The Australian Financial Review, 26/2/2007, p. 5
Source: Erisk Net
Category: Archive
Archived material from historical editions of The Generator
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Devastated system dying of thirst
James Woodford
March 7, 2007THE Darling River’s flow has been halved by evaporation, government reservoirs, hillside dams on farms and huge private irrigation storages. The river is being devastated by over-extraction, The State of the Darling report for the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, has found.
For a clear discussion on why the Darling River is in such dire straights, go to The Sydney Morning Herald Online for their full report.
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Law suit filed to protect polar bears from oil exploration and global warming
The Center for Biological Diversity, Pacific Environment and Earthjustice filed suit on Feb. 13 challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approval of oil and gas drilling in the Beaufort Sea and adjacent coastal plains.
The agency violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by refusing to examine how oil and gas activities interact with global warming to threaten polar bears and walrus.
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New law sets Timor oil in motion
Woodside is set to resume work on the Greater Sunrise gas development in the Timor Sea after the federal government yesterday introduced legislation to ratify agreements with East Timor, reported The Australian (1/3/2007, p.24).
East Timor parliament approval: The Government’s move follows the ratification by the East Timor parliament earlier this month of the treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea and the International Unitisation Agreement covering the two Sunrise reservoirs about 450km north of Darwin.
Woodside seeks East Timor LNG facilities: Woodside also has to convince East Timor a LNG development using Greater Sunrise gas in Darwin is better for the emerging country than locating LNG processing facilities within its national boundaries.
Big step toward petroleum development in East Timor: Federal Resources Minister lan Macfarlane said yesterday the passing of the legislation by the House of Representatives was an important step towards further petroleum development in East Timor. He looked forward to the day when Australia and East Timor could announce the commencemerit of petroleum production from Greater Sunrise.
Greater Sunrise to compete with Browse Basin LNG? Woodside chief executive Don Voelte has argued Greater Sunrise could compete with proposed Browse Basin LNG developments in securing export LNG orders.
The Australian, 1/3/2007, p. 24
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Energy Agency argues for clean coal
Some argue that the solution is nuclear, a cost-effective way of producing electricity without any CO2 emissions. But the nuclear alternative faces a major hurdle in that people remain unconvinced about long-term, safe solutions for disposal and management of nuclear waste, according to Claude Mandil, director of the International Energy Agency, in The Australian Financial Review (1/3/2007, p.14).
Nuclear path can’t be only solution: The nuclear avenue is cost-effective only when producing electricity, and even if waste issues were solved, the nuclear path could not be the only solution.
Coal’s CO2 problems: Some argue that fossil fuels, and in particular coal, could solve the problem. True, coal is inexpensive and widely distributed. But its use emits enormous amounts of CO2.
CO2 dump idea "seems promising": However, a new technological avenue seems promising: capturing CO2 in the stacks of large coal users and storing it in deep geological layers. Australia is playing a leading role in demonstrating the viability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and in overcoming the many technical challenges that remain.
CO2 dumps only feasible in limited areas: Still, even its strongest proponents acknowledge CCS is feasible only with concentrated uses of fossil fuels, not when the use is scattered among individual consumers such as in transportation.
APEC meeting crucial for energy policy: The APEC energy ministers’ meeting is of great importance as the role governments have to play in achieving such a truly sustainable energy system will be crucial. They have to let market mechanisms work but they have to supplement market mechanisms when they do not work.
Possible policies: This may involve funding research and development, using norms and standards when consumers do not receive the price signals, ensuring that the investment climate is appropriate and explaining to citizens, who would like energy availability but dislike energy production facilities, that it is not possible to have the first without having the second.
The Australian Financial Review, 1/3/2007, p. 14
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UN chief warns on climate change
Speaking to schoolchildren at a UN conference in New York, Mr Ban said his generation had been "somewhat careless" with the planet but that he was hopeful that that was changing.
"The majority of the United Nations’ work still focuses on preventing and ending conflict," he said.
"But the danger posed by war to all of humanity and to our planet is at least matched by the climate crisis and global warming."
Last month, a panel of scientists organised by the UN published a report showing that human activity was "very likely" to be causing climate change, and predicted rises in temperatures and sea levels.
US role
Mr Ban warned that poor people living in Africa and small island states would suffer most from the effects of global warming, even though they were least responsible.
And in future years, the upheaval caused by environmental changes such as droughts and coastal flooding was likely to drive conflicts, he pointed out.
He said the world needed a more coherent system of international environmental governance in order to tackle global warming beyond the expiry of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.
"I hope that the United States, while they have taken their role in innovative technologies as well as promoting cleaner energies, will also take the lead in this very important and urgent issue," he added.
The US, which produces a quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, is not a signatory to Kyoto.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/in_depth/6410305.stm