Antinuclear

Australian news, and some related international items

New Resources Minister Keith Pitt ignores renewables, pushes for more coal, gas and uranium exports

February 12, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

Zali Steggall’s climate Bill, Labor’s befuddlement on coal

February 12, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

Fires and floods: Australia already seesaws between climate extremes – and there’s more to come

February 11, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | Leave a comment

Coalition compares wind and solar to “dole bludgers”, pushes for coal, nuclear  

Coalition compares wind and solar to “dole bludgers”, pushes for coal, nuclear  https://reneweconomy.com.au/coalition-compares-wind-and-solar-to-dole-bludgers-pushes-for-coal-nuclear-41714/  Giles Parkinson, 10 February 2020 The wind and solar industries are bracing for another verbal assault and an extended period of policy indifference from the federal government, after a senior Coalition MP likened renewable energy to “dole bludgers’, the government funnelled $4 million into a study for a new coal fired power station in Queensland, and so-called government “moderates” declared their support for nuclear.

Despite the plunging costs of solar, wind and storage, the war against renewables is accelerating dramatically as the government comes under pressure to improve its climate policies, and even consider re-instating the long term zero carbon pledge for 2050 that it scrapped, along with the carbon price, in 2014, and which all states have since adopted.

But the language against wind and solar is now being scaled up to levels not seen since the Abbott government, when the prime minister, the then Treasurer Joe Hockey and others railed against the sight of wind farms, including on their drive down to Canberra.

Barnaby Joyce, the former deputy prime minister whose electorate of new England hosts some of the state’s biggest wind and solar projects, ranted against both wind and solar last week after losing his bid to regain the leadership of the LNP.

Matt Canavan, the former resources minister who backed Joyce in that failed leadership bid, and resigned after revealing his membership of a sports club that received a $20 million loan from a government fund that Canavan had responsibility for, went one step further on Monday.

“Renewables are the dole bludgers of the energy system, they only turn up to work when they want to,” Canavan wrote in an opinion piece in the Courier Mail that also got a page one headline. The opinion piece – from the man who likes to describe himself as “Mr Coal” – argued that only coal would support Australia’s mining and manufacturing industries.

The views of the LNP and the hard right of the Liberals are well known, but even so-called “moderate” Liberals are now arguing that wind and solar cannot be relied upon to power a modern economy, and nuclear should be open as a low carbon choice.

Katie Allen,the MP for Higgins, wrote as much in Nine Media over the weekend, repeating a claim she made in her parliamentary debut. Those views are reportedly supported by other Liberals also described as moderates, including Trent Zimmerman, and Tim Wilson, whose previous job was climate policy director for the climate-denying Institute of Public Affairs.

The demonisation of wind and solar also extends to the media. The Murdoch position against wind and solar is well established, but it is infused also into the ABC, which – appallingly – ran as its headline story on radio National on Monday morning a split in the Coalition between “cheap” coal and low emissions technology, as though it was matter a fact.

This is either the result of ignorance, or stupidity. In either case, it is inexcusable, although sadly not atypical. There is no study that points to new coal generators being the cheapest option to replace Australia’s ageing coal, polluting and increasingly decrepit fleet.

AEMO, in its Integrated System Plan, also makes it clear that renewables can power Australia’s modern economy and manufacturing sector. Its 20 year blueprint assumes a 74 per cent share of renewables in Australia’s grid as a minimum by 2040, and up to 90 per cent – a level that will dramatically reduce emissions – by around 90 per cent. The lights will stay on.

The ability of wind and solar to lower prices is now being witnessed in Australia’s main grid, with AEMO citing a 39% increase in wind and solar output in the last quarter, along with a fall in coal output due to outages and coal shortages, for a significant fall in prices to their lowest level since 2016.

The claim that renewables cannot power industry also flies in the face of the experts, including chief scientist Alan Finkel, who has mapped out a hydrogen strategy that could, and should, be fuelled by wind and solar. Others point to the potential of the country going “700 per cent renewables” to give it a global advantage in clean fuel exports and “green metals”.

Those supporters include Professor Ross Garnaut, who says Australia could likely reach 100 per cent reenables by the early 2030s, thereby slashing electricity costs and creating the base for more industrial growth.

Billionaires Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest are investing tens of millions in one of several massive projects designed to export solar, or wind, to Asia countries. Forrest’s iron ore company Fortescue is investing huge amounts adding solar and battery storage to the Pilbara grid to lower the cost of electricity for his mines and improve reliability.

But it is impossible to name a single federal Coalition MP that recognises the potential of wind and solar, even though the state Liberal government in South Australia, for instance, has a target of “net 100 per cent renewables” by around 2030, and sees its economic future built on becoming a wind and solar energy powerhouse.

UNSW scientist Matt Edwards laments the government’s insistence that lower emissions could only be accompanied by either higher taxes or higher electricity costs. In an opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald, he said the Coalition is being “wilfully blind” to the economics of renewables, which “wipe the floor” compared to coal, gas and nuclear.

Edwards pointed to the conclusions of the CSIRO and AEMO studies mentioned above.

“One of the greatest frustrations as a scientist is to see interpretations of data misrepresented by politicians,” he writes. “Unfortunately in Australia, much of this bluster has come from the far-right side of conservatives, part of our broad church, whose members have traditionally prided themselves on prudence and level-headedness.

“We must fight the political expediency of appealing to a voter base spooked by fossil fuel scare campaigns and the denialists in the media, while avoiding getting rolled by rogue elements within the party, those whom Malcolm Turnbull labelled “terrorists” at our Climate Conversations event on Wednesday night, “willing to blow the joint up if they don’t get their way”.

“Our conservative politicians should ideally act according to conscience, free market principles and prudence. They should also seize upon the opportunity for Australia to become a renewables export powerhouse, alleviating global emissions reduction well beyond the 1.6 per cent often quoted as our share, and providing vast economic stimulus at the same time.”

We’ve been waiting for that to happen for more than two decades. There’s still no sign of it.

February 11, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

Zali Steggall , independent MP for Warringah, luring Liberals towards climate action

A matter of conscience’: Zali Steggall unveils plans for climate change act, https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/02/10/zali-steggall-plans-climate-change-act/  Samantha Maiden   She stole Tony Abbott’s blue-ribbon seat out from under the Liberal Party’s nose and now Zali Steggall is hoping to lure party dissidents to cross the floor and vote for climate change action.

The independent MP for Warringah will on Monday unveil details of her plan for a climate change act, arguing action is “a matter of conscience” similar to the same-sex marriage debate.

February 9, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | 1 Comment

Private investors won’t touch new Coalition-backed coal plant, Labor says

Private investors won’t touch new Coalition-backed coal plant, Labor says,  Morrison government to spend up to $4m in grant for feasibility study into coal-fired power plant in Queensland, Guardian, Australian Associated Press, Sat 8 Feb 2020  The federal Labor opposition says private investors will not touch “with a barge pole” the Morrison government’s plan to support a coal-fired power plant in Queensland.

The government says it will spend up to $6m in grants for two new Queensland electricity generation projects, including a coal-fired power plant, as part of a bid to lower power prices……..

Labor’s climate change and energy spokesman, Mark Butler, said private investors would not touch a new coal-fired power station “with a barge pole”.

“The government still has no energy policy – just ideological flights of fantasy,” he said in Adelaide on Saturday. The private investment sector had made it very clear it had no appetite for building expensive coal-fired power stations, he said.

“If the industry itself won’t touch this project, why should taxpayers foot the bill?”https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/feb/08/private-investors-wont-touch-new-coalition-backed-coal-plant-labo

February 9, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, business, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

Adam Bandt, The new Australian Greens leader looks to hopeful action on climate catastrophe

“There is no point in telling people there may be jobs in unspecified industries in the future. It is incumbent on us to explain how we will look after people in this transition”. …….

He has opened his period of leadership by talking about a Green New Deal, which he characterises as “a government-led plan of investment and action to build a clean economy and a caring society”.

Adam Bandt: the Greens must provide hope there is an exit strategy from climate catastrophe The new Australian Greens leader says the party has to connect with coal communities if it wants to be taken seriously, Guardian Katharine Murphy Political editor @murpharoo, Fri 7 Feb 2020 For the first time in the party’s history, the leader of the Australian Greens sits in the House of Representatives, not in the Senate. If you have to hold a lower house seat at every election, Adam Bandt says, you have to listen, and you have to be plugged in to the practical concerns of your constituents. Continue reading

February 7, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | 1 Comment

Liberal politicians jump on the climate bandwagon to promote nuclear power

Goldstein MP, Tim Wilson and North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman spoke in favour of nuclear power, commending MP Ted O’Brien for his parliamentary inquiry into the issue, which was tabled in December, and advocating for it to be further explored.

February 6, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

Australians will cringe, when our govt gives its climate-denialist policy in Glascow

At the end of this year, Australia will be required to explain its progress or lack thereof at the Conference of the Parties of the IPCC in Glasgow. This will be an important moment in history when nations must reveal what progress they have made in limiting emissions to avoid warming greater than two degrees of preindustrial levels. It could be embarrassing for Australia, particularly in Scotland, where real policies are in place and climate change is taken seriously. 

The Coalition’s climate policy is an international embarrassment   https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/the-coalitions-climate-policy-is-an-international-embarrassment,13559

By Graeme McLeay | 5 February 2020   Scott Morrison’s Government is missing a prime opportunity to invest in renewables and change our energy mix, writes Dr Graeme McLeay.

AT A RECENT Press Club lunch, Prime Minister Scott Morrison dug deep to defend the Coalition’s response to the national and global climate emergency by defending a policy which is essentially that of former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s in 2013. Continue reading

February 6, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics international | Leave a comment

Flooding events highlight the danger to proposed uranium mining sites Yeelirrie and Wiluna

K-A Garlick at Nuclear Free WA

6 Feb 20, In an area where two uranium mines are proposed ~ Yeelirrie and Wiluna, there have been massive rain influx, leading to widespread floods across the Goldfields country.

Toro Energy Wiluna uranium project expands over two lake systems and over 100 kms. The project includes four uranium deposits – Lake Way, Centipede, Millipede and Lake Maitland.

The project proposal includes a high risk inappropriate site to attempt disposal of up to 50 million tonnes of radioactive tailings that would be stored in mined out pits on the edge of Lake Way in a floodplain and in the drainage channel of a creek.

The company’s studies of hydrogeology, hydrology and geochemistry were all heavily criticised in Peer Reviews submitted as part of the environmental assessment.  With these floods today, the planned emplacement of 50 million tonnes of long-lived radioactive mine waste in a floodplain poses a very serious risk to the environment and public health.

February 6, 2020 Posted by | climate change - global warming, safety, uranium, Western Australia | Leave a comment

#ScottyFromMarketing “won’t be bullied” by climate science

Mr Morrison’s comments echoed those of his deputy prime minister during the height of the bushfire crisis. 

In November, Mr McCormack attacked those who were linking climate change to the severity of the bushfires, labelling them “inner-city raving lunatics”

February 6, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

Adani about to receive criminal conviction over false documents

Adani agrees to plead guilty to giving ‘false or misleading documents to an administering authority’, may be fined up to $3m

ABC News by Josh Robertson and Jessica Rendall   5 Feb 20, Mining giant Adani looks set to receive the first criminal conviction in its corporate history over documents it gave to Queensland’s environmental regulator about land clearing on its mine site.

Key points:

  • The company’s Australian arm, Adani Mining Pty Ltd, is listed for sentencing in the Brisbane Magistrates Court
  • It belatedly declared clearing land on its mine site after environmentalists complained to the government
  • The company says it has been prosecuted for an “an administrative error”

Adani has agreed to plead guilty to giving “false or misleading documents to an administering authority”, according to the court file and sources familiar with the case.

The company’s Australian arm, Adani Mining Pty Ltd, is listed for sentencing today in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

It faces a fine of up to $3 million if convicted under the Environmental Protection Act.

According to notes in the court file made by Magistrate Stephen Courtney and seen by the ABC, the matter is “to be [a] plea of guilty”.

In court papers, the Department of Environment and Science (DES) says Adani filed its annual return in March 2018 with a graph declaring it cleared no land on the Carmichael mine site, north-west of Clermont, in 2017-18.

The DES alleged it became aware of the offence six months later.  It alleged Adani “knew or ought reasonably to have known [the document] was false or misleading” because it had planned and carried out land clearing before and during the reporting period.

On September 6, 2018, conservation group Coast and Country raised land clearing allegations with the State Government, citing satellite imagery.

State and federal environment department officials then inspected the site within days……..https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-06/adani-to-plead-guilty-court-qld/11932640

February 6, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, legal | Leave a comment

Greens leader Adam Bandt vows to hold torch to Coalition on climate

 

 

February 6, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

#ScottyFromMarketing has no climate target, because he is controlled by climate denialists

 

February 3, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming, politics | Leave a comment

A clear path to climate action for Australia

February 3, 2020 Posted by | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, climate change - global warming | 1 Comment