste being burned across incinerators in Japan, spraying dangerous isotopes all over – continuously for the past 4 years.
–…
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January 26, 2017
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jpratt27
Changing climate has stalled Australian wheat yields: study
Australia’s wheat yields more than trebled during the first 90 years of the 20th century but have stalled since 1990. In research published today in Global Change Biology, we show that rising temperatures and reduced rainfall, in line with global climate change, are responsible for the shortfall.
This is a major concern for wheat farmers, the Australian economy and global food security as the climate continues to change. The wheat industry is typically worth more than A$5 billion per year – Australia’s most valuable crop. Globally, food production needs to increase by at least 60% by 2050, and Australia is one of the world’s biggest wheat exporters.
There is some good news, though. So far, despite poorer conditions for growing wheat, farmers have managed to improve farming practices and at least stabilise yields. The question is how long they can continue to…
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January 26, 2017
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Antinuclear 