30 July 2015, The Guardian, Queensland solar farm faces legal challenge from sugar cane proponents: Planning minister, Jackie Trad, considers using ‘call-in’ power that would give her final approval which could not be challenged. The Queensland government is considering stepping in to head off a legal challenge to one of Australia’s largest planned solar farms in the state’s northern sugar belt. The Spanish renewable energy developer FRV has approval from the local council and a deal with a cane farmer to build a 130-megawatt facility on his property in Clare, where the company says there is some of the most powerful sunlight in the country. But a local cane harvester and sugar mill oppose the plan on the grounds it will take up “good quality agricultural land” in conflict with the state’s planning policy. The prospect that the project could become tied up in a planning court case led FRV and Burdekin shire council to ask the deputy premier and planning minister, Jackie Trad, to “call in” the development. This week Trad announced she would consider a “call in”, giving her the final decision on the project which would then be immune to legal challenge. It came after the energy minister, Mark Bailey, vowed last week to match federal Labor’s commitment to achieving 50% renewable sources for Queensland’s power network by 2030. Read More here
Category Archives: Fossil Fuel Reduction
29 July 2015, The Guardian, Tony Abbott wrong on coal being ‘good for humanity’, Oxfam report finds: Report says Australia must embrace renewables and coal exacts an ‘enormous toll’ on health, drives climate change and is ineffective in delivering electricity to world’s poor. Tony Abbott is mistaken in claiming coal is “good for humanity”, with the fossil fuel causing numerous health problems and ineffective in delivering electricity to the world’s poor compared with renewables, a new Oxfam report has found. The Powering Up Against Poverty study argues the Australian government’s continued embrace of coal exports is out of step with an international shift towards clean energy and would do little to help the one in seven of the world’s population who do not have electricity to light their homes or cook food. Abbott has said coal, a major export commodity for Australia, is the “foundation of prosperity” for the foreseeable future. The prime minister, along with the mining industry, has said the fossil fuel will raise living standards in developing countries while bolstering Australia’s economy. Read More here
27 July 2015, The Guardian, Malcolm Turnbull undermines Abbott’s ‘electricity tax scam’ claim over ETS,. As the PM ramps up attack on Labor’s promised emissions trading scheme, the communications minister admits all emission reduction policies come at a cost: Malcolm Turnbull has cut through the slogans and semantics dominating the climate policy debate – pointing out that all policies to push low-emission electricity generation come at a cost to households, including the ones the government supports, and that the cost of renewables is falling. Tony Abbott on Monday unveiled a new three-word slogan to attack Labor’s promised emissions trading scheme – saying it was an “electricity tax scam”. The prime minister also labelled Labor’s promise to source 50% of electricity from renewables by 2030 “bizarre” and “unnecessary”, said it would cause “a massive overbuild in windfarms” and claimed it could cost “$60bn or more”. At his party’s national conference over the weekend, Labor leader Bill Shorten said Labor’s promised ETS was not a tax because it would have a floating price and would not begin with the fixed price like the former government’s scheme. “Let me say this to our opponents, in words of one syllable: an ETS is not a tax,” he said. Read More here
26 July 2015, DeSmog, Senators Call For End To Arctic Drilling As Shell Gets Permits To Begin Work In Chukchi Sea: Shell received the final permits it needed to begin drilling exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea last Wednesday, but a group of Senators led by Oregon’s Jeff Merkley is calling for a ban on Arctic drilling altogether. According to the Associated Press, the permits are somewhat conditional: In granting the company the green light, the Department of the Interior said Shell can only drill the top sections of wells, or to about a depth of 1,300 feet, because critical emergency response gear, including a well-capping device in the event of a blowout or leak, will not be present for the foreseeable future. The capping stack and other emergency gear is on board the MSV Fennica, which is in Portland, Oregon for repairs after Shell opted to send the ship out of Dutch Harbor, Alaska on July 3 via a shallow and evidently treacherous route, choosing speed over safety. The Fennica is an icebreaker — a ship literally designed to break through ice, one of two such ships in Shell’s Arctic fleet meant to protect its drill rigs from unsafe ice conditions. But the Fennica somehow suffered a gash in its hull more than 3 feet long before even leaving the harbor and was forced to head immediately back to port. There is no word on how long the repairs will take. When the capping stack is available to be deployed within 24 hours, aDOI spokesperson told the Associated Press, Shell can apply for an amended permit that would allow the company to drill deeper. That is cold comfort to critics of Shell’s Arctic drilling plans, who have repeatedly pointed out that the remote Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea, where the company plans to drill, will make cleanup of any spill extremely difficult even if Shell has all of its emergency gear on hand. An oil spill would be devastating, environmentalists argue, but any drilling activities are likely to be incredibly disruptive in the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Read More here