Australian researchers find worrying connection between global warming and El Nino events
Climate change to make ‘Super El Nino’ events twice as likely, ABC 12 Dec 13 PENNY ORBELL The drought conditions brought on by extreme versions of the El Nino weather phenomenon are likely to happen twice as often as climate change takes hold.
AUSTRALIAN RESEARCHERS have found that extreme versions of the cyclical weather pattern El Niño — dubbed ‘super El Niños’ — will double in frequency under projected global warming scenarios, with repercussions for many countries across the globe…….”Our results show that a warmer climate will increase the probability for the occurrences of super El Niños, and lead to a higher probability for associated extreme weather.”
The most extreme scenarios of global warming modelled by the researchers predicted more intense El Niños, and are most frequently associated with water current reversals…….
If emissions continue to increase at their current rate, some researchers warn that extreme weather events caused by super El Niños will become more frequent, with those most at risk being fishermen in developing nations and farmers.
“El Niño events typically bring dry conditions for Australia. So an increase in the occurrence of extreme El Niños will mean more frequent droughts, which will have an impact on our water resources and agriculture,” said Santoso. http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/12/11/3908868.htm
Hope for renewable energy, as Senate votes to keep Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC)
CEFC saved in the Senate – a rare win for Australian renewables REneweconomy,By Giles Parkinson on 11 December 2013 In a welcome piece of good news for the Australian renewable energy industry, efforts to close the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation have been thwarted in the Senate, and the innovative green investment bank is set to continue at least until next July, when a new Senate will sit. Continue reading
Australian government aiming to slow development of small scale solar power?
Renewable Energy Target Review Red Alert , Renewable Energy News, 12 Dec 13 The Abbott government will soon release its terms of reference for another Renewable Energy Target review says the Australian Solar Council. Given the general vibe; it doesn’t bode well for remaining small scale solar subsidies.
As solar feed-in-tariff incentives are dialled down, the Renewable Energy Target is now the major form of support to the solar industry in Australia and for those buying solar panel systems.
“The future of the small-scale scheme for solar PV is in considerable doubt,” states Australian Solar Council CEO John Grimes…….
The solar power industry currently employs more than 18,000 people in 4,500 small and medium businesses across Australia – many in rural and regional areas.
With Renewable Energy Target related support still providing subsidies of up to a couple of thousand dollars on solar panel systems and that support continuing after the review not something to bank on; the best time to go solar may be right now……..http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4074
Victorian Aged Care Facility to get grid-connected solar power
Yingli Green Energy Hold. Co. Ltd. (ADR) : EnviroGroup Installs Australia’s Largest Grid-Connected Enphase Microinverter Project in Conjunction with Yingli Solar, 4 Traders Group, 12/11/2013 |Glenlyn Aged Care Facility to power 50 percent of its energy needs with solar power
Enphase Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENPH), today announced that EnviroGroup, a specialist provider of renewable energy products and systems for commercial applications, government clients and residential home owners, has successfully installed Australia’s largest grid-connected solar power system with Enphase microinverters, in conjunction with Yingli Green Energy, known as “Yingli Solar”, at the Glenlyn Aged Care Facility in Glenroy, Victoria.
This 100kW installation is expected to generate over 392kWh of solar energy daily – which is approximately 50 percent of Glenlyn’s electricity requirements – to power the center’s operational and cooling facilities, particularly in periods of peak daytime demand……….http://www.4-traders.com/YINGLI-GREEN-ENERGY-HOLD-52545/news/Yingli-Green-Energy-Hold-Co-Ltd-ADR–EnviroGroup-Installs-Australias-Largest-Grid-Connected-E-17603508/
BHP not keen to waste more money developing uneconomic Olympic Dam
Where Olympic Dam is concerned, it’s the outlook for the main commodity—uranium—rather than potential investors that it mostly dislikes.
BHP Warms to Partnerships, But Olympic Dam Remains in the Cold WSJ 10 Dec 13, BHP Billiton Ltd. wants to share the love to get its $10 billion Jansen potash project in Canada off the ground. But the world’s biggest mining company is being a determined single when it comes to another costly development: Australia’s Olympic Dam…….
BHP’s reluctance to seek a partner for an expanded Olympic Dam project in South Australia may surprise as it’s stuck on the back burner, squeezed by low commodity prices and high development costs estimated by analysts at around $30 billion. In August last year, BHP said it would look for a less costly design for the Olympic Dam mine, which had been expected to bring in billions in tax dollars and create thousands of jobs. Up to now, it hasn’t announced any new plans for the site.
At first glance, finding a competitor to share development costs and risks with BHP makes sense. If they also bring in new technology then so much the better.
The problem for BHP is that a partner might actually want to get the project moving, even at a much-reduced scale. That would test BHP’s desire to keep annual spending below $15 billion in future, down by a third from last year’s bill totaling $21.7 billion. With uranium prices continuing to hover near eight-year lows, and several countries debating nuclear power in their energy mix, BHP can avoid such tough decisions by keeping full control of the asset.
“We like partnerships,” Mr Mackenzie told U.S. investors. Where Olympic Dam is concerned, it’s the outlook for the main commodity—uranium—rather than potential investors that it mostly dislikes. http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/12/10/bhp-warms-to-partnerships-but-olympic-dam-remains-in-the-cold/
The few surviving Maralinga nuclear veterans lose yet another case for justice
Australian veterans affected by nuclear testing lose final bid for case to be heard http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-10/veterans-affected-by-british-nuclear-testing-lose-court-bid/5147678 By Sally Block 10 Dec 2013 Australian veterans of British nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s have lost their bid to have their case investigated.
About 300 surviving members of the Australian Defence Force applied to the Australian Human Rights Commission to have their case heard.
The veterans were involved in the nuclear tests by the British at Maralinga, Emu Field and Monte Bello islands. Their lawyers argued the Menzies government at the time exposed them to the harmful effects of radiation in full knowledge of the damage to their health and that is a breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Commission knocked them back, saying it is out of their jurisdiction to inquire into the acts or practises by the Commonwealth that are alleged. Continue reading
Israel pressurising Australia to muck up the UN – Iran nuclear deal
Israel wants Australia to use its influence in UN Security Council to amend nuclear deal with Iran SMH, December 11, 2013 Peter Hartcher, Israel has urged Australia to use its new found influence to force a much tougher deal on Iran over its nuclear program.
Israel’s Minister for the Economy, Naftali Bennett, told Prime Minister Tony Abbott that Israel ”badly wants a deal” to halt Iran’s nuclear progress, Mr Bennett said.
Israel is deeply unhappy with the terms of the interim deal negotiated by the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – the so-called P5 – plus Germany on November 24. ……..Australia can be an important factor in shaping the final deal, due in six months, Mr Bennett said, because it is a member of the UN Security Council next year and also the chairman of the council’s sanctions committee on Iran.
Iran has agreed to freeze parts of its nuclear program and dilute its most highly concentrated uranium in return for a partial easing of the international sanctions that have forced it into recession.
Israel’s essential demand is that Iran be forced to surrender its nuclear fuel-making machinery. Where the P5+1 deal has allowed Iran to keep its centrifuges for concentrating uranium into nuclear fuel, Israel wants them removed. : http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/israel-wants-australia-to-use-its-influence-in-un-security-council-to-amend-nuclear-deal-with-iran-20131210-2z42x.html#ixzz2nBQ2kJxj
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-new
Australia appears to be caving in to USA in the Trans Pacific Partnership
The commentary also says that Australia has worked with Japan and the US on a revised version of the controversial annex which deals with government regulation of medicine prices, including Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, while most other countries are opposing it.
Trade Minister Robb said last week that Australia was prepared to agree to give investors the right to sue governments over Australian laws which they claimed harm their investment, which we have experienced in the Philip Morris case.
It is also worrying that the government appears to have agreed with the US refusal to support proposals from the World Intellectual Property Organisation, which assist developing countries to get access to cheaper generic medicines. Most other countries have agreed to support these proposals
TPP talks in Singapore rocked by leaked document By Dr Patricia Ranald (AFTINET Convener) 11 DEc 13,I arrived in Singapore after a week in Bali at the World Trade Organisation talks, at which the US tried but did not succeed in blocking developing countries, led by India, from taking measures to ensure they can make basic food available for the poorest in their countries. A compromise was reached which means that developing countries can continue to do this. AFTINET working group member Peter Murphy was also at the WTO meeting and has done a longer report……
The TPP negotiations here in Singapore are of course still secret, and governments are not making any public statements. The US has set the agenda of bilateral and small group meetings. They are desperate to pressure others to agree to their proposals so they can announce that the agreement is on track to be finalised by the end of the year. Continue reading
Corporations more powerful than governments, in secret Trans Pacific Partnership deal
One of the most controversial provisions in the talks includes new corporate empowerment language insisted upon by the U.S. government, which would allow foreign companies to challenge laws or regulations in a privately run international court.
Previously leaked TPP documents have sparked alarm among global health experts, Internet freedom activists, environmentalists and organized labor, but are adamantly supported by American corporations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Obama administration has deemed negotiations to be classified information — banning members of Congress from discussing the American negotiating position with the press or the public. Congressional staffers have been restricted from viewing the documents
Obama Faces Backlash Over New Corporate Powers In Secret Trade Deal HUFFINGTON POST 12/09/2013 WASHINGTON –– The Obama administration appears to have almost no international support for controversial new trade standards that would grant radical new political powers to corporations, increase the cost of prescription medications and restrict bank regulation, according to two internal memos obtained by The Huffington Post. Continue reading
Danger in plan to hand over environmental regulation from Australian government to the States
Conservationist says uranium mine spill shows states must not be given approval powers http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-09/conservationist-says-states-set-to-water-down-mine-approvals/5145080 The World Today By Katie Hamann 9 Dec 2013, The Australian Conservation Foundation says it is time the Ranger uranium mine was closed permanently after yet another spill in Kakadu National Park, east of Darwin.
More than a million litres of toxic slurry engulfed the mine on Saturday.
The spill coincides with a move by the Federal Government to allow states and territories to assess all mining applications, as part of its overhaul of environmental approvals.
Earlier this year, the Federal Government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Queensland Government aimed at giving the state the power to be a one-stop shop for environmental approvals………. Continue reading
Tanks for Nothing: New radioactive disaster haunts Rio Tinto
Australian Greens spokesperson on Nuclear issues, Senator Scott Ludlam. 10 December 2013.
In a bizarre and troubling development, Rio Tinto’s Rossing Uranium Mine in Namibia has suffered a disastrous acid spill identical in nature to that which closed the company’s Ranger mine in Kakadu on the weekend.
Breaking reports in local media indicate that within three days of the Kakadu collapse, Rio’s Namibian operation suffered a catastrophic failure which put workers and the surrounding environment at risk.
“In addition to the toxic catastrophic at Ranger uranium mine – the latest in over 200 spills, leaks and licence breaches within the Kakadu National Park precinct – Rio is also dealing with “structural failure” of a leach tank at their processing plant in Namibia,” said Australian Greens Senator Scott Ludlam today.
“Rössing opened in 1976, Ranger in 1981 – both of these mines are ageing and failing.
“Rio is now on the world’s radioactive radar – both in Namibia where worker and environmental safety standards are much lower than at Ranger.
“But it’s not only engineering structural failure in leach tanks. This industry is tanking economically and it’s time to shut it down and clean up these toxic blots on the landscape before they do more damage.
“Australia is blessed with perfect conditions for renewable energy generation, particularly solar, which is clean, safe and doesn’t risk contamination of workers and the environment. The future is renewable not radioactive,” Senator Ludlam concluded.
For further information on the spill in Namibia: http://www.namibtimes.net/forum/topics/rossing-shuts-operations-after-ca…
Ranger uranium mine’s safety in question: closed following radioactive spill
NT uranium mine suspended after radioactive leak SMH, 10 Dec 13,The federal government has suspended operations at the Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory, after a major leak of acid and radioactive slurry at the weekend.
The mine’s operator, Energy Resources of Australia, insists there has been no environmental impact from the million-litre spill, but this view is contested by local indigenous people and environment groups…….
On Friday, workers detected a hole in leach tank one within the mine’s processing area, which has a capacity of about 1.5 million litres. The next day, the tank split, pouring out a slurry of mud, water, ore and sulphuric acid…….
The NT Environment Centre said it did not believe ERA when the company said there had been no environmental impacts.
”It’s clear there’s contaminated water from the burst tank on soil,” director Stuart Blanch said.
There have been more than 200 safety breaches and incidents over the past 30 years at the site, according to the centre, which says the slurry spill overflowed levee banks designed to contain it and got into the mine’s stormwater drain system.
The regional organiser of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, Bryan Wilkins, said that during the construction and installation of the leaking tank, in 1993 or 1994, the welding was not properly tested. ”I know it wasn’t – I was there,” he said.
An investigation to determine what caused the tank to give way was being commissioned, ERA chief executive Andrea Sutton said……. http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/nt-uranium-mine-suspended-after-radioactive-leak-20131209-2z1un.html#ixzz2n5vZT1Pe
Climate change and Australia’s bushfire danger
Climate Council’s Code Red bushfire warning , The Conversation Lesley Hughes Head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University 9 December 2013 Australians have always had to live with bushfires – but climate change is driving that fire danger even higher.
And we’re not talking about a distant threat to future generations. According to real observations from around the country – summarisedin a new report from the Climate Council – we can see that in Australia today, hot days are getting hotter, and heatwaves longer and more frequent.
Some parts of Australia are already becoming drier. Hot, dry conditions are driving up the likelihood of very high fire danger weather, especially in the southwest and southeast. In southeast Australia, the fire season is already becoming longer, reducing the opportunities for hazard reduction burning.
Be prepared: Climate change and the Australian bushfire threat is the Climate Council’s is our first major report since re-launching as a community-funded non-profit group just over three months ago, and it provides a comprehensive, up-to-date summary of the influence of climate change on bushfires.
Setting new recordsThis has been a record-breaking year for Australia…….http://theconversation.com/climate-councils-code-red-bushfire-warning-21257
Energy Resources of Australia (ERA)’s share price tumbles after latest radioactive accident
Rio’s ERA Drops After Australia Uranium Mine Spill: Sydney Mover Bloomberg, By James Paton Dec 8, 2013 Rio Tinto Group’s Energy Resources of Australia Ltd. tumbled the most in almost two years in Sydney trading after an acid and ore spill at its Ranger uranium mine near world heritage-listed Kakadu National Park.
ERA (ERA), 68.4 percent owned by London-based Rio, dropped 13 percent to A$1.135, the most since Feb. 1, 2012, while the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index fell 0.8 percent…….http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-09/rio-s-era-drops-after-australia-uranium-mine-spill-sydney-mover.html
Nuclear war avoided: Prof Des Ball awarded for peace diplomacy
Award for man who helped avoid nuclear catastrophe Standard, By JARROD WOOLLEY Dec. 10, 2013, A FORMER Timboon man who is credited with helping save the world from nuclear annihilation has been awarded the Australian National University’s (ANU) highest honour.
Professor Des Ball, who spent his formative years in Timboon, was presented the Peter Baume Award last month, recognising a career of global significance and an association with the ANU lasting almost five decades………
Professor Ball progressed from a prize-winning economics student who was arrested for climbing a statue of King George V during an anti-Vietnam War rally, to blowing the lid on the secret military facility at Pine Gap during a Senate hearing on treaties in 1999.
Despite his outspoken criticism of US government policy, he was personally invited by President Jimmy Carter to critique the USA’s nuclear defence plans during the Cold War — his analysis persuading the US that its plan to destroy selected Soviet targets would not work in practice.
At the end of last year, a book of essays honouring the iconoclastic scholar contained a contribution from the former president saying Professor Ball had helped save the world from a potential nuclear holocaust.
The book, Insurgent Intellectual: Essays in Honour of Professor Desmond Ball, quoted Mr Carter as saying Professor Ball’s “counsel and cautionary advice, based on deep research, made a great difference to our collective goal of avoiding nuclear war”…….http://www.standard.net.au/story/1961594/award-for-man-who-helped-avoid-nuclear-catastrophe/?cs=12,
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
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PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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