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The greenhouse gas emissions of Australia’s livestock this year will have a bigger impact on the global climate over the next 20 years than all of the greenhouse emissions from our coal-fired power stations, according to The Advertiser (23/5/2007, p.7).

Animal Liberation assertion: This fact was revealed to the audience at the Conservation Council of South Australia conference by Geoff Russell from Animal Liberation on 20 May. It was backed by scientific data and endorsed by University of Adelaide Professor of Climate Change and Sustainability, Barry Brook.

Methane more potent than carbon dioxide: Figures from the Australian Greenhouse Office indicate Australia’s cattle produce about three million tonnes of methane each year. But methane was a more potent global warmer than carbon dioxide (CO2) in the short term. “The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculates the relative potency of methane to C02 is 72 over a 20-year period," he said.

Time to reduce methane emissions: All our coal fired power stations together produce about 180 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, but the methane production by cattle and sheep is equivalent to 216 million tonnes (3 x 72), he said. “None of which means we don’t have to worry about carbon dioxide, we must reduce carbon dioxide emissions, but while this is happening we must reduce methane to stabilise temperatures while we wait for the effects of any carbon dioxide reductions to kick in."

Academic endorsement: Brook said Russell’s argument was very well-researched. “If you want to do something immediately to reduce our emissions impact, targeting methane is one way to do it," Brook said.

The Advertiser, 23/5/2007, p.7

A report commissioned by the Victorian Government anticipated that the strain of population growth on the power system was likely to result in brownouts, blackouts, system failures and increased water shortages, according to The Sydney Morning Herald(19/5/2007, p. 4).

CSIRO predicts rough times ahead: The report was prepared by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in conjunction with the consultant Maunsell Australia and the law firm Phillips Fox. It highlighted the existing market concerns and soaring futures prices, warning "The strain on the [power] system as the population grows and more people install air-conditioners could result in brownouts or blackouts and system failures."

The water crisis: The report also expected that water shortages experienced by Snowy Hydro and coal-fired plants in Victoria’s La Trobe Valley were likely to worsen. Three Victorian coal-fired power stations, Loy Yang A, Loy Yang B and Yallourn W, were already receiving an annual water entitlement from the Government equivalent to 20 per cent of Melbourne’s entire annual water use. The extreme water shortages had forced them to buy additional water elsewhere to maintain capacity. Queensland had also been severely affected by water shortages. On 16 May 2007, Rio Tinto announced that it was cutting 160 jobs at its Tarong coalmine due to a water shortage which had forced Tarong Energy to reduce power generation by 70 per cent.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 19/5/2007, p. 4 Erisk.net

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

Californian 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

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

About 13,000 and 18,000 years ago, carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere in two giant belches that drove concentrations of the greenhouse gas from 180 to 265 parts per million, a level that held relatively steady until the industrial revolution. In a report published in the journal Science, researchers said they had found the answer in a sample of sediment drilled in the Pacific ocean.

• The researchers first correlated the bands of sediment in the core drilled off Baja California, Mexico, with the Greenland ice cores. Embedded in the 15-metre-long Baja core were shells left by micro-organisms;

•  The researchers analysed the shells to determine the ratio of two isotopes, carbon-12 and carbon-14. Carbon-14 is produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere. Thus, so-called "old water" that stays deep in the oceans for thousands of years contains relatively little carbon-14 and lots of carbon-12;

•  The researchers found two periods stood out for their low carbon-14 levels. This meant water was barely circulating to the surface: carbon from decaying organic material was accumulating in the deep. However, the old water eventually rose to the surface, releasing its carbon dioxide in an enormous burp – and each of these gas releases was recorded in the Greenland ice cores. The burps injected 640 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when the Earth was already emerging from an ice age. What started the warming is unknown, but scientists said the release of the gas accelerated it. Over a 10,000-year span, global temperatures rose by more than 14 degrees.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 12/5/2007, p. 15