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Date: 23 February 2023 at 9:11:17 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Feb 23
Post of the Day
A basic premise of animal conservation looks shakier than ever
Are we trying to save animals in the wrong places?
On This Day
Climate Change
Salt could play key role in energy transition
A common ingredient — salt — could have a big role to play in the energy transition to lower carbon energy sources. A study describes how large underground salt deposits could serve as hydrogen holding tanks, conduct heat to geothermal plants, and influence CO2 storage. It also highlights how industries with existing salt expertise, such as solution mining, salt mining, and oil and gas exploration, could help.
Nigeria’s presidential candidates ignore climate change
Nigeria has been badly hit by climate change, resulting in desertification, a shrinking Lake Chad in the north, flooding in the center and coastal erosion in the south. Yet the issue hasn’t played a role in campaigning.
Today’s climate activist ‘criminals’ are tomorrow’s heroes: silencing them in court is immoral
George Monbiot
It’s not ‘the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ if campaigners cannot explain their motivations to a jury
Better methane accounting will mean a faster and cheaper energy transition
Brad Handler
A push for the oil and gas industry to reduce its methane emissions is on. Methane, the major component of natural gas, is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe.
National
Australia’s methane pollution problem is outsized – and probably underestimated
Australia produces five times as much methane as our population should warrant, according to new data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) – systemic underreporting means that number is likely to be much, much higher.
Making a beeline to edible bugs
Tapping into the $4 billion global edible insect market could offer a solution to the climate, economic and employment crises facing Australia.
Solar exports and siestas: The energy future where consumers have the power, and can share it too
Landmark study looks into Australia’s energy future to see how consumers will use electricity, how they won’t, and how to avoid a potentially bumpy transition.
Irrigators fear federal government’s new water buybacks will devastate farming communities
The federal government has announced it will start a new round of water buybacks to help it achieve a key target under the $13 billion Murray-Darling Basin Plan.
The Australian animals back from the brink of extinction
Almost 30 threatened species have recovered to such an extent they are no longer at risk of extinction, new research has found.
Albanese: Keep critical minerals in Australia, make our own batteries
Australia should keep more of its critical minerals inside the country despite requests from China to invest in new mines, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared in a pledge to spur local industries to make batteries and other renewable technologies.
End the climate wars, urges Santos boss [$]
Santos managing director Kevin Gallagher says a concerted climate plan looking 10 years ahead is needed, as he announced a significant dividend increase.
Seaweed flowering into a bio-sink for waste material [$]
Australia’s fledgling seaweed industry is already being touted as a solution to reduce methane emissions in livestock, but its capacity as a carbon, nitrogen and phosphorous regulator has the sector excited.
Don’t leave coal communities stranded, union warns PM [$]
Labor must help coal workers with the transition to clean energy and not leave their fate to Mike Cannon-Brookes and teal independents, the mining union says.
Australia’s energy market operator is worried about the grid’s reliability. But should it be?
Dylan McConnell
The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) this week released an update to its annual assessment of reliability, the so-called Electricity Statement of Opportunities. This has been reported as the market operator forecasting “power shortages”, or the network being “at risk of supply shortages”.
In the fight to contain emissions, we are losing badly
Peter Boyer
The verdict is in: humans are not good people. That was US funnyman Bill Maher earlier this month, musing on why we can’t fix the climate. “I don’t know what will work,” he said, “but I know what didn’t work: asking people to be good.”
Make no mistake, the climate wars are not over yet [$]
Paul Kelly
The battle within the left of politics was bequeathed by the 2022 election, seeding a struggle between Labor and the Greens over how far and how fast to go.
David Lindenmayer
Australia has an extraordinary diversity of trees, with more than 820 species of eucalypts alone. But not all trees are created equal. Some species can turn into giants, like the majestic mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) and the impressive white fig (Ficus virens).
Australia should ban new coal, oil, and gas projects
Sophie McNeill
Uphold international human rights obligations in addressing climate crisis
Victoria
Fears contaminated water could leak into rivers if Hazelwood mine rehabilitation project is approved
The federal government will investigate the potential environmental effects of rehabilitating the Hazelwood mine in Victoria’s east amid concern it could contaminate waterways.
Can an old coal pit be turned into a lake? Hazelwood plans set off “water trigger”
Engie’s proposed Hazelwood lake will be scrutinised by the federal government’s more muscular environment department for its huge water use.
Arrest made over dangerous Vic grass fire
A man has been arrested and interviewed by police over a dangerous grass fire that threatened several towns north of Melbourne.
Shepparton men fined $5k after illegally collecting firewood
Three men have been handed hefty fines after concealed cameras spotted them illegally collecting firewood in the Lower Goulburn National Park.
New South Wales
NSW Ports boss tells defence to look elsewhere for nuclear base
NSW Ports chief executive Marika Calfas has called for the state’s trade needs to be prioritised ahead of a nuclear base, while unveiling plans for an offshore wind farm facility at Port Kembla.
National Parks defends state of trails as rescued bushwalkers blame overgrowth for three-day ordeal
Two experienced hikers rescued after failing to return from the Blue Mountains say they were not lost but unable to negotiate overgrown walking tracks.
Major inland river ‘a big mess’ as it chokes on flood debris as water recedes
Several large rafts made of wood and other debris are blocking parts of the Macquarie River in NSW’s west, leaving residents concerned about erosion or even a diversion of the river itself.
Path clear to use electric skateboards as disability mobility aid after NSW law change
Port Macquarie local Steve Lyons has been campaigning to legalise the use of electric skateboards as mobility aids for people living with disability, and the NSW government has responded.
Homeowners ‘confused’, anxious as voluntary buybacks begin in Northern Rivers
While homeowners receive “formal offers” in the highest-risk flood zones, some residents say “vague” information has them “confused” and lacking certainty about their future.
High-tech defence system to protect flood weary Northern Rivers
A CSIRO research project recommends a comprehensive flood warning network after catastrophic failures during last year’s disaster.
Menindee mass fish kill: thousands of carp dead amid water quality fears
Deaths the result of deoxygenation caused by carp population boom at NSW weir, primary industries department says
ACT
Wanted: new ACT waste collection contractor with zero-emissions fleet plan
The ACT government wants one contractor with a plan to use zero-emissions trucks in its fleet to deliver all Canberra’s waste collection services.
Queensland
Coal could stay in Qld energy grid past Palaszczuk’s 2035 deadline [$]
A senior Queensland bureaucrat said coal will not be removed from the grid by 2035 if renewables and pumped hydro couldn’t find the reliability for the grid.
South Australia
Murraylands residents say more should have been done to protect flooded homes
Nearly two months after the flood peak passed, the South Australian River Murray town of Paisley is still in a pool of water — and residents are wondering why authorities did not do more to help them in the first place.
Build it and the infrastructure will come – hopefully
The Malinauskas Government plans to make available nearly twice as much outer suburban land for housing as was released in the controversial 2010 Mt Barker rezoning. So why is the planning minister confident the infrastructure errors of that decision won’t be repeated?
Tasmania
Future of hydrogen in Tasmania questioned by Labor [$]
The state government has fended off claims that it has been too slow to progress the rollout of hydrogen projects in Northern Tasmania.
Council to decide on North East Rail Trail [$]
The multi-million North East Rail Trail project might be finally coming to a close after years of uncertainty
Proposal to protect ‘one of the most unique environments on the planet’
An area roughly the size of Germany is set to be added to Australia’s protected marine zones, safeguarding the future of millions of penguins, seals and sea birds on Macquarie Island.
Northern Territory
NT government vows to begin works on long-awaited Alice Springs flood mitigation
The Northern Territory will begin design work for flood-mitigation action for Alice Springs that modelling suggests would help protect some residents from the effects of flooding.
The documents show NT Mining and Industry Minister Nicole Manison slashed the environmental security bond at one of the world’s largest lead and zinc mines despite formal advice that doing so could be “premature and inappropriate”.
Invasive species threatens to destroy Top End crown jewel [$]
Experts estimate 30 per cent of Litchfield National Park could be overrun with gamba grass within a decade.
Western Australia
Dash for new gas plant in WA as demise of coal-fired power threatens supply
Australian energy heavyweight breaks cover to call for new gas plant in the west as coal exodus threatens supply crunch.
Alcoa faces two lean years until it expands mining near Serpentine Dam
Alcoa needs the WA government to allow it to mine more jarrah forests north of Perth’s biggest drinking water dam to keep its alumina refineries at full production.
‘It’s arrogance’: How will McGowan’s planning reforms change Perth?
In an escalation of the fight against NIMBYism on Wednesday Premier Mark McGowan flagged major reforms to the planning system.
Cashless welfare should have been a far larger reform program [$]
Andrew Forrest
It is wrong to conflate an indigenous welfare initiative with a dispute over native title in the Pilbara.
Sustainability
What is the New START nuclear treaty, and why is Vladimir Putin putting it in jeopardy?
A look at New START and what Russia’s announcement — that Moscow is suspending its participation in the last remaining US-Russia arms control treaty — means for keeping the two nations’ nuclear weapons in check.
China’s environment chief names and shames state-owned pollution cheats in snap inspection
Several Chinese energy and steel companies – all of them state owned – have been singled out for breaking pollution rules after China’s environment chief made a surprise inspection tour of Henan province this week, according to the environment ministry.
After years of costly failures, is tidal energy finally catching on?
The MeyGen tidal power array in Scotland has generated 50 GWh of electricity so far, marking a significant milestone for the slow-going clean energy sector.
The environmental scars of Russia’s war in Ukraine
Kyiv estimates the cost of environmental damage caused by the war at over €48 billion.
Nature Conservation
Alarming toxic ‘forever chemicals’ found in animals’ blood – study
Hundreds of animal species across the globe from ticks to whales have blood contaminated with toxic PFAS, a new analysis of previous peer-reviewed research shows.
Air pollution increases bone loss from osteoporosis
A team of researchers led by Columbia University has found that high levels of air pollution are associated with bone damage among postmenopausal women.
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