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The Bullroarer - Thursday January 10
Posted by Big Gav on January 10, 2008 - 8:38am in The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand
SMH - Coal port will be one of world's biggest
Coal companies are clamouring for a new $3.5 billion export facility in central Queensland which will be one of the world's biggest when it is complete, Acting Premier Paul Lucas says.
The Wiggins Island Coal Terminal, to be built just north of Gladstone, would eventually handle up to 84 million tonnes a year, most of it coking coal used in steel making, Mr Lucas said. It will also help streamline the state's lucrative coal exports. "The coal industry is going gang-busters at the moment and prices are at record highs," Mr Lucas told reporters.
The Australian - Canberra mulls tax relief for exploration
Despite high commodity prices and big returns on oil and gas investments, the level of exploration in the past decade has fallen.
The Australian yesterday confirmed the new federal Government's decision to move towards introducing the proposal after Western Australia's Opposition Leader, Paul Omodei, under pressure to perform, used last week's gas plant failure on the Burrup Peninsula to call for an early introduction of flow-through share schemes. Flow-through share schemes, in which individual investors receive tax relief for their investment in companies that have specific exploration budgets, have been promoted as an offset to the low level of exploration spending in Australia. ...
Mr Omodei yesterday said WA needed to secure more gas supplies for the domestic market - a fact highlighted by the gas shortage caused by the temporary closure of Woodside's Pilbara processing facility after an electrical fault. While the gas shortage did not lead to electricity blackouts - roughly half of WA's electricity generation capacity runs on gas - many operations using gas for heating and processing were forced to reduce production.
The Australian - Booming gas price relights Warro's flame
The Australian - India on target for SA uranium exports
The Australian - Palm oil crisis driven by ethanol fuel push
SMH - Garrett's historic flight to big freeze
SMH - Plastic bags join endangered list
HE days of the plastic bag are numbered, with the Environment Minister, Peter Garrett, likely to impose either a levy on each bag handed to shoppers, or to ban them outright within 12 months.
Mr Garrett has confirmed he will move to phase out bags "by the end of the year", after consulting state governments in March. "He is committed to working co-operatively but with a legislative ban if necessary," a spokeswoman for Mr Garrett said.
Banning plastic bags, which are made from polluting petrochemicals and known to be deadly to wildlife, has been Labor policy since 2004, when it was announced by the former leader Mark Latham.
SMH - North West Shelf condensate loads to drop by 40% in January
SMH - AED Oil Ltd initiates strategic review after suffering problems at Puffin
SMH - Uranium shares cool off
Peak Energy - The Combined Power Plant And Biogas In Germany
Peak Energy - A Solar Grand Plan
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Barring recession there will be no coal slowdown under Rudd. His loyalty to both Queensland and China will ensure nobody misses out. What I don't know is how he will explain the increasing tonnages, perhaps tree planting, funny light bulbs, fewer plastic bags, whatever.
Late in his first term I expect we will get carbon-trading-lite with all the harshness of a fluffy duster. Working solar farms with storage or biogas plants with serious output are still a decade away in Australia, a decade in which coal will still be king.
Banning plastic bags earns 1 brownie point.
Mulling tax relief for fossil fuel exploration earns minus 1000 brownie points.
Prediction: CO2 emissions will rise under this government.
There is no cause for optimism. The end is nigh.
I'm puzzled as to why with "record high prices", the industry needs public subsidies at all. Can't they build their own ports?
If I own a restaurant, and all 12 tables are full every evening, I don't get public subsidies to buy another 12 tables. I'm expected to do it out of my profits.
It's funny how people say that renewables aren't good because they require public subsidy. Apparently even with "record high prices", coal needs public subsidy. I guess stuff which is in limited supply and pollutes is held to lower standards than stuff which is unlimited and doesn't pollute.
Which is pretty bloody backwards.
Anna Bligh has proven she is no friend of the environment.
One of her first achievements whilst in office was to reject all calls for daylight savings in Queensland. This would of resulted in energy efficiency gains and reduced ghgs.
Last year she was opening coal mines with Peter Beattie and now we have this coal port expansion. Of course there is no discussion on removing the fuel discounts Queensland motorists receive either.
But what did we see her doing in December 2007. She was updating the fleet of government vehicles to fuel efficient models which, to her dismay, had to be imported. A token gesture, no doubt.
Rudd will have trouble reducing ghgs because the state premiers aren't willing to do what is necessary.