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Archived material from historical editions of The Generator

  • Traditional owner says waste dump will claim landowner’s soul

    The NLC’s chief executive, Norman Fry, says that money is vital for people in an area that he says has been neglected by the Territory Government.

    "The Territory Government has played politics with this," he said.

    "Really it should have got on board a long time ago because most uranium mining in Australia is going to take place here in the Northern Territory."

    ‘Division’

    But a traditional owner of another site under consideration for a nuclear waste dump has questioned whether all residents of Muckaty Station agree with the nomination.

    Kathleen Martin from Mount Everard, north-west of Alice Springs, says there was some division over the proposal in the community.

    "I’m asking, was that in agreeance with everybody on Muckaty?" she said

    "Because the message that came down a couple of weeks ago was that the older people – the older men – had told some of the people there, you sell the land, you sell your soul."

    Natalie Wasley from the Arid Lands Environement Centre, who has been campaigning against all of the sites proposed, says many of the traditional owners do not support the proposal.

    "I’ve spoken with a Ngapa elder this morning, Bindi Martin from the Muckaty area, and he said he still has strong opposition to the dump proposal," she said.

    "I believe this is a view held by other elders as well.

    "I think the Science Minister Julie Bishop will have a hard time showing that there is consent within the Ngapa group let alone the whole Muckaty community for this nomination for the waste dump."

    The Northern Land Council says it has all 70 traditional owners’ support.

  • Geothermal contracts signed in US

    The PPA is subject to the approval of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and is projected to come on line in late 2010.

    This new plant is expected to increase the total output supplied from Ormat to Sierra Pacific Resources by between 18 and 30 megawatts (MW).

    This agreement is the thirteenth PPA between Ormat and Sierra Pacific Resources, and the seventh executed since the enactment of Nevada’s aggressive renewable portfolio standard (RPS) legislation in 2001. The RPS legislation requires 15 percent of all electricity generated in Nevada to be derived from new renewable energy sources by the end of 2012.

    Three power plants are already in commercial operation and sell electricity under these new PPAs and a fourth power plant is expected to declare commercial operation by the beginning of 2008. These new PPAs will help Sierra Pacific meet the upcoming commitment that requires 12% of energy from renewable sources by the end of 2009.

  • NSW Govt reserving water for power

    ABC Online

    The New South Wales Premier, Morris Iemma, has quarantined 40 gigalitres of water to protect the state’s power generation.

     

    Mr Iemma says long term projections show that supply for generating power capacity is fine till 2008, but could be under pressure by 2009.

    He says he has decided to quarantine 40-billion-litres of water in a strategic reserve in case the worst happens.

    Mr Iemma says the National Energy Ministers Meeting in Melbourne will be briefed on the plan today.

    "There’s no immediate threat to power supplies – but we do need to take necessary steps to protect our future supplies," he said.

    The water is being held in the Glenbawn dam in the Upper Hunter, and will be diverted to power stations if the drought continues.

    © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

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  • Rolling two-hour power blackouts on agenda for Canberra

    Rolling two-hour power blackouts will sweep across the city under an emergency plan drawn up by ActewAGL, reported The Canberra Times (23/5/2007, p.1). The company had a hit list of suburbs that would be the first to be cut off.

    Not enough power: "If there’s not enough power to go around, there’s not enough power to go around," the chief executive of ActewACL, John Mackay, said yesterday. "Canberra has never in its history faced power shortages as a result of not enough electricity … [but] it can happen. It happens all over the world." ActewAGL was also reconsidering building a gas-fired power station at Hume. The general manager of networks with ActewAGL, Michael Charlton, said the rolling electricity blackouts could be introduced this summer, but not before.

    Emergency help: CharIton said if power blackouts were activated in Canberra, emergency services would be on stand-by to help the elderly and infirm cope without electricity in the summer heat. Hospitals would be the last to have their power cut.

    Drought problems: Water levels in Snowy storages were about 8 per cent of active capacity, according to Snowy Hydro. That’s the lowest level since the scheme opened in 1973. The drought has also hit Australia’s coal-fired power stations, which provide base-load power to the ACT. They need water to make steam to generate clectricity. Power stations in NSW, Queensland and Victoria have been affected by the drought. CharIton said it would be NEMMCO’s call to cut power. ActewAGL would simply follow orders. Charlton said he "sincerely hoped" the plan never had to be activated.

    Voluntary cuts an option: One way around the blackouts was if Canberrans could reduce their power use voluntarily. People might be asked to turn off their air-conditioning and lights in summer, including at work, he said. Mackay said with electricity supply dwindling, ActewAGL was taking a fresh look at the long-running proposal for a gas-fired power station for the ACT. "That is front of mind for us, I’m working on it at the moment." He said a gas-fired power station could be built at Hume "in the forsecable future".

    The Canberra Times, 23/5/2007, p. 1

  • No deal: Schwarzenegger rejects BHP Billiton

    Arnold SchwarzeneggerCalifornian Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has rejected BHP Billiton’s proposal to build a gas terminal off the coast of picturesque, starstudded Malibu to supply the state with Australian gas, according to Nigel Wilson and David Nason in The Australian (21/5/2007, p1).

    Environmental concerns dog application: The $1 billion project had already been undermined by environmental concerns. But it could have been approved by Schwarzenegger, who in 2004 was personally lobbied by the Prime Minister and BHP chairman Don Argus.

    Stars campaign: His decision was a triumph for the hardcore group of Malibu celebrities, led by former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and including Australian expatriate Olivia Newton-John, who campaigned against the project. Their numbers included Cindy Crawford, Daryl Harmah, Tea Leora, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke, Cher, Jamic Lee Curtis, Danny DeVito, Tom Hanks, Martin Sheen and Charlize Theron.

    Media focus on 14-storey, 295m-long LNG terminal: And their star power helped galvanise media coverage for a grassroots opposition movement and increased the pressure on Californian authorities to reject the BHP plan, which involved a 14-storey, 295m-long LNG terminal 22km off the Malibu coast.

    Australian LNG export plans stall: Halting Cabrillo Port puts a question mark over the timetable for Australian liquefied natural gas to be imported directly into the US, which is rapidly running short of gas. BHP hoped to ship the LNG in supertankers from gas fields off the West Australian coast, convert it back to gas at the offshore terminal and pipe it to the Californian mainland.

    The Australian, 21/5/2007, p1.

    Source: Erisk Net

     

     

  • Environmentalists fight back at BHP

    Environmentalists fight back: BHP Cabrillo Port LNG terminal in US assailed as “part of a globalised assault taking place on our earth”
    Under US federal law, the Governor’s rejection was final, meaning BHP cannot receive the necessary federal permit in California. But Arnold Schwarzenegger left open the door for other applicants, including Woodside, saying LNG must play a role in meeting California’s energy needs, reported The Australian (21/5/2007, p.4).

    Schwarzenegger backs LNG: Releasing his decision, he said California needed to diversify fuel sources for consumers with cleaner alternatives such as LNG. Despite a huge lobbying exercise by BHP Billiton in California, estimated to have cost more than $US2 million ($2.4 million), the project continually ran into opposition, culminating in the California Coastal Commission and State Lands Commission both turning the proposal down last month, mainly because it failed to meet emissions standards.

    BHP plan tarred as "globalised assault": At one protest rally, Hollywood actor Brosnan described Cabrillo Port as “part of a globalised assault taking place on our earth”. A petition signed by Newton-John said: “This floating LNG terminal will emit more than 200 tons of smog-producing pollutants per year in an area long known for high occurrences of asthma in both children and adults.”

    Woodside says its case is different: Woodside has proposed a terminal off the coast of California that would sink to the ocean floor when not in use. A Woodside spokesman said on 20 May its concept did not have the emissions issues that had affected Cabrillo Port and the project was progressing through the US regulatory authorities.

    The Australian, 21/5/2007, p.4

    Source: Erisk Net