EcoRadio

Category: Energy Matters

The twentieth century way of life has been made available, largely due to the miracle of cheap energy. The price of energy has been at record lows for the past century and a half.As oil becomes increasingly scarce, it is becoming obvious to everyone, that the rapid economic and industrial growth we have enjoyed for that time is not sustainable.Now, the hunt is on. For renewable sources of energy, for alternative sources of energy, for a way of life that is less dependent on cheap energy. 

  • Transport projects will happen: Keneally

    Transport projects will happen: Keneally

    AAP February 22, 2010, 2:48 pm 

     

    Kristina Keneally says NSW is working to reimburse those who lost millions over the CBD Metro.

    AAP © Enlarge photo

     

    Premier Kristina Keneally says she’ll take personal responsibility for the implementation of NSW’s new transport plan, amid scepticism about whether some projects will see the light of day.

    Ms Keneally on Sunday announced her government’s $50.2 billion Metropolitan Transport Plan, which officially scrapped the controversial CBD Metro and reinstated the northwest rail link.

    The transport blueprint contains a mixture of new and previously announced projects, and focuses mostly on western Sydney.

    Spending of $3.1 billion is earmarked for new trains, $2.9 billion for more buses, $225 million for six ferries, and a $500 million expansion of the current light rail.

    However, the 2017 start date for the Epping to Rouse Hill line – a line proposed previously by the Labor government, only to be deferred or scrapped – has some questioning whether the government’s proposals will ever eventuate.

    Asked what guarantees she could give to commuters, Ms Keneally said the plan “is a fully-funded plan that we can deliver”.

    “This is a 10-year, fully funded package,” she told reporters at Parramatta railway station on Monday.

    “It will be written into the budget. It will be written into the state infrastructure strategy.

    “Many of these projects commence this year, particularly the new trains, new buses. We start immediately on the light rail, we start immediately on the geotechnical work and the planning work for the Western Express Line.

    “The cabinet has endorsed this plan, the government has endorsed this plan, and this is our plan for Sydney.”

    Asked if she would take personal responsibility for the success or otherwise of the plan’s implementation, Ms Keneally said: “I take personal responsibility for all plans, and all services delivered by my government”.

    Ms Keneally also lashed out at NSW Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell’s reluctance to back the blueprint’s $4.5 billon Western Express CityRail service.

    On Fairfax Radio on Monday, Mr O’Farrell declined to commit to the project designed to speed up travel times to and from western Sydney.

    “”We’d want that reviewed by the experts,” he said.

    “It seems like a lot of money for a very small improvement.”

    Ms Keneally called for a bipartisan approach to the proposal.

    “We’d like him to support commuters in western Sydney,” she said.

    “This … is a big plan for western Sydney. It is so disappointing today to see the leader of the opposition refuse to back it.”

    Ms Keneally later told Fairfax Radio that the transport plan made no promises to improve the M4 East motorway, implement the M5 expansion or build a link road from the M3 to the M2.

    “What we are saying, we’re not going to promise things that we cannot fund, that we cannot afford,” Ms Keneally said.

    But the government would bring forward projects if additional funding came from either the federal government or private sector, she said.

  • Critics not sold on NSW transport plan.

    Critics not sold on NSW transport plan

    AAP February 21, 2010, 8:02 pm
     

     

    The NSW government’s new transport blueprint for Sydney dumps the much-maligned CBD metro scheme in favour of expanded light rail and bigger, swifter heavy rail links to the suburbs.

    But sceptics are already panning the 10-year plan as another Labor promise that won’t grow legs.

    Following a specially convened cabinet meeting on Sunday, Premier Kristina Keneally announced the $50.2 billion Metropolitan Transport Plan, which officially scraps the controversial CBD Metro and revives the northwest rail link.

    But commuters will still have a long wait for the Epping to Rouse Hill line, with works not due to start until 2017 – almost 10 years after the plan was first announced.

    0

    Ms Keneally also revealed taxpayers would foot the bill for compensation payments to disgruntled tenderers for the shelved metro plan.

    She would not disclose how many millions of dollars had been squandered on the project but said private contractors left out of pocket would be compensated.

    “We will reimburse all reasonable costs for the CBD (metro),” Ms Keneally told reporters in Sydney.

    Opposition Leader Barry O’Farrell said the bill should be sent to Labor’s head office, not the people of NSW.

    The transport blueprint contains a mixture of new and previously announced projects, and focuses mostly on western Sydney. Of the projected $50.2 billion in spending, more than $7 billion is for new or expanded transport infrastructure and services.

    Spending of $3.1 billion is earmarked for new trains, $2.9 billion for more buses, $225 million for six ferries, and a $500 million expansion of the current light rail through the inner west.

    Ms Keneally said the existing light rail line to Lilyfield would be extended to Dulwich Hill, and 4.1km of track would be laid between Circular Quay, Barangaroo and Haymarket.

    Express train services will be introduced to serve the Blue Mountains, Richmond, Penrith, Blacktown and Parramatta.

    NSW motorists will fork out up to $30 a year in extra registration fees to help pay for the upgrade, according to Treasurer Eric Roozendaal.

    The weight tax for motor vehicles would increase to “a little less than” 60 cents a week, he said.

    The rest of the funding will come from whatever’s left from the $5 billion allocation for the CBD metro project as well as budget funds.

    Ms Keneally fronted a throng of journalists to deliver her announcement, calling the plan a response “to the challenges of Sydney’s growing population”.

    But critics said the NSW public was weary of broken promises and had reason to suspect the new plan was a stunt ahead of the looming election.

    Action for Public Transport spokesman Jim Donovan said the public had zero confidence in Labor’s transport promises, saying he remembered hearing similar things from the Iemma and Rees governments.

    “They are good projects, better than some of these metro ideas were,” he said, referring to the new blueprint.

    “I am disappointed it’s so long until the northwest rail link will be running, and the trouble is, even if it’s built by 2025 there is no indication that it is going to connect to the city properly.”

    He described the blueprint as a “stunt”, adding: “They are trying to win a few more votes for the election next year.”

    NSW Greens MP Lee Rhiannon agreed there was deep cynicism among the public.

    The Sydney Business Chamber said Labor would have difficulty convincing people it would deliver on long-term infrastructure projects.

    “Unfortunately the government has been its own worst enemy in delivering its transport initiatives,” chamber executive director Patricia Forsythe said in a statement.

    “Over a decade the government has released nine transport plans, blueprints, reports or statements totalling more than $100 billion in projects that have never seen the light of day or have been severely curtailed or delayed.”

    Urban Taskforce Australia, an organisation representing large property developers and financiers, said it supported the plan, but it called for an increase in new housing approvals to accompany the proposed transport projects.

    Public submissions can be lodged at www.shapeyourstate.nsw.gov.au.

  • Bullying tactics used in push to industrialise the kimberly

     

    The Commonwealth and WA State governments are trying to threaten and bully reluctant oil and gas companies, Traditional Owners and the local Broome community to accept the Kimberly gas hub proposal.
     
    In the latest development (9th Feb 2010) the Woodside joint venture partners BP, Shell, Chevron and
    BHP have responded to a deadline on gas lease renewals set by Mr Ferguson. These companies have been forced to agree to an initial investment in the James Price Point location, though a final investment decision is still a long way off.

    Mr Ferguson’s deadline was designed to preempt:

    • The State and Commonwealth environmental assessment process,
    • The Federal government’s own heritage listing and marine protection processes,
    • Indigenous consent processes

    As we have seen with the Tasmanian pulpmill fiasco, when government ministers intervene to pre-empt and fast-track decision making processes, every one loses – including big corporations!

    Other examples of bullying tactics include the WA State Premier Colin Barnett’s threat of compulsory land acquisition if Traditional Owners do not agree and the dismantling of the consultative site selection process set up under the former government.

    The Wilderness Society will continue to build on the large and growing movement opposing this reckless proposal and investigate all options, including legal challenges, to make sure that the Kimberley is protected from inappropriate and unsustainable development

  • Electricity sale grinds to a halt

     

    The delay of the sale is a further embarrassment for the government, which is already facing flak over several delayed and dumped transport projects.

    This morning the Herald revealed that a metro underground rail system for Sydney was doomed, with the construction start date, which was due for this year, to be pushed well back when Premier Kristina Keneally releases her Land Use and Transport Plan on Sunday.

    The move to delay the sale comes against the backdrop of continued uncertainty over the likely impact of the federal government’s emissions trading scheme, coupled with speculation that banks remain unwilling to lend to companies planning to bid for generator output, under the so-called gentrader model of the sale process.

    The opposition’s energy spokesman Duncan Gay said: “The State Labor Government’s credibility has been shot to pieces with yet another failed transaction.

    “The process is flawed, the timing is wrong, it’s time the Government admits it’s dead and gave it the last rites.

    “It’s a case of another project, another failure for this incompetent Government.”

  • Solar panels put homes at risk of fire: Clean Energy Council

     

    The Renewable Energy Systems Committee wants an audit of the scheme and more inspections undertaken.

    Committee spokesman Ted Spooner says there are “very, very limited inspections” being made to ensure the panels meet national standards.

    “When you have very poor quality controlling modules you can end up with fractures in joints … that can lead … to fires,” he told ABC Television last night.

    The Environment Department is reportedly discussing whether an audit is needed.

    Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt wants Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to order an Auditor-General’s inquiry into both the solar and deadly home insulation schemes.

    “These [programs] … have all been riddled by mismanagement,” he told ABC Radio.

    “There are homeowners who are at risk.”

    AAP

  • Metro is doomed as start delayed

     

    The Herald last week published the results of an independent inquiry that recommended the government dump the metros and focus instead on new heavy and light rail projects.

    In recent weeks the government had settled on planning for the construction of an $8 million to $10 million Western Metro, which would travel from Westmead to Pyrmont, to replace the proposal to build the $5.3 billion CBD Metro from Central Station to Rozelle.

    Cabinet sources say while the Transport Minister, David Campbell, is pushing hard for the go-ahead for the Western Metro as soon as possible, Mr Roozendaal and Treasury are blocking it and are likely to succeed.

    Meetings between senior ministers and high-level officials continued through most of yesterday and into the evening.

    ”It is a constant battle against Treasury,” said a senior cabinet source.

    The metro proposal has been rocked by the Herald’s transport blueprint in which rail supremo Ron Christie recommended construction should not begin until 2020. Mr Christie said the government instead should start work immediately on lines between Epping and Rouse Hill, in the north-west, and Glenfield and Leppington, in the south-west. Mr Christie also said work must start on a $2 billion Epping to Parramatta rail line, which would connect with an existing line south to Liverpool.

    The deferral of the project leaves large question marks over what the Premier, Kristina Keneally, will announce in her Land Use and Transport Plan.

    Light rail for the CBD has been mooted, and the government is understood to have ruled out any plan to reinstate a north-west rail link.

    The executive director of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Brendan Lyon, said industry had spent $50 million to $60 million so far in the tender process for the metro and there would be compensation claims if the project were scrapped.

    He said the tender costs did not ”include the costs of having those people there on that project when there was an opportunity to have those people doing something else”.

    The opposition’s spokeswoman on transport, Gladys Berejiklian, said the metros were doomed if the Coalition won.

    ”We want to reassure the community – if we do win the next election, our absolute priorities will be to construct the north-west and south-west rail links.”