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Date: 16 March 2023 at 9:06:00 am AEDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Daily Links Mar 16
Post of the Day
Ian Lowe
Within ten years, Australia could be in possession of three American-made Virginia-class nuclear submarines under the AUKUS agreement with the United States and United Kingdom. The following decade, we plan to build five next-generation nuclear submarines.
On This Day
Ecological Observance
National Panda Day – USA
Climate Change
Arctic ice has seen an ‘irreversible’ thinning since 2007, study says
New research suggests the decline was a fundamental change unlikely to be reversed this century — perhaps proof the planet has passed an alarming climactic tipping point.
Japan’s cherry blossoms are blooming earlier and earlier. Blame climate change
Tokyo’s cherry blossoms have begun blooming, tying records set in 2020 and 2021 for the earliest start dates on record.
National
Extreme weather this winter may lead to gas shortages, energy market regulator warns
The energy market regulator warns of gas shortages during extreme weather this winter due to declining gas production in the south and uncertainty over whether exporters would redirect gas supply if needed.
Electricity prices set to surge up to 30 per cent as regulators reveal draft pricing plans
The Australian Energy Regulator releases its draft electricity price increase for the coming financial year, but says its default market offer would have been higher without government intervention.
Report: Most farmers don’t understand carbon market
A new report on Australian farmers has shown a huge knowledge gap among farmers around the carbon market and climate change.
Going to extremes: Australia’s top climate gurus explain why our weather has been so wild
Some of the nation’s top climate scientists have unpicked the factors behind Australia’s disastrous and deadly year of weather and climate extremes.
‘Every tool in the box’ needed as private land targeted for conservation
Private land not formally protected under the national system could be counted as part of Australia’s conservation target under a proposal being considered by the Labor government.
As part of the AUKUS deal, Australia must manage all radioactive waste generated by the submarines on Australian soil. What are the types of waste and where will it be disposed of?
Australia’s nuclear skills ‘need to ramp up’, experts say [$]
Thousands of very highly skilled people will be needed to keep Australia’s fleet of nuclear-powered submarines seaworthy and effective, according to experts in nuclear technology.
States baulk at storing radioactive waste from nuclear submarines
Victoria, Queensland and South Australia all signalled on Wednesday they would not accept a nuclear waste facility within their borders.
Australia must find a place to store AUKUS nuclear waste – video
As part of the AUKUS deal, Australia will have to find somewhere to store high-level nuclear waste generated from spent nuclear reactors. The federal government has acknowleged that this is the most complex part of the submarine life-cycle. But it’s raised questions about where the highly-radioactive waste will go.
Teal whisperers graft Twiggy Forrest’s green offshoot onto image machine
Noel Towell and Kishor Napier-Raman
Forget Climate 200 – the real brains behind the successful “teal” campaigns at last year’s federal election were ex-GetUp and Labor figures.
Subs deal torpedoes Labor’s nuclear policy mess [$]
Andrew Bolt
Now that the Albanese government has agreed to buy 11 nuclear submarines, could the Prime Minister tell us why nuclear power is not good for Australian homes?
Let’s go fully nuclear before it’s too late
Amanda Vanstone
The risks are overblown. More people die on roads than in nuclear accidents.
Lauren Sanders
The issue of nuclear non-proliferation is back in the headlines, thanks to details announced yesterday at a US navy base of a deal involving Australia’s purchase of nuclear submarines.
What happens when our nuclear subs retire?
Richard Broinowski
Among the breathless press announcements coming out of San Diego on 14 March was that the spent nuclear fuel reactor cells for our submarines would have to be stored in Australia. This on top of the unexplained escalating costs of the subs, estimated delivery not until 2042, and three hand-me-down stop-gap Virginias possibly available around
Labor’s gas big stick delays new supply [$]
AFR editorial
Labor needs to resolve the contradiction between its belated recognition of gas as a crucial transition fuel with its big-stick intervention, which is delaying urgently needed investment in new gas supply.
Australia risks sleepwalking into an energy crisis [$]
John Kehoe
Traditional fossil fuel energy is being phased out before the new renewable energy system is ready. The energy transition is happening back-to-front.
David Ritter
There is a fundamental contrast between the attitudes and choices of those who profit from accelerating climate destruction and those who are dealing with the consequences.
Victoria
Putting up a stink: revolt against a Melbourne council’s levy starts debate about waste
City of Yarra argues it is a financial necessity but to angry locals, a separate charge for rubbish is nothing short of a ‘bin tax’
Wombat Forest fire bomb keeps ticking [$]
Bureaucratic delays mean tens of thousands of windblown trees have split in Wombat Forest and are no longer worth salvaging.
New South Wales
Save the Darling-Baaka River campaign launched by NSW Greens ahead of state election
A plan to drastically change current water management practices in the Darling River has been launched by the NSW Greens, with the aim to oust the National party from water management portfolios.
Jail sentence overturned for climate change activist who blocked Sydney Harbour Bridge
Climate activist Deanna “Violet” Coco last year was handed a 15-month jail sentence but that has been overturned by the NSW District Court.
NSW transport problems ‘won’t go away’: Minister
A week after Sydney trains were brought to a standstill, the outgoing NSW transport minister says maintenance problems won’t go away no matter which party forms the next government.
Mark Latham to push for nuclear plants and ‘parental rights’ if made NSW kingmaker
Labor and Greens concerned One Nation could gain at least one additional seat in 25 March election
‘Cruel trade’: Native lizards exported in Ugg boots
Colin Warwick, 70, appeared at Downing Centre District Court on Monday charged with one count of exporting regulated native species and five other counts of attempting to export the lizards between 2018 and 2019.
‘Silent epidemic’: Air pollution the cause of hundreds of deaths in NSW
More than 600 people are dying prematurely from NSW’s air pollution, with motor vehicles and power stations among the biggest contributors.
ACT
Bushfire experiences to improve future fire maps [$]
ACT residents who’ve lived through recent bushfires are being asked to share their experience to help improve maps used by the public for the first time during the Black Summer fires.
Queensland
Major mines suspend operations after floodwater enters sites, damages infrastructure
Some of the biggest minerals mines in Queensland will be shut down for weeks and months, and environmental experts are being engaged to assess any potential spills at the sites.
Cultural burning is safer for koalas and better for people too
Romane H. Cristescu et al
Koalas are an iconic endangered species living in a fire-prone environment. This makes them an ideal subject when investigating solutions to wildfires.
Another blow for iconic Twin Falls World Heritage site
David McIlveen
A judge has ruled in favour of a controversial water drilling project on the Gold Coast that will further impact the local environment.
South Australia
Will nuclear waste from AUKUS subs be dumped in SA? Not necessarily
South Australia has been chosen to build submarines under the AUKUS deal, but its premier says that doesn’t necessarily mean the state is the best location for the required nuclear waste dump.
Tasmania
Big electricity price rises are on the way — how will Australia’s smallest state cope?
A huge increase in Victoria’s power prices has stoked fears that a dramatic price rise could also be on the way in Tasmania — with a social services advocate warning people “do not have any room left in their budgets”.
Tasmanian devil whiskers hold the key to protecting these super-scavengers
Anna C. Lewis and Tracey Rogers
Despite the damage humans cause to the planet, in some cases wildlife can benefit from the presence of people. The Tasmanian devil, for example, frequently feeds on roadkill left by humans.
Northern Territory
Members of the NT’s Country Liberal Party back policy idea to put troubled kids in a ‘school farm’
Rank-and-file members of the Northern Territory’s Country Liberal Party have passed a motion that would see children sent to farms to operate machinery and assist in the operation of a slaughterhouse as an alternative to youth detention.
Cannon-Brookes v Forrest: Duelling billionaires could both miss out on Sun Cable solar project
Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest are now racing against offshore and domestic institutional investors to nab the mammoth renewable solar energy project.
Western Australia
The Environmental Protection Authority says there are likely to be opportunities for Woodside Energy to seek more substantial reductions in greenhouse gases at its Pluto gas plant in the Pilbara this decade.
Green light for nuclear waste storage repository [$]
The WA government has granted a final approval licence to Australian firm Tellus Holdings to store low-level radioactive waste at a repository in Sandy Ridge.
Campaign for a nuclear free Cockburn Sound launched
Stop AUKUS Western Australia launched its Nuke Free Cockburn Sound campaign, the day after Anthony Albanese announced the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal in San Diego in the United States.
Sustainability
Supreme Court orders probe of Adani business group
The investigation was prompted by allegations made by US short-seller Hindenburg.
Tons of uranium missing from Libyan site, IAEA tells member states
U.N. nuclear watchdog inspectors have found that roughly 2.5 tons of natural uranium have gone missing from a Libyan site that is not under government control, the watchdog told member states in a statement on Wednesday seen by Reuters.
PFAS, the “forever chemicals,” explained by a chemist
Right now, you likely have something unnatural lurking inside your body. It was made by a large corporation and could potentially harm you. That something is called PFAS.
How water partnerships can yield better results
Avoiding four common pitfalls for water-sector partnerships.
Miner BHP potentially faces $44 billion bill in Brazil dam case
Mining group BHP Group is potentially facing a 36 billion pound ($44 billion) lawsuit in London over Brazil’s worst environmental disaster after the number of claimants more than tripled to 700,000, their lawyers said on Wednesday.
The brilliant inventor who made two of history’s biggest mistakes
A century ago, Thomas Midgley Jr. was responsible for two phenomenally destructive innovations: leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). These were hailed as genius inventions at the time. What can we learn from them today?
Nature Conservation
Smog a major buzzkill for insect mating
The rigours and rituals of mating among fruit flies are challenging under the best of circumstances, but add ozone-laden smog into the mix and things really fly apart, according to a study published on Tuesday.
A killer fungus has spread in Africa, driving more amphibians to extinction
The fungal infection called chytridiomycosis has swept through the diversity-rich continent in little more than two decades, a new study finds.
Biden says climate change could dry up Colorado River. Is it possible?
President Joe Biden has given a dire warning that the Colorado River will dry up if climate change efforts do not ramp up.
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