Daily Links Oct 15 - greghunt.net

To members sincere in their belief that a mass-appeal movement is what’s needed to quell catastrophe, drawing in front-line communities is life or death.

This is what adapting to climate change looks like

PG&E’s blackouts in California are a bleak preview of the disruptions that will become routine in a warmer world.

National

A few thoughts on COGATI: We’ve taken the feedback on board

AEMC responds to criticism about its COGARTI blue-print for new generation and transmission, saying it has taken many of the early submissions on board.

AEMC proposes complex new market signals for wind and solar networks

The Australian Energy Market Commission, the principal rule-maker in the local electricity market, has unveiled complex new market designs – including locational pricing and “transmission rights” that it says will better reflect the true cost of generation at different locations, and the cost of network upgrades and expansions.

Lyon Group says it strikes solar and storage deal with China Huadian

Lyon Group says it strikes a deal with leading Chinese group as it seeks to bring its solar and storage proposals to market.

Don’t rush transmission overhaul for power grid, energy companies warn [$]

The Australian Energy Market Commission may struggle to implement its changes to transmission network rules by 2022.

CEC slams nuclear inquiry as “distraction” from real energy challenges

Clean Energy Council says nuclear power would need “minor miracle” to get up in Australia, and inquiry distracts from “much more pressing and worthwhile topics.”

Labor to back big stick law as government closes in on policy wins [$]

Shadow cabinet is expected to endorse the big stick legislation regulating energy companies.

Labor MPs condemn suggestion they adopt Coalition climate change policy

Joel Fitzgibbon’s climate change ‘settlement’ is rejected but Labor will allow the government’s ‘big stick’ energy policy to pass

Greens seek to outlaw coal use by 2030, push climate emergency as Labor wavers

Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt presents legislation to ban coal use by 2030 as Liberals seek to pressure Labor over internal divisions over policy.

Additional federal funds to prevent extreme mass fish deaths

The federal government has tipped an additional $300,000 into helping states manage mass fish deaths during the summer as part of a new response plan.

Five times the cost, twice as long: Snowy Hydro 2.0 ‘a drain on the public purse’

After taxpayers were promised Snowy Hydro 2.0 for $2 billion in four years, the project is now likely to cost five times that amount and take twice as long to be completed.

Tinker tailors: the grassroots movement reclaiming the right to repair

Across Australia, repair cafes and tinkering spaces are equipping communities with power tools to fix and upcycle broken goods

Farmers take fight to green activists with 10-year plan [$]

The peak farm lobby group has launched a counter-attack against animal activists and green extremists in a bid to win back public sentiment and secure support for a massive expansion of the agriculture industry.

Australia could see fewer cyclones, but more heat and fire risk in coming months

Jonathan Pollock et al

Southern and eastern Australia need to prepare for heatwaves and increased fire risk this summer, as forecasts predict hot, dry weather.

AEMC road map ignores advice, and could make things worse

David Leitch

New AEMC blueprint ignores bulk of expert submissions and overseas experience, and may make Australia’s transmission problems worse for new generation rather than better.

Coalition hypocrisy on infrastructure surges as actual spending stalls

Alan Austin

Infrastructure is the latest area of Morrison Government incompetence exposed by fresh data from the Bureau of Statistics.

Albanese and the inconvenient climate-change deal-breaker

Mungo MacCallum

As they sweat on the results of the long drawn out post mortem over Labor’s loss in the unlosable election, the warlords are already staking out their own positions.

Right-wing sneers are a sign of Extinction Rebellion’s success [$]

Guy Rundle

There is a great irony in how conservative media and commentators have responded to Extinction Rebellion’s ‘cult’ success.

Extinction Rebellion: heart, soul, voice of our future

Peter Boyer

History tells us that governments misread signals from public protest at their peril.

Extinction Rebellion alarmists thrive on scare campaigns [$]

Alan Jones

The Extinction Rebellion activists who buried their heads in the sand at Manly beach are the latest in a long line of alarmists who ignore facts in favour of scare campaigns, writes.

Scott Morrison’s coal-fired climate hypocrisy [$]

Richard Denniss

This government has chosen to drag its heels on climate issues. It should not be surprised at the backlash it has triggered.

Road congestion tax: A tax you can choke on [$]

Andrew Bushnell

Motorists already have their pockets picked every time they turn the key. We don’t need a congestion tax, too.

Snowy 2.0 will not produce nearly as much electricity as claimed. We must hit the pause button

Bruce Mountain

New analysis revealed less than half the extra pumped hydro capacity promised by Snowy 2.0 can be delivered. There is now overwhelming evidence the project should be put on hold.

Victoria

Yarra River dredging may cloud bayside beaches over summer

Dredging will restart in the Yarra River next month, running 24 hours a day over summer and potentially clouding the bay with “plumes of muddy water”.

Going underground: Federal government lobbies Andrews to sign up for airport tunnel

The Morrison government is ramping up pressure on Premier Daniel Andrews to sign up to a $15 billion airport rail tunnel, but the Victorian government is still weighing up its options.

Victorian researchers claim solar recycling breakthrough that’s a win for batteries, too

Sophie Vorrath

Deakin University team investigates “holy grail” of solar PV recycling, by extracting silicon from discarded panels for use in lithium-ion batteries.

We’re not ready yet, but keep congestion tax in mix for planning Melbourne’s future

Age editorial

When surveyor Robert Hoddle arrived in 1837 to lay out the street grid of central Melbourne he designated a width for the main thoroughfares of 1½ chains, an old measure equal to 30 metres. When you consider that Melbourne’s population at the time was only a few thousand, and transport options mostly involved a horse, it was a decision that would have to accommodate enormous change.

Rail works lift property prices, pointing to value capture’s potential to fund city infrastructure

Chyi Lin Lee et al

Value capture depends on infrastructure increasing the value of affected areas in the first place. Victoria’s level crossing removal project shows the impact on property values can be significant.

New South Wales

NSW energy minister says renewables and storage will replace old coal generators

NSW Energy minister confident he has right settings to encourage investors to drive decarbonisation of state’s grid, and says responding to climate change is prudent business management.

The communities preparing for more devastating mass fish deaths in rural NSW

In the first in a series of reports from communities along the Darling River, SBS News meets those who have been impacted by water mismanagement and drought.

Bypass project referred to Federal Dept of Environment & Energy

Byron Shire Council has submitted documentation to the Department of Environment and Energy to refer the Byron Bay bypass project for assessment under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC).

Catchment curb could cap benefit of ‘outrageously expensive’ dam plan

The benefits of the $1 billion dam-building plan in NSW will likely be limited by rules that cap the amount of water than can be taken from catchments within the Murray-Darling Basin.

ACT

Cheaper household water prices drive down Icon’s profits

Cheaper household water bills have resulted in lower profits for the ACT’s monopoly water supplier.

Kurrajong tops ideal tree list for a hotter ACT

Canberrans have been urged to avoid plane trees because of their pollen and instead plant more kurrajongs and yellow box.

Queensland

No congestion-busting benefit from Brisbane’s $10 billion toll roads: expert

Brisbane should have placed the $10 billion it invested in the Clem 7, Airport Link and Legacy Way tunnels into public transport improvements, Griffith University’s Professor Matthew Burke suggests.

No decent rain until 2020 in bushfire-ravaged Queensland

Queensland is not expected to receive significant rainfall until the new year following an unprecedented start to the bushfire season, which forced hundreds of residents to evacuate.

Labor climate policy ‘put fear of God in people and alienated blue-collar base’

Former Labor MP Cathy O’Toole — who lost the party’s only central and north Queensland seat at the May election — has called on Anthony Albanese to lead a climate change policy overhaul to win back blue-collar workers in the regions.

Can mayors save the world from climate change?

Australia’s northern coast is a case study on the impacts of a warming planet. Small-town leaders there are struggling with constituents who doubt reality.

South Australia

Solar reaches 80 per cent share of demand in South Australia on Saturday

Renewable state of South Australia sets a new milestone with solar accounting for up to 80 per cent of demand on Saturday.

Groundwater guidelines to stop taps running dry

Guidelines created by Flinders hydrogeologists are leading the world in groundwater modelling that could help prevent cities like Cairo or Cape Town from one day running completely dry.

Tasmania

Epuron’s Tasmanian wind farm in eagle area to be assessed

Environmental authorities will assess a big new Tasmanian wind farm proposed for an area which has extensive records of endangered wedge-tailed eagles.

Council expands green waste service [$]

Another council is set to introduce a food organics and garden organics service, aiming to divert thousands of tonnes of rubbish from landfill.

Northern Territory

Native title owners’ push for more negotiation rights shelved after cattle industry fights back

The Northern Territory Government backs down in its fight with the cattle industry, abandoning plans to give Aboriginal native title holders more of say on proposed sub-leasing of cattle properties.

‘Go out and see what’s happening’: Traditional owners call for action over climate change

There had been hopes of recovery at the site of Australia’s worst recorded mangrove dieback in the Gulf of Carpentaria. But during a recent visit to the area, traditional owner Patsy Evans said she was devastated by the scene.

Santos rules in oil and gas

Santos will leapfrog Woodside Petroleum as the biggest homegrown oil and gas producer after it snared control of the Darwin liquefied natural gas plant and a host of gas fields off northern Australia for $US1.39bn ($2bn).

Western Australia

Sick idea gives native species a taste of toad [$]

Baby cane toads the size of little fingernails are being released into the pristine Kimberley with the intention of making goannas and other predators ill.

Airport home for WA biome project [$]

Three giant bio-domes that will allow visitors to experience WA’s different climates and landscapes could be built next to Perth Airport under an agreement to be announced tomorrow.

Sustainability

‘Insect Armageddon’: Europe reacts to alarming findings about decline in insects

Recall when insects used to go splat on your windscreen during a country drive? It’s rarer these days. Now, European scientists have confirmed what many suspected: insects are dropping like flies.

How do we rein in the fossil fuel industry? Here are eight ideas

Individual action alone won’t solve the climate crisis. So what political changes might help?

Rise of renewables may see off oil firms decades earlier than they think

Pace of progress raises hope that fossil fuel companies could lose their domination

Paladin prices restarting Namibia uranium mine

Paladin Energy says it could restart its Langer Heinrich uranium mine in Namibia for roughly $US80 million once it has locked in funding and market conditions improve.

Study shows a much cheaper catalyst can generate hydrogen in a commercial device

SLAC and Stanford researchers have shown for the first time that a cheap catalyst can split water and generate hydrogen gas for hours on end in the harsh environment of a commercial electrolyzer — a step toward clean, large-scale hydrogen production for fuel, fertilizer and industry

Power to the people means making electricity generation green and local

Fossil fuel dependence stirs up the climate and makes our energy supply increasingly vulnerable.

US, critics split on whether tech made nuke shipments safer

The U.S. government insists it has the technology to safely ship nuclear waste by truck and train across the country despite concerns from watchdogs.

Tom Steyer thinks his ranch can save the planet

The long-shot presidential candidate wants to prove you can farm without destroying the environment. But like his campaign, it’s an expensive undertaking that’s had mixed results.

It seems like every city wants to be “smart.” Not all of them are succeeding

Arturo Bris

According to a new smart cities index, the real test for smart cities is whether citizens feel the benefits.

Water inequality used to be a developing world problem only. Not any more

Will Sarni

The problems of water scarcity and polluted supplies are no longer solely the preserve of developing countries.

Nature Conservation

Indigenous Mapuche pay high price for Argentina’s fracking dream

Community tell of devastating environmental impact on land where their animals grazed

Lakes worldwide are experiencing more severe algal blooms

The intensity of summer algal blooms has increased over the past three decades, according to a first-ever global survey of dozens of large, freshwater lakes, which was conducted by Carnegie’s Jeff Ho and Anna Michalak and NASA’s Nima Pahlevan. They used 30 years of data from the Landsat 5 near-Earth satellite and created a partnership with Google Earth Engine to reveal long-term trends in summer algal blooms in 71 large lakes in 33 countries on six continents.

‘Our river was like a god’: How dams and China’s might imperil the Mekong

A river system that feeds millions of people is in danger of being starved of the nutrients needed to sustain its life.