The Federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg has given environmental approval to the Mulga Rock uranium mine in WA this week, just days ahead of the election, despite the lack of cross-party support for this toxic industry, the Australian Greens said.
Australian Greens Co-Deputy Leader and Nuclear Issues spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam said, “This week’s federal environmental approval for the Mulga Rock uranium project is premature and deeply deficient.”
“This decision is a real departure from the norm with virtually no conditions for the environment, for mine closure and rehabilitation or for the management of radioactive mine waste.
“Frydenberg has set a dangerously low precedent for one of Australia’s most dangerous and toxic industries.
“The Mulga Rock uranium project is in a pristine environment, a Priority Ecological Community and home to many rare and endangered species. The project would use 15 million litres of water a day in one of Australia’s most arid regions, and turn that water into radioactive waste. The threat of radioactive mine waste in the environment will remain for thousands of years.
“With the uranium price sitting at $25 / lb, half the amount needed for the project to break even, there is certainly no immediate prospects for this mine to begin construction.
“This fast tracked approval seems to be driven by the politics of the WA State election rather than evidence and good process” concluded Senator Ludlam..
Climate change impact on Australia may be irreversible, five-yearly report says State of the Environment report says heritage and economic activity are being affected and the disadvantaged will be worst hit, Guardian, Katherine Murphy, 7 Mar 17, An independent review of the state of Australia’s environment has found the impacts of climate change are increasing and some of the changes could be irreversible.
The latest State of the Environment report, a scientific snapshot across nine areas released by the federal government every five years, says climate change is altering the structure and function of natural ecosystems in Australia, and is affecting heritage, economic activity and human wellbeing.
It warns climate change will result in “location specific vulnerabilities” and says the most severe impacts will be felt by people who are socially and economically disadvantaged.
Record high water temperatures caused “widespread coral bleaching, habitat destruction and species mortality” in the marine environment between 2011 and 2016, it says.
The minister for energy and the environment, Josh Frydenberg, was due to release the report card on Tuesday morning……
Australia’s heavily populated coastal areas are under pressure, as are “growth areas within urban environments, where human pressure is greatest”, the report finds.
Grazing and invasive species continue to pose a significant threat to biodiversity.
“The main pressures facing the Australian environment today are the same as in 2011: climate change, land use change, habitat fragmentation and degradation, and invasive species,” the report’s summary says. “In addition, the interactions between these and other pressures are resulting in cumulative impacts, amplifying the threats faced by the Australian environment……
The report criticises the lack of “an overarching national policy that establishes a clear vision for the protection and sustainable management of Australia’s environment to the year 2050”.
It points to poor collaboration, gaps in knowledge, data and monitoring and a lack of follow-though from policy to action.
“Providing for a sustainable environment both now and in the future is a national issue requiring leadership and action across all levels of government, business and the community,” it says. “The first step is recognising the importance and value of ecosystem services to our economy and society…….
Farmers back emissions trading scheme, THE AUSTRALIAN, SARAH MARTIN, 7 Mar 17, Australia’s peak farming group has thrown its support behind a carbon price to fix the country’s energy woes, calling on the government to reconsider its opposition to an emissions intensity scheme in the electricity sector.
In its submission to the Finkel review of the Australian energy market, the National Farmers Federation has warned the agriculture sector is struggling without “secure, reliable and affordable” power supply and urges a bipartisan approach to energy policy.
NFF president Fiona Simson said the sector believed the cheapest path to a low-emissions future was “some form of market-based approach”, which could include an emissions intensity scheme.
“For us it is about having everything on the table; we certainly want security of supply, we want affordable power, we are technology neutral and we know we’re moving towards lower emissions,” Ms Simson said.
“It is just how we can actually put everything on the table to guarantee a long-term national plan facilitating a smooth, reliable transition to lower emissions generation.”……
The federal government has ruled out adopting an EIS.
The Australian Institute of Architects has told the review government needs to focus on the demand side of the energy equation, arguing that making changes to energy efficiency of buildings could deliver up to 28 per cent of the 2030 emissions reduction target and achieve $20 billion in energy savings.
“Buildings contribute to nearly half of the country’s electricity consumption and the building sector offers a great opportunity for more energy productivity gains,” said institute president Ken Maher.
The tragedy is that all this could have been avoided if we had seized the opportunity in the 1990s to build a unified national grid, with a single authority running transmission networks and the interconnectors between them. This would still allow competition in generation, but would abandon the idea of market incentives in the provision of network services.
The question has been addressed by pollsters in Britain, which provided the model for Australia’s energy reforms. The results show overwhelming public support for renationalisation, even though the electricity industry has been in private ownership for decades. Even a majority of Conservative voters support public ownership.
The issue will have its next electoral test in Western Australia, where the Barnett government is proposing to sell its majority interest in its electricity distribution enterprise Western Power. While nothing is ever certain in politics, current polls suggest the government is headed for defeat.
The case for renationalising Australia’s electricity grid https://theconversation.com/the-case-for-renationalising-australias-electricity-grid-73951John QuigginProfessor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland March 6, 2017The public debate over the problems of electricity supply displays a curious disconnect. On the one hand, there is virtually universal agreement that the system is in crisis. After 25 years, the promised outcomes of reform – cheaper and more reliable electricity, competitive markets and rational investment decisions – are further away than ever.
On the other hand, proposals to change the situation range from marginal tweaks to politically motivated mischief-making. The preliminary report of the Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market, released last year, canvasses such options as the introduction of capacity markets for reserve power, which have done little to resolve problems overseas.
Meanwhile, the Turnbull government has used recent failures to score points against renewable energy (hated, for obscure historical-cultural reasons, by its right-wing base) and to promote the absurd idea of new coal-fired power stations.
A sorry state
This debate might make sense if the system had worked well in the past. In reality, however, the National Electricity Market (NEM) never produced lower prices or more reliable power for households. Continue reading →
Energy executives say gas market – not windfarms – to blame for South Australia’s woes
Main problem afflicting country’s grid is the lack of clear policy direction from Canberra, witnesses tell Senate inquiry, Guardian, Katherine Murphy, 7 Mar 17, Senior executives from AGL Energy have given evidence that the main issue causing problems with reliable energy supply in South Australia is “dysfunction” in the gas market – not too many windfarms making the grid unreliable.Executives from AGL told a Senate inquiry in Melbourne on Tuesday they would like to build a new gas-fired power station in South Australia to increase base load capacity in the state, but gas supply was chronically unreliable in the eastern states.
Richard Wrightson, AGL’s general manager of wholesale markets, told Tuesday’s hearing the problem was so dire the company was contemplating building its own LNG hub in Queensland to help secure reliable supply downstream.
“Dysfunction in the gas market is causing most of the systemic problems we are seeing in South Australia,” Wrightson told the Senate select committee into resilience of electricity infrastructure in a warming world.
“We would love to be able to contract more in that marketplace but the main restriction on being able to do that is access to flexible gas contracts that we are able to trade in an out of.”
The Turnbull government has argued that ambitious state-based renewable energy targets are driving too large a share of low-emissions technologies, such as wind power, into the grid, and that is a significant factor behind the unreliable conditions in South Australia.
But a number of witnesses appearing before the Senate committee on Tuesday said the main problem afflicting Australia’s energy grid was not proliferating renewables, but a lack of a clear policy direction from Canberra. The policy vacuum had created a damaging investment strike in new assets at a time when old coal-fired power generators had reached their natural age of retirement.
Ross Garnaut, the economics professor who led the climate change policy review for the Rudd government and was the independent expert adviser to the multi-party climate change committee that developed the carbon pricing scheme subsequently repealed by Tony Abbott, said the political debate about climate and energy policy in Australia was “incoherent”……
The chief scientist, Alan Finkel – the official leading the energy review – has already provided implicit support for an emissions intensity scheme in his preliminary report to the government, saying it would integrate best “with the electricity market’s pricing and risk management framework” and “had the lowest economic costs and the lowest impact on electricity prices”.
SA power: Taxpayers should buy gas-fired electricity generator, top economic advisor says, ABC News 8 Mar 17 By political reporter Nick Harmsen The South Australian Government should consider buying or leasing a gas-fired electricity generator to help stabilise the state’s expensive and unreliable power supply, South Australia’s influential Economic Development Board says.
The recommendation was made to the Government late last month, according to evidence given to the SA Parliament’s Statutory Authorities Review Committee.
Board member Goran Roos told the committee in the absence of progress on energy policy at a national level, South Australia should consider going it alone.
“In the medium term, which is one to two years, the South Australian Government should consider direct control of electrical generation facilities either through acquisition or leasing arrangements coupled with long-term back-to-back take-or-pay contracts with end users,” Professor Roos told the committee.
“A suitable facility could be the second … Pelican Point gas turbine.”
The second unit at Pelican Point was mothballed in 2013, and was seldom used until the second half of last year.
“ENGIE has argued that the second Pelican Point gas turbine cannot compete with cheaper wind energy and it is commercially unviable to occasionally switch on the gas-fired power plant to meet requirements for a few high-demand days across the year,” Professor Roos said.
“As such, the acquisition costs or lease costs for the second gas turbine should be minimal on an NPD basis, should the Government choose to acquire or lease this facility.
This Alliance initiative is directed at ensuring remote and isolated communities are sufficiently catered for in respect to their energy needs …
“Grassroots energy enterprises, which numbered more than 80 people nation-wide formed an alliance to harness the power of communities to increase local energy security, bolster regional development partnerships, enhance community cohesion, reduce carbon emissions and
work towards a just energy transition. … ”
First Nations Renewable Energy Alliance
“Ghillar, Michael Anderson, Convenor of the Sovereign Union, last surviving member of the founding four of the Aboriginal Embassy and Head of State of the Euahlayi Peoples Republic said from Melbourne:
““Members from First Nations across the continent successfully participated in the Coalition for Community Energy held in Melbourne Town Hall on 27 – 28 February 2017 …
““This Alliance initiative is directed at ensuring remote and isolated communities are sufficiently catered for in respect to their energy needs. The current Australian corrupt system of energy delivery is controlled at the top level by government officials and politicians, who gain a lot of private funding for their political campaigns, in other words:
‘You scratch our backs and we’ll scratch yours.’ The level of corruption in Australian politics is so entrenched that the equity in engagement in respect of sustainable energy strategies is not possible under the current regime.
“We will direct our energies now and in the future to ensure that this corruption does not continue
and thereby give direction to secure certainly for those who seek to partner with us to provide for the development of sustainable communities.” … ”
The record-breaking heat seen across southeast Australia in the last few months was made 50 times more likely by climate change, according to new analysis that links the heat directly to global warming.
Southeast Australia was struck by three major heatwaves in January and February, with temperatures climbing as high as 113°F (45°C) in some places.
On February 10, Sydney Airport recorded its hottest February day on record, with temperatures hitting 109°F (42°C).
The heat was also uncharacteristically persistent — Observatory Hill in Sydney saw temperatures reach above 95°F (35°C) for nine consecutive days in January, breaking a 120-year old record.
Elsewhere, the consistent heat was even more extreme: in Moore, New South Wales, there were 52 consecutive days with temperatures above 95°F (35°C).
The study, conducted by the World Weather Attribution Program at Climate Central, used climate model simulations and observational data analysis to understand how climate change, caused by an increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, might have made these heat events more likely.
They found that climate change made the average temperatures seen this summer in Australia 50 times more likely, and made the maximum summer temperatures 10 times more likely.
“In the past, a summer as hot as 2016–2017 was a roughly 1 in 500-year event,” the researchers wrote. “Today, climate change has increased the odds to roughly 1 in 50 years — a 10-fold increase in frequency.”
The analysis also warns that heat events like these — both punctuated heatwaves and long stretches of above-average temperatures — are likely to become more frequent as climate change continues.
In the future, according to the study, heat events like the one this summer could happen as frequently as every five years — and will likely be more intense, with temperatures averaging at least 1.8ºF (1°C) warmer than they were in the past.
The connection between heat waves and climate change has strong scientific support. In 2015, eight papers published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society’s attribution report — an annual report that explains extreme weather events from a climate perspective — all linked climate change to heatwaves, showing that climate change clearly made heatwaves either more likely, more intense, or both.
According to data from NASA and NOAA, 2016 was the hottest year on record.
Before that, both 2015 and 2014 held that distinction.
In fact, 16 of the 17 hottest years on record have occurred since 2001.
The banks provided a combined $10bn to projects around the world that expanded non-renewable energy, according to finance group Market Forces.
ANZ and the Commonwealth Bank were the worst offenders, investing over $3bn each in fossil fuels. In the same period, ANZ only lent $225m to renewables, giving it a 14:1 ratio. Continue reading →
Renewable power to the people could reap profits in Victoria, The Age, Benjamin Preiss , 6 Mar 17 Electricity bill shock has become a distant problem for residents in Soren Hermansen’s hometown in Denmark. It is far more likely they will receive a cheque in the mail for their power on Samso Island. The island is carbon neutral and runs on renewable energy, with power and profits flowing back into the community.
Now Mr Hermansen travels the world championing community-owned power generation methods. Most recently he was in Victoria discussing with local communities how they can harness the power of the sun, wind and other renewable sources.
Last week Mr Hermansen spent a day in the Latrobe Valley meeting with residents who are concerned about how their communities will cope once the Hazelwood power station and mine close at the end of this month.
On Samso most of the wind turbines are mostly owned by locals. The island is powered by 11 onshore and 10 offshore wind power turbines, a solar plant and three straw-fired plants………..
Mr Hermansen believes Victoria is ripe with opportunities for community renewable energy generation, including the Latrobe Valley.
He suggested the Latrobe Valley could form part of a renewable energy distribution hub, capitalising on existing infrastructure and skills.
Latrobe City mayor Kellie O’Callaghan said Mr Hermansen’s visit was a “natural extension” of discussions already taking place in the community.
She agreed the Latrobe Valley already offered sound energy distribution infrastructure and expertise that could translate well into the community renewable energy projects.
Cr O’Callaghan said an “employee transition centre” set up to deal with the looming closure of Hazelwood had already included a “vision” for community-owned and operated energy generation.
“It is based in a firm belief community ownership means no longer being subject to the commercial whims of a large multinational company,” she said.
Coal mining town Collinsville vies to become Australia’s solar capital, ABC By Ben Millington, 5 Mar 17, While many of Australia’s mining regions have been hit hard by the resources sector downturn, solar is providing rays of hope for the small town of Collinsville in north Queensland.
Three hours south of Townsville, Collinsville has a proud, long history of coal mining, boasting it had the last working pit ponies in Australia — up until 1990.
But this coal-fired town is poised for a rebrand. Solar companies are vying to take advantage of the region’s 300 days a year of perfect sunshine.
In August, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency announced it would provide $9.5 million to both Edify Energy’s 70MW Whitsunday Solar Farm and RATCH Australia Corporation’s 43MW Collinsville Solar Project.
“It’s a very good place for solar because of the radiation levels in north Queensland,” he said. “For example, our site in Collinsville will produce double the amount of power than a project in the UK, and about 5 to 10 per cent more than in New South Wales or Victoria.”
Plan to pump energy into Queensland grid Another advantage in Collinsville is a decommissioned power station that sits on its outskirts. Both projects plan to utilise the infrastructure to pump energy straight into the Queensland grid.
Farmers plant paddocks in smart houses to safeguard against climate change ABC
Landline By Pip Courtney 4 Mar 17 Farmers are predicting a Canadian super house will be a game changer for Australian horticulture, giving growers control over the weather on a scale and at a cost they have never had before.
The house has climate-controlled retractable roof panels and walls which shield vulnerable crops from volatile and destructive weather, or open them up to sun and rain.
Bundaberg agronomist Jack Millbank said crop protection could now be measured in hectares rather than square metres, with the houses providing glass house type protection at nearly half the price.
“I think this is going to be a watershed in the high-value horticultural market, in that suddenly this is not a cost, it’s a necessary investment,” he said.
The structures were originally for small high-value operations like nurseries, but recent advances made them cheaper, making it feasible for larger-scale growers to cover whole paddocks or orchards.
Mr Millbank said a Cravo house turned around the financial fortunes of one of his big Bundaberg clients who was preparing to quit the region after five years of crop-destroying weather……..
While Queensland producers were the first to use the houses, growers as far south as Tasmania are now putting them up.
The new $2.5 million house will protect four hectares of cherries from frost, hail rain and humidity.
“It could nearly pay for itself in a year, certainly in two years of poor crops we could get our money back, but year on year we are going to get improved pack outs so that’s going to contribute to repaying us every year,” he said.
While it’s true that Australia’s mainstream media pretty much ignores nuclear issues at present, the exception is the Adelaide Advertiser, which seems to have a hotline to the nuclear lobby. I should mention also the Whyalla News.
It’s a different story with social media. Australia’s nuclear lobby is active on Facebook and Twitter, and fortunately, Australia’s nuclear critics are, too.
Currently, that very talented pro nuke publicist Ben Heard is leading the pack.
Heard has put in a submission to the Chief Scientist Alan Finkel’s Energy Review, in which he advocates new nuclear reactors , especially small ones:
“Nuclear technology continues to innovate, including toward smaller, simpler reactors that will be wellsuited to the Australian grid…..
Terrestrial Energy has announced its plans to licence its reactor design in the United States, for the Integral Molten Salt Reactor”
2. Heard calls himself “Bright New World”. I’m pretty sure that is an accurate description of how many
members are in that organisation:
“Bright New World is going to South Africa next week to give lectures on environmentalism, development, climate change and the crucial role of nuclear energy.”
3. On his website, Heard calls for donations. He is applying to have Bright New World become a registered charity, so that donations will be tax deductible:
“We are a registered not-for-profit organisation, governed by an independent board, and pursuing tax-deductible gift-recipient status.”
The Australian Conservation Foundation must wait to learn if its latest challenge against the controversial Adani coalmine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin has been successful.
The ACF appeared before the Federal Court in Brisbane on Friday to appeal a decision last year that gave the huge Carmichael project the green light.
But the full bench reserved its judgment after it heard submissions from the environmental group, federal Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg and Adani.
ACF barrister Saul Holt QC argued the original judge had erred when he found in favour of Mr Frydenberg and the Indian mining giant in August.
Mr Holt claimed the environment minister had not applied or misconstrued the law when he claimed if the mine didn’t go ahead, the same amount of coal could still be produced somewhere else in the world.
Mr Holt said the argument failed to address the impact the Adani mine would have on global warming and in particular, warmer water temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef.
“What someone else might do if this action doesn’t go ahead is irrelevant,” he said.
“The harm is still done by the emission of the carbon by Adani’s coal.”
However Richard Lancaster SC, representing Mr Frydenberg, said the original judge was correct when he agreed his client could only be “speculative” when it came to the impact Adani’s possible emissions would have on global warming.
Mr Lancaster said the projection that 4.64 billion tonnes of coal, or one-183rd of total worldwide emissions, could be produced by the Queensland mine was the “worst case scenario”.
Mr Lancaster said neither the original judge nor the environment minister had erred in their interpretation of the relevant acts.
The full bench of the Federal Court will hand down its decision at a later date.
It argues the electricity grid, including physical transmission networks in each state and interconnectors linking them, should instead be publicly owned.
And it says that “renationalised” grid should be responsible for maintaining a secure power supply and moving towards a zero emissions industry.
Quiggin said minor changes to the current national electricity market would not be able to resolve the “energy instability” that was holding Australia back.
“The price increases of the past decades and the series of recent breakdowns reflect systemic design flaws, exacerbated by the failure to take appropriate account of the implications of climate change,” he said in a statement on Friday.
He said some believed a publicly owned power grid was “unthinkable” but recent political upheavals were proof unthinkable ideas should not be dismissed.
“It is the only coherent response to the failure of neoliberal electricity reform, just as the establishment of a publicly owned national broadband network was the only feasible response to the failure of telecommunications reform,” he said.
The director of Flinders University’s Australian industrial transformation institute, which has released the paper, said it laid down a challenge to governments of all persuasions to create a policy in the nation’s interest.
“It is clear that the current system is unreliable and untenable,” Prof John Spoehr said. “This is a discussion we have to have, as a catalyst for genuine, nation building reform.”
Antinuclear 