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© 2006 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Biggest Latrobe project in 25 years: The joint venture with Shell Gas and Power was the largest proposed resource project in the Latrobe Valley for about 25 years and will involve development of technology to capture and store underground carbon dioxide produced during the refining process.

10pc national daily fuel demand: Shell executive vice-president Peter de Wit said successful development of the agreed technologies would result in the project coming on line in the second half of the next decade. Upon completion, the plant was forecast to produce some’ 60,000 barrels a day of ultra-clean synthetic diesel fuel, equivalent to about 10 per cent of the nation’s daily fuel needs.

First commercial brown coal CO2 dump project: Victorian Mining Minister Theo Theophanous said it was the first major project in the Latrobe Valley, which has 500 years of brown coal reserves, that does not have power generation as its centrepiece and the first to propose commercial scale carbon capture and storage (CCS, CO2 dumps) of the emissions from brown coal.

Funds due by 2013: Monash Energy, a division of Anglo American, and the State Government have agreed to a series of milestones, such as commissioning a demonstration project by 2011 and commitment of funds to developing the commercial project by 2013, including CCS.

Vic carbon dump 20-30 years away: Theophanous said: "Without this project a commercial-sized CCS development in Victoria could be two or three decades away. It has been estimated that CCS could account for 25 per cent of abatement of the world’s carbon dioxide in the future."

The Australian Financial Review, 22/9/2006, p. 5

Industry abandons script: This was not what the Howard government wanted to hear. It had held up the idea of carbon capture – or storing greenhouse gases deep underground – as one of its great hopes for combating climate change without hurting Australia’s coal-hungry economy. But Prime Minister John Howard had also refused to countenance any kind of greenhouse emissions trading system.

Electricity price would double: Over and again the committee heard that carbon capture – also called geosequestration – was a hugely promising technology. But it would cost a lot. Installing it at existing power stations would double the cost of electricity, according to CSIRO’s evidence to the inquiry. Even after 15 or 20 years perfecting it, geosequestration would still push the cost of electricity up by 30 per cent, CSIRO said.

Industry baulks at cost:Industry was telling the government that it would not bear this cost unless it had to. So either the government paid much of the enormous cost of installing carbon capture technology through tax concessions or direct funding, or it put a price on carbon emissions so there was an economic incentive for industry to make the investment slowly.

Santos sees no incentive: Oil and gas company Santos put it this way: “A viable carbon emission abatement trading system with a carbon dioxide price signal does not currently exist in Australia, hence there is no economic incentive to consider geosequestration as a long-term business proposition.”

Emissions trade is the only way:The Energy Supply Association of Australia – representing 46 electricity and gas CE0s – said much the same. Even the Australian Coal Association said carbon capture would only happen when there was an emissions trading scheme so that electricity generators could recoup their investment. “There needs to be a market signal that puts a price on carbon,” said Stanwell Corp’s acting chief executive, Gary Humphrys.

The Australian Financial Review, 16/9/2006, p. 26

Sept temps already 2ºC up: The September temperature was already 2C above the normal maximum average of 20C, De Salis expects this trend to continue, with the temperature at least 1C above the month’s average during 0ctober, November and December.

August rainfall driest since 1900: The outlook comes on the back of a month with less-than-average rainfall: August was the driest period on record since 1900, the result of rain deficiencies and record-low falls. During the past year, the towns of Bellbrook (Kempsey Shire), Byrock (Bourke Shire) and Carters Opal Fields (Walgett Shire) have had to cart water. And there are 11 schemes that, in the absence of rainfall, may need to commence water carting, including Nimmitabel – a community that is reliant on rainwater tanks.

Water thieves steal 6000L from school: The crisis was highlighted this week with the spotlight on Nimmitabel Public School, where water was stolen from children. Pupils were left without water after thieves pumped dry the school’s only supply, a 6000-litre tank. Police in the Snowy Mountains town of 260 people, about 450km south of Sydney, believe a small truck came through the school gates and backed up to the tank to cart the water away over two nights.

The Daily Telegraph, 23/9/2006, p. 68