15/12/2018

Coalition Signals It Will Provide Taxpayer Support For New And Existing Coal Plants

The Guardian

Morrison government specifies generation projects will need to be coal, gas, batteries or pumped hydro to be eligible for underwriting
Labor and the Greens are opposed to any taxpayer support for coal projects and will continue to try and frustrate the Coalition’s power generation underwriting program. Photograph: David Crosling/AAP
The Morrison government has sent a clear signal that it is prepared to provide taxpayer support for both new and existing coal plants, opening registrations of interest in its controversial new power generation underwriting program.
With the government accelerating to cover off major announcements before the Christmas break, the energy minister, Angus Taylor, will on Thursday use an event at a hydro power station in Tasmania to outline the terms of the new program and urge proponents to get their bids in over the summer break – before 23 January.
As well as finalising the criteria for the underwriting program, and calling for expressions of interest, the government is also expected to outline its response to the Ruddock review into religious freedom, and unveil its decision on Australian diplomatic facilities in Israel, before the end of the week.
Angus Taylor, left, will confirm the underwriting program will potentially fund generation projects including new builds and brownfield projects. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
Taylor will confirm on Thursday that the underwriting program – which has been criticised by business groups and energy stakeholders – will potentially fund generation projects including new builds and brownfield projects, like upgrades or life extensions of existing coal generators.
Taxpayer support will be made available to projects through a range of financing options such as underwriting floor prices, underwriting cap prices, grants and loans – although the finalised program guidelines makes it clear that the amount of support available under each phase of the program, and the extent of taxpayer liability, will be capped.
The government has not published an upper limit on the size of eligible projects but the minimum eligible project size will be 30MW.
The criteria makes it clear that the program is technology neutral but it also specifies that generation projects will need to be coal, gas, batteries or pumped hydro to be eligible for the government underwriting.
The document calling for expressions of interest does not supply any specific guidance on the emissions intensity of the projects. It says only that projects delivering an electricity product at a lower emissions intensity “will be deemed higher merit.”
It also makes clear the program will also be open to foreign investors in the event the proposal can clear Foreign Investment Review Board processes.
As to timing, the document suggests phase one is anticipated to commence in the first quarter of 2019 – which puts some of the decision making pre-election in the event the government goes to the polls in April.
Labor and the Greens are opposed to any taxpayer support for coal projects, and will continue efforts once parliament resumes next year to try and frustrate the Coalition’s program, potentially by attempting to amend the government’s “big stick” divestiture bill, which stalled in the final sitting week, to include a prohibition on power companies receiving commonwealth support.
As well as the underwriting, Taylor has also flagged the possible indemnification of projects from the future risk of a carbon price.
There is speculation around the energy sector that the government underwriting proposal could facilitate an extension of the Vales Point power station near Lake Macquarie in New South Wales. It is owned by Trevor St Baker, who was vocal during a stakeholder session last month convened to discuss the underwriting program.
Ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Taylor said: “This program will drive down electricity prices for householders by increasing competition and increasing supply in the market.”
He said the objective was to produce a pipeline of projects “that will allow us to bring targeted generation into the system in the right place at the right time”.

Links

'New Energy Future': Minister Touts Australia At Climate Summit

FairfaxPeter Hannam

Australia is moving "towards a new energy future", powered by unprecedented investments in renewable energy, Environment Minister Melissa Price has told a summit in Poland even as the country earned a "fossil of the day" award for its poor climate policies.
In a speech on Wednesday at the COP24 climate talks in Katowice, Ms Price said Australia was "committed to the Paris Agreement" and the development of a "robust rulebook" to implement the global pact agreed in 2015.
Melissa Price, the environment minister, spoke overnight at the COP24 climate talks in Poland. (Seen here in Canberra earlier this month.) Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
"The clear message from the dialogue is that we must act, and act together, because climate change affects us all, and Australia must play its part," Ms Price said.
"Our clean energy finance corporation, the world’s largest green bank, has leveraged nearly $20 billion in low-emissions technology investment," she said, adding that Australia would also help "fuel the battery storage revolution" with its large reserves of lithium.
Australia was also implementing its $1 billion commitment in climate finance to 2020, focused on "building resilience in the Pacific, one of the most vulnerable regions in the world," she said.
Richie Merzian, a climate researcher with The Australia Institute, said Minister Price's speech "relied almost entirely on policies her government tried to kill-off or water down".
He also criticised the climate finance pledge, saying Prime Minister Scott Morrison "had trashed and cut support for UN’s key climate finance body, the Green Climate Fund".

'Fossil of the Day'
Australia's policies also copped flak from The Climate Action Network, an alliance of 1300 environmental groups, which declared the country "fossil of the day" for its four years of rising greenhouse gas emissions.
No cop out: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, right, talks to UN climate conference president, Poland's Deputy Environment Minister Michal Kurtyka, after flying back to the event to urge more effort from the negotiators. Credit: AP
The network also raised the issue, first reported by the Herald, that Australia had "remained silent" about whether it planned to use any surplus from the Kyoto Protocol period - possibly 400 million tonnes worth - to count against its Paris target.
Ms Price's Labor counterpart, Mark Butler, has also continued to not rule out the use of any Kyoto credits for its post-2020 targets.
"It's not clear whether the so-called rulebook for the Paris Agreement will allow a carryover," Mr Butler told Radio National on Thursday.
"If it does, we would have to consider any conditions about that," he said, adding, "my bias is to steer very clear of cop-outs and accounting tricks when it comes to climate change policies."
Former US vice president and climate activist Al Gore makes a speech on acting for climate to participants at the Katowice summit. Credit: AP
Greens climate spokesman Adam Bandt said: “It is disappointing that Mark Butler has left the door open to cooking the books to meet their Paris commitment. The analysis is clear that up to a quarter of Labor’s target could be met by fake Kyoto credits if they follow the Coalition and pull the same dodgy accounting tricks.”

Links

2018 | The Year In Climate Change

New York Times

How The World Is Heating Up

Aug. 30, 2018
See how days at or above 90 degrees Fahrenheit have changed in your lifetime and how much hotter it could get.


Oct. 7, 2018
A landmark United Nations report paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding damage requires quickly transforming the world economy.


U.S. Climate Report Warns of Damaged Environment and Shrinking Economy
Nov. 23, 2018
Without major action to rein in global warming, the American economy could lose 10 percent of G.D.P. by 2100, according to a report from 13 federal agencies.


Why Half a Degree of Global Warming Is a Big Deal
Oct. 7, 2018
It may sound small, but a half-degree of temperature change could lead to more dire consequences in a warming world, according to a sweeping new scientific assessment.


Nights Are Warming Faster Than Days. Here’s Why That’s Dangerous.
July 11, 2018
Nationwide, summer evening temperatures have risen at nearly twice the rate of daytime temperatures, putting older people, the sick, and young children at greater risk during heatwaves.


Where Are America’s Winters Warming the Most? In Cold Places.
March 16, 2018
In recent decades, wintertime has warmed up particularly quickly in the region stretching from Montana to Michigan.


Of 21 Winter Olympic Cities, Many May Soon Be Too Warm to Host the Games
Jan. 11, 2018
Because of climate change, by midcentury many prior Winter Games locations may be too warm to ever host the Olympics again.


Vanishing Heritage

Easter Island Is Eroding
March 14, 2018
Rising ocean levels are causing waves to break on the statues and platforms built a thousand years ago. The island risks losing its cultural heritage. Again.


Your Children’s Yellowstone Will Be Radically Different
Nov. 15, 2018
Climate change is altering America’s first national park so quickly that plants and animals may not be able to adapt.


Saving Scotland’s Heritage From the Rising Seas
Sept. 25, 2018
Citizens and scientists on the Orkney Islands are racing to protect thousands of ancient structures threatened by climate change.


July 18, 2018
Global warming could wipe out most of the country’s remaining cedar forests by the end of the century.

The Perils Of Inaction

California’s Underwater Forests Are Being Eaten by the ‘Cockroaches of the Ocean’
Oct. 22, 2018
Climate change is ravaging California’s underwater kelp forests. That’s caused what one scientist called a “perfect storm” in the ecosystem.


Left to Louisiana’s Tides, a Village Fights for Time
Feb. 24, 2018
For the community of Jean Lafitte, the question is less whether it will succumb to the sea than when — and how much the public should invest in artificially extending its life.


Why Are Puffins Vanishing? The Hunt for Clues Goes Deep (Into Their Burrows)
Aug. 29, 2018
Overfishing, hunting and pollution are putting pressure on the birds, but climate change may prove to be the biggest challenge.


In India, Summer Heat May Soon Be Literally Unbearable
July 17, 2018
In cities that are already scorching hot, temperatures and humidity levels are rising to levels that the human body simply can’t tolerate, researchers warn.


Floods Are Getting Worse, and 2,500 Chemical Sites Lie in the Water’s Path
Feb. 6, 2018
Extreme weather linked to climate change has increased the frequency and severity of flooding, amplifying the risk of toxic spills at chemical sites.


Why Does California Have So Many Wildfires?
Nov. 9, 2018
There are four key ingredients that make the state such a tinderbox.


Hotter, Drier, Hungrier: How Global Warming Punishes the World’s Poorest
March 12, 2018
A series of droughts with little recovery time in the intervals has pushed millions to the edge of survival in the Horn of Africa.


Many Major Airports Are Near Sea Level. A Disaster in Japan Shows What Can Go Wrong.
Sept. 7, 2018
Airports in Shanghai, Rome, New York and other major cities, often designed before global warming was fully understood, face a threat from rising seas and extreme weather.


Canada’s Outdoor Rinks Are Melting. So Is a Way of Life.
March 20, 2018
Canada loves its ice, and outdoor hockey is part of the nation's cultural identity. So what happens when winters get too warm for backyard rinks?


As Winter Warms, Bears Can’t Sleep. And They’re Getting Into Trouble.
May 4, 2018
American black bears are not always hibernating when they should be. Sometimes, they go in search of humans’ food, and that’s an even bigger problem.

Inside The White House

In the Trump Administration, Science Is Unwelcome. So Is Advice.
June 9, 2018
As the president prepares for nuclear talks, he lacks a close adviser with nuclear expertise. It’s one example of a marginalization of science in shaping federal policy.


76 Environmental Rules on the Way Out Under Trump
Oct. 5, 2018
The list shows dozens of environmental policies that the Trump administration has targeted, often in an effort to ease burdens on the fossil fuel industry.


E.P.A. Prepares to Roll Back Rules Requiring Cars to Be Cleaner and More Efficient
March 29, 2018
The Trump administration, handing automakers a victory, is preparing to announce an effort to weaken strict Obama-era pollution standards.


Scott Pruitt Before the E.P.A.: Fancy Homes, a Shell Company and Friends With Money
April. 21, 2018
The E.P.A. chief is under scrutiny for high spending and interactions with lobbyists. Many of the pitfalls he has encountered in Washington have echoes in his past.


A Courtside View of Scott Pruitt’s Cozy Ties With a Billionaire Coal Baron
June 2, 2018
The E.P.A. chief, who has reversed Obama-era rules on coal mining, enjoyed a superfan experience at a University of Kentucky basketball game — courtesy of an industry executive.


E.P.A. Chief Scott Pruitt Resigns Under a Cloud of Ethics Scandals
July 5, 2018
Mr. Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general, had been hailed by conservatives for his zealous deregulation, but could not overcome a spate of ethics questions.


Trump Wants to Bail Out Coal and Nuclear Power. Here’s Why That Will Be Hard.
June 13, 2018
Over the past decade, coal has been pushed off the power grid by competition from cheap natural gas, state efforts to boost renewable energy and stricter pollution rules.


Trump Would Open Nearly All U.S. Waters to Drilling. But Will They Drill?
Jan. 23, 2018
President Trump’s offshore oil drilling plan upends a decades-long effort to balance the nation’s energy needs with protecting ocean ecosystems, and it is meeting stiff resistance from governors up and down the coasts.


How a Coal Baron’s Wish List Became President Trump’s To-Do List
Jan. 9, 2018
Robert E. Murray, the chief executive of Murray Energy, wrote a lengthy “action plan” last year for President Trump. There’s not much left undone.

Industry Influence

How the Koch Brothers Are Killing Public Transit Projects Around the Country
June 19, 2018
In communities across the country, the billionaire conservatives are waging a sophisticated fight against new rail projects and bus routes.


The World Needs to Quit Coal. Why Is It So Hard?
Nov. 24, 2018
Coal, the most polluting of energy sources, shows no sign of disappearing three years after the Paris agreement, when world leaders promised decisive action against global warming.


In the Blink of an Eye, a Hunt for Oil Threatens Pristine Alaska
Dec. 3, 2018
For decades, opposition to drilling has left the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge off limits. Now the Trump administration is hurriedly clearing the way for oil exploration.


See the Scars That Oil Exploration Cut Across Alaska’s Wilderness
Aug. 3, 2018
A huge grid covers the landscape just outside the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, from seismic testing for oil and gas. Parts of the refuge itself could soon look the same way.

Seeking Solutions

How Oman’s Rocks Could Help Save the Planet
April. 26, 2018
The rocks in this part of the world have a special ability: They can turn carbon dioxide into stone.


Your Recycling Gets Recycled, Right? Maybe, or Maybe Not
May 29, 2018
Plastics and papers from dozens of American cities and towns are being dumped in landfills after China stopped recycling most “foreign garbage.”


6 Things You’re Recycling Wrong
May 29, 2018
Can you recycle coffee cups or greasy pizza boxes? If you’re tossing things in the recycling bin out of sheer hope, you might be an “aspirational recycler.”


How Six Americans Changed Their Minds About Global Warming
Feb. 21, 2018
More Americans than ever say that climate change is caused mainly by human activity. We talked to six people about what changed their minds.


July 15, 2018
The state expects drier dry years and wetter wet ones in the decades ahead. That means projects to restore river habitats now serve another purpose: battling the coming floods.