Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for June 2011

Carbon Tax as a Failed European Policy

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IF a new federal tax of $11.6 billion represents economic reform, then the Australian political culture has changed fundamentally, and economic reform means roughly the opposite of what it meant under Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and John Howard.

“First, rectify the names,” as Confucius said. The complete inversion of the language of economic reform under the Gillard government, especially in relation to the proposed carbon tax, is a clue to the much more fundamental question at hand.

Australia faces a profound and defining strategic choice. The carbon tax is part of that choice…

Read the entire article by Greg Sheridan here:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/labors-euro-vision-provides-the-smoke-and-mirrors-for-a-carbon-tax/story-e6frgd0x-1226077328365

[Labor’s Euro vision provides the smoke and mirrors for a carbon tax, Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor
From:The Australian, June 18, 20111, 2:00AM ]

Major Drop in Solar Activity Predicted

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Three separate studies of the sun all predict that we may be about to enter a period of low temperatures because of unusually low solar activity. Comparisons are being made with the last grand minimum, the coldest period of the Little Ice Age, which occurred between 1645 and 1715. Known as the Maunder Minimum this was a period when crops failed across Europe.

Following is the press release from the annual meeting of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society, being held at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces…

WHAT’S DOWN WITH THE SUN?
MAJOR DROP IN SOLAR ACTIVITY PREDICTED

A missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles say that our Sun is heading for a rest period even as it is acting up for the first time in years, according to scientists at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

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Asking for a FairGo for Live Export: Scot Braithwaite

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My name is Scot Braithwaite and my life has basically revolved around live export since I was 10 years old. I was unloading cattle boats in Malaysia at the age of 13. I have worked for all the major cattle companies including as a Head Stockman in the Northern Territory. I have a degree in economics from the Queensland University and I personally have sold more than 1.5 million head of cattle into Indonesia since 1991. I am presently employed as the marketing manager for Wellard rural exports.

I am writing to you after the ABC 4 Corners Television program to say that although I abhor the treatment of the animals shown in the video, your one sided approach to the subject and the possible effect of that of a ban on live exports is too big a price to pay for a report based on the evidence of an organization that’s charter is to shut us down. I have the following points to make. I would like to have the same time as those who denigrated my life to show you the other side of our industry. To show you what is really going on. In Australia there used to be thing about “A fair Go”. You have gone with images provided by one person followed up by your investigative journalist who spent a week in Indonesia. Your report makes out that close to 100% of Australian cattle are treated as was shown on TV.

The ship that appears in the footage “for less than 30 seconds” is a vessel that cost tens of millions of dollars to build. We have had 3 separate media groups sail with this ship and it can in no uncertain terms be described as best in class. The Wellard group has another 3 vessels of the same standard with another 2 being built in China. This is a total investment of 400 million dollars to ensure that livestock exports from Australia are undertaken at the utmost levels of cow comfort and animal welfare.

[Read more…] about Asking for a FairGo for Live Export: Scot Braithwaite

Demands for Moratorium on Organic Food

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“Right now, someone nearby is buying organic bean sprouts. It may be the last thing he ever does. Last week’s E. coli outbreak in Germany – potentially traced to an organic farm – was more deadly than the largest nuclear disaster of the last quarter-century.”

These are the claim in an article in the Washington Times. Are they true? Were the bean sprouts organic? The story continues…

“Indeed, in the past two years, two public safety stories have dominated global news headlines – an explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and a nuclear power plant meltdown in Japan. Yet in the recent German organic-food-disease outbreak, nearly twice as many people already have died as in the two other industrial disasters combined.

“In response to the oil spill, countries all over the world have stopped or curtailed deep-water oil drilling as new safety and environmental regulations are designed and implemented. And ground hasn’t been broken on any new nuclear power plant in Europe or the United States since news of the Japanese meltdown broke. Germany is developing plans to mothball its whole nuclear industry.

“Yet, 23 deaths and more than 1,000 hospitalizations caused by an industrial accident at an organic farm in northern Germany have caused no such newfound caution toward the expansion of that industry.”

The story continues here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jun/8/dead-bodies-demand-organic-food-moratorium/

How Others Price Carbon

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The Australian Government asked the Productivity Commission to undertake a research study into effective carbon prices that result from emissions-reduction policies in Australia and other key economies.

Key findings include:

1. More than 1000 carbon policy measures were identified in the nine countries studied, ranging from (limited) emissions trading schemes to policies that support particular types of abatement technology. ◦As policies have been particularly targeted at electricity generation and road transport emissions, the Commission analysed major measures in these sectors.

2. While these disparate measures cannot be expressed as an equivalent single price on greenhouse gas emissions, all policies impose costs that someone must pay. The Commission has interpreted ‘effective’ carbon prices broadly to mean the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions – the ‘price’ of abatement achieved by particular policies.

3. The Commission’s estimates essentially provide a snapshot of the current cost and cost effectiveness of major carbon policies. ◦The subsidy equivalent, abatement achieved and implicit abatement subsidy have been calculated for policies and aggregated by sector in each country.

4. As a proportion of GDP, Germany was found to have allocated more resources than other countries to abatement policies in the electricity generation sector, followed by the UK, with Australia, China and the US mid-range.

5. Estimates of abatement relative to counterfactual emissions in the electricity generation sector followed a similar ordering, with Germany significantly ahead, followed by the UK, then Australia, the US and China.

6. The estimated cost per unit of abatement achieved varied widely, both across programs within each country and in aggregate across countries. ◦Emissions trading schemes were found to be relatively cost effective, while policies encouraging small-scale renewable generation and biofuels have generated little abatement for substantially higher cost.

7. The relative cost effectiveness of price-based approaches is illustrated for Australia by stylised modelling that suggests that the abatement from existing policies for electricity could have been achieved at a fraction of the cost. ◦However, the estimates cannot be used to determine the appropriate starting price of a broadly-based carbon pricing scheme.

8. The estimated price effects of supply-side policies have generally been modest, other than for electricity in Germany and the UK. ◦Such price uplifts are of some relevance to assessing carbon leakage and competitiveness impacts, but are very preliminary and substantially more information would be required.

More here: http://pc.gov.au/projects/study/carbon-prices/report

Free-Flowing Estuary Vital to Healthy River System: Johnny Kahlbetzer

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Johnny Kahlbetzer
Johnny Kahlbetzer

“There is more to fixing the Murray-Darling Basin than fixating on the amount of fresh water coming downstream,” writes Johnny Kahlbetzer in today’s The Australian…

“I am a Murray-Darling Basin food and fibre producer, and I’m very aware of how much water our operations use. My company, Twynam Agricultural Group, also invests in research and develoment constantly to improve water-use efficiency so we can produce more food and fibre with less water.

“But the bottom line is that food and fibre production requires water, so on average there is less water flowing to the Murray Mouth, Coorong and Lower Lakes. Food and fibre producers don’t take all the water. In fact because of upstream storages there is more water on average in the Murray River during drought, including the recent drought, than there was historically…

Read more here:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/commentary/free-flowing-estuary-vital-to-healthy-river/story-e6frgd0x-1226070473687