tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post8037331274516505774..comments2024-03-25T17:14:57.213+08:00Comments on Hands off Country: Barnett to oppose Browse Basin lease changesRed Handhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147253130448944470noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-51479197913140299732013-11-20T23:13:13.691+08:002013-11-20T23:13:13.691+08:00How Can I Find Truck Finance, Isuzu Lease, Truck L...How Can I Find Truck Finance, Isuzu Lease, Truck Lease and <a href="http://www.discount-leasing.com.au/operating-lease/" rel="nofollow">Operating Lease</a> PerthOperating Leasehttp://www.discount-leasing.com.au/operating-lease/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-23724276562509999692013-07-19T08:54:40.141+08:002013-07-19T08:54:40.141+08:00Looking at some of Burkes deeply flawed decisions ...Looking at some of Burkes deeply flawed decisions you would have to wonder just how much this means.<br /><br /><br />Federal Labor keeps final say on environmental approvals<br /><br />The Federal Government says it has no plans to give the states greater control over the environmental approvals process.<br /><br />That puts it at odds with big business, which has been pushing for a major overhaul of a system it says is costing projects and jobs, particularly in mining.<br /><br />Under the current system, resource projects that may affect areas of national significance need to secure State, then Federal, environmental approval.<br /><br />It's often criticised as 'green tape', and industry says it's an unwieldy, lengthy and costly system that's holding up investment. <br /><br />Business and governments had been negotiating a more streamlined process to give states governments the final say.<br /><br />But on the campaign trail in Queensland yesterday, Federal Environment Minister Mark Butler made it clear that's no longer on the table.<br /><br />He says the Federal Government will retain the power of veto over projects if it doesn't consider them environmentally sound.<br /><br />"We were more than open to discuss ways that we could streamline the assessment processes for business and environmental stakeholders.<br /><br />"But at the end of the day, the Commonwealth still has legal obligations to ensure the protection of matters of national environmental significance."<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-24177457272474201672013-07-19T08:52:37.960+08:002013-07-19T08:52:37.960+08:00Environmentalists appeal NSW coal mines
Environme...Environmentalists appeal NSW coal mines<br /><br />Environmentalists will appeal in the federal court against plans for two Whitehaven Coal mines in northwest NSW, claiming they will "rip the heart out" of the farming industry.<br /><br />Whitehaven received approvals from the federal government in February to begin construction at the Maules Creek coal mine, near Narrabri, and the neighbouring Idemitsu Boggabri coal mine.<br /><br />The Northern Inland Council for the Environment announced on Friday it would challenge the approvals because of the "dodgy process by which they were approved and the devastating impacts they will have".<br /><br />"The decision to approve these highly controversial mines was made in haste, after documents were leaked and on the basis of potentially false or misleading information," the group's spokesman Phil Spark said.<br /><br />"The mines together will clear almost 1500 hectares of the Box-Gum critically endangered ecosystem - one of the most threatened ecosystems in Australia.<br /><br />"Vast areas of forest that provides habitat for native plants and animals, including the koala, will be bulldozed and converted into an open-cut coal pit.<br /><br />Peter Watson, whose farm adjoins the mines, said the proposals would have a devastating impact on his business.<br /><br />"If these mines proceed, they will rip the heart out of our local farming community of Maules Creek," he said.<br /><br />"The mines will lead to a major drop in our groundwater and will dump dangerous coal dust on our farms and families."<br /><br />Pepe Clarke, CEO of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, said there had been serious failures in the environmental approval processes.<br /><br />"These mines should never have been approved, and local residents should not be forced to resort to court action to ensure that our federal environmental laws are applied properly."<br /><br />He said the federal government approved the mines without properly assessing the offset areas proposed as compensation for destroying thousands of hectares of publicly-owned native forest.<br /><br />Mr Clarke also questioned how the project could proceed when an investigation was still under way into whether Whitehaven had provided false or misleading information to obtain approval.<br />Comment has been sought from Whitehaven.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-51089619584035550262013-07-19T08:51:17.980+08:002013-07-19T08:51:17.980+08:00If this is the case and the premier is going to ch...If this is the case and the premier is going to change his mind then the CA for JPP is a waste of time and taxpayers money.The word around town is that Woodside are leaving Broome and there will be no supply base at JPP and possibly we have missed out at the wharf too.Can anyone else confirm this?<br /><br />Gray backs Browse offshore push<br /><br />18 Jul, 8:12 AM<br />Industries<br />Resources and Energy<br /><br />Federal Resources Minister Gary Gray has backed a push by Woodside Ltd's Browse Basin gas project to process the liquefied natural gas offshore, The Australian Financial Review reports.<br /><br />"My interest as the Commonwealth Minister for Resources has to be in the Kimberley coast’s interests, WA interests and also the national interests, and we must ensure the development of that resource in a timely fashion," Mr Gray told the newspaper.<br /><br />Western Australian premier Colin Barnett has previously stated his opposition to the change, preferring an onshore processing facility.<br /><br />According to the AFR, Mr Gray said he understood Mr Barnett's opposition, but indicated he thought THE PREMIER WOULD CHANGE HIS MIND.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-85787607414201247422013-07-17T09:03:18.316+08:002013-07-17T09:03:18.316+08:00Controversial Tas mine rejected in court
Environm...Controversial Tas mine rejected in court<br /><br />Environmentalists have won a legal bid to overturn approval of a controversial mine in Tasmania's Tarkine region.<br /><br />Save the Tarkine last year challenged then environment minster Tony Burke's decision to allow Shree Minerals to develop an iron ore mine near Nelson Bay River, in the state's northwest.<br /><br />The Federal Court on Wednesday overturned the approval.<br />Save the Tarkine argued Mr Burke failed to take due consideration of the effect of the development on the local Tasmanian devil population.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-49387960712694878862013-07-16T12:44:48.849+08:002013-07-16T12:44:48.849+08:00"Cheap Production
ICF International, an ind..."Cheap Production <br /><br />ICF International, an industry consultant, estimated in a report that the U.S. and Canada have 1,500 trillion cubic feet of gas that can be developed at a cost of $5 or less per million Btu. That includes about 800 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, ICF said."<br /><br /><br />THE WORDS BURU AND NEW STANDARD WOULD NOT LIKE AT ALL...."....developed at a cost of $5 or less per million Btu."<br /><br /><br />Buru and others have said they could make money at around $8 - $9 mbtu from the Canning but most likely that was from "ideal" well conditions and did not include the usual mishaps.<br /><br />Interesting because Barnett's plan for JPP - gas plant + value adding - would need gas at around $4 - $6 mbtu for the Ammonia/Alumina companies to be profitable which makes me wonder how Alcoa will go once the gas has been piped all the way south of Perth.<br /><br /><br />.<br /><br /><br />"A financial model for shale gas should therefore be probabilistic in nature at the individual well level,but aggregate the well gas flows over the field to give a probabilistic range in gas prices required for the overall investment to be financially viable."<br /><br />http://www.acolasecretariat.org.au/ACOLA/PDF/SAF06FINAL/Final%20Report%20Engineering%20Energy%20June%202013.pdf<br /><br />.<br /><br />Depending on the rate of decline and the need for more and more well drilling and fracking it could be that the shale gas from the Canning Basin wouldn't make a worthwhile profit until the dom gas price hit around $11 - $12 mbtu.(not far off what it costs to land a shipload into Tokyo Bay.)<br /><br />IT SEEMS very likely the gas will always be too expensive to compete on the world LNG market - at least well into the future.<br /><br />And WA domgas prices are unlikely to reach a high enough level for about 20 - 30 years.<br /><br />And by then the cost of manpower and all else could have risen enough to prevent even that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-52992437468313575092013-07-16T10:42:03.578+08:002013-07-16T10:42:03.578+08:00Shale Skeptics Take On Pickens as Gas Fuels Polici...Shale Skeptics Take On Pickens as Gas Fuels Policies<br /><br />CONT....<br /><br />Decade Low <br /><br />The surge in supplies pushed prices down to a decade low last year below $2 per million British thermal units -- a price that only added to gas’s appeal as consumers and industry switched to the cheaper fuel to save money. <br /><br />T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire who advocates a plan to replace imported oil with domestic gas, says it should become the preferred fuel in vehicles. At the same time, the continental U.S. may see as many as six gas export projects built, sending as much as 10 billion cubic feet a day by the end of 2022, the head of Freeport LNG Development LP said in an interview last month. <br /><br />Decline rates cited by the skeptics already have been incorporated into many supply estimates, said Erica Bowman, chief economist at America’s Natural Gas Alliance, an industry group whose members include Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK), Apache Corp. (APA) and Devon Energy Corp. (DVN) <br /><br />Affordable Prices <br /><br />...<br /><br />Skepticism about shale’s potential was raised as early as 2009, when Berman drew rebukes from Chesapeake and Devon for his work questioning the projections for shale gas as overly optimistic. Berman, who was among the first to point out the steep declines in production after a well is drilled, continues to sound the warning bell for policy makers about what he sees as unrealistic estimates. <br /><br />“They’ve got sugar-plum fairies dancing in their heads about this infinite supply and how much money we’re going to make and the net for the U.S. economy,” Berman said in a July 2 phone interview. <br /><br />Decline Rates <br /><br />Wells drilled before 2012 in the top U.S. shale gas areas indicate an average field decline of 37 percent a year, according to data compiled by Hughes. That includes 47 percent in the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and 29 percent in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. <br /><br />Gas prices rose this year to more than $4 per million Btu before subsiding to a current level of about $3.60. As lower-quality wells raise the cost of production and tighten supplies, gas may rise to $6.50 in 2018 and to $8 or more in 2022, with spikes into double-digit prices possible within five years, Hughes says. Powers, the author, also said gas prices may surge into the double digits in the future. <br /><br />...<br /><br />Gas remains far from parity with oil on an energy-equivalent basis, Pickens said, which would require gas prices of about $16 per million Btu when oil is $100 a barrel. <br /><br />“I’ll never see $16 natural gas in my lifetime,” Pickens, 85, who scoffs at the pessimism of skeptics, said in a July 12 interview. <br /><br />Cheap Production <br /><br />ICF International, an industry consultant, estimated in a report that the U.S. and Canada have 1,500 trillion cubic feet of gas that can be developed at a cost of $5 or less per million Btu. That includes about 800 trillion cubic feet of shale gas, ICF said. <br /><br />...<br /><br />The country’s gas resource “is not endless, but it’s pretty dang big,” Pursell said, and it can be counted on for decades. He said the government should stay out of the way and let the market work. <br /><br />Daily U.S. gas output is forecast to be 70 billion cubic feet in 2013 and 70.4 billion cubic feet next year, compared with 69.2 billion in 2012, according to a July 9 outlook from the EIA. <br /><br />...<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-20779112990572788982013-07-16T10:36:28.763+08:002013-07-16T10:36:28.763+08:00Shale Skeptics Take On Pickens as Gas Fuels Polici...Shale Skeptics Take On Pickens as Gas Fuels Policies<br /><br />Where others see a U.S. energy revolution of cheap and abundant fuel, David Hughes sees a short-term bubble that will bring higher economic and environmental costs. <br /><br />The Canadian geoscientist, founder of the consulting company Global Sustainability Research, is part of a movement pushing back against conventional wisdom that the U.S. is on the verge of energy independence amid surging oil output and a 100-year supply of natural gas. Projections of 2,384 trillion cubic feet of gas supplies provide false confidence because they don’t adequately account for the cost of production declines of as much as 47 percent a year that come with drilling in shale, Hughes said. <br /><br />.<br /><br />While President Barack Obama endorses the use of more gas as a power-plant fuel and the U.S. considers expanding exports to exploit the current glut, shale skeptics such as Hughes and Bill Powers, a director of Calgary-based energy producer Arsenal Energy Inc (AEI)., warn that consumers and industry will feel the pain of rising prices when supplies fall short of estimates they say are based on a mistaken belief that the torrid growth seen in the past five years will continue. <br /><br />“Human nature doesn’t change, and we extrapolate recent trends far into the future even if those trends are woefully unsustainable,” said Powers, author of “Cold, Hungry and in the Dark: Exploding the Natural Gas Supply Myth.” Advances in shale-gas technology won’t continue forever, he said, “and we’re probably seeing them reach their maximum potential as far as production growth goes.” <br /><br />Fast Fade <br /><br />Wells drilled into the hard rock of shale produce a burst of oil and gas after being hydraulically fractured -- a technique that cracks the rock to release hydrocarbons. The flow rapidly diminishes as gas must migrate farther through the rock to reach the fracturing site where it can enter the well. To counter the declines, companies drill more wells, longer wells and intensify the fracking process, all of which can raise costs. <br /><br />About $42 billion must be spent every year just to offset decline rates in shale gas wells that generated revenue of about $33 billion in 2012, Hughes estimated in a report earlier this year for the Post Carbon Institute, which advocates options for a more sustainable world. Proceeds from higher-priced petroleum liquids contained in the most lucrative wells have helped offset the deficit for now, though the industry faces higher costs from increasingly uneconomic wells as the best prospects are exhausted, he said. <br /><br />Wrong Assumptions <br /><br />To Hughes, cheap gas and abundant gas are “mutually exclusive” in the long term. Instead of providing a reason to accelerate fossil fuel use, new supplies of crude and gas from shale fields just give the U.S. more time to develop alternative energy solutions, he said. <br /><br />According to Arthur Berman, a Houston-area geologist and director of Labyrinth Consulting Services, basing U.S. policy on what he sees as overly optimistic supply and low-price projections is foolish. <br /><br />Shale production mushroomed in the past decade as producers expanded the use of horizontal drilling and fracking to wrest oil and gas from previously impermeable rock. Gas output in the U.S. climbed 25 percent from 2007 to a record last year, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data. <br /><br />In April, the Potential Gas Committee, which issues a biennial report with support from the Colorado School of Mines, said the U.S. had a technically recoverable resource base of 2,384 trillion cubic feet of gas at the end of 2012, while other estimates claim the resource can last 100 years, the committee said on its website. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-69396296124305560932013-07-16T10:34:15.695+08:002013-07-16T10:34:15.695+08:00Sea levels may rise 2.3 metres per degree of globa...Sea levels may rise 2.3 metres per degree of global warming, report says<br /><br />Seas will remain high for centuries after temperatures have risen, with the likelihood of more frequent and damaging storms<br /><br />Sea levels could rise by 2.3 metres for each degree Celsius that global temperatures increase and they will remain high for centuries to come, according to a new study by the leading climate research institute, released on Monday.<br /><br />Anders Levermann said his study for the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research was the first to examine evidence from climate history and combine it with computer simulations of contributing factors to long-term sea-level increases: thermal expansion of oceans, the melting of mountain glaciers and the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.<br /><br />Scientists say global warming is responsible for the melting ice and heat-trapping gases from burning fossil fuels are nudging up temperatures. "We're confident that our estimate is robust because of the combination of physics and data that we used," Levermann told Reuters. "We think we've set a benchmark for how much sea levels will rise along with temperature increases."<br /><br />Sea levels rose by 17cm last century and the rate has accelerated to more than 3mm a year, according to the IPCC. A third of the current rise is from Antarctica and Greenland.<br /><br />Almost 200 governments have agreed to limit global warming to less than 2C above pre-industrial times and plan to agree, by the end of 2015, a deal to curb emissions.<br /><br />Global average surface temperatures have risen by 0.8C (1.4F) since the industrial revolution and the IPCC has said temperatures are likely to be 0.4 to 1.0C warmer from 2016-35 than in the two decades to 2005.<br /><br />"In the past there was some uncertainty and people haven't known by how much," Levermann said. "We're saying now, taking everything we know, that we've got a robust estimate of 2.3 meters of rising sea per degree of warming."<br /><br /><br />Some scientific studies have projected sea level rise of up to 2 metres by 2100, a figure that would swamp large tracts of land from Bangladesh to Florida.<br /><br />David Vaughan, head of the Ice2sea project to narrow down uncertainties about how melting ice will swell the oceans, has said sea levels would rise by between 16.5 and 69 cm under a scenario of moderate global warming this century.<br /><br />Vaughan told Reuters the biggest impact rising seas will have is that storms will be more destructive in the near future.<br /><br />"It's not about chasing people up the beach or the changing shape of coastlines," he said. "The big issue is how the storms will damage our coasts and how often they occur. That'll increase even with small levels of sea rise in coming decades."<br /><br /><br />"Continuous sea-level rise is something we cannot avoid unless global temperatures go down again," Levermann said. "Our results indicate that major adaptation at our coastlines will be necessary. It's likely that some currently populated regions can't be protected in the long run."<br /><br />..........<br /><br />BROOME BEING ONE OF THEM.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-87227454525247993122013-07-16T10:31:54.962+08:002013-07-16T10:31:54.962+08:00Chevron granted access to environmental activists&...Chevron granted access to environmental activists' email accounts<br /><br />Is oil giant Chevron trying to stifle criticism of its Ecuadorian oil drilling operations by accessing private email accounts of critics?<br /><br />Oil giant Chevron has been granted access to "more than 100 email accounts, including environmental activists, journalists, and attorneys" involved in a long-running dispute involving damage "caused by oil drilling" in Ecuador, reports the Electronic Frontier Foundation.<br /><br />Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which, with EarthRights International (ERI), is opposing the New York court's decision says:<br /><br /><br />After years of litigation, an Ecuadorian court last year imposed a judgment of over $17 billion on Chevron for dumping toxic waste into Amazon waterways and causing massive harm to the rainforest. Instead of paying, Chevron sued more than 50 people who were involved in the Ecuador lawsuit, claiming they were part of a conspiracy to defraud the oil giant. None of the individuals represented by EFF and ERI has been sued by Chevron or accused of wrongdoing.<br /><br />Both EFF and ERI have warned that Chevron's subpoenas will have a "chilling effect" on people who would speak out against the oil company's activities in Ecuador and elsewhere.<br /><br />The background to the case was reported by Common Dreams staff writer Lauren McCauley:<br /><br /><br />The oil giant is demanding the records in an attempt to cull together a lawsuit which alleges that the company was the victim of a conspiracy in the $18.2 billion judgment against it for dumping 18.5 billion gallons of oil waste in the Ecuadorean Amazon, causing untold damage to the rainforest.<br /><br /><br />EarthRights International has also raised concerns that the presiding judge, Lewis Kaplan, who has been "accused of prejudice against Ecuadorians and their lawyers" made some sweeping and startling arguments in this case:<br /><br /><br />Kaplan's decision upheld Chevron's sweeping subpoena with an argument that is as breathtaking as the subpoena itself. According to Judge Kaplan, none of the accountholders could benefit from First Amendment protections since the accountholders had "not shown that they were U.S. citizens."<br /><br />Now, let's break this down. The account-holders in this case were proceeding anonymously, which the First Amendment permits. Because of this, Judge Kaplan was provided with no information about the account holders' residency or places of birth. It is somewhat amazing then, that Judge Kaplan assumed that the account holders were not US citizens. As far as I know, a judge has never before made this assumption when presented with a First Amendment claim. We have to ask then: on what basis did Judge Kaplan reach out and make this assumption?<br /><br /><br />Regardless of what you think of the USA's first amendment rights, this case has some exceptionally worrying ramifications for people who oppose the environmental destruction caused by multinational oil corporations.<br /><br />Chevron is one of the "rogue" fossil fuel companies named by global climate activist Bill McKibben in his Rolling Stone article, Do The Math, whose reserves, if burned, amount to a carbon bomb:<br /><br /><br />According to the Carbon Tracker report, if Exxon burns its current reserves, it would use up more than seven percent of the available atmospheric space between us and the risk of two degrees. BP is just behind, followed by the Russian firm Gazprom, then Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell, each of which would fill between three and four percent. Taken together, just these six firms, of the 200 listed in the Carbon Tracker report, would use up more than a quarter of the remaining two-degree budget.<br /><br /><br />In Australia, environmental groups and individual conservationists were targeted with SLAPP suits (strategic lawsuit against public participation), aimed at destroying community opposition to damaging developments.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-35182994079532094682013-07-16T10:28:11.643+08:002013-07-16T10:28:11.643+08:00The Libs new candidate for Durack Melissa Price in...The Libs new candidate for Durack Melissa Price interviewed on ABC radio this morning was asked,"do you support gas processing at James Price Point?"<br /><br />She replied that it didn't matter if she did or not Woodside weren't going to go there and she had talked to Woodside recently and they said they had entered into an agreement with Shell to use their floating technology.<br /><br />She also said she would be supporting Woodside pursue their FLNG plans and everyone should support them in that.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-48374024081956051592013-07-16T10:19:13.690+08:002013-07-16T10:19:13.690+08:00Japanese LNG demand set to ease with possible rest...Japanese LNG demand set to ease with possible restart of 10 nuclear plants <br /><br /> Monday, 15 July 2013 <br /> <br /> <br />Japan may restart new nuclear power capacity in a couple of months, reducing the strain on its efforts to acquire additional LNG, a replacement fuel since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-30054579606654430512013-07-16T10:18:04.857+08:002013-07-16T10:18:04.857+08:00As if Woodside / Chevron / Exxon didn't have e...As if Woodside / Chevron / Exxon didn't have enough problems re "Woodside, Exxon under pressure as US enters the fray" - their main Japanese customers will be buying a lot less LNG...<br /><br /><br />Japan's nuclear restart to curtail gas-to-power demand<br /><br /><br />Four of Japan's 10 main regional utilities today applied for permission to restart 10 nuclear reactors in a move set to curtail LNG imports for gas-to-power generation and reduce electricity prices.<br /> <br /><br />Kansai Electric Power, Shikoku Electric Power, Kyushu Electric Power and Hokkaido Electric Power filed an application to restart reactors under new, more stringent safety regulations imposed in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi incident.<br /><br />Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of Japan's nuclear safety authority, forecast the safety review of each reactor could take about six month per restart.<br /><br />Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster and the subsequent shutdown of almost all of the country's nuclear power stations, natural gas made up some 65 percent of the country's energy mix.<br /><br />.....<br /><br /><br />Japan is also the world's third largest economy, according to the UN. And nuclear power plants generate about 30 perccent of Japan's energy needs. During the shutdown of its nuclear power plants, utility companies have turned to coal, oil and gas to supply electricity to industries and households. <br /><br />Additionally, Japan is the world's largest importer of liquified natural gas (LNG) (18 percent of energy); the second largest importer of coal (22 percent) and the third largest net importer of oil (42 percent).<br /><br /><br />.....................<br /><br /><br /><br />Four Japan utilities apply for safety assessment of 10 nuclear reactors<br /><br />Four Japanese power utilities applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority on Monday to assess whether 10 of their nuclear reactors are complying with the country's new safety standards.<br /><br />The new safety standards came into effect Monday.<br /><br />The applications include Hokkaido Electric's 579 MW No. 1 reactor, 579 MW No.2 unit and 912 MW No. 3 Tomari nuclear reactor in the north; Kansai Electric's No. 3 and No. 4 Ooi reactors with a capacity of 1.18 GW each and the No. 3 and No. 4 Takahama units with a capacity of 870 MW each in the west; Shikoku Electric's 890 MW No. 3 Ikata reactor, also in the west; and Kyushu Electric's No. 1 and No. 2 Genkai reactors with a capacity of 559 MW each in the southwest.<br /><br />.<br /><br />Kyushu Electric said that it intends to file similar applications for its No. 3 and No. 4 Genkai nuclear reactors with a capacity of 1.18 GW each on July 12.<br /><br />The application for assessment by the NRA is the first steps toward restarting the nuclear reactors, but it remains unclear how long the nuclear regulator will take to carry out the checks. It is also unclear as to who will have the final say on any decision to restart any nuclear reactor in Japan.<br /><br />Of the 50 reactors in the country, just two are currently operational -- Kansai Electric's reactors at Ooi in Fukui prefecture -- representing 2.32 GW out of a total nuclear capacity of 46.15 GW. This, in turn, accounts for 20% of Japan's total installed power generation capacity of 225.667 GW.<br /><br />Japan will lose all nuclear power generation capacity when Kansai Electric shuts the two Ooi reactors for maintenance by September 15.<br /><br />Weather and nuclear utilization rates have a direct impact on crude, fuel oil and LNG consumption for thermal power generation in Japan.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-35950096557897007552013-07-16T05:26:07.518+08:002013-07-16T05:26:07.518+08:00Abbott's climate change plan expensive even at...Abbott's climate change plan expensive even at current targets <br /><br />Alan Kohler <br /> From: Business Spectator<br /><br /><br />SUDDENLY the Labor Party is politically competitive again, level-pegging with the Coalition according to the latest Nielsen poll, thanks to a tail-ender who can bat (Kevin Rudd).<br /><br />The 2013 election now may come down to policy differences rather than popularity, or the lack of it. And it seems two of the three issues that have dominated Australian politics for 15 years will once again define this election: climate change and asylum-seekers.<br /><br /><br />............<br /><br /><br /><br />Northern food bowl 'needs gas'<br /><br /><br />NORTHERN Australia's transformation into a tropical food bowl should progress alongside a vast expansion of the underground gas industry, a leading economist has warned.<br /><br />Nathan Taylor, chief economist at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, said proposals to lure economic investment simply with subsidies and large dams were "farcical".<br /><br /><br />.................<br /><br /><br /><br />China grows by 7.5pc in second quarter, but may not meet official annual target<br /><br /><br />CHINA'S economy grew by 7.5 per cent in the second quarter, meeting the financial markets' expectations, but fears remain that the world's fastest-growing nation will miss its official growth targets this year.<br /><br />The result was the fifth straight quarter in which the economy expanded by less than 8 per cent, the average growth rate of the past few years.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-55481642601418843192013-07-16T05:22:02.705+08:002013-07-16T05:22:02.705+08:00Coalition leader kicks own goal on climate
ANALYS...Coalition leader kicks own goal on climate<br /><br />ANALYSIS<br /><br />Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's depiction of carbon trading as a whole bunch of nothing has revealed a whole bunch of something he has mostly kept hidden.<br /><br />''Just ask yourself,'' Abbott said, his frustration bubbling to the surface, ''what an emission trading scheme is all about, it's a market, a so-called market, in the non-delivery of an invisible substance, to no one.''<br /> <br /><br />Laid bare in his comments was what many voters had suspected: that the Coalition's conversion to remedial policy was half-hearted. <br /><br />It was a reductio ad absurdum, which runs counter to the message Liberals have been pushing for years, particularly to younger voters - that climate change is real, that it is human induced, and that the conservatives are genuine about addressing it.<br /><br />Why else spend billions on ''direct action''?<br /><br />Advertisement <br /><br />This was also Abbott's first big mistake since the advent of Kevin Rudd and the balance of power shift that his return to Prime Minister has brought.<br /><br />Laid bare in his comments was what many voters had suspected: that the Coalition's conversion to remedial policy was half-hearted and driven mainly by the search for votes.<br /><br />This is what is called in sport ''scoreboard pressure'' - the unforced errors that creep into a side when the other side starts kicking goals.<br /><br />Just four weeks ago, Abbott's universe was known. He was staring at a fixed election date of September 14, facing a deeply unpopular prime minister and riding a huge advantage in the polls - a lead of 57-43 according to the June Fairfax-Nielsen poll.<br /><br />Crippled by her method of promotion, Julia Gillard was hemmed in by the politically toxic policies she had championed, including a wildly over-promised but undelivered budget surplus, her ''no carbon tax under the government I lead'' backflip, and the continuing failure of her government's ineffectual asylum seeker response.<br /><br />Stop the boats, end the waste, repay the debt - these natty slogans had said all that many voters needed to hear as an alternative.<br /><br />Abbott was happy to oblige, as he coasted towards the highest office in the land.<br /><br />Now, all that has changed and the pressure has swung suddenly, dramatically the other way.<br /><br />Labor's late manouevres have exposed Abbott's policy cupboard as lightly stocked.<br /><br />As Rudd (mark II) moves to re-tell Labor's hamfisted economic story and neutralise its main policy failures regarding asylum seekers and the carbon ''tax'', the frustration within Team Abbott may be showing through.<br /><br />Most galling to Abbott is the possibility that Rudd could effect a half-passable escape from Labor's carbon tax nightmare.<br /><br />And who knows, with the aid of an opposition leader making his own gaffes, he just might.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-1472953271400187002013-07-16T05:20:07.532+08:002013-07-16T05:20:07.532+08:00Residents consider CSG a threat to quality of life...Residents consider CSG a threat to quality of life <br /><br /><br />PEOPLE living near new coal-seam gas and mining projects in southwest Queensland are distressed by the perceived threat to their quality of life, according to researchers. <br /> <br />While authorities have ruled out any serious health risks associated with the state's CSG boom, a paper published in Australasian Psychiatry reveals that the broader impacts are enough to damage community mental health and wellbeing.<br /><br />A team of researchers, headed by Delwar Hossain, from the University of Southern Queensland, used the paper to report on the results of 12 workshops held in affected towns in Queensland. They found locals were primarily concerned about higher living costs and increased demand for services as a result of the influx of mining workers.<br /><br />"The rural communities in this region are under sustained stress resulting from the incursion of the mining and coal-seam gas industries," the researchers said.<br /><br />The safety of the underground water supply, and land transferring from farm use to mining use, were also seen to be affecting property values, with the researchers finding that "having little control over one's destiny accompanied with financial hardship is strongly linked to the poor health of landholders".Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-4644120210777116702013-07-16T05:18:36.659+08:002013-07-16T05:18:36.659+08:00Airfield of dreams built for gas boom
WHEN John ...Airfield of dreams built for gas boom<br /><br /><br />WHEN John Wagner test-fired a new corporate jet at Toowoomba airport last year, the blast caused a young bike rider to crash and smashed a window in a nearby shop. <br /> <br />As a result, the airport was closed to jets and Wagner bet the family's cash fortune on a project that symbolises what the boom in coal-seam gas and mining really means for Queensland's Darling Downs region.<br /><br />Giant earthmoving equipment owned by the Wagner civil construction family partnership has been deployed to Wellcamp, a privately owned project that is replicating Brisbane airport 15km from Toowoomba's CBD.<br /><br />The project includes a 2.9km runway, compared with Brisbane's 3.3km runway, which Mr Wagner said could take Boeing 747s and heavy-lift Russian-built Antonovs "every day of the week".<br /><br />The project master plan includes a 1 million square metre industrial park, at least one 4.5-star hotel and DFO shopping mall. For the doubters, from this week, Wagner's diggers have shifted to a 24/7 roster.<br /><br />.<br /><br />The planning application was lodged on the last day of a planning regime that did not require wide community consultation.<br /><br />Neighbour Heather Brown, whose horse stud borders the airport site, said she was concerned about how the approvals process had been run. "People would say this is wild west stuff up here," she said. At the end of the runway, Ms Brown's stud business has little future when air traffic begins.<br /><br />Mr Wagner makes no secret he "pulled every string known to man to get people to understand it is a real project", but the development was given its industrial zoning more than a decade ago and proper process had been followed.<br /><br />The Wagners had bought out several neighbouring properties to allow the project to proceed.<br /><br />Local Liberal National Party MP Ian Macfarlane said the airport was a "game-changer" for the region. "The process was there, it was followed, it was approved, so let's move on. I admire their entrepreneurship on this issue because at face value it's hard to see the volumes of passenger and freight trafficto make it economical. It's a bit like field of dreams: build it and they will come."<br /><br />Whatever the risk for the Wagners, he said, the project was all upside for Darling Downs.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-27771820839536079542013-07-15T10:51:34.060+08:002013-07-15T10:51:34.060+08:00LOOKING at those numbers I would say with a LOT of...LOOKING at those numbers I would say with a LOT of confidence a gas export plant for shale gas from the Canning Basin at JPP is not a financially viable option for Buru or any other operator out there.<br /><br />Another one of Barnett's plans for the scrapheap.<br /><br />AT this point in time it could also be questioned if the gas will be cheap enough for domestic customers?<br /><br />Looking into the future it is easy to see Australian Dom Gas having to compete with imports from East Africa as the talks for new contracts from the NW Shelf are set to skyrocket and the Canning Basin costs being so high.<br /><br />No wonder they are spending so much money exploring for sweet spots out there - nothing else could make them any money!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-33070581155300297722013-07-15T10:22:30.272+08:002013-07-15T10:22:30.272+08:00VERY SAD NEWS - HOW DO WE EXPLAIN THIS TO OUR CHIL...VERY SAD NEWS - HOW DO WE EXPLAIN THIS TO OUR CHILDREN?<br /><br />Climate change is happening too quickly for species to adapt<br /><br />A study has shown that the speed of evolutionary change is far outstripped by the rate of global warming, meaning many creatures will face extinction<br /><br />.<br /><br />Among the many strange mantras repeated by climate change deniers is the claim that even in an overheated, climate-altered planet, animals and plants will still survive by adapting to global warming. Corals, trees, birds, mammals and butterflies are already changing to the routine reality of global warming, it is argued.<br /><br />Certainly, countless species have adapted to past climate fluctuations. However, their rate of change turns out to be painfully slow, according to a study by Professor John Wiens of the University of Arizona. Using data from 540 living species, including amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, Wiens and colleagues compared their rates of evolution with the rates of climate change projected for the end of this century. The results, published online in the journal Ecology Letters, show that most land animals will not be able to evolve quickly enough to adapt to the dramatically warmer climate expected by 2100. Many species face extinction, as a result.<br /><br />"We found that, on average, species usually adapt to different climatic conditions at a rate of only by about 1C per million years," Wiens explained. "But if global temperatures are going to rise by about four degrees over the next 100 years as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, that is where you get a huge difference in rates. What that suggests overall is that simply evolving to match these conditions may not be an option for many species."<br /><br />The study indicates there is simply not enough time for species to change their morphologies – for example, by altering their bodies' shapes so they hold less heat – to compensate for rising heat levels. Too many generations of evolutionary change are required. Nor is moving habitat an option for many creatures. "Consider a species living on the top of a mountain," says Wiens. "If it gets too warm or dry up there, they can't go anywhere."<br /><br />The crucial point of the study is that it stresses a fact that is often conveniently ignored by climate change deniers. It is not just the dramatic nature of the changes that lie ahead – melting icecaps, rising sea levels and soaring temperatures – but the extraordinary speed at which they are occurring. Past transformations that saw planetary temperatures soar took millions of years to occur. The one we are creating will take only a few generations to take place. Either evolution speeds up 10,000-fold, which is an unlikely occurrence, or there will be widespread extinctions.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-49437825275006998002013-07-15T10:19:50.902+08:002013-07-15T10:19:50.902+08:00SHOULD HAVE BEEN "A TALE OF 3 CITIES"
F...SHOULD HAVE BEEN "A TALE OF 3 CITIES"<br /><br />France's Hollande rules out shale gas exploration<br /><br /><br />14 Jul 2013<br />French President Francois Hollande ruled out exploration for shale gas during his presidency on Sunday, dousing hopes that a ban on hydraulic fracturing could be reviewed following a legal challenge by a U.S. firm. France's top court said this week it will examine the challenge to the ban by Schuepbach Energy, which held two exploration permits that were cancelled when the law was passed in 2011.<br /><br />Industry Minister Arnaud Montebourg stirred debate when he suggested creating a state-backed company to examine exploration techniques. But he was promptly overruled by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. 'As long as I am president, there will be no exploration for shale gas in France,' Hollande told France 2 TV in a live interview after Bastille Day celebrations.<br /><br />The International Energy Agency has named France as a European country with some of the most plentiful underground reserves of shale gas. But Hollande's government, which comprises members of the Greens Party, has kept in place the 2011 ban and said it should remain in effect due to concerns that hydraulic fracturing can pollute underground water sources.<br /><br />Scheupbach Energy challenged the ban in the local court of Cergy-Pontoise near Paris, which forwarded the case to France's highest administrative court, which then passed it on to the Constitutional Council. 'The debate on shale gas has gone on for too long,' Hollande said.<br /><br />..........<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-68543709320196070202013-07-15T10:03:11.521+08:002013-07-15T10:03:11.521+08:00Coal-dust action group to take own pollution readi...Coal-dust action group to take own pollution readings<br /><br />Newcastle community groups attempting to reduce coal-dust pollution along the city's main rail corridor will begin two days of monitoring on Monday after losing confidence in official environmental studies.<br /><br />The Coal Terminal Action Group, which represents 21 community organisations in the region, will monitor particle pollution blowing from coal trains as they pass through the Lower Hunter.<br /><br />The resort to ''citizen science'' follows the NSW Environmental Protection Authority's announcement earlier this month that an independent review of a report into pollution from coal trains had found a ''major error'' with the data analysis.<br /><br />***<br /><br />That report, commissioned by the commonwealth-owned Australia Rail and Track Corporation, had angered the action group and the Greens after most of the 18 conclusions in its draft version were revised within days of the final release.<br /><br />Advertisement <br /><br />The final version concluded that ''loaded coal trains were not associated with a statistically significant difference'' in particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometres or smaller when compared with concentrations when no train was passing the monitoring station.<br /><br />The action group will set up monitoring equipment similar to that used in the ARTC study over two days to calculate particulate pollution down to a micrometre in diameter at several sites near the rail corridor as loaded and unloaded coal wagons pass through Newcastle's suburbs.<br /><br />The ARTC report, with its revisions and identified flaw, had ''come out of a highly compromised process'', action group spokeswoman Fee Mozeley said. ''The community is wondering who can we trust, what can we trust?''<br /><br />The rail corridor carries about 100 laden or empty coal trains a day, a figure that would double if plans proceed to build a fourth coal export terminal at Newcastle, to about a peak of 330 million tonnes a year.<br /><br />***<br /><br />Crowd-sourced<br /><br />James Whelan, chair of CTAG’s dust and health committee, said the ARTC study “was set up to justify not doing anything. It’s certainly not set up to examine the likely impact of increasing the coal trains.”<br /><br />The group, which raised the $2500 needed for the study from social media crowd-sourcing, expects to make its finding public within six weeks.<br /><br />Newcastle may eventually get a clearer view of the city’s pollution with the state government last week announcing a “particle characterisation study” following a series of alleged pollution breaches by chemicals producer Orica in 2010 and 2011.<br /><br />CTAG Ms Mozeley welcomed the study as “a step in the right direction”, adding that residents deserve a comprehensive health impact assessment with the new coal terminal likely to come before the Planning Assessment Commission in coming months.<br /><br />“This needs to be the kind of study that would not only identify current levels of air pollution as well as the related health impacts but that could also model the likely health impacts if additional pollutants are added to the mix,” she said.<br /><br />*<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-54895661820625296092013-07-15T10:00:57.373+08:002013-07-15T10:00:57.373+08:00Power supply shake-up
Hundreds of thousands of WA...Power supply shake-up<br /><br />Hundreds of thousands of WA households could be hit with higher electricity prices under a proposed shake-up of bills aimed at recovering the massive cost to the system caused by the popularity of rooftop solar panels.<br /><br />WA's energy chiefs are understood to be pushing for a change in the structure of bills to make customers pay more in fixed charges.<br /><br />At present, most of a householder's electricity bill stems from the amount of electricity used. Fixed costs, such as the supply charge, make up about 15 per cent of the bill. However, solar panels have slashed consumption for those households, cutting revenue to State-owned power companies, including retailer Synergy and network operator Western Power.<br /><br />The trend has been highlighted as one of the big issues facing the electricity system and Energy Minister Mike Nahan has been warned that if nothing is done the consequences could be catastrophic.<br /><br />Either households without solar panels would be left to pick up the tab, forcing their bills to unaffordable levels, or electricity providers would be financially crippled.<br /><br />WA's take-up rate of photovoltaic cells - initially fuelled by generous State and Federal incentives - stands at more than 10 per cent of households and this figure is expected to double within years.<br /><br />It is believed Synergy boss Trevor James has concerns about the situation. Western Power chief Paul Italiano said last year people without PV cells paid disproportionately to maintain WA's multibillion-dollar power grid.<br /><br />Any move to increase fixed costs would be fraught for the Barnett Government, which has been under pressure over big price rises since it came to power in 2008.<br /><br />It is not known whether the Government would consider a cut in consumption charges to offset any fixed-price move or opt for a straight-out levy on householders with solar panels.<br /><br />Dr Nahan yesterday described the demand for solar panels as a "game-changer", saying it was growing at 20 per cent a year despite the withdrawal of the Government's feed-in-tariff two years ago.<br /><br />"Here in WA, the rapid growth of PVs on rooftops is having a profound influence on electricity consumption and generation," Dr Nahan said. He acknowledged the pressure it was placing on Synergy.<br /><br />"My own view is we in WA should perceive growth in small-scale PVs as a positive shift and this type of technology is here to stay," he said.<br /><br />Shadow energy minister Bill Johnston said the system's funding model was outdated and the move by householders to rooftop panels had exposed its shortcomings.<br />Mr Johnston said there was a need to update the way bills were structured but he would oppose any measure that left low-income customers worse off.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-58565283275049627512013-07-15T09:59:26.595+08:002013-07-15T09:59:26.595+08:00River 'worse than it looks'
The Swan Rive...River 'worse than it looks'<br /><br />The Swan River is like a cemetery, according to world-renowned WA water expert Jorg Imberger.<br /><br />The University of WA professor makes the comparison to illustrate that not everything is as it seems.<br /><br />At face value it appears peaceful, picturesque even, but look below the surface and there is death and decay.<br /><br />"If you look at the surface, the river still looks quite good," Professor Imberger said. "It's unfortunate because it's a veneer."<br /><br />For more than 25 years, Professor Imberger and his team of scientists at UWA's Centre for Water Research have been checking the pulse of the river with increasing concern.<br /><br />Last week, they gave _The West Australian _an insight into their work as they tested the water quality from Fremantle, just before it meets the Indian Ocean, to Guildford, almost 50km upstream.<br /><br />Although the results were markedly better than those taken as recently as June, they paint a picture of a river system battling for the vital signs that indicate life, let alone healthiness.<br /><br />Oxygen levels, apart from the ocean-like environment at the river mouth in Fremantle, were modest or low, and salinity and chlorophyll concentrations - a key precursor to algal blooms - were elevated.<br /><br />Crucially, the results also underlined an entrenched and damaging phenomenon winding an increasingly tight grip around the Swan - a process known as stratification.<br /><br />Heavy seawater moves upstream, forcing fresher water flowing downstream over the top.<br /><br />The heavier water, which used to be washed out to sea every year before the big decline in Perth's winter rainfall, now effectively sits at the bottom and stagnates, allowing organic material in it to break down and consume oxygen.<br /><br />The upshot, Professor Imberger said, was that the lower depths of the Swan River could become deaths zones in which no life could survive.<br /><br />"In any other place in the world … it would be classified as a disaster," Professor Imberger said. "The problem is it's hidden here. A few dolphins come in at the surface and people think, 'Oh, it looks great, what are you talking about?' "<br /><br />The Swan River Trust concedes the river is struggling with the effects of a drying climate and urban encroachment but disputes it is dead in parts or even dying.<br /><br />River systems manager Mark Cugley points to anecdotal evidence that numbers of fish, including black bream, are abundant and populations of blue manna crabs, prawns and cobblers might be recovering.<br /><br />Mr Cugley said low oxygen levels of the kind recorded last week were "not ideal" but were not an immediate danger.<br /><br />He touches on the trust's $40 million healthy rivers action plan to describe how the agency was focused on reducing nutrients entering the river to improve its health.<br />Dismissing claims of abundant fish life as "nonsense", Professor Imberger says the Swan's plight is serious and in the short term consideration should be given to a barrage under Stirling Bridge to stop intrusion of saltwater upstream.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-51740791219844369402013-07-15T09:57:44.245+08:002013-07-15T09:57:44.245+08:00Study puts rangelands on the brink
LOCAL scientis...Study puts rangelands on the brink<br /><br />LOCAL scientists have detailed patterns of poverty, environmental collapse and social problems across WA’s rangelands.<br /><br />Rangelands cover nearly 90 per cent of the state and it is mostly crown-owned land leased out and used for open grazing.<br /><br />But large parts are plagued with serious economic, social and ecological issues after poor land management, such as overgrazing and lack of drought proofing, has destroyed native vegetation and degraded soil.<br /><br />Officials have so far failed to fix the problems which are impacting the livelihoods of many rangeland pastoralists.<br /><br />WA Department of Agriculture and Food officers have recently studied the key issues affecting leaseholders and grouped them into four broad ‘pattern’ areas.<br /><br />The patterns combine pastoral leases suffering combinations of economic, social or ecological problems as well as failures in all three areas.<br /><br />Study authors Rodney Safstrom and Peter-Jon Waddell say their work can now form the basis for detailing and mapping the worst affected areas and devising policy and incentives to help those in need.<br /><br />The study was published last month in CSIRO’s The Rangelands Journal.<br /><br />Mr Safstorm says detailed planning seen in urban environments is needed, but is currently lacking in the vast rangelands.<br /><br />“Large areas of severely degraded and eroded country have developed on many leases, often on what was once the most productive land,” the study states.<br /><br />“More generally, what were once the most productive perennial vegetation types are now the most degraded.<br /><br />“Western Australia’s legislative commitment to ecological sustainable rangeland management is outlined but this is not currently being achieved.”<br /><br />Mr Safstorm says his work is a theoretical look at the problem but community consultation is the next, most important, step.<br /><br />“We already have mapped quite a lot of the landscape in terms of pastoral performance,” he says.<br /><br />“We have a good idea now from various studies of the economics and we have less of an idea of the social aspects, but we know many people are adapting to the difficult circumstances by working offsite.<br /><br />“So we said why don’t we map those elements, lets see if there are common patterns that come out of that.<br /><br /> “We deliberately did not try to do that [identify key problem areas] in the paper as we consider that the rangelands community should be involved in that analysis rather than coming just from people in government.”<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6601355103716900050.post-38685487170101344652013-07-15T09:37:31.307+08:002013-07-15T09:37:31.307+08:00Forget subsidy-bloated feelgood energy, gas is the...Forget subsidy-bloated feelgood energy, gas is the solution...cont...<br /><br />And yet Britain could improve its energy security dramatically, because it has enough gas reserves to cover roughly the entirety of its gas consumption for a half-century or more. Moreover, increased British production would lower world prices, making countries with fewer or no shale-gas resources safer. And, of course, any country that is $US10bn richer, rather than $US8bn poorer, will have a better chance to handle future problems.<br /><br />Finally, green-economy advocates promise a surfeit of green jobs. But economic research convincingly shows that while subsidies can buy extra jobs, they eventually have to be financed with increased taxes, costing an equal number of jobs elsewhere.<br /><br />In comparison, shale gas in the US has created an estimated 600,000 jobs that are generating about $US100bn in added GDP and almost $US20bn in public revenue.<br /><br />Current global climate policy is unsustainable; Britain's commitment to boosting offshore wind power is only the latest example.<br /><br />Distressed economies cannot afford to pay more than $US350 to avoid each tonne of CO2, which could be cut on the European market for about 50 times less. Shale gas could cut the cost of reducing CO2 seven times more while actually helping out Europe's ailing economy.<br /><br />Though it is not the ultimate solution, shale gas is greener. With good regulation, during the coming decade it can do the most good worldwide in terms of cutting CO2 emissions and improving living conditions. Mindless subsidies that we cannot afford will not create a green economy; what will is investment in research and development to bring down costs, so that green energy eventually can out-compete gas.<br /><br /><br />............<br /><br /><br /><br />THE FIRST THING I WOULD ASK IS : "DOES THIS PERSON AND THEIR FAMILY LIVE IN AN AREA TO BE FRACKED?"<br /><br />..<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com