ClimateWorks urges Australia to go further and quicker on vehicle emissions standards, because the cost savings and health benefits to consumers will be even greater, while AGL says EVs can help transition to a decarbonised grid.
Conergy to focus on Australian solar after buyout led by Goldman Sachs
Conergy says acquisition by US-based funds including Goldman Sachs will strengthen its big solar and battery storage development in Australia and Asia-Pacific.
No small beer: Foster’s, VB to go 100% renewable by 2025
Some of Australia’s most iconic beers are set to be brewed using solar and wind after Foster’s Group and CUB parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev pledged to shift its 6 terrawatt-hours of annual energy consumption to 100 per cent renewables by 2025.
S.A. could dump gas plans if batteries, demand response deliver
South Australia has given itself the option to cancel installation of permanent government-owned gas generators. The huge response to ARENA’s demand response EOI, and new storage projects, make it hard to see why new plant is needed once next two summers negotiated.
A new legal opinion on climate change and trustee directors’ duties has wide-reaching ramifications for Australia’s $2.3 trillion superannuation industry, Environmental Justice Australia said today.
Australia records hottest July, Bureau of Meteorology says ABC News, 2 Aug 17 By Kristian Silva, Lucy Marks and staff Australia has had its warmest July on record, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) has said. A BOM report released today shows the country’s average July temperature was at its highest in more than 100 years of weather recording.
BOM forecaster David Crock said the warmest parts had been through Queensland, the Northern Territory, northern Western Australia and New South Wales. Mackay, in central Queensland, had its hottest July day on record at 28.9C on July 19, beating the previous record set only the year before.
“The month has been dominated — at least in eastern Australia — by a ridge of high pressure which has seen very clear skies and a warm air mass sit over the country for days and weeks at a time,” he said.”The inland areas have certainly been warmer away from the cooling influence of the ocean … but certainly some of the temperature anomalies extend right across northern Australia.
“Queensland had its warmest July on record for both maximum and minimum temperatures across the whole state — parts of Queensland have been very dry.” Mr Crock said temperatures had remained warm because the high-pressure system prevented cold fronts moving north from Victoria and NSW.
BOM meteorologist Greg Browning said it was “basically this background warming signal that we’re seeing right across the globe associated with global warming”.
“It seems like the warming conditions we’ve seen right across the globe are just becoming commonplace, and we’re seeing them in monthly temperatures on a regular basis.”
In the Northern Territory, the mean maximum temperature was 3 degrees Celsius above average — the mercury was the highest it had been in July since records began more than 100 years ago. Those in Darwin also sweltered through the nights with only six overnight lows under 20C, while the average for July is 18.5 nights below 20C.
New South Wales recorded the second month in a row of rainfall in the lowest 10 per cent of years since records began in 1910. The hottest July days ever recorded were in Brewarrina, Sydney, Bathurst, Dubbo and Scone.
BOM senior climatologist Blair Trewin said quite a few sites were also showing up as the highest average daytime temperature for July. “It is likely that overall this year the state of New South Wales as a whole will record in the top three years for the highest average daytime temperature for July,” Mr Trewin said.
Mr Trewin said a number of centres in the Riverina also recorded their lowest rainfall figures ever.”Following on from June, which was also very dry pretty well everywhere west of the ranges, it has been pretty dry through much of the state, particularly in the southern and central inland,” he said.
What is more pressing for the Canberra apparatchiks is what a base like Pine Gap does in the context of spats with other powers which Australia shares ties with. The China rise is particularly problematic, given the teeth-gnashing belligerence being shown over maritime disputes.
Even as Chinese nationals purchase Australian real estate, tremors between Washington and Beijing can be felt as the base celebrates its half-century. A happy birthday it would have been, but only for some.
The Pine Gap Anniversary Partyhttps://intpolicydigest.org/2017/07/30/pine-gap-anniversary-party, Blony Kampmark /30 JUL 2017It all happened without much fuss, since fuss was bound to be the enemy. Dignitaries, guests and various partners lined up for a gathering at Alice Springs in Australia’s Northern Territory on Saturday, commemorating the secret base’s half-century.
The Alice Spring News Online described it, not inaccurately, as a “stealth party.” The Convention Centre hosting the dinner was tight lipped throughout the week about the guest list. “Unfortunately the details of this weekend’s event are not available for public release.” Not for residents in Alice Springs; not for the electors, or even the politicians. This would be an imperial, vetted affair.
A sense about how the base functions in a defiant limbo, one resistant to Australian sovereignty, can be gathered in various ways. The local federal member, Chansey Paech, whose constituency hosts the base, was not invited. Senator Nigel Scullion’s query about the exclusion of media from the event was rebuffed by the Defence department, with the Defence Minister keen to hold the line against her own colleague.
The Institute for Aboriginal Development (IAD), charged with supplying the indigenous “welcome to country” gathering at such bashes, seemed less than pleased to supply details. When the intrepid Alice Springs News Online dared ask, the CEO Kerry Le Rossignol responded with a dismissive “No comment.”
On July 25, a Defence spokesperson insisted that, “The Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap is proud to commemorate its 50th anniversary. However, celebrations are restricted to site personnel and invited guests only.” Power without perusal; might, without scrutiny. Continue reading →
L-R ANSTO’s Chief Nuclear Officer Hef Griffiths; Michelle Rayner; Brett Rayner with the most radioactive waste on site at ANSTO:
Steve Dale Fight To Stop Nuclear Waste Dump In Flinders Ranges SAThe container pictured contains 15 Petabecquerels of radioactivity. If the walls weren’t 20cm thick solid steel it would kill any who stood too close for too long. Estimates are around 20 Petabecquerels of Cesium-137 contaminated the land and sea around Fukushima. There’s enough radioactivity in that high level waste container to Fukushima all the farmland, fisheries and tourism around Kimba. https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Last Friday, landowners who volunteered a site for the National Radioactive Waste Management Facility made a trip to Australia’s home of nuclear science, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).
Brett and Michelle Rayner, who volunteered part of their property for consultation on the national facility, toured ANSTO, meeting with ANSTO’s CEO and the local Mayor.
Brett said that the experience showed him that the waste was even safer than he thought.
“I was originally against the proposal, but after attending the community meetings I got the information and could see that there are no safety risks and there is opportunity for our community,” he said
“Based on that I volunteered my land, but coming to ANSTO and seeing this operation in person has really confirmed for me that this waste can and is being safely managed,” he said.
Being able to walk up to the intermediate level waste and touch the container it’s stored in, and to hear and see the different ways that the waste is treated to make it safe, was amazing.
“There is so much more done with this one reactor than I even imagined, so it was great to be able to come, see the way things are done here, and ask all your questions.”
Michelle said that she really enjoyed the opportunity to come and see the reality of what waste storage looks like.
“What’s done at ANSTO is just mind-blowing, and what stood out is the wide variety of research that goes on here, that people maybe don’t realise the huge contribution nuclear science makes.”
Michelle said that she really enjoyed the opportunity to come and see the reality of what waste storage looks like.
“It has been extremely informative, it’s really opened our eyes to how safe the waste is – in many ways it is no scarier than a garbage bin,” she said.
“What’s done at ANSTO is just mind-blowing, and what stood out is the wide variety of research that goes on here, that people maybe don’t realise the huge contribution nuclear science makes.”
Adani loan too much of a risk for taxpayers according to independent study, The Age, Mark Kenny, 31 July 17,
A $1 billion concessional loan to the controversial Adani Carmichael mine project in Queensland’s Galilee Basin could expose taxpayers to a high risk of losing their money, according to an independent business analysis.
The economic assessment of the troubled project’s outlook found the collapsing coal price, the uncertain global picture for thermal coal, and the $21.7 billion project’s heavy reliance on external financing contributed to a high risk for taxpayers.
Among the problems was Adani’s hope of using the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to fund a key part of the project – a rail link to Abbot Point – while relying extensively for security on the availability of other, as yet unsecured, debt and equity financing.
The assessment was done by the business consulting firm, ACIL Allen, and commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation. The study was fully independent of both the ACF and Adani, and forms the basis of a submission from the environmental group to a Senate Economics References Committee currently examining the “Governance and Operation of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility”.
Noting that a number of unknown commercial factors made definitive third-party assessment problematic, ACIL Allen found there were multiple reasons why a public loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility appeared risky……..
ACIL Allen also highlighted a contradiction between the Infrastructure Facility’s rationale, which is to provide finance to economy enhancing infrastructure projects that are unable to secure private capital funding, while also relying on the project principals’ assurances that adequate private investment will become available for the mine to go ahead.
“It is not clear how the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility could meet the direction from government that there be an expectation of full repayment of the loan with interest, while providing support only if commercial financiers do not provide sufficient finance for the project to proceed. It seems that the expectation could not be high if sufficient private sector finance is not forthcoming.”….
ACIL Allen said amid the uncertainties, “one thing is clear” about the project. “The substantial decline of thermal coal prices since 2011 has stripped in excess of $A40 per tonne from profit (after adjusting much larger US$ price declines for depreciation of the $A). This has raised doubts about the likelihood of any significant surplus of revenue over full costs (including a reasonable risk-adjusted rate of return on investment) in medium- and long-term timeframes.”http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/adani-loan-too-much-of-a-risk-for-taxpayers-according-to-independent-study-20170731-gxmarj.html
Innovation: Wind, solar grid integration technologies win state, federal govt grants
Two Australian-made renewables grid integration and stabilisation technologies have won government grants: Clean Technology Partners’ e-cube; and NOJA Power’s smart “switchgear.”
Tesla has its “iPhone moment”, but Australia left in slow lane for EVs
Australia is in danger of missing the iPhone moment in electric vehicles. The country known as land of burning climate and energy policies has left a market hungry for EVs without any affordable products.
A lot of wind and solar projects are getting approved, but no so many with PPAs and finance. Meanwhile, as the company reporting season starts, a showdown looms over energy policy and the CET.
Politically charged: do you know where your batteries come from?
People are excited about batteries are forgetting one important issue: the raw materials needed to build this technology – where they come from and their environmental cost.
Welfare lobby’s misguided and self-defeating attack on solar
Welfare lobby is right to rail against Australia’s ridiculous electricity prices, but echoing fossil fuel talking points against solar and other new technologies is self defeating.
Car industry revolution fuels Western Australia’s lithium boom, ABC News, By Kathryn Diss, 29 July 17
“……..’We can’t afford to keep throwing these things away’
Demand is also growing for other specialty minerals which go into building a battery, including graphite, cobalt, vanadium and nickel.
While the focus for most miners has been getting their lithium to market as quickly as possible, other players like Lithium Australia is targeting lower grade lithium and recycling of old batteries.
“Our focus has been developing processing technology to a large extent focusing on the materials people don’t want to process at the moment,” Lithium Australia managing director Adrian Griffin said.
“If you look at the industry, there’s more lithium that gets discharged to waste around the world than ever gets into the process supply chain.
“One of the things Australia really needs to look at is the recycling of waste battery materials.
Canavan comes out as “minister for mining sector,” internet gets really mad, REnewecono0my, By Sophie Vorrath on 28 July 2017 Australia’s recently resigned resources minister has unleashed a torrent of public criticism, after posting a heartfelt note of farewell to “the mining sector” on his Facebook page.
Canavan stood aside as federal minister for resources and northern Australia this week after it was revealed he held dual Australian and Italian citizenship. He has blamed his mother for the oversight, and is mounting a legal battle to remain in the Senate.
“It has been such an honour to represent the Australian mining sector over the past year,” the July 27 post begins.
“From the small, gambling explorers and prospectors to the large, world-beating multi-nationals, the industry provides rich and diverse experiences that can take you to the smallest towns of outback Australia to the biggest cities in the world.”
Car industry revolution fuels Western Australia’s lithium boom, ABC News, By Kathryn Diss, 29 July 17, Electric cars are driving rapid mining investment in WA, with the state supplying most of the lithium needed to manufacture batteries worldwide.
Most electric vehicles (EVs) use lithium-ion batteries, the same technology which powers smartphones, tablets and laptops.
As car makers around the globe race to meet new EV targets, demand for batteries has driven lithium exports from WA as the state now produces more than half of the world’s supply.
Batteries to store household solar power, which would allow consumers to disconnect from the electricity grid, are also driving demand to a lesser extent.
“The speed at which demand has grown for lithium carbonate equivalent has surprised most analysts, ourselves included,” Katana Asset Management’s Romano Sala Tenna said.
“Up until a few months ago the conventional thinking was by about 2025, we would need about 330,000 tonnes per annum of lithium carbonate, [but] based on recent announcements from larger automobile manufacturers, we are now thinking we will need at least double that — about 600,000 tonnes per annum.”
While that may sound small compared to the 800 million tonnes the state’s iron ore industry exports each year, the activity in the sector is already creating thousands of new jobs and generating millions in royalties for the cash-strapped WA Government.
The Greenbushes mine in the state’s South West, which is part owned by China’s Tianqi Lithium and America’s Albemarle, is one of the world’s largest lithium producers and is undergoing an expansion to double production.
The mine has seen both boom and bust since starting out as a tin operation in 1888, but is now on the cusp of another upswing — laying claim to what was considered the world’s highest grade lithium deposit.
“It is the longest continuously running mine in Western Australia and it’s on its third product. It just seems to keep producing new life,” Tianqi Lithium general manager Phil Thick said.
“Lithium is obviously a game changer for that mine. It’s been significant as a tin and tantalum mine, but lithium value is substantial.”
The joint venture is also building what it claims to be the biggest lithium processing plant in the world in Kwinana south of Perth. The project will cost $400 million and create 500 construction jobs.
‘More than just a mini-boom’
Growth in the sector has been rapid.
In January, the state had just one mine producing lithium — it now has four and exports have jumped six-fold.
Business observer Tim Treadgold has witnessed big changes in WA’s mining landscape during his 40 years commentating on the sector.
“This is more than just a mini-boom, this is the real McCoy, we could go from one [mine] two years ago to eight by this time next year. It really has been quite remarkable what’s going on,” he said.
Activity in the sector is attracting big names including Chilean major Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) which has inked a deal to bankroll a new deposit in the Goldfields with Kidman Resources.
The Conservation Council of WA launched Supreme Court action earlier this month to challenge the Barnett Government’s decision to approve Cameco’s proposed mine at Yeelirrie, 1,079km north east of Perth.
The council maintains it has the support of members of the Tjiwarl people, the native title holders over the Yeelirrie area, in pursuing the action.
But the Tjiwarl Aboriginal Corporation said they do not speak for its 150-odd members or 10 directors, who represent each of the area’s different family groups.
A spokesman for the Tjiwarl group told the ABC it is yet to formally adopt a policy on uranium mining or the Yeelirriee court case — although that could change as soon as September when the directors meet in Leinster.
“Any decision about this project needs to be made by Tjiwarl (Aboriginal Corporation) in accordance with our traditional laws and customs,” the corporation said in a statement.
“Until such time, we ask that media outlets, and the Conservation Council of WA, refrain from referring to Tjiwarl (Aboriginal Corporation) as supporting this legal proceeding.”
The spokesman said the group had received significant backlash on social media, due to its perceived involvement in the action.
Conservation Council denies misrepresenting group
Conservation Council director Piers Verstegen denied they ever misrepresented the Aboriginal corporation.
“We haven’t linked them to the case, there’s certain members of that claim group that are part of the case, but we haven’t linked the body corporate to the case and I’m not sure where they’re getting that information from,” Mr Verstegen said.
“We haven’t made any linkage between their claim group and the case — it’s just individuals who are part of that claim group who are part of the case.”
Vicky Abdullah, whose family has opposed uranium mining at Yeelirrie for more than 40 years, is one of three traditional owners who are backing the Conservation Council’s legal action.
“Yeelirrie is important to my family; we have fought to protect this site and we won’t stop now,” Ms Abdullah said.
A crowdfunding page set up by the 47-year-old not-for-profit group seeking to raise $50,000 to fund the court case also mentions the traditional owners.
At last count the page had raised more than $9,800.
Uranium mine a challenging call for traditional owners
The Tjiwarl claim was officially recognised by the Federal Court in April, with the long legal fight seeing the group’s 13,000 square kilometres of land between the towns of Wiluna and Leonora officially acknowledged.
It has sparked a flurry of negotiations with Cameco and fellow mining giants BHP and Gold Fields, both of which have operating mines in the area.
But as WA’s biggest uranium deposit, Yeelirrie remains the area’s most controversial potential development.
Discovered by Western Mining Corporation in 1972, the deposit was sold to Cameco by BHP for $US430 million in 2012.
The mine takes its name from a nearby pastoral station, which in turn took its name from the traditional word for the area.
Opponents of the mine say the name translates to “place of death”, but others have suggested “lethargy” or “fatigue” are better translations.
The mine is one of four proposed uranium mines the McGowan Government will allow to proceed, despite reinstating a ban on any further development or exploration in Western Australia.
The Tjiwarl spokesman said the group would likely formalise its position on uranium mining when the corporation’s directors meet in September.
At a time when recent US administrations have become more proactive about the need for solidarity within US Global Alliance Systems, there is a pressing need for elected leaders of both government and opposition parties to be more concerned about protection of our national sovereignty.
The Conference of The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) in Melbourne between 8-10 September 2017 will provide peace activists with a chance to interact with an array of local and overseas speakers
There is a problem for our national sovereignty if Australia’s official voice on the terrifying issue of nuclear proliferation is not being expressed to support the representatives of Ireland, Austria, South Africa, Brazil and Mexico as co-sponsors of the Draft Treaty on new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Support for the UN Draft Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or more comprehensive US nuclear weapons umbrellas?July 28, 2017, by: The AIM Network By Denis Bright
Where are the cheers across Australia for the new Draft Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons as finalized by the recent UN Conference on 7th July 2017?
In the past, Australia developed a bipartisan balance between continued membership of the Australia-US Alliance, support for the Charter of the United Nations and commitment to its own national sovereignty.Article 1 of the ANZUS Treaty of 1951 indeed rejected the need for sabre-rattling in the settlement of international disputes.
Barry McGuire – Eve Of Destruction
New Zealand officially left the Alliance in 1986 after continued participation compromised its national sovereignty (Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, US Department of State Online).
In 1984, the ANZUS Treaty began to unravel when New Zealand declared its country a nuclear-free zone and refused to allow U.S. nuclear-powered submarines to visit its ports. Two years later, U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Australian Foreign Minister Bill Hayden concluded a series of bilateral talks by confirming that their countries would continue to honor their obligations to one another under the ANZUS Treaty, in spite of the fact that the trilateral aspects of the Treaty had been halted. On September 17, 1986, the United States suspended its treaty obligations toward New Zealand.
In Australia, the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction towards greater solidarity with the US Alliance and away from a diversity of foreign policies which required the US to adjust to policy diversity over issues like the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, the War in Vietnam and even the presence of nuclear powered ships carrying nuclear weapons into New Zealand during the 1980s. Continue reading →
Sister Marie takes ‘climate change’ petition to Pirie, Greg Mayfield, 26 Jul 2017For more than 45 years, Sister Marie O’Shea has been a woman of the Catholic faith.
Now she has a new belief – “climate change”. The Port Pirie-based nun with the Sisters of the Good Samaritan has collected 200 names on a petition calling for stronger action on “climate change”. Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews and other people of faith are working with the Catholic Church’s Caritas Australia to raise the petition as the biggest such effort in Australia’s history.
While critics say “climate change” theory is plot to destabilise society, Sister Marie bases her belief on having lived in Kiribati in the Pacific Ocean. The island nation is said to be at risk of being over-run by rising seas attributed to changing environment.
Scientific research suggests increasing carbon dioxide levels, from pollutants such as fossil fuels, are threatening the planet.
Sister Marie said she had many friends among the 110,000 people living in Kiribati where tides were eroding the shore and the sea was contaminating water in wells. “Are we saying it doesn’t matter if these islands disappear?” she said. “The highest part of the country would be no higher than the top of the window in the Parish Centre, in Gertrude Street. “People say the islanders can move to higher land, but there is no higher land.
“The Pope wrote an encyclical letter on Care of Our Common Home and it was for everyone. “It was about his belief that ‘climate change’ is a threat and action needs to be taken.”
Asked whether she thought God could save the planet, she replied: “I think God expects us to do our bit. He gave us free will and provided scientists with the minds to do their research.”
She said concerns had been raised about the world’s temperatures rising by up to five degrees.
Dennis Matthews, 29 July 17 According to the Chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), of the six major factors that have forced up energy prices five are directly related to privatisation (The Advertiser 27/7/17).
These are
• inadequate regulation of electricity distribution monopolies
• over-expenditure on electricity distribution infrastructure
• inadequate competition (“concentration”) in electricity generation
• inadequate competition (“concentration”) in electricity retailing, and
• very high gas prices
to which I would add a sixth
• inadequate competition through integration of electricity generation and retailing.
Given that a main function of the ACCC is to make privatisation work, it is not surprising that no mention was made of the political decision to privatise essential energy services.
In order to control skyrocketing energy prices, addressing the overriding factor, privatisation, may have to be the first priority. But don’t expect the ACCC to lead the way.
Antinuclear 