by faster | Jul 4, 2019 | Blog
SOURCE: The Guardian DATE: July 4, 2019 SNIP: The former environment minister Melissa Price acknowledged that approval of a uranium mine in Western Australia could lead to the extinction of up to 12 native species but went ahead with the decision anyway. The admission is contained in a statement of reasons signed by the minister before she approved the Yeelirrie uranium mine, 500km north of Kalgoorlie, the day before the federal election was called in April. The document also shows the environment and energy department recommended conditions that would require the developer, Cameco, to ensure the project would not result in the extinction of up to 11 stygofauna, which are tiny groundwater species. But Price instead adopted a weaker set of conditions aimed at reducing the risk to groundwater species but which the department said contained “significant uncertainties” as to whether or not they would be successful. Price wrote that she “accepted that there was a risk” that species could be lost. Neither the stygofauna nor the saltbush are listed species under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation...
by faster | Jun 26, 2019 | Blog
SOURCE: Climate Home News DATE: June 24, 2019 SNIP: The UK, Ireland, Canada and France have all declared climate emergencies. But between them they give billions of dollars to support the fossil fuel industry at home and abroad. Fossil fuel subsidies can come in the form of tax breaks, financial incentives and support for companies exporting abroad. The UK, which was the first country in the world to declare a climate emergency following declarations by Scotland and Wales, spent an annual average of $11 billion in fossil fuel subsidies between 2015 and 2016, according to data from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI). The same data shows that France, which enshrined the climate and ecological emergency as part of draft legislation that could see the country agree to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, spent an average $8.02 billion a year in fossil fuels subsidies during the same period. For Canada, that figure was $7.73 billion. The government of Justin Trudeau has been accused of sending out mixed signals after approving a pipeline expansion on the day after declaring a national climate...
by faster | Jun 21, 2019 | Blog
SOURCE: OPB DATE: June 21, 2019 SNIP: The latest round of public hearings for a highly controversial liquefied natural gas project starts Monday [June 24] in Oregon. Backers of the Jordan Cove LNG project plan to build a 230-mile pipeline across public and private land in four southwest Oregon counties. That pipeline would transport natural gas from sources in the U.S. Rockies and Canada to a new terminal at the Port of Coos Bay. There the gas would be liquefied and loaded on ships bound for buyers in Asia. If built, Jordan Cove would be the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in Oregon. Carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases released in the production, transport and burning of natural gas are a significant contributor to global climate change, which is causing weather extremes, longer wildfire seasons and sea level rise. The public hearings, planned for Coos Bay, Myrtle Creek, Medford and Klamath Falls, will take place over four days, each running for seven...
by faster | Jun 18, 2019 | Blog
SOURCE: Seattle Times DATE: June 18, 2019 SNIP: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday approved a major expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline that would result in a surge of new oil tanker traffic through Pacific Northwest waters, a development that opponents have sought to forestall through legal challenges and protests. “Today, I am announcing our government has newly approved the Trans Mountain project,” Trudeau told reporters. “The company plans to have shovels in the ground this construction season.” The project would nearly triple the pipeline capacity, helping to open new markets for crude processed from oil sands in Alberta, where the project has fierce political support. Opponents include Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and British Columbia Premier John Horgan, as well as a coalition of environmental groups, Canadian First Nations and U.S. tribal groups. All are concerned about the risk of a major oil spill to orcas and other marine life as tankers make their way through interior waters to exit through the Strait of Juan de Fuca into the Pacific. Trudeau initially approved the project, which is expected to cost more than $5.4 billion, in 2016. He also backed an unusual government buyout of the pipeline from Texas-based Kinder Morgan in a deal that closed last year. And Trudeau, on Tuesday, said that every dollar the government earned from the pipeline project would be invested in a clean energy transition [Hypocrisy Alert!!!] as he sought to portray the development of the pipeline to carry more oil to market was not in contradiction with his efforts to combat climate change spurred by combustion of these fuels. Trudeau’s approval...
by faster | Jun 14, 2019 | Blog
SOURCE: Rolling Stone DATE: June 14, 2019 SNIP: Thanks to President Trump and his transparent and perverse desire to enrich his golfing buddies in the fossil fuel industry and to accelerate the climate crisis, the U.S. is the most notorious climate criminal in the world right now. But the Aussie’s are giving us a run for our money. Exhibit A: the decision this week by the Queensland State government to allow a big coal mine in northeastern Australia to move forward. The project, known as the Carmichael mine, is controlled by the Adani Group, an Indian corporate behemoth headed by billionaire Gautam Adani. If it ever opens, the Carmichael mine would not be the biggest coal mine in the world, or even the biggest coal mine in Australia. But it may be the most insane energy project on the planet, and one that shows just how far supposedly civilized nations (and people) are from grasping what’s at stake in the climate crisis. The site for the Carmichael mine is in the Galilee Basin, an unspoiled region of Queensland that Adani has been itching to get his hands on for at least a decade. The battle over the mine has been the usual sordid tale of fossil fuel industry development, in which a rich, powerful, politically connected corporation gets its way with weak and corrupt politicians. But of course there are a lot of stupid and destructive energy projects in the world right now. What makes Adani worse than the others? Let’s start with the Great Barrier Reef. The Australian Marine Conservation Society called the approval of the mine “bad...
