Get ready. The legislation was done on the last day Parliament sat in December. The Coalition government knew it would be popular with the voters who all want “carbon action” so they… buried the news. No cheering. No speeches.
It apparently starts on July 1, and applies to 150 companies — about half our emissions. It’s a Cap N Trade system with “Caps” that can be screwed gently down as the climate warms to fill government coffers and raise electricity prices. The Direct Action plan auctions can be phased out and the SneakTax phased in. It could end up being the main game. A blank cheque.
It’s called “Safeguard” — it was safe for politicians and guards them against their failure to meet pointless, symbolic international agreements to slow storms. A Safeguard for politicians but a SneakTax for the people.
What does it mean? It’s time Australia got a new central political party.
Alan Kohler in The Australian
From July 1, coincidentally the day before the election, the Coalition’s “safeguard mechanism” within its Direct Action Plan will come into force.
One-hundred and fifty companies, representing about 50 per cent of Australia’s total carbon emissions, will be capped by legislation at their highest level of emissions between 2009-10 and 2013-14.
If they emit less than their caps, they will get credits, called Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), which were created by the Gillard government’s 2011 legislation; if they emit more, they have to buy ACCUs on the market.
The caps specifically include the electricity sector and the ACCUs are “financial products” under both the Corporations Act and the ASIC Act, and can be traded, so an ETS market will be established from July 1.
Kohler claims this Cap N Trade idea has been part of Coalition policy since before the 2013 election. That is a spin doctor story it appears Hunt is providing. Abbott won on a blood oath to get rid of carbon taxes. He wanted to rule out emissions trading. Gore and Palmer forced him to add in a proviso to not rule it out entirely, but to allow a “review” for an ETS. When Direct Action was removed the ETS was sold as a deal that would only happen if and when all the major players signed up. So Hunt and Turnbull said straight after the coup that trading “might” start from mid 2016. Turnbull can say he’s sticking to the Abbott plan, but Hunt can get an ETS thanks to the Palmer clause that Al Gore flew here to get. In other words, this is a GoreTax. (What did he offer Palmer?)
How did they get the contentious political bomb of a carbon tax through? By keeping it a secret.
The key has been not talking about the ETS part of the policy and to emphasise the lack of a price on all emissions. He hasn’t exactly kept it secret, since it’s in the legislation, but nor has he talked about it publicly and nor has anyone else.
Both the Greens and the ALP passed the legislation in December, even though they probably could have blocked it. Why? It’s because they basically agree with it and want to use the mechanism if elected.
Will it work? That depends on the gradient of the cap reductions when they start. The key is that an ETS has now been legislated in Australia and can be adjusted to fit requirements, either budgetary or political.
This raises several questions. The Liberal, Labor and Green members all voted for it. So not only did the 53 Turncoats sign it off, but so did the 45 Abbott supporters, and Abbott too. If Kohler is right, we heard nothing from the Nats, nor the Lib Dems, or any independents. Did they not realize what they were signing? Possibly not.
Christopher Pyne on Q and A last night:
Audience Question: “Why is the Coalition Government being so quiet about this virtual ETS during this election cycle?”
Pyne circled the question before admitting he hadn’t read the article by Kohler.
“Nobody asked me to become familiar with it before the show so I can’t talk about Alan Kohler’s column,” Pyne said.
“I can tell you with a number of different measures… I believe we will meet our 26-28 percent target without doing what Labor wants to do, which is bring back a job-destroying carbon tax.”
Where are the protests from the 150 companies who will have to pay?
h/t Peter and Jim.
Boy there are going to be some surprises in the coming poll!
WHAT PART OF THE WORD NO DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!!!
600
which part of Hunt and Abbott devised this scheme do you not understand?
31
The fact that anybody can believe we need one.
(Further I don’t think the recent adjustments can be laid at TA’s feet)
90
I have just tried to Email several MP’s and they all seem to be having difficulties with their Web Sites.Me-thinks they have been inundated with Emails about this,or they have realised that “We the People”have found out about their “Deception”
50
maybe the problem is that you emailed a website?
04
This is insane. When Rudd was thought bubbling an ETS in 2009 Frontier Modelling did an analysis of the impact on Australia’s GDP of a 5% ETS ( Turnbull and Hunt’s ETS is 20%). Frontier modelling found that a 5% ETS would reduce Australia’s GDP by $2Trillion by 2050: that’s $50 billion PA. The 20% ETS will be 4 times as bad.
Hunt is as bad as any of the economic vandals from the ALP/Greens.
761
Perhaps we’re now learning whence came the finance supporting Turnbull’s campaign to undermine the Abbott government.
This deal brings to mind the warning to PM Abbott published by Monckton et al.
It also leaves me wondering if it also explains why neither Labor nor the Greens have recently drawn attention to those incidents in Turnbull’s past- before becoming an MP- which have previously drawn questions about his suitability for public office.
540
I wonder how it is that no matter who you “vote” for, you get a Socialist ETS?
We have a one-party system, very similar to that in China and other socialist/communist countries.
560
Christiana Figureres of the UN IPCC told a media conference in October 2015 that the socialist’s man-made climate change was not about environmentalism and all about collapsing the capitalist system.
She did not admit that the model preferred for a new system would be based on Communist China and their controlled and managed selective capitalist system.
Christopher (Lord) Monckton did warn us that international players were targeting PM Abbott, and more recently targeting POTUS candidate Trump in the US.
Goldman Sachs’ Australian PM?
160
Insane in how many ways?
Where is the law which allows a government to levy a tax on this model of discrimination? Julia Gillard spruiked at length about using such a model, but it was never tested. 150 “biggest” companies might well find it worth their while to put the matter to the test.
310
It’s all about the Golden Rule. For politicians and activists, it’s stealing your gold under the guise of taxes.
100
Ok..now I will be voting them out.
Were their policies created to drive their very own supporters to throw them out.??
I am stunned they are this stupid.
The faux enviro labour/greens must be truly excited.
They can all still drive their cars/connect to the fossil powered grid..yet walk around all fahrenheit 451 like and repeat cool phrases like “lets do somefink” and “we must take action“.
Orwell was right..the sleep walking..slogan sprouting.. climate zombies have won..
makes ya weep..
billions have already been lost..but %$# it..we must waste more billions..for a “cool” meme”..because thats all it ever was..
594
This faux secret ETS is indeed a worry. But if you vote them out, we will get a Green (Red)-Labor administration that will bring in and entrench an ETS/carbon tax and climate change agenda far worse and more destructive than this secret ETS. Everyone who abhors the scam that AGW represents should shudder at the thought of a Greens led Labor government….an outcome that is more or less certain if the liberals lose this election. If you think things are bad now, this faux ETS would pale into insignificance in the circumstance of a Labor win.
365
I agree but, where one can, vote out the 54, particularly in the senate. One has to vote for Nationals. There are enough in both houses to stop the left wing (so-called) Liberals. Also no one should vote for the Greens. In the senate vote only for 12 below the line. In Queensland leave out Greens Larissa Waters and anyone below. In the LNP list leave out James McGrath (one of Turnbull’s numbers men) and George Brandis (who let go the removal of 18C in the Discrimination Act). In the HR Leichhardt seat put Warren Entsch last -not only is he one of the 54 but wants to destroy marriage and family values. Vote for an independent who is not a socialist.
In other states look at the list on Andrew Bolt’s blog http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/on_the_bolt_report_and_radio_tonight4/
I think in the Vic HR seat of Indi there will be a Nationals standing. In all 3 corner seats vote for Nationals.
210
what part of ‘voting’ do you still imagine will return a different result than it has every other time?
http://imgur.com/MXs2OS4
00
Robert,
the Liberals need to lose this election. Australia’s future depends on it.
The liberal party has a cancer. It needs aggressive surgery and three years of chemotherapy. Stop thinking about the short term pain, and focus beyond three years. Or are you going to be one of those sheeple Mark Textor said “don’t matter”?
Yes, three more years of Labor will be bitter. But they will be trapped between opposition leader Tony Abbott and the ALA in the senate. The benefits of ousting leftist Lord Bouncy Waffle now outweigh the pain of Labor. Humans have a genetic tenancy to risk adversity. It is only by allowing logic, including the scientific method, to override this we triumph. If the world were only populated by “Labor bad! Baaa, Baaa!” sheeple, there would not be human footprints on the moon.
A Liberal loss on the Defcon voting plan means:
A Liberal party purged of leftists.
A Liberal party purged of media fearful quislings.
A liberal party that never again supports the AGW hoax.
A Liberal party that never again submits to [snip] supremacists.
A Liberal party that never again submits to rule by media and the 2PP push-polling.
If you want things to change, then you have to change. Fear or logic? Stick or carrot? Turn on them! Snap their stick in half. Now you have two pointy ends and the carrot is yours.
[18c snip] ED
300
Oh, I do like that! Nice visualisation.
90
We need something to break the stanglehold of the one party system implemented through the LibLab party…..
Pushing as many independents could be the key – split the vote and cripple the ruling party….sounds attrractive, as long as the alternatives havent done deals with the LibLab party…..
The echoes of the past….
Liberte. Equalite. Fraternite.
60
I think TdeF was right on the money.
10
The Hunt represents my electorate. Even though he didn’t stab Abbott he stabbed all of us with his carbon tax. He called off the dogs to protect the statistical vandals infesting the BOM. He espouses climate BS like the green he is….he is gone!
Informal vote coming with No climate BS green tax slogans.
110
an informal vote doesn’t cancel out someone else’s vote so you don’t get full value for your vote. You could also write your reason for voting against him so that liberal party scrutineers can see how much he is hated and why. The local branches would be a bit more likely to disendorse him for the following election if enough people make their reason for voting against him known in this way. Usually very few do this but hopefully most delcons will.
10
Robert,where have you been hiding these past few weeks?The Turdbull Coalition has already done a deal with the Greens.That is why Hatfield Dodds has been appointed as the new Deputy Secretary of Social Policy within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.She ran as a Senate Candidate for the Greens in the ACT.The deal has already been done and this makes Turdbulls Coalition,no better than the Labour,Greens.
60
Yes they deserve to be voted out, but how would Union Controlled Labor with their extreme Green partners be better?
In my opinion they would be far worse.
72
Perfect is the enemy of Better.
10
your ‘better’ is simply ‘awful bar sinister’
10
See stopturnbull.com for some ideas.
20
This reeks of corruption.
Get rid of Abbott to install a backdoor ETS, then loose the election to the opposition who will not repeal it.
Lord Waffleworth has succeeded beyond belief. Talk about your mission impossible scenarios.
Who wins in this? – follow the money. Where are the AFP?
552
I don’t think the member for Wentworth would deliberately have planned it this way, but as a result of his ego and performance it may well go this way. The election result, as most are, will depend on whether the electorate decide to kick the incumbents out or not. Governments are not elected: they are thrown out.
370
Joe,
If you recall , Monckton foretold this eventuality in Feb or earlier in 2015.
That is the installation of True B’lvers in both Canada and Australia ….the last 2 holdouts.
However , as much as i prefer Tony Abbott to Shyster Turnbull , Shady Carbon Bill and his labor green cohorts must not be allowed to win .
Because what ever the Turncoat will do , the labor green unholy alliance will be far worse !
So the only proper choice is the lesser of the 2 evils , preferably with a reduced majority to keep Mr Goldman and Sachs of Carbon Credits Turnbull , and his band of True B’lvers such as Bishop and Hunt , more honest and much less likely to claim that they have a mandate for such thievery and junk CAGW policies .
The only light at the end of the tunnel is in Nov if Trump becomes Pres and throws all this Marxist Climate Change / Global Warming garbage OUT , it will spell global the beginning of the end to this global scam .
And then i suspect that our weak appeaser government might finally grow some balls and follow suit !
431
I foretold it long before that. After Abbott originally rolled Turnbull, the latter was going to leave politics. He then changed his mind and I said at the time there is only one reason he is being told to stay in… that is to bring an ETS.
80
There is a new way to vote;
http://stopturnbull.com/what-can-we-do-a-conservative-electoral-strategy/
50
Dennis,
I’m glad to see that the Stopturnbull site has updated their stratagem from just hoping the voters of Wentworth would see the light. Hope, after all, is not a plan. The Stopturnbull plan now mirrors the Defcon plan.
But the site needs another update. Jim Molan is worth voting for in the NSW senate. Greg Hunt (Flinders) and Concetta Fierravanti-Wells should be included on the list of foul ones. Hunt for his unwavering support for the AGW inanity. Fierravanti-Wells for shamelessly grovelling at the feet of the “great and powerful” Niki Savva. Jason Falinski, the new candidate for Mackellar is also a known Turnbullite.
60
One hundred percent correct,Dennis.It’s time “We the People”Boot these”Lying,Do Nothing,Career Politicians”out.When Testor said that the libs didn’t need us,he thought we wouldn’t have anyone else to vote for,except Labour/Greens.I for one will not reward any of them with my vote,nor will I do a donkey vote.Stop Turnbull have some good advise which I will be taking notice of.
30
24 May: Guardian: Michael Slezak: Climate groups join forces for election campaign blitz
The tactics involve a combination of stunts, forums and an attempt to use members to have 130,000 conversations with voters before the election.
“I don’t think the climate movement has ever worked together this closely in the lead up to an election campaign before,” said Daniel Spencer a campaigner and media coordinator at the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC)…
Polling commissioned by the groups suggested their campaigns could have a significant impact on the election, with the majority of swinging voters saying they were likely to be influenced by parties’ policies on climate change.
Behind the scenes, the groups’ tactics were being coordinated through a peak body, the Climate Action Network Australia (Cana), which liaises between the groups and coordinates their actions…
Claire O’Rourke, national director of Solar Citizens, said the movement was better organised this election because of the pressing need for action…
***A ReachTEL survey of 2,401 people across Australia on 9 May found more than 56% of voters thought the government needed to do more to address climate change. But among voters who said they might change their vote, that number was even higher at 65.6%.
Similarly, 64% of voters – and 74.5% of those who might change their vote – said they were more likely to vote for a party that had a plan to secure 100% of Australia’s energy from renewable sources…
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/24/climate-groups-join-forces-for-election-campaign-blitz
23 May: The Conversation: Why has climate change disappeared from the Australian election radar?
by David Holmes, Senior Lecturer, Communications and Media Studies, Monash University
But have Hunt’s strategies worked on the Australian electorate?
***Not according to a recent ReachTEL poll of 2,400 respondents on May 9, which revealed that 56% believed the government needed to do more to tackle global warming.
64% said they would be more likely to vote for a party that has a plan to source 100% of Australia’s electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar and hydro in the next 20 years…
http://theconversation.com/why-has-climate-change-disappeared-from-the-australian-election-radar-59809
both pieces have plenty of links, but not to the ReachTel poll (best to keep those who commissioned the poll secret?) :
16 May: New Matilda: Thom Mitchell: (ReachTel) Poll: Punters Are Looking For Stronger Environment Policies
The poll sampled 2,400 Australian residents. It was commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation, Environment Victoria, 350.org, the Wilderness Society, Greenpeace, GetUp!, the Australian Marine Conservation Society and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
https://newmatilda.com/2016/05/16/poll-shows-voters-think-coalition-should-be-doing-more-for-the-environment/
80
The Sydney Morning Herald today reported their own Fairfax polling to claim that “two-thirds of voters say the Turnbull government is doing “not very much” or “nothing at all” to combat climate change.”
Thinking about that, the majority of BOTH Warmists AND skeptics would be represented in the two-thirds of voters. The report falsely suggested that those voters ALL preferred that the government was doing much more to “combat climate change”.
The poll appears to be a deliberate deception.
120
And your point is …?
All polling exercises start with the statement, “We need to assess the public opinion on … [whatever you want to do]”. That then leads into the questions asked, and the way those questions are worded. There is a “Yes Minster” clip that demonstrates it very well.
100
***again, no link to the ReachTel poll and i challenge anyone to find the actual poll on the ReachTel website. i’ve tried to find it in multiple searches and have found nothing whatsoever:
14 May: MarineConservation.org: Polls show voters demand election action on global warming: volunteers take it to the streets to talk climate
***Recent polling by ReachTel shows Australians want the next Government to phase out coalburning power stations and transition to renewable energy…
The coalition of environmental groups including the Australian Conservation Foundation, Environment Victoria, the Wilderness Society, GetUp!, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, 350.org, Greenpeace and the Australian Youth Climate Coalition is working in 25 seats, including the Prime Minister’s seat of Wentworth, the Victorian seats of McEwen and Deakin, as well as Brisbane and Bonner in Queensland and the South Australian seat of Hindmarsh.
By election day it’s expected their supporters will have had more than 130,000 conversations about climate. They will have knocked on at least 30,000 doors, made at least 100,000 phone calls, and held over 100 election-focused community events across the country. Groups will also
be enrolling thousands of young people who are particularly concerned about the impacts of global warming…
http://www.marineconservation.org.au/news.php/796/polls-show-voters-demand-election-action-on-global-warming-volunteers-take-it-to-the-streets-to-talk
90
I really want this La Nina, the switch in the AMO, and the sleepy Sun .. to HIT HARD and DEEP.
A cold period of a few decades will do far less damage than the anti-CO2 agenda.
543
Andy I am with – just hope we are not expecting too much
Geoff
131
I doubt it…all they will do is invent some new “crisis” to reduce electricity generation output even more, and everyones’ aged parents will die in the cold if they arent well off when they selectively turn off homes to “save” power….
My suggestion would be to make sure your elderly relatives are well catered for financially, and have plenty of blankets etc at home if needed. Smart meters can be used as “accidental” euthensia devices.
The extreme green agenda is well hidden, but its there. And there is very little difference between the extreme green agenda and national socialism….think “T4″…
162
I have noted with concern that there is an effort being made to limit collection of timber and for distribution of timber.
Wood Heaters, cooking stoves and related water heating no longer acceptable? Why?
90
‘Why?’
To clear the air of smoke, which works pretty well in country towns but the villages should be exempt. The Autumn burn off around Sydney recently has received much criticism, so in future I suspect they will be sending in the Green Army to pick up litter by hand.
30
Three words – UN Agenda 21
The powers that be are extreme greenies at heart. They hate humanity.
30
If it happens they will claim credit for the carbon taxes working.
40
ys, but if CO2 is the culprit, and, as we are told, it’s supposed to stay in the atmosphere for [insert favourite figure here] years, then how will they explain what could be (mis)interpreted as a relatively rapid response? What will be the explanation if (as) the CO2 concentration increases as well?
Various ignorant fools have already tried to say that Gillard’s Carbon Tax reduced Australian CO2 emissions almost overnight, when it is clear that overall energy consumption in Australia has been dropping for a while, which, in my opinion, is related to the demise of manufacturing, and industry, rather than any sort of concerted effort by people deluded enough to think Australia can change the “global climate”.
60
They have to get the young and ignorant because the older folk who pay the bills are smarter.
140
I explained why the Reachtel poll was meaningless
ReachTel asks motherhood questions about whether people would like to change the weather for free, and get free clean energy too. Who could say no? Without asking “what are you willing to pay?” the question is giving away coffee and cake at the side of road. Better survey’s show 80% of Australians don’t donate to environmental causes or vote for it. How committed are they? Answer, not even ten bucks a year. On flights, not even two bucks a trip. Survey after survey shows that when people rank issues, climate concerns are flat at the bottom of the barrel. Only 3% of US people think climate is most important issue.
Let’s translate that apathy to votes. Tony Abbott ran the 2013 election on the costs of making the weather nice and the people said No. No thanks, and No Way. He won in a landslide. What do people want? Cheaper electricity.
381
According to the ABS
which means that 64% of Australians must care about nothing? More likely they contribute to things they care about in other ways or can’t afford a direct donation. If 20% (is this all Australian? Wage earners? Tax payers? Anyway I’ll assume taxpayers for this calculation) give to environmental charities that means that 20/35.6= 56% of people who donate to charities, donate to environmental causes.
329
Responding to the 10 thumbs at this moment in time – I am wondering if this is a case of data sucks. Should I appease the thumbers and just lay out my arguments with arm waving and rhetoric so you can hurl mod sanctioned abuse at me? Are you annoyed that you have no argument?
Thing about data and data and evidence based debate/discussions is that we can debate and present arguments that can be assessed by the reader. So, I have presented some probably rubbery figures based on a logical framework but I’ve not had any feedback. What was the 20% in the lead article?
417
I can’t know for sure, but I suspect that the red thumbs were aimed at you arriving at a conclusion, based on a calculation, that was predicated by an assumption.
Such things tend to leave people speechless, or typeless, depending upon the medium.
190
I should be gratified or smug or something. The emotions are swirling.
311
Rereke – hey , that method works for the the IPCC rather well….
Never hold an Enquiry unless you know the ( fixed ) outcome….
110
Be fair on me though. I saw Jo’s claim (although I still don’t know its origin) of 20% donate to environmental causes, I went to seek some data on donations to put it into context and I reported what I found. In post 6.3.1 I did not offer a prediction or interpret the outcome, I just presented my calculations and awaited a critique.
82
Gee Aye,
Green thumbs all the way.
Credit where it is due.
Yours is an excellent demonstration of how malleable are statistics.
120
It is a good point and they become more malleable the less context you provide. You can anything e.g look only 20%! The word “only” is completely unsupported and it makes 20% seem small in the world of the contextless statement.
31
Geeaye
I didn’t vote either way until you responded
Then I thumbed down!
Why?
Because of this
More likely – from which source?
In other ways – ditto
Or can’t afford – really??
The rest is irrelevant totally
But it’s an indication in your lack of thought in this post!
70
Thanks Dave… Taking can’t afford as an example.
Some proportion of people feel they can’t afford to give money directly (I’m assuming and am awaiting definition of the 80:20%) could not be denied and I wrote “cannot afford” which is, as you suggest a sloppy description. I was actually just listing ad hoc reasons to describe reasons that the non-donors (and we are talking about 65% of all Australians on all issues here not just the environment) might be supportive to the cause but not donating (and this is true as just noted of all causes that one can donate to). Nothing that you wrote has any substance I’m afraid.
You decided to latch on to the arm waving rhetoric part of my posts, and have done nothing to address the data I presented or defend the unattributed data that Jo presented.
Pointing
32
Wow that got really mangled. Someone please interpret
21
Isn’t it possible to claim for a certain amount of total donations without having to provide receipts? I seem to recall it was around the $200 mark, but I could very well be wrong.
30
Liberals will be lucky if ANY used-to-be-Liberal-voters vote for them !!
332
Andy:
I doubt most voters will know until after the election. Like many I turn off when the pollies appear on TV or the radio. But hell will come after it goes into force.
Yes, they are hoping that the 150 companies pay up and cop the blame, but they just have to push the blame back onto those responsible. (And what better excuse for a price rise than “Malcolm made me do it”).
Since Labor and the Greens are identified with this policy, they will be punished if they win (I’m assuming a coalition). If the Liberals get back narrowly then I think Turnbull (and Hunt) will get the boot. Only if the Liberals win by a big majority will Turnbull be secure and able to push this along. The result will be a split in the Liberals, and it may well be the last Liberal Government ever.
Don’t forget Barnaby – where else could disaffected Liberals go? Give the Nationals a great excuse to dump the Coalition and go into the next election contesting all seats and with sitting urban members.
160
Wise voters who realise that we have two choices for government but some more choice of Senate representation will consider this;
http://stopturnbull.com/what-can-we-do-a-conservative-electoral-strategy/
30
Marxism failed to engulf western democracies over 60 years up until the fall of the USSR, all the while the teachings of Antonio Gramsci were set into place. Taking over government institutions in addition to the education of our children and then marginalising conservative voices and shutting them down with selective censorship, the Marxists have almost done what Stalin failed to do with brutality. The brutality is yet to come.
322
Unfortunately I agree with you. And this is happeneing world wide, which stirs my interest from a consevative christ8ian angle, namely shortening the odds of the rise of the Biblical antichrist and his brutal worldwide regieme….
142
https://mobile.twitter.com/Barbarajdurkin?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
30
And your point is, Barbara ahem, John?
40
THE LIBS WONT GET MY VOTE!
I SHALL BE PASSING THIS ON TO ALEX HAWKE-MY MEMBER FOR MITCHELL.
Geoff W
230
But what alternative is there?
None really….
Game , set & match in out one party system…..
62
Agreed Steve but at least I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I did not vote for the Baastaads!
GeoffW
151
http://stopturnbull.com/what-can-we-do-a-conservative-electoral-strategy/
50
***another little “secret”?
23 May: HuffPo: Shin Furuno: Cool Japan or Coal Japan?
But it seems like coal is the new cool, because it’s a ***little known fact that unlike its G7 partners, Japan is in the process of building 49 new coal-fired power stations – whilst also being by far and away the largest financial backer of coal infrastructure in the region.
From 2007 to 2014, Japan provided over US$20 billion in coal financing abroad…
That’s why this week we’re taking part in the launch of the brand-jamming Coal Japan, which aims to let the world know what’s quietly going on in the land of the rising sun.
Because let’s face it, there’s not much cool about coal…
Coal is climate change and climate change is catastrophe…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shin-furuno-/cool-japan-or-coal-japan_b_10101644.html
22 May: ClimateChangeNews: Ed King: G7 host Japan mocks UN climate deal with coal binge, say greens
Report hails US plans to close 100GW of coal power, contrasting it with Tokyo’s policy to support polluting fossil fuel domestically and abroad
Japan stands alone among G7 countries in planning to radically ramp up coal use, according to a new ‘scorecard’ developed by London-based think tank E3G…
E3G delivered a rebuke to Tokyo’s goal for more than 25GW of new coal capacity, which has not changed in the light of the UN’s newly agreed pact to slash greenhouse gas emissions…
Lacking significant domestic energy reserves, Japan’s coal use has risen markedly since the 2011 Fukushima disaster and decision to shift away from nuclear power…
Abroad, green groups say Japan’s continued funding for coal plants in Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines demonstrates the government is not taking its climate commitments seriously…
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/05/22/g7-host-japan-mocks-un-climate-deal-with-coal-binge-say-greens/
140
Where are the protests from the 150 companies who will have to pay? They don’t but you do. Can we all write to our reps and ask what they are doing about it? I realise few if any will answer but that just helps to confirm your July 2 vote.
230
By definition – when two or more parties ( pun…sorry…) conspire to bring about a dubious thing….think ETS….
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/conspiracy
noun, plural conspiracies.
1. the act of conspiring.
2. an evil, unlawful, treacherous, or surreptitious plan formulated in secret by two or more persons; plot.
3. a combination of persons for a secret, unlawful, or evil purpose:
He joined the conspiracy to overthrow the government.
4. Law. an agreement by two or more persons to commit a crime, fraud, or other wrongful act.
5. any concurrence in action; combination in bringing about a given result.
100
A good description of our pathetic so called leaders !
60
Why do they have to pay! My understanding is that there is no cost providing they stay under their cap. If they can reduce their CO2 output then they can sell the shortfall.
In my view it ends up being a hurdle that new competitors have to meet. In that regard it is a major benefit to existing energy users already having the right to produce CO2.
The list of companies on the registry is much bigger than 150. There are 971 established accounts. The value of ACCUs held in each account is not stated and it seems it will not be public information. Climate Corporation is one of the account holders on the Australian register.
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Because an ETS protects companies. They essentially become a ward of the state. The State has a vested interest in nurturing and protecting those companies. Competition is eliminated. Congratulations Australia. The two airline policy is back with a vengeance to apply to ALL major companies.
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The companies that will account for this new expense in their costings and pass it on plus a profit margin to their customers.
40
And plus GST on top to the retail customers.
50
I have just tried emailing a number of pollies and they all seem to be having problems with their web sites.
10
20 May: Reuters: Alister Doyle: Norway’s greenhouse gas emissions rise, despite promised cuts
Norway’s greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1.5 percent last year, lifted by the oil and gas sector and industry, making it harder for Oslo to keep promises of deep cuts to limit global warming, official data showed on Friday…
Norway has often bought emissions quotas abroad to make up for a lack of progress in cutting domestic emissions…
On Wednesday, Norway awarded 10 oil license to energy companies in the Arctic, opening new acreage for exploration for the first time in two decades…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-norway-carbon-idUSKCN0YB12E?feedType=RSS&feedName=environmentNews&utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=e53b689d9c-Today_s_Climate12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-e53b689d9c-327744925
reminder:
3 May: Reuters: Alister Doyle/Gwladys Fouche: Norway wealth fund turns up climate heat on Exxon and Chevron
“We want them to be open about their climate strategy and their dialogue with regulators,” the fund’s chief executive Yngve Slyngstad told reporters.
Firms should be clear about risks, both from the impacts of climate change such as floods and storms, as well as from government policies to curb carbon emissions, he said…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-exxon-mobil-norway-swf-idUSKCN0XU1BF
from homepage of Norway NewsInEnglish website which requires registration:
23 May: Higher emissions don’t daunt leaders
Just days after the Norwegian government announced controversial plans to drill for more oil and gas in new areas of the Arctic, came news that Norway’s own carbon emissions have increased … [READ MORE]
23 May: IEA urges higher electricity rates
If there’s one thing that’s relatively reasonably priced in Norway, it’s electricity, but international experts think electricity rates could and should double within the next 15 years. They also think … [READ MORE]
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So now they’re trying to sneak in a Great Big New Tax via the back door !
Somehow they think if they drop the word tax , it will be acceptable to us .
As a previous post says “Which part of ‘NO’ don’t they understand?” .
We are being treated as simpletons and with contempt .
Why the slow economic death ?
Why not just elect the Greens (loons) and go for a less painful quick economic death, to appease the Marxist Unelected Nutters (U.N.)?
The so called ‘ruling class’ are telling us what is good for us while they steal our money in the form of sneaky taxes to then attempt to bribe us with with pre election squanderthons from the same money to ensure their own status quo.
How somehow we are not entitled to handouts but that they , the politicians(mostly professional liars and manipulators) are …..the only thing that they are uniformly in agreement with !
Just like their sneaky little unadvertised 2% payrise pre 2015 Xmas.
The same as their eternal pensions ….no need for a super scheme when you are guaranteed a high pension for life ….tuff luck for the rest of us that have to pay for these shysters.
Question ? When the Turncoat eventually retires , does he also get a pension for life ?
This sense of ‘entitlement’ needs to go starting with the politicians and government bureaucrats and down .
Let the so called leaders be bound by the same rules they make for the rest of us , and then they might get our vote , instead of we the people being used as expendable taxable cannon fodder !
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I don’t quite understand this.
What was the legislation? When did it pass in the House of Reps and when did it pass the Senate? Surely some Members or Senators must have voted against it.
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Hunt got it through with stealth.
‘The key has been not talking about the ETS part of the policy and to emphasise the lack of a price on all emissions. He hasn’t exactly kept it secret, since it’s in the legislation, but nor has he talked about it publicly and nor has anyone else.
‘Both the Greens and the ALP passed the legislation in December, even though they probably could have blocked it. Why? It’s because they basically agree with it and want to use the mechanism if elected.’
Alan Kohler
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Here is Hunt’s final draft before it went to parliament.
http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/dbabd13c-f8f1-49cd-ab40-621f056de35a/files/es-safeguard-rule.pdf
70
CAGW – never too extreme to publish:
23 May: CarbonBrief: Roz Pidcock: Arctic could warm by 17C if all known fossil fuels are burned, study finds
The new paper (LINK), published today in Nature Climate Change, looks at would happen over the next 300 years or so if the world continues to burn coal, oil and gas with no efforts to limit emissions.
This scenario effectively assumes the Paris Agreement – adopted last December – fails to gain any traction. Kasia Tokarska, a PhD student at the University of Victoria in Canada and lead author on the paper, tells Carbon Brief…BLAH BLAH
So, how likely is it that we will get close to the 5tn tonnes figure? Is it purely hypothetical or a realistic worst-case scenario?
To give some perspective, the authors equate 5tn tonnes of carbon “approximately to the unregulated exploitation of the fossil fuel resource”.
In other words, it is about equivalent to how much fossil fuels is thought to exist deep in earth’s crust, should we be able to burn it all, they say…
http://www.carbonbrief.org/arctic-could-warm-by-17c-if-all-known-fossil-fuels-are-burned-study-says?utm_content=bufferfecea&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
23 May: Phys.org: Marlowe Hood: Burning all fossil fuels would scorch Earth: study
Average temperatures would climb by up to 9.5 degrees Celsius (17 degrees Fahrenheit)—five times the cap on global warming set at climate talks in Paris in December, they reported.
In the Arctic region—already heating at more than double the global average—the thermometer would rise an unimaginable 15 C to 20 C…
But extreme modelling scenarios cannot and should not be ignored, said the lead author of the study…
http://phys.org/news/2016-05-fossil-fuels-earth.html
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Thanks Pat. Why is it always the Arctic, with just one sensor on a hot airport tarmac, that blows the figures right out of the water?
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So Turnbull and Hunt could not even wait for an election. It is why banker Malcolm entered parliament, what he wanted when Enrvironment minister under Howard and now he has it by stealth, nothing said. The man is never to be trusted. Once he has control of both houses, he will not even ask Australians. This time even his own party seems unaware of what he has done. We have a dictator in what was previously a democracy.
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I think this provision got through the backdoor to get the support of the Senate to can Labor’s carbon tax. Something to do with Clive and Al Gore?
110
You guys need a revolution. Oh, I forgot you already disarmed yourselves.
204
Not true, all law abiding Australians are legally able to apply for a licence to own a gun but their guns must be registered and not be fully automatic military issue. However, for example, a Vietnam War Self Loading Rifle can be registered, and other types.
40
Semi-automatic rifles and shotguns are prohibited for all but professional hunters who have special requirements such as having to shoot from helicopters. Fully automatic rifles were never permitted.
40
Dennis May 25, 2016 at 11:52 am
“Not true, all law abiding Australians are legally able to apply for a licence to own a gun but their guns must be registered”
Yes indeed. Please turn in this weapon
comradecitizen, else be held in protective custody! For your own well being ‘of course’.In the US there are 6 times as many personal weapons as are registered. The government/military knows and considers this! No threats, just effective precaution.
20
And who did that?Why it was little Johnny Howard at the behest of the UN.I always said the Libs were”Closet Lefties”Now we know,for sure.
10
Politics–the dirtiest profession ever conceived by the mind of man.
90
Not climate science? Or renewable energy?
80
Would anyone describe the past member for Fairfax as honourable!
70
This is a challenge for Tony Abbott. He now has to decide whether he goes with the party to ensure some form stability or he goes public and explains in detail why it is not the policy as was proposed under his leadership. I hope for Australia’s sake he chooses the latter.
It would interesting for someone to dig up a list of the 150 companies –I’m sure a few Aussie’s would like to write to the CEO’s asking why they aren’t complaining.
120
Cecil Rhodes had an interest in setting up a global govt.
Rhodes set up the Rhodes Scholarship.
Guess who are Rhodes Scholars? Abbott and Turnbull ( and Hawke and Beasley )
So three guesses if Abbott replaces Turnbull, what you’ll get? More theatre, but the same ( ETS ) agenda will move forward.
Look up what a Hegelian Dialectic is…..
“Hegel’s dialectic is the tool which manipulates us into a frenzied circular pattern of thought and action. Every time we fight for or defend against an ideology we are playing a necessary role in Marx and Engels’ grand design to advance humanity into a dictatorship of the proletariat. The synthetic Hegelian solution to all these conflicts can’t be introduced unless we all take a side that will advance the agenda. The Marxist’s global agenda is moving along at breakneck speed. The only way to completely stop the privacy invasions, expanding domestic police powers, land grabs, insane wars against inanimate objects (and transient verbs), covert actions, and outright assaults on individual liberty, is to step outside the dialectic. This releases us from the limitations of controlled and guided thought. ”
Or – explained another way – no matter who you vote for – you get the same agenda in a rigged 2 party system in Australia,…..Marxism 101
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Lord Monckton described the Hegelian Dialectic during his address in my home town 3 years ago, later when I looked it up I could see where he was going with it, great description BTW Steve.
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Yes, and what other world-wide developing conflicts exist that may suck in the West …think “boots on the gorund”…..exactly same mechanism of managing both sides of the conflict are in play…..
50
How can it be explained to ordinary folk that the power to print money is the greatest power in the world and the result is that everything including the largest corporations are all in debt>? If they are in debt, it means the banks own the lot.
Taking it a small step further….If the entire world is in debt, then it should make sense that there are no sovereign countries, just various financing structures scattered around the globe.
The west and all that talk means very little.
30
Tony Abbott, it was recently reported, lost substantial entitlement of pension amount and benefits by deciding to remain in Parliament as a back bench MP. As I recall it he lost around $1.5 million not accounting indexation for inflation that would have been applied over future years.
Obviously Tony has much more public service in mind.
70
Please, please, please.
Nationals where possible for lower house seats and ALA for Upper House.
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toorightmate,too right!
GeoffW
100
What is it with ALA? They are just as much have a bob each way on GW as all the rest. And they have hidden controllers and the party members have no say. A front org. if ever I saw one.
55
David Archibald is running as a candidate for them. There is no “two bob each way” with any party that endorses Archibald as a candidate. They are skeptical.
260
And “Angry Anderson”You don’t want to try and Bull$hit him.
20
I asked a simple question of them by email……
—————————-
On 1 May 2016 at 21:01, [email protected].. sent
Dear Sirs or Madam,
If an ETS or other carbon pricing was proposed by either Liberal or Labor.
What would ALA vote.. For or against?
Thanks
———–
One word reply..
———–
Against.
Best Regards
Ralf P. Schumann
Party Secretary
Australian Liberty Alliance Ltd
PO Box 290 | South Melbourne | Victoria 3205
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Well there you have it – the ALA should now win 5 Senate Seats [NSW, VIC, QLD, WA & SA] in the July 2 Election. They should have the “Balance of Power” in the Senate and once the electorate gets wind of the fact that there is an ETS in place on July 1 then it is quite likely the ALP will win on July 2 – a protest vote by disaffected Lib voters. If this happens Turnbull will be dumped as Leader and who will take his place? Maybe another example of “Lazarus Rising”.
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Last year media referred to the very recently established ALA as being the arm of the “secretive Q-Society” based in Victoria.
30
If the media is biased against them, they must be pretty good!
70
In light of this latest act of treason another thread on ‘voting for best anti-green outcomes’ might be helpful to many.
Believe it or not people at work have asked me for voting options this election, such is the state of confusion.
I think we have to destroy the Liberal party to save it. 🙁
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Unfortunately, I think you are probably correct.
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No, we won’t be destroying it. We are simply purging it of all leftists, scientifically illiterate AGW believers and quislings that allow the lame scream meeja and their 2PP push-polling to control them. The liberals will emerge stronger for their loss. They won’t dare disobey their voters for decades.
Ignore the short term pain. Just imagine how execrable the Labor/Green socialist alliance is going to look after three years of climey-whimey nonsense, submitting to the “religion of peace”, soaring energy costs and industry investment on hold waiting for the inanity to end.
Malfunction Talkbull being crushed won’t end the Liberals but it could very well destroy Labor and the Greens. Eyes on the prize!
50
That will be the time for coal-fired electricity generators to update to modern HELE types.
They will reduce their emissions and be able to get credits from the government.
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Nah, no need to get new technology. Just reduce the demand for electricity by imposing austerity measures and massive cuts in spending. Like night follows day, emissions of all kinds will be reduced as global austerity studies show economic collapse translates into cuts in emissions of all molecule types..
The greeks that have already met their CO2 reduction targets are a great example. Syrian refugees are also meeting CO2 reduction targets. The list is huge.,
Economic growth only stimulates CO2 production. Recent steel tariffs on Chinese steel is going a long way towards shutting down steel industry, a major contributor to gases which cause greenhouses.
No need for high tech coal fired plants. We have global economic collapse left right and center. The silent CO2 reduction achiever.
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Labour would not vote against it. The Greens would cheer. More than half the Liberals would vote for it and the other half do what the PM instructs.
Does this mean Malcolm has broken faith with the Nationals?
Or is Barnaby too distracted to do anything about his imminent dismissal?
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Perhaps he is laying low and saying nothing? See my comment 7.1
50
Barnaby not only has Windsor contesting, from what I have read he has serious health issues which will distract him from the game. So expect nothing from Barnaby.
As you know, I forsee a Liberal Green alliance under Malcolm. Only that explains Malcolm’s moves in the senate and the double dissolution. While Andrew Bolt thinks Malcolm is a deer in the headlights, this ETS move and the appointment of Green politicians and even justification of a Very Fast Train indicate a great deal is going on behind the scenes without any consultation at all. The ABC are furiously trying to stop criticism of Turnbull, which tells you even more. Malcolm though does not want to scare the ‘rusted on’ Liberal or Green voters away, so it will all be kept under wraps until the very last day. They also want all the Labor and National preferences. It is the most deceitful election in history. No one even bothers to fund promises. 50% renewables? In what universe?
It also means that without a Liberal/Green coalition in the senate, the country is even more ungovernable than it was under Abbott, if that were possible. Not a single law would be passed unless the Greens agreed. This time nothing will get past say 13 Green seats in the Senate.
The Nationals are also vulnerable to Greens on the East Coast and dependent on Liberal preferences. If those go to the Greens on even a blank ticket, Nationals will lose seats too, lower house and Senate.
Malcolm and Lucy are flat out clearing the decks for their own Australia. They only have five weeks to Christmas.
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Hmmm…A primary canon of (carbon) taxation is that it must be conveniently collectible. Large corporations are actually the most efficient way of aggregating monies from other companies and individual consumers. So you tax them, not the consumers. Corporations are also not elected, but they then bear the brunt of popular anger, allowing the politicians to get off Scot-free. Until there aren’t any large corporations left in the country, so they go for the medium-sized corporations…
I guess that’s in Economics 101, but I’m also a bit slow on the uptake sometimes.
Boy, are your politicians really giving it to you Down Under.
I think they’ve got similar plans for us up here. At least until all corporations live in China, India, or the Cayman Islands.
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The Cayman islands fiasco is to fast forward the ‘Cashless global society’ direction.
Once ‘cashless cow’ comes along, it won’t matter which way CO2 Tithing happens. A press of a button on a PC ‘and it’s gone’.
CO2 Tithe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithe
“A tithe (/ˈtaɪð/; from Old English: teogoþa “tenth”) is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government.
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MH
Why leave the US when the Rothschilds have set up a tax haven in Reno?
http://thedailycoin.org/2016/02/02/rothschilds-prove-that-elite-bankers-rule-the-world-establish-billionaire-tax-haven-inside-america/
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read all:
20 May: Financial Times: Pilita Clark: UK power prices go negative as renewables boom distorts market
Power network struggles to cope with green growth
If prices stay low or go negative for prolonged periods of time, some analysts said energy companies would be discouraged from investing in new power stations needed to keep the lights on and extra subsidies would be needed on top of existing ones for renewables…
The growth of renewable energy in the UK is straining the country’s power networks so much that grid operators are for the first time asking solar farms to agree to stop generaating electricity…
The move means consumers are likely to be subsidising unused green electricity, angering some renewable energy companies who say creaking power networks need to be rapidly upgraded…
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5164675e-1e7e-11e6-b286-cddde55ca122.html
23 May: Zacks: Will China Gloom Darken Global Alternate Energy Prospects?
As the world’s biggest producer of solar panels is now contending with decreasing exports along with industry overcapacity as well as the ongoing decline in the stock market, its solar industry may also be at risk.
Beyond the China factor, the sector as a whole — and solar stocks in particular — have taken a beating ever since oil prices began to tumble in June 2014. This weakness persisted all through 2015…
China’s installed photovoltaic solar capacity was 43 gigawatts (“GW”) by the end of 2015, up about 15 GW from 2014, as per media reports. Although the country is likely to have surpassed Germany in the fourth quarter with the most solar capacity, China missed its own target for 2015. The Chinese National Energy Administration had set a goal of 17.8 GW of newly installed solar capacity for the year. This puts China well behind its own set goal.
Per the United Nations Environment Program, China exhausted a record $102.9 billion in green energy investments in 2015, up 17% from 2014. A major portion was most likely targeted at the solar and wind market. However, as the economy slips into a slower growth phase, the Chinese government could pull strings on renewable subsidies.
Solar stocks were beaten badly around mid-May 2015 following a brutal plunge in the highflying Chinese thin-film solar manufacturer, Hanergy Thin Film Power Group. The company lost nearly half of its market capitalization in a day’s trading in May.
The rout was followed by sluggish trading by Yingli Green Energy on looming bankruptcy concerns. Shares collapsed as much as 80.76% in the last one year.
Yingli Solar has been struggling to survive amid a pile of debt. Importantly, the company has failed to generate profits since 2011. In this scenario, the company may find it difficult, if not impossible, to pay down its outstanding debt. This could lead to cross-defaults, putting it at liquidation risk…
https://www.zacks.com/commentary/81423/will-china-gloom-darken-global-alternate-energy-prospects
30
23 May: American Thinker: Richard Henry Lee: California insurance commissioner demands ‘carbon shaming’ for insurance companies
California insurance companies that invest in hydrocarbon fuel-related companies will be placed on a wall of shame.
The war on fossil fuel continues in California, and this time, insurance commissioner Dave Jones (D) demands that all insurance companies report their investments in “thermal coal enterprises” and requests that they rid their portfolios of such. While apparently lacking the authority to require divestment, Jones is taking a page from the novel The Scarlet Letter by publicly humiliating those companies who have invested in coal-associated companies.
Jones is also asking that insurers identify investments in oil and gas companies and names ExxonMobil as an example. These oil and gas company investments will likely be the next candidates for divestment.
The basis for this demand is the “potential financial risks” to California insurance companies…
In essence, government is telling corporate boards of directors how to run their companies. Insurance companies invest billions of dollars in various ventures to earn income off the premiums paid by policyholders, yet Commissioner Jones is telling these companies that he is smarter than they are, and he wants to dictate where those investments should be made.
Jones has declared an ideological war on fossil fuel under the pretense of saving the planet…
The motive for Jones’s initiative is likely political. He has only two and one half years left in office due to term limits, and he obviously wants to maintain his street cred with the environmental lobby so he can pursue some other statewide office…
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2016/05/california_insurance_commissioner_demands_carbon_shaming_for_insurance_companies.html
is any industry safe from CAGW zealots?
Updated 23 May: Politico: The not-so-green Emerald Isle
A burgeoning economy and fast-growing dairy sector create emission problems for Ireland.
By Sara Stefanini and Emmet Livingstone
Ireland doesn’t have coal mines or a heavily polluting industrial sector, yet it is one of the EU’s laggards in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The main reason is excessive animal gas output — or to put it less politely, cow burps and farts.
A second factor is Ireland’s rebounding economy, which cratered in the aftermath of the 2008 global crisis but is now the fastest growing in the eurozone. That means lots more cement, electricity and other polluting activities.
But what’s good for business isn’t always good for climate change…
Industries in Ireland covered by the EU’s Emissions Trading System, such as power generation, aviation and cement, haven’t fared too well either lately, increasing carbon dioxide emissions by 5.5 percent from 2014 to 2015, while the rest of the EU’s dropped by 0.4 percent, (Ireland’s Environmental Protection Agency) reported…
“Agriculture is important to the Irish economy, just like car building is important to the German economy,” said Jim O’Toole, director of the meat department at Bord Bia, the Irish state food board…
The pressure on the country to meet its climate change targets without derailing its economic recovery has made Ireland one of the loudest voices in contentious negotiations over how to divvy up the EU’s goals for cutting greenhouse gases outside of the Emissions Trading System between 2020 and 2030, alongside coal-reliant Poland and livestock-heavy Netherlands and Denmark…
In Irish policy circles, the idea that the country is the new dirty man of Europe is exasperating…
The other sore point is that Ireland sees itself as a leader in sustainable farming and doesn’t appreciate being lectured by countries whose overall emissions are far higher… http://www.politico.eu/article/ireland-not-green-emerald-isle-greenhouse-gas-emissions-economy-growing-pollution/
50
18 May: GreentechMedia: Eric Wesoff: The End of SunEdison: Developer Now Looking Into Liquidating Its Assets
Rothschild, a restructuring agent, is taking bids to liquidate geographic bundles of the developer’s assets…
Until this most recent news, many in the solar industry were holding out a thread of hope that bankrupt SunEdison could somehow recover and continue in a diminished but intact capacity.
That does not appear to be the case.
According to a report in SparkSpread, SunEdison’s restructuring agent, Rothschild, is “soliciting bids for the bankrupt company’s asset portfolio in what is expected to result in an outright liquidation of the developer.”…
SunEdison has had a 40 percent headcount reduction since October 2015 and expects to lay off another 10 percent of its workforce…
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/The-End-of-SunEdison-Developer-Now-Looking-Into-Liquidating-Its-Assets
23 May: Washington Times: Valerie Richardson: Virgin Islands attorney general revokes climate change subpoena after ‘abuse of power’ criticism
Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude E. Walker has withdrawn his subpoena of the Competitive Enterprise Institute after a rash of criticism over his investigation into climate change dissenters.
Still, CEI general counsel Sam Kazman said Monday that the free-market think tank would still push the court for sanctions against Mr. Walker, one of a 17-member coalition of attorneys general pursuing fraud accusations against climate skeptics.
“We are doing so because Walker’s underlying Virgin Islands subpoena remains in effect and, as his local counsel expressly stated, Walker can reinstate the DC [District of Columbia] subpoena whenever he wants,” Mr. Kazman said in a statement.
“More importantly, his withdrawal only strengthens our claim that this subpoena was a constitutional outrage from the very beginning, violating our right to free speech and our donors’ right to confidentiality, and threatening the right of all Americans to express views that go against some party line,” Mr. Kazman said. “This was an abuse of process, plain and simple, and we’re determined to see that Walker faces sanctions for an action whose illegality he refuses to recognize.”…
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/23/virgin-islands-ag-revokes-climate-change-subpoena-/
50
23 May: Reuters: Poland adopts limits on where wind farms can be built
Poland has adopted a new law banning construction of wind farms close to dwellings and hiking project costs in a move which the industry says could hobble Poland’s move to renewables and away from coal.
Wind farms must be built at a distance from housing of at least 10 times the height of the turbine, or about 1.5 to 2 km, under the law which was adopted by the lower house of parliament on Friday.
The new regulations will also result in higher property taxes for wind farm owners, which the industry says could trigger bankruptcies.
“As a result, wind farms will disappear from the Polish landscape,” said Wojciech Cetnarski, head of the Polish Wind Energy Association…
Representatives of Poland’s ruling conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), which designed the new regulations, said that it had to reform regulation of the industry and address citizens’ complaints about noise from wind farms.
***”Because of the renewable energy madness we are reducing our GDP growth,” Energy Minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski said, referring to subsidies granted to renewable energy sources…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-poland-windfarm-idUSKCN0YE17V
24 May: MIT Technology Review: Richard Martin: Germany Runs Up Against the Limits of Renewables
Even as Germany adds lots of wind and solar power to the electric grid, the country’s carbon emissions are rising. Will the rest of the world learn from its lesson?
Because fossil-fuel power plants cannot easily ramp down generation in response to excess supply on the grid, on sunny, windy days there is sometimes so much power in the system that the price goes negative—in other words, operators of large plants, most of which run on coal or natural gas, must pay commercial customers to consume electricity. That situation has also arisen recently in Texas and California (see “Texas and California Have Too Much Renewable Energy”) when the generation of solar power has maxed out.
In hopes of addressing such issues, Germany’s Parliament is expected to soon eliminate the government-set subsidy for renewable energy, known as a feed-in tariff, that has largely fueled the growth in wind and solar. Instead of subsidizing any electricity produced by solar or wind power, the government will set up an auction system. Power producers will bid to build renewable energy projects up to a capacity level set by the government, and the resulting prices paid for power from those plants will be set by the market, rather than government fiat…
It might seem like an easy way to solve the oversupply issue would be to shut down excess power plants, especially ones that burn coal. But not only are the coal plants used to even out periods when wind and solar aren’t available, they’re also lucrative and thus politically hard to shut down. Because German law requires renewable energy to be used first on the German grid, when Germany exports excess electricity to its European neighbors it primarily comes from coal plants. Last fall, the German subsidiary of the Swedish energy giant Vattenfall started up a 1,600-megwatt coal-fired plant that had been under construction for eight years, defying opposition from politicians, environmental organizations, and citizens who want to see coal plants eliminated…
Putting a steep price on carbon emissions would hasten the shutdown of German coal plants. But Europe’s Emissions Trading Scheme, designed to establish a continentwide market for trading permits for carbon emissions, has been a bust. Prices for the permits are so low that there is little incentive for power producers to shut down dirty plants…
“If you want to use fluctuating renewable power, you have to upgrade the grids across Europe,” says Daniel Genz, a policy adviser with Vattenfall. Efforts to build that grid are under way, but they’ll be expensive: between €100 billion and €400 billion ($112 billion to $448 billion), according to a November 2015 report from e-Highway2050, which was formed by the European Union to plan for a pan-European power grid…
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601514/germany-runs-up-against-the-limits-of-renewables/
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Pat:
MIT doesn’t seem to realise that German emissions have been climbing since 2011.
Also, that if renewables can force coal fired plants to run at negative prices for long enough that those coal fired plants will go bankrupt. As the Greens cheer that the nation will go into a prolonged blackout and the Greens will find that those holding flaming torches are coming for them.
100
Bye Bye Whyalla!!!!!!!!!!!
Australian Liberty Alliance is looking better by the day.
151
This could very well be, the end of the Liberal Party.
That they would be so freaking stupid, especially just before a double dissolution election, just beggars belief!
We need to question all our local Federal Pollie’s about this and scream from the rooftops!!
We did not vote for this.
We didn’t even vote for the bloody Prime Minister we have.
I will also be voting for the National Party in the lower house and the ALA in the senate.
Some electorates, will also have a ALA candidate for the lower house.
They have a strong emphasis on common sense in regards to Energy policy.
That means not falling for the green agenda.
As well as, being strong on the much more serious threat of Islamic immigration.
The imminent threat of an Islamic Jihadi war, is so much greater than AGW that it is laughable, we are even talking about it.
But, talk we must.
And walking the walk is even more important.
Good luck to Australia, because the choice we face is very stark indeed.
90
I wrote this to my MP, Louise Marcus, a Turnbull backer tonight.
“Turnbull treachery
An attack on superannuation
An ETS slipped in the back door
Two examples of the treachery of Malcolm Turnbull on the conservatives who used to support your party.
Have you forgotten Godwin Gretch? Ute Gate? Turnbull crossing the floor to vote with Rudd for an ETS? The single action that brought an end to his leadership and allowed Tony Abbott to sweep you into Parliament.
Do you remember now?
The perfidy of Turnbull sneaking in an ETS on the last day of Parliament last year: taking care not to mention it once in the current campaign: deliberately going against the climate policy that helped Abbott win so well, in a way that he and Hunt hoped no one would notice.
But we did.
And for what purpose? It will make no difference to the climate; it will increase the cost of power and all manufactured goods; it will make bankers and ETS traders rich (including Turnbull). The cost to our economy will be horrendous.
The conservative blogs are running red hot today. This is the final straw. You will no longer get my first preference. You will be third last, just ahead of Labor and the Greens.
In the Senate the ALA will get my first preference. The Nationals will follow. Jim Molan will be the only Liberal I may vote for.
Win or lose, Turnbull has shattered the Liberal party. It will never be united until a true conservative leads it again.”
There is nothing she can do about it now, but it made me feel better!
281
Can this scheme be easily undone in the future if we ever got a rational government?
60
As I understand it what the government is doing is creating a new form of property right (like shares) which, once the trading system is established, will be very difficult if not impossible to be rid of by any future government without ruinous compensation to existing unit holders.
60
What do you mean..
Governments have regularly proven they can dismantle property rights with the wave of a pen through aberrant legislation..
That is exactly what the Greens do to farmers…
… why shouldn’t it also happen to people stupid enough to buy into something that actually has nothing but imaginary worth.
81
Hunt and Turnbull have forgotten Gillard’s “There will be no carbon tax’ pledge.
They have done just what she has done, promised no carbon tax then imposed one.
Then remember the Liberals attack on Shorten;s ETS a few weeks ago (including an attack ad), Hunt called it “Julia Gillard’s carbon tax on steroids”
And all the while the Turnbull Party had an ETS in the pipeline ready to roll.
The brazeness of this act can hardly be contemplated.
Perhaps they thought it would not be news until after they won the election: Ooops we forget to tell you about that.
120
Once the TPP comes is weaponised, i suspect that will be a no. Under the new TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership) , entire countries can be sued. For example, losses in Carbon trading revenue for example.
50
Why aren’t the 150 companies complaining?
Because the companies are mostly supplying the domestic market (the largest emitters by far are electricity generators) and the burden will simply be passed on to consumers.
80
Or because of the economic downturn because of the socialist agenda….
… they don’t need to exceed their “highest level of emissions between 2009-10 and 2013-14”
That means they can claim credits.
61
That is pretty logical.
30
For now, Andy. We are in a growing economy.
31
Bollocks
10
Graeme No.3 –
sadder still is watching Big Renewables targetting developing countries.
23 May: Nasdaq: Vu Trong Khanh: GE to Supply Wind Turbines to Vietnam
HANOI–General Electric Co. on Monday signed an agreement with Vietnam’s government to develop renewable energy in the country.
The agreement, signed in the presence of U.S. President Barack Obama and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang during the American’s state visit to Vietnam, aims to provide 1,000 megawatts of wind-power capacity for Vietnam by 2025, enough to power 1.8 million households…
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/ge-to-supply-wind-turbines-to-vietnam-20160523-00024
23 May: Politico Morning Energy: Eric Wolff: Congress all about energy business
And the amendment lifts entire titles authorizing Energy Department programs for nuclear, fossil and renewable energy research from the House Science Committee’s 2015 America COMPETES Reauthorization Act (H.R. 1806), which the chamber barely passed on a partisan vote. It also includes language from a nuclear energy bill (H.R. 4084) the House passed on a voice vote. That language found its way into the Senate energy bill thanks to a bipartisan amendment introduced by Sen. Mike Crapo…
VIETNAM TO JOIN PARIS AGREEMENT THIS YEAR: Vietnam agreed to ratify or otherwise join the Paris climate agreement this year, bringing the agreement one more nation closer to coming into force, the State Department said Sunday. The announcement came as part of a bilateral climate partnership in which the U.S. will help Vietnam implement a renewable strategy and increase public and private investment in renewables and efficiency. The Obama Administration appears to be putting on a full-court press to make sure the Paris agreement goes into effect before the end of the year…
GREEN PONIES UP THE GREEN: Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer in April wired $7 million to NextGen Climate climate Action, a Super PAC, according to FEC records, Andrew reports. The sum brings his giving to $11 million this year
http://www.politico.com/tipsheets/morning-energy/2016/05/congress-does-all-its-energy-business-at-once-trumps-golf-course-preps-for-climate-change-oil-companies-face-green-shareholders-214440
Reuters, like ABC, BBC, Guardian & most of the MSM, happy to give space to the renewable shills:
23 May: Reuters: Simba Sibanda/Chiedza Mazaiwana: African development goals are powerless without clean, distributed energy
(Simba Sibanda is secretary of the Renewable Energy Association of Zimbabwe. Chiedza Mazaiwana is Zimbabwe lead for the Power for All campaign)
One of the World Bank’s hashtags on Twitter is #endenergypoverty. It is a critically important goal…
Yet as the African Development Bank gathers this week in Lusaka for its annual meeting, development agencies and banks, and their national government “clients”, still pursue energy infrastructure the old-fashioned way: namely through centralised power plants, often using fossil fuels, that according to the World Bank’s own internal audit take an average of nine years to get up and running.
Nine years. We only have 14…
But the financing for decentralised renewables must be guaranteed, and the national policy and regulatory environments must be in place, with a focus on speed of deployment…
When the development banks make their hashtag #endenergypovertyfaster, we will be moving down the right path.
http://news.trust.org//item/20160523103435-q5c31/
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Pat:
It is waffle. Sure the developing countries will take the ‘free’ money, and they will sign up to the Paris Agreement. Why not, as Hitler said “he seemed to want a piece of paper, so I signed one”.
The point is that apart from a few countries NO-ONE is going to do anything but install conventional generation that works. The exceptions are France, Sweden, Scotland and the EU Secretariat.
Even in the EU Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Greece, Hungary and Slovakia are actively going the other way. China, India, Japan, Sth. Korea, Indonesia, Phillipines, Vietnam and Burma are all looking for finance for conventional generation. Any ‘renewables’ had better come with outside money and will go where the grid won’t reach for years.
Check up on Morocco. The Noor No.1 solar heat tower has been paid for by money they don’t have to repay. They cheerfully admit that and further point out that otherwise the electricity would cost $275 per MWh (coal is less than $30 so guess what developing countries will buy if its their money). They also give away that, like all of them, use gas. The No.1 plant is the same size as the planned one in Port Augusta that our 2 ‘leaders’ have committed to paying for (actually the taxpayer will do that). As I have said elsewhere both of them are giving superb imitations of village idiots.
80
I would be suspicious..I asked the same question 2 weeks ago..the clod that answered (which I posted here previously) said since no party has an ETS at the moment they couldnt vote against it.He was either dumb or dishonest or both..take your pick..
And notice what they have on their web site…nothing.
Its a vote winner..but they are so interested in it..they will not say anything..nope..makes no sense..
And the Australian here is claiming the ALA (in an iv with them?) is “after sensible wind and solar“..once again..pure idiotic weasel words..
Notice any of their supporters here..or their party members..stating anything clearly ever in any of the threads..???
They are silent because they are either political bone heads who are run by clowns who actually want to oppose the ETS…or..they are just another party that will say and do anything to get into power and are hoping that by not talking about an ETS in public..they will not scare the horses..because they have no policies..
46
The ALA is against any emission trading scheme without a question and support existing fossil production and nuclear. They arevalso opposed to renewable subsidies and will remove those where legally possible.
100
Wow Drap, .. you really are scared of another party having some control, aren’t you.
Are you a Labor… or a Turnbull supporter?
101
There needs to be an RLP.
REAL LIBERAL PARTY
none of this left-wing, pseudo-liberal that Turnbull and the 54 represent
181
So, I guess the last good reason to vote for the turnbull party (formerly the Liberal Party) has just vanished into air, into thin air.
Better to risk 3-6 years of ALP carnage now than have 3 more years of the libs in their current form and then 3-6 of the ALP.
Plus we get the bonus of seeing Turnbull’s concession speech to Shorten.
Then we get to see Shorten try to keep the borders secure.
60
Your proposal would be a high price to pay just to give True’B’lver Turdfull the kick he deserves.
If the ALP/Greens Socialist/Marxist party get another 3 years with carbon Bill at the helm ,i see that this country will be damaged beyond repair…a new Greece southern hemisphere version.
That cannot be allowed to happen .
The turncoat is still the best option …. or the lesser of 2 evils.
If all these clowns got what they actually deserved …the Greens would be taken away in straight jackets ….the entire ALP and many in the Coalition would be directed to the nearest rock pile with sledge hammers for 10 – 20…..not going for elected office !
We have crooks in suits attempting to control over 400 billion per year in our money and all they have managed to date is gross mismanagement and budget blowouts with locked in junk pie in the sky unaffordable multi billion dollar policies(fiascoes)…..and that is just from the ALP/Greens Rudd Gillard Rudd years of pain !
66
Sorry Egor,we have been doing this roundy round for the last 40 or more years.
The definition of insanity…. Voting for the establishment candidates over and over and over again and expecting a different results.
20
The Greens want to rename the signs on public toilets. They say that to call public toilets “Ladies” and “Gents” is gender discriminatory and is therefore offensive.
Do we face an increasingly Orwellian world if they win influence in this next election?
And how would they rename public toilets………..”Marxists” and “Others” perhaps?
If so, just don’t walk into an “Others”, especially if it is on an upper floor in a building, ha.
71
This will probably get me banned.. or at least benched for a few weeks……AGAIN.
But maybe a picture of male (untucked) or female “parts” would be sufficient !!!!!
72
Alternatively.. there should be a THIRD public toilet….
…… marked with a big question mark !!!
102
Perhaps Innies and Outies would cover all bases for the
confusedmentally illcluelessnaturally selected?71
It would be hilarious to see them try.
50
It’s not just the Greens. It’s becoming more fashionable to be stupid – College Kids Say the Darndest Things: On Identity
40
Fascinating, the first time I’ve ever read anything on this blog of genuine interest, especially compared to the usual garbage. It seems that reality is finally catching up with you lot, it was always going to, you had your fun. It was always obvious the world would leave you behind, you can kid yourselves forever but not the majority of society, the bleeding obvious will out.
330
While on the subject of reality, I see that old fraud Monckton has been very quiet lately now that his faux pause is beyond all saving without looking completely unhinged.
230
Feeble effort FIN. The pause is still an 18 year pause. No warming spike now can change that. The models are still failures.
It’s all a bit hard for you to grasp, isn’t it?
282
So continued warming can’t indicate continued warming? Nice, I like that, you got me there.
18
FIN, when you get to grade 5 they’ll explain the difference between a “spike” and a “continued” thing.
It doesn’t matter what happens in 2016, heat in the future will not erase the 18 year pause in the past. Another law of physics you are unaware of.
Their models are wrong by their own predictions.
131
Yeah right, and when you’re finished prep might I explain trends to you? Seems only fair. Still you do have me on the “it hasn’t warmed since April 2016” claim.
19
And just what use was a climate model that couldn’t predict trends for the next 18 years?
It was good for raising funds…
121
Fin.. the word “transient” doesn’t always refer to your park bench abode. !!
31
the ‘fraud’ is all on your side .
face the one inescapable conclusion …. CAGW / CACC or whatever you call it this month = BS
162
It’s too late FIN; the pause has already done it’s job. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t return.
You see, the whole point is that no one predicted it – that’s it.
I’ll refer you to Kevin Trenberth, … “we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty that we can’t.”
212
Yes Fin, you do seem totally unhinged.
The little transient from the El Nino is all but gone, and the underlying ZERO trend will be back in a month or so, almost certainly with a continuing dip downwards.
The “plateau” will extend and extend as the temperature drops.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/05/23/say-goodbye-to-the-201516-el-nino/
152
Love it! So the faux pause calculated from a “little transient from the El Nino” for some reason doesn’t apply in 1998 but does in this instance. Once again you guys are on to it, so slick and on top of your subject. I’m clearly outgunned here.
110
The faux pause discussed by the IPCC, von storch, most mainstream climate scientists was not “faux” to them. That must hurt… sorry.
121
Outgunned?
How would anyone know? . . . you never bring any ammo.
81
He only ever brings a stage prop !
51
“I’m clearly outgunned here.”
Wow.. and you only just realised ???
baby steps, baby steps.
61
Not just “all but gone”, but now officially gone.
It’s Dead. Kaput! Pushing up daisies.
This…. is an ex- El Niño!
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/05/25/11/50/el-nino-declared-officially-over-by-bureau-of-meterology
40
FIN, so lovely of you to show up with your goodwill, and wit. Keep the cult alive eh?
The anonymous coward tosses insults…
262
Jo? Strange that Fin actually sounds upset about something. He’s not bragging or boastful – he’s snapping at you as though we’ve won something somewhere and it really, REALLY bothers him.
Maybe he doesn’t like it how people here are willing to discuss ways of standing together against a common threat. Maybe it’s just this site. So keep up the good work. We will win in the end, no matter how long it takes, we will win. Cheers to you. 🙂
60
Amusing comment given that this is an ETS imposed by stealth and never voted on ‘by the majority of society.’
Indeed, whenever it has been an election issue or polled it has been as popular as a redback in an outhouse.
140
“the majority of society”
They had their say last election….
and if the choice was there this election, they would vote the same way again…
…but that has been taken away from the people, by left-wing DECEIT.
The ONLY way to get a price on carbon is to circumvent the people’s vote.
The SSM brigade absolutely MUST avoid a people’s vote on that issue too.
102
Hey FIN what’s with coming here and heckling Jo when you don’t even care about our opinions?
[SNIP – J]
[Carefull, Yonnie – dont push too hard] Fly
92
Yes Yonni,
Just why a faux “Planet Saver” would be worried about a faux pause seems rather incongruous.
60
‘It seems that reality is finally catching up with you lot…’
I cannot speak for my colleagues, but under the circumstances voting ‘informally’ is the only realistic outcome, unless ALA for the Senate.
Its seems extraordinary that the Nats would give up DAP, but if they refuse to confirm or deny then they are dead in the water.
50
Can’t agree with voting informally.
Voting, for instance, for the Nats will send a message.
Crikey, voting for The Greens will send a message too, but to vote informally just absents you from the game – a capitulation, if you will.
Similarly, voting informally would see you in the 66% of papers that John Cook rejected . . if you’ll forgive my drift to the John West commercial. 😉
70
‘Voting, for instance, for the Nats will send a message.’
The Nats are junior members of the Coalition and are powerless, while the Liberals are cunning and deceitful. From earlier this year:
‘Long-term funding of the Turnbull government’s keystone climate policy remains in doubt as mixed messages emerged from the government about whether further funds will be allocated beyond the current $2.55billion.
‘Finance Minister Mathias Cormann was reported on Monday as saying that there was no funding for the Emissions Reduction Fund beyond the 10-year period out to 2024 covered by the first phase of the fund.’
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/turnbull-government-plans-to-top-up-direct-action-funds-before-review-20160201-gmiqki.html#ixzz49cnT55PE
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook
——–
On a matter of principle its my democratic right to scribble ‘CO2 does not cause global warming, a pox on both your houses.’
‘…to vote informally just absents you from the game – a capitulation, if you will.’
From a political viewpoint the sceptics have been marginalised, a pariah grouping, so I’ll take no further interest in the politics and focus instead on the science.
30
Graeme No.3 –
the CAGW vultures are circling though:
23 May: Zambia Daily Mail: BENEDICT TEMBO: African bank governors to ‘light up and power Africa’
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) Group’s role in “Lighting up and Powering Africa” will take centre stage as it puts energy on the front row of Africa’s development agenda during the Bank’s 2016 annual meetings starting in Lusaka today…
“Lighting up and Powering Africa” fits into the African Union’s “Agenda 2063”, which has been branded as a global strategy to optimise the use of Africa’s resources for the benefits of its people.
The agenda demonstrates how Africa must do things differently, and attempt to make a paradigm shift or culture that would gradually lead to “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.”…
The Bank is also actively engaged in the new Africa Renewable Energy Initiative, and is expected to play a key implementation role.
It cooperates with key stakeholders in the energy sector, such as the World Bank Group, European Commission, bilateral donors including the US (especially through the Power Africa Initiative), the UK, France, Germany, and the International Renewable Agency, among others…
https://www.daily-mail.co.zm/?p=67286
24 May: GhanaBusinessNews: Emmanuel K. Dogbevi: Lusaka wakes up to AfDB Annual Meetings
Somewhat, quiet Lusaka has woken up to a major event. The city is literally swarmed by delegates attending the 51st Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfBD), and there are nearly 4000 of them from all over the world, but mostly from Africa.
***The city very cold around this time – it’s winter in Zambia, with temperatures around 10 and 12 degrees Celsius – most delegates came unprepared for the cold…
On the table for discussion are Africa’s energy and climate change challenges…
According to the World Bank some 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are facing a crisis evidenced by rolling blackouts…
Meanwhile, as the meetings go on, Zambia’s own has its own energy crisis is lurking malevolently – just like other African countries, requiring urgent attention. The country is currently doing what has become common in Africa and most developing countries – load shedding.
A landlocked country with a 560 MW power deficit, Zambia’s demand for electricity grows 200MW annually…
https://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2016/05/24/157511/
40
Fixing the climate has nothing to do with it. Governments of all persuasions are desperate for more taxes.
70
PeterS,
That’s fine; the Government does need more revenue but they need to run the idea past by the voters first, particularly with such a hot button issue that was a key election campaign plank of the LNP in the first place.
After all, they were happy enough to float a Doctor’s co-payment fee or an increased GST etc. . . . but somehow not the reinstatement of a “Great Big New Tax” ?
The fact that nothing was said about an ETS is critical.
60
No governments do not need more money but they WANT it. Governments are the worst in handling money. They should be prevented from using taxes to fund their lies.
50
Jo, I would like to add this story to my weekly aggregation of news stories at The Daily Bail. It will consist of the title (linking directly here plus the first 5 lines. My next piece will focus on carbon taxes and secret deals being made. Please send me an e-mail or reply here. Thank You!
70
Note: I do not receive any compensation of any kind for writing at The Daily Bail. However, once in awhile I do get a pat on the back in the comments section! I am a former wind consultant and have worked in the power industry constructing/maintaing substations and high lines. I also served as a fire chief (volunteer) and forest fire warden and have a land surveying/engineering background. I am currently ‘retired’ and write about waste and graft in the energy sector.
110
Your writings at:
http://dailybail.com/home/renewable-energy-is-a-clean-green-criminal-machine.html
Are quite readable and informative!
All the best! -will-
10
the politics of CAGW:
24 May: ABC: Thea Ormerod: Resetting the Political Moral Compass on Climate Change
(Thea Ormerod is the President of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change)
We are at a critical point in human history, and the major political parties are having difficulty keeping up.
Global warming is seriously beginning to bite; at the same time, we are witnessing market shifts towards low carbon technologies and an explosion of civil society activity aimed at saving the climate…
The latest polling results (THE REACHTEL POLL, NATURALLY) show that global warming is no longer just a theory for many Australians, and they are prepared to change their vote accordingly.
The unseasonably warm weather is a regular topic of conversation, for good reason…
Naomi Klein, who was recently awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, has decried Australia’s political inaction: “A great many people know in their hearts that now is the time for bold action. Yet political leadership is still lacking – and nowhere more so than in Australia.”…
A mystifying number of politicians, many of whom claim to be religious believers, don’t even accept the scientific consensus around anthropogenic global warming. This is nothing short of morally irresponsible…
We are now in a race for survival. On one side there are climate scientists, civil society, innovators in low carbon technologies and conscientious investors. These are working for a transformation of our economies and societies in order to protect the ecological systems on which life depends. A rightly-aligned moral compass is needed so a new course can be set…
Australia needs to transition the economy away from its addiction to fossil fuels to one which is broadly based, innovative and sustainable. We need to declare a moratorium on any new coal, oil or gas mining developments or expansions, and put an end to public assistance to fossil fuel industries…
Renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels and, investment dollar for investment dollar, they create many more jobs…
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2016/05/24/4468424.htm
24 May: Euractiv: James Crisp: Brexit campaign leadership dominated by climate-sceptics
INVESTIGATION/ Leading figures in the Vote Leave referendum campaign to take Britain out of the EU have links to a controversial climate-sceptic think tank and question the science behind global warming.
The group’s three leaders Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and figurehead Lord Nigel Lawson have cast doubt over man-made climate change, which is backed by most of the world’s credible experts…
“What the climate change deniers and Brexiteers have in common is the rejection of evidence as the basis of policy,” said Tom Burke, chairman of London-based environmental think tank E3G.
“It’s a concern because these are a group of people, who want to be in charge of government, who have immunised themselves against evidence,” he added…
A spokesman for the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign said, “They deny the scientific evidence on climate change, just as they deny the economic evidence that leaving the EU would wreck the UK economy and cost around 820,000 jobs.”…
Director Benny Peiser said the foundation had no view on the EU referendum and was not involved in any shape or form in referendum activities…
There is a difference between weather, which happens over a short period, and climate, which is how the atmosphere behaves over longer periods. Climate change has been linked to heavier snow and other extreme weather…
Greenpeace UK spokesman Graham Thompson said the UK’s most prominent climate sceptics were free market enthusiasts, who had realised climate change solutions would require higher taxes, state intervention and regulation – so decided to deny there was a problem…
LINK: Lucas: ‘Worrying’ link between Leave camp and climate change denial
Energy policies would be rolled back, demand for environmental experts would drop and Britain’s voice in global climate change talks would be lost if it votes to leave the EU, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas told EurActiv’s partner edie.net in an exclusive interview…
http://www.euractiv.com/section/uk-europe/news/brexit-campaign-leadership-dominated-by-climate-sceptics/
40
I am actually quite pissed of about this!!
Anyone else?
120
Oh dear!
I’ve lost my moniker!
New email address obviously.
Can I get my old one back?
50
Black Adder — You can get your gravatar back. Copy the image from an old comment you made with the right email, then go to gravatar.com (or whatever it is) and make that your gravatar for your new email. It will serve it up anytime you use the new email.
50
I admit to not understanding Aussies. Had an Austrailian office-mate for 2 years.
But this law seems to prove that as a culture/society bonky or wonkers seems an appropriate
description!!!!
{Hope those two words do not carry a serious negative meaning!}
50
Don’t worry. Australians have thick skins. I am tempted to say that it matches the rest of them, but I will show some forebearance.
50
C’morn Rereke . . no need to be be sheepish. 🙂
50
Australian sheep are smarter than NZ sheep. A number of ours have made it into Parliament (about 54 I think).
90
Yeah . . that’s enough to make ewe wonder where it’ll all end. 😉
40
I don’t agree – try talking politics, and our sheep are smart enough to make for the high country.
What we are left with is a bunch of of urbanised latte sippers, taking iphone pictures of the crossant that they are about to eat for lunch.
For some reason they get a bit upset, if you ask for an eight by ten glossy print of said lunch.
40
And even then, it’d be photoshopped!!!
Tony.
50
I’m picturing the cross ant about to be eaten.
40
Hehe . . a honey ant maybe? 😉
20
I see what you did!
10
I don’t think the average Australian is “bonkers”; they are more interested in sport and other pursuits than politics. The basic problem is that the politicians have had little life experience; at university they studied arts/ economics/law and became involved in student politics and then moved on to the unions or got a job in some politician’s office. Eventually they landed in parliament. They are surrounded by advisers, lobbyists and people spruiking some type of snake oil, such as climate change, and they haven’t got the experience to think outside the square or seek independent advice.
100
The beauty of this tax by ETS for the
crookspolitians is that they can tax to their hearts content as most people don’t realise, after a while, that it even exists and, even if you want to know, you can’t find how much you’re paying to the shysters.I still am none the wiser after posting these questions here:
1. How much am I, the ordinary Joe Blogs New Zealander, paying towards the ETS per litre for my petrol and diesel?
2. How much am I paying per unit of electricity towards the ETS?
3. Where does this money go?
4. What is achieved by this tax?
and also on a New Zealand well-read blog where the questions also remain unanswered.
It’s like having a hole in your pocket, surreptitiously put there by a bunch of bandits – and no one cares.
100
Try asking those questions of the Ombudsman’s office. But word it in terms of percentages, i.e. what percentage of the price per litre of petrol … etc. You will have to calculate the rest, based on how much you actually spend, on petrol and diesel and electricity, etc.
Your last two questions are interesting ones. I hope Jo will welcome you sharing the results (if any), with the rest of us.
70
In all the former commonwealth nations, democracy faed away by stealth.
Kleptocracy Rules.
No matter who we elect we get robbed.
Theft by any other name remains theft.
Tax is theft from the individual to fund the collective.
That collective is always a committee.
Is there time to get yourself on the ballot as None of The Above?
Simple campaign..Throw all the useless parasites out.
The governance we are receiving is more harm to the citizen than no government at all.
Political parties attract freeloaders, eventually they come to represent only those parasites.
Welcome to the Rule of thieves,for the benefit of those well connected thieves.
The aim of the UN Bureaucracy is worldwide kleptocracy, able to steal from all,while being responsible to none.
It does not matter who you vote for,once kleptocracy controls the institutions, reform is not possible.
It will crash and burn, either slowly under so called conservatives or rapidly under socialists.
Viva Venezuela. However you spell that now destroyed country.
Zimbabwe Mon?
60
In the spirit of Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide; I hope the engineers who designed the specs for lamp posts in Canberra did their job properly.
50
Piano wire futures just went through the roof.We have plenty of Lamp posts.
00
& therapeutic tropical fruit futures.
00
I can not help but think this ETS plan and the Trans Pacific Partnership are linked , as part of the same globalist strategy , China and Vietnam are also members of TPP , two nations built on a totalitarian feudal system , how can Australians and New Zealanders be expected to compete against systems based on slavery and at the same time pay more for your energy , how can you call TPP free trade if it is not fair trade
80
Mate. if english is not your native tongue..fair enough.
I asked the ALA, who were a party I wanted to support, a question about the ETS,
I have posted here there none response..twice.
I dont want any form of ETS or Carbon tax..
How you would think the gist of my questions/and obvious snark directed at an ETS.. implies I am a possible turnbull/labour supporter..is staggeringly bizarre.
Are either group against an ETS..??
I seriously cannot make it any simpler for you..
What does scares me is people like yourself, with the comprehension skills of a small child..posting here.
14
“I have posted here there[sp] none response. .twice.”
Probably because of your inherent rudeness and inability to construct meaningful sentences.
I got a response within 24 hours… an emphatic NO to any form of carbon pricing.
And if you are going to go on about native tongue… you really should learn to spell first.
82
That is what you get when you use a phone, and have predictive text turned on. Whatever you type, and however erudite you might be, you end up looking like an angry moron.
50
In my opinion if you vote for “The Turnbull Coalition”, and he wins, he will doubtless say that he has the consent of the governed and a mandate to continue his policies – to the benefit of Goldman Sachs. Very sneaky, it coming into effect the day before the election. What to do?
60
‘What to do?’
If the Nats go along with all this nonsense then we’ll have to assume the political science is settled.
Vote informally and get the recognition we deserve, a sort of informal revolution.
51
Some suggestions to consider, though not endorsed:
– The ALP stinks to high hell, but an ALP government with a conservative opposition is far less dangerous than a Malcolm Turnbull led government with a compliant left wing opposition.
– An ALP government will be easily removed after 3 years – a Malcolm Turnbull led government with a compliant opposition will not.
– A Turnbull led government will implement a string of detrimental changes to our political system and way of life that can never be undone.
. . .
I will be voting below the line, I know my last 3 preferences.
80
Am I upset by this deceit by stealth? Not really, I’m bl—y well furious. But I’m wondering where are the Nats and Barnaby Joyce, where my vote goes depends on it.
60
Oddly, no comments yet from the likes of Andrew Bolt, Tim Blair, Alan Jones etc…
Surely they must know about it.
92
I’m waiting for that too AndyG55. I listen to Andrew Bolt and Steve price each night on 2gb. I’ll comment tomorrow if they talk about it.
Nothing on Andrew’s blog yet either.
61
BoltA weighs in, with a link to the ABC’s ‘The Drum’:
Watch this space
“Don’t worry”, says former Liberal minister Peter Baume, of the party’s far Left.
Malcolm Turnbull after the election will let loose his real Leftist self.
But for now there are voters to fool.
This news is of tremendous reassurance to the ABC panel, once again without a single conservative.”
60
Much as I think carbon abatement is a ridiculous notion I also am reasonably pragmatic about it.
The sad reality is that Australia must be seen to be doing something. There are many well-funded green organisations that have the international clout to do real damage to our standing if we don’t.
If you accept this then the question becomes: How can we be seen to be doing something for the least harm to ourselves?
From what I understand about it the Coalition’s direct action seems to be a reasonable approach that actually has some good parts.
Alan Kohler’s article is a bit of a beat-up in my opinion. The cap and trade being introduced is a “safeguard” mechanism and the fact that the greenies are squealing that it doesn’t go far enough says to me that Hunt may well have struck a sensible balance.
Hunt refutes many of Kohler’s claims in today’s Australian. Much as I think Hunt leans too far to the left I am more inclined to take his word at face value rather than that of a journalist.
It saddens me that this blog, which prides itself on pursuing facts, should have put up this story without seeking out both sides of the story.
Graham
12
What interests me is why was this ‘leaked’ at this time and by whom?
Since it took our press 6 months before suddenly seeing it I think it very likely that it was put in front of at least one reporter who could read.
As for the overseas or local Greens, ignore them. Who apart from the UK (still including Scotland), France and Sweden are actually interested in reducing emissions? I know Morocco is provided other people GIVE them money to do so (see Noor 1). What I object to is sending billions overseas to Nigerian conmen or the Mafia in return for an e-mail saying keep doing what you’re doing. We don’t even get a piece of paper to burn when it gets cold.
60
I have no problem with the Direct Action Plan, it’s a pragmatic way of meeting the political need to be green whilst also achieving other objectives such as environmental reclamation, employment training etc. But, we did not need the ETS/AKA “Safeguard Mechanism” in the legislation. And importantly it gives PM Turnbull and Hunt the imprimatur to slide in an ETS/Cap and Trade without going back to the people or indeed back to the Senate. Additionally Hunt has been OS negotiating with various countries for the introduction of the Cap and Trade scheme. This is not what you would be doing if you had no intention of proceeding! Sorry Graeme, for these reasons I disagree with you and believe the Australian people and parliament have been hoodwinked. Sneaky and deceptive is what I call it.
110
Fair comment mem and I agree we don’t need an ETS or C&T, however I understand the “safety mechanism” was a compromise Hunt had to make to get the repeal of the carbon tax passed through the recalcitrant Senate.
As to whether the safeguard mechanism develops into a ETS is pure speculation but, from comments in the article, it seems that to do so would require further Legislation.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/federal-election-2016/federal-election-2016-greg-hunt-denies-carbon-tax-by-stealth/news-story/f007d0688bba93c1b0272594a63f3380
Graham
50
The climate con-artists will stop at nothing to impose their will.
Votes, rule of law, financial failure, grid destabilization, science, truth, promises, are all just road bumps to these people.
It is long past time to put out their bad arrogant, anti-human rubbish.
90
I think you will find there is a lot of ‘Yes Minister’ in action, in all this.
The Public Service is a powerful but generally ‘backroom’ part of the social sphere that, when functioning properly, generally works to stabilize excesses amongst politicians and extremism within parties and socio-political movements. It is almost immune from media and public scrutiny, and there are some good reasons for this; it generally is not subject to short term political expediencies which change with the seasons, because it is supposed to be a repository of longer term community values. In the social and political process, it generally represents community values that have become conventional wisdom or have formed from a social ‘consensus’ (note the term) over longer periods of time than short term 3 or 5 year elections.
This ‘longer term perspective’ of course can have downsides. It can be very slow to move in any direction, it can become out of touch, it can come to represent itself rather than the broader community, and just occasionally, push political agendas which suit itself rather than longer term community values it is supposed to represent. Scientists who work within it can become social value-driven rather than empirically driven, which is also partly why they tend to like modelling rather than empirical data.
And as anyone who has watched Yes Minister, or worked in the public service for any period of time, knows all too well, the particular power and social privilege can be misused and go astray, just like anything else.
The whole backroom push for an ETS I suspect is being largely driven by the public service, which in this case, is not really representing broader community values or scientific debate. I also suspect that it exceeds its’ function and authority by doing this.
50
Duh Kleptocracy.
Now former public servants run for elected office, the better to “provide oversight” to our bureaucracies.
Hence the complete group are now united in their only skill C.Y.A.
Out of touch does not even come close, they are very intensely “in Touch” with your wallet, every more intrusive in”helping you” do your own work.
Committee speak rules.
Having been present at policy planning meetings,there is no one protecting the taxpayers interests.
When these people say “public interest” they mean their interests.
Soon to be the only members of the middle class.
There is no way to reform the current incestuous crime syndicate that governs us.
The Institutions are all bent.
When the host goes on strike, then the parasites will feast on their own.
Kleptocracy has a natural expiratory.
It runs out of people to steal from.
Ever wonder why government is so obsessed with GPD growth and importing fresh victims through immigration?
00
Note for Jo Nova,
Possibly old news but:
Review of Australian climate science capability and future requirements- to be conducted by the Australian Academy of Science. To be overseen by a steering committee, consisting of:
* Professor Trevor McDougall (chair)
* Associate Professor Julie Arblaster
* Professor David Griggs
* Professor Rod Keenan
* Professor Neville Nicholls
* Dr Graeme Pearman
* Dr Helen Cleugh
Will involve extensive consultation, with organisations that conduct climate science research and individuals in the climate science community. Expected that the review will examine fundamental climate science capabilities – particularly areas covered by IPCC Working Group I.
CSIRO, BoM, AIMS, CoE, TERN, IMOS have been notified. Information on the review can be found at .
61
Thanks Rob. Given the low standards at the Academy, I expect a whitewash.
91
knowing one of those named above it wont be. I wonder if she will find your comment offensive though?
01
Give me back the world where people were honest enough to say what they think (right or wrong).
A world were they have a bit of mental toughness, instead of tearing up at what someone says.
Because in reality it is only the truth that hurts.
Speaking of offensive, having worked in a true science research facility, the emoto-science (a few facts with an overlay of emotional, manipulative claptrap), rammed down our throats by the chicken little “the world is falling” tooth-sayers of global warming, while being payed for by the taxes of honest hard working people: –Now that’s OFFENSIVE.
If the Australian climate science capability and future requirements steering committee find this offensive, send me their address and I’ll send them all a box of tissues.
20
read all…but does it clarify the matter? hardly.
24 May: AFR: Climate: ‘Safeguard’ looks like ‘ETS’ by any other name
by Ben Potter and Mark Ludlow
“The safeguard mechanism could provide a base on which a broader baseline and credit system could be built,” Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said…
Experts said the climate policies of the two major parties were converging, a shift that could anger the conservative wing of the Coalition.
“I think both sides of politics are largely on the same page,” Grattan Institute energy program director Tony Wood said.
“The real difference is the language. You have have one car that looks like a Toyota and the other like a Falcon but look under the bonnet and the engine is the same.”
The safeguard mechanism is in addition to the $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund…
Mr Hunt denied this was a “stealth” emissions trading scheme and said any reduction in the limits would be decided by future governments…
“We abolished the carbon tax. It’s not coming back under us. It will come back under the ALP. It doesn’t matter whether they call it an ETS or a carbon tax, it’s going to hike up electricity prices,” he said.
“Our scheme has consciously been designed for the long-term and it’s low touch which doesn’t raise revenue, unlike the ALP which just wants to raise a lot of money through hiking people’s electricity prices.”
Bruce Mountain, principal with energy consultancy CME, said both sides were likely to be more forthright about their plans after the election because their emissions targets would require “a lot of government action” to be met.
“If that’s what we have agreed internationally, it’s going to require a response. It simply has to happen or we are not going to meet those targets,” Mr Mountain said.
Mr Wood said the scheme would need to be tightened after the election to meet the targets, ideally with a law to create a genuine “tradeable credit scheme”.
“All the machinery is there and the minister can reduce the baselines without new legislation and you can create a version of a cap. But it’s not as neat as having a genuine cap-and-trade scheme,” he said.
“But if you want a proper trading scheme and to create credits automatically you’ll need some change in legislation and that puts it in the hand of parliament.”
http://www.afr.com/news/policy/climate/climate-safeguard-looks-like-ets-by-any-other-name-20160524-gp2d46
40
“any reduction in the limits would be decided by future governments…”
So… Greg Hunt has put the legislation in place for any government to bring in what is effectively a selective ETS, whenever that government wants to and at any level that government wants to.
Sorry Greg.. same thing !!
Does not sound very “safe” to me !!!
101
Yup, can’t have those pesky
citizenssubjects having a say in howtheirtheir ruler’s country is run.90
i’m getting the following in html gobbledygook. you might be luckier:
25 May: Australian: Graham Lloyd: Federal election 2016: Greg Hunt denies carbon tax by stealth
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/federal-election-2016/federal-election-2016-greg-hunt-denies-carbon-tax-by-stealth/news-story/f007d0688bba93c1b0272594a63f3380
check this one with graphs – seems like the ETS architecture is there:
24 May: AFR: Ben Potter: How Greg Hunt smuggled emissions trading into Direct Action
But in the rules implementing the ERF lies a “safeguard mechanism” that in principle contains the moving parts of a “baseline and credit” emissions trading system…
With a little imagination, they can be made to look like the emissions trading schemes that ended Malcolm Turnbull’s first stint as coalition leader and Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard’s prime ministerships…
A facility that is struggling to meet its “net emissions” baseline can purchase ACCUs from another plant that is confident of beating its baseline. That is what makes the safeguard look like a dreaded ETS in principle.
But the safeguard mechanism doesn’t look much like an ETS in practice because the initial baselines are such soft targets…
A future government could change the guidelines to reduce baselines more swiftly. Ultimately it is down to the government of the day to determine how hard they want to push industry to reduce emissions by pushing baselines down.
http://www.afr.com/news/policy/climate/how-greg-hunt-smuggled-emissions-trading-into-direct-action-20160524-gp29or
70
Please note that when the Coalition returns to government after the election (noting that the Abbott led Coalition reduced Labor to a minority alliance government in 2010 and defeated them in an historic landslide victory in 2013) they will claim that they have a mandate for the ETS carbon tax.
However if Union controlled and managed Labor Greens sneak in and form government they too will claim that mandate.
Our choice is not simple, but there are choices, and as I have posted earlier here the conservative voting choices are shown in that link.
We need to show both alternatives for government that we are unhappy with them both.
But we need to vote for Greens last and Labor second last on the ballot papers to start.
60
SAVE THE SQUIRRELS
While driving this morning I caught a news item on the radio about squirrels in London.
The poor animals have not gone into hibernation and instead stayed awake all through the Northern winter. It was a “warm winter” and being awake the poor little critters had nothing to do but eat. Normally after hibernation they are lean and hungry but this year are so fat they are having trouble climbing the trees.
The broadcast did not indicate a link to Global Warming but surely some alert scientist will do a PhD on Warming Induced Fat Squirrels.
Soon.
KK
70
Surely Johnny Dep would step in and develop and weak and unimportant defence argument?
40
Dennis
It’s possible that you are underestimating the publicity potential of this situation.
Maybe Banki Moon and Leonardoh would like to help save the squirrels. Who knows, next year may see artificial hibernation centers placed in all London parks and set at just above zero.
Global warming is certainly having a damaging effect on more wildlife than we thought.
50
24 May: UK Daily Mail: Fiona Macrae: Fury as RSPB backs more wind turbines: Warnings of a bird ‘massacre’ after charity says thousands more could be built with little risk to the countryside
Charity says climate change is one of greatest long-term threats to wildlife
Warns Britain to find ways of going green that are ‘in harmony with wildlife’
Has suggested building at least 25,000 wind turbines up from current 5,000
Rural campaigners slam the idea, claiming it could lead to ‘bird massacre’
You Forgot the Birds, a group of landowners that includes former England cricketer Ian Botham, said the structures would blight the landscape and cause a bird ‘massacre’.
Ian Gregory, the group’s campaign director, accused the charity of ‘retreating into an ideological bunker’.
He said: ‘How are birds supposed to weave their way through thousands of wind turbines spinning at up to 180mph? It is difficult to think of a less bird-friendly way of dealing with climate change.’ Mr Gregory acknowledged that the RSPB report notes that turbines can pose a collision risk for birds but questioned whether its main concern was damage to the blades…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3605738/Fury-RSPB-backs-wind-turbines-Warnings-bird-massacre-charity-says-thousands-built-little-risk-countryside.html
reminds me of ABC:
29 Oct 2013: ABC: Ockham’s Razor with Robyn Williams: Wind farm researcher debunks bird ‘myths’
Dr Cindy Hull is an avian ecologist who investigates claims that wind farms kill birds and bats in large numbers. Dr Hull writes that misinformation has muddied the waters on this issue, adding that her research debunks a number of common myths.
(Dr Cindy Hull works for Hydro Tasmania and studies the way birds and wind farms interact)…
We have done a lot of work studying how eagles respond to the presence of turbines. A three-year observational study we conducted at these wind farms found that eagles adjust their movements through the wind farm once turbines are installed. They also alter their behaviour in response to whether the turbines were active or not, and under different weather conditions.
The key finding was that eagles demonstrated an awareness of the turbines, and usually actively avoided them…
http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/5046460
environmentalists only when it suits the CAGW agenda!
yet yesterday ABC was worried about the birds!
24 May: ABC: Animals need protection from drones via code of practice, researcher says
Jarrod Hodgson from the University’s Unmanned Research Aircraft Facility said drones were a worthwhile ecological survey tool for scientists but limited research had been undertaken into how their use may affect animals.
He wants a code of best practice introduced for scientists and drone hobbyists to use during wildlife monitoring and protection until research is completed.
“We’re looking to do more work, particularly with birds, and try to understand what level of disturbance a UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] or a drone in proximity might have,” Mr Hodgson said…
Mr Hodgson said the growing popularity of drones meant animal-specific regulations could be necessary…
The report was published today in the Cell Press journal Current Biology…
40
Maybe it is about time for Australia to find its own Donald Trump. Someone not affiliated with either party that will act in behalf of the voters, not on behalf of the politician and bankers.
70
Like Clive Palmer!
12
No – But like Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party & importantly her Qld Senate running mate, Malcolm Roberts!
00
Politicians are nothing but mouth pieces, puppets of masters with a hidden pernicious agenda. It is a facade of freedom and choice, exposed to the discerning observer, when the actions of these mouth pieces from the various parties align to similar outcomes. The rhetoric may vary but the results are the same. Choose your poison from the artificial political spectrum of choice (and divide), left or right, either way you are left with a bad taste in your mouth.
50
SHHHHHH.
Don’t mention the Turnbull Party co2 tax!
81
Unfortunately for us, the carbon tax by stealth supported by Labor, Greens and left leaning Liberal.
80
If emissions from these companies are capped at some previous level, does that mean that a company will never be able to grow beyond a certain size without paying an extra carbon tax? Won’t that stifle development of the company and the evonomy as a whole? I guess that’s the plan.
90
So who told the truth? Is it Palmer’s fault we now have an ETS?
“Palmer made it clear that the PUP senators will support the Abbott bill to abolish the ETS.”
“Clive Palmer will help axe carbon tax but courts Al Gore in push for ETS”
50
C.Pyne on ABC Q&A answered a question:
““I can tell you with a number of different measures… I believe we will meet our 26-28 percent target without doing what Labor wants to do, which is bring back a job-destroying carbon tax.””
51
multiple links:
24 May: MIT News: Target coal or carbon?
Coal barges head upstream on the Huangpu River in Shanghai.
Researchers are analyzing coal and energy caps as carbon policy instruments for China.
by Mark Dwortzan, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change
In China, coal is king. The source of about 70 percent of the nation’s energy supply, it has long been the engine of the Chinese economy. But the reign of coal, which has the highest carbon content of all fossil fuels, has resulted in unintended consequences, from local air pollution to global climate change. While China is currently moving ahead with a national carbon market covering large emitters, an ongoing question remains whether and how the country might also directly restrict the use of coal to tackle the triple threat of air pollution, climate change, and energy insecurity. One option under discussion involves imposing limits on the use of coal or on all fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) at the national or regional levels.
Now a study by researchers at the MIT Joint Program on the Policy of Global Change, Tsinghua University, and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) examines this option in detail. Appearing in the May 2016 issue of Energy Economics, the study compares the economic impacts of imposing coal, energy, and carbon caps at regional and national levels…
The study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China through the Institute for Energy, Environment and Economy at Tsinghua University; the Social Science Key Research Program of the National Social Science Foundation of China; Rio Tinto China; and the founding sponsors of the China Energy and Climate Project in the MIT Joint Program: Eni, the French Development Agency, ICF International, and Shell.
http://news.mit.edu/2016/target-coal-or-carbon-0524
30
pat shows us this: (my bolding here)
Sort of makes you wonder what coal is in Australia then, eh!
As a whole 77% of Australia’s total power generation comes from coal fired power, (51% black coal and 26% brown coal) and all fossil fuels comes in at 89%.
Here in Queensland, it’s 73% from Black coal, and when you take in all fossil fuels, it’s 93% of power generation.
Coal is king even here in Australia.
Tony.
100
That may be so for the finance that makes it possible.
22
Explain that, please.
I suspect you mean the old B/S “subsidy” of diesel tax refunds – *not* a subsidy, and *not* applicable to coal.
So come on … make sense if you can. Try not to be semi-literate at best.
60
Thanks ianl8888 > Not an expert, but it is straightforward after finding most corporations are actually in debt, just like entire countries.
The finance for oil subsidies is sponsored by the finance industry as well. The lifeblood of big coal, big oil/big hydrocarbon is finance/borrowing from the finance industry. If this is so, and i suspect it is, then big hydrocarbon does not own itself.
A good credit rating is what makes big hydrocarbon possible.
Here, see this…. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-04-15/default-cycle-now-full-swing-goodrich-petroleum-latest-energy-company-file-chapter-1
From Zerohedge: “Default Cycle Now In Full Swing As Goodrich Petroleum Is Latest To File Chapter 11”
“As Bloomberg adds, since the start of 2015, about 50 oil and gas producers have gone bankrupt, owing more than $17 billion, …………”
02
24 May: UK Times: James Hurley: Sun sets on crowdfunded £1m project
A solar business that raised £1 million from almost 400 individual investors through crowdfunding less than 18 months ago has collapsed into insolvency.
In one of the largest failures of a crowdfunded business in the UK, administrators have been appointed at Solar Cloth Company…
However, yesterday the business blamed a downturn in the industry that followed cut in government subsidies for starving it of sales revenues. Investors who backed the business via Crowdcube have been informed of its failure, it said. Their investment almost certainly has been wiped out…
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/sun-sets-on-crowdfunded-1m-project-3mvkrcvrw
30
***Exxon asked to limit temperature gains! lol.
24 May: Forbes: Wal van Lierop: Why Divesting From Big Oil Will Only Hurt The Environment In The Long Run
(Dr. Wal van Lierop, President & CEO of Chrysalix Venture Capital)
On Wednesday, Exxon shareholders will convene for an historical annual meeting. Shareholders could vote on as many as seven environmental resolutions, ***including one that requires Exxon to limit temperature gains to 2°C, in line with the Paris Agreement.
Despite protest from Exxon, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ruled that the company must allow shareholders to vote on that resolution and at least one other. The second proposal asks shareholders to vote on naming someone with climate change expertise to the Exxon board…
Exxon is hardly the only company facing shareholder activism. Proxy Preview 2016, a report by the non-profit As You Sow, notes that U.S. firms face a record number of shareholder resolutions that address climate change – 94 this year, up from 82 in 2015. As I alluded, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Devon Energy, and Marathon Oil also face environmental proposals.
Many hydrocarbon companies and large industries now facing major transition still assume that “greener” operations would hurt their profits. That assumption is flawed. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that it will take $44 trillion in investments to decarbonize the global energy system by 2050…
Who wouldn’t want a piece of that multitrillion dollar opportunity? Sustainable investment opportunities are popping up in every industry and are not only necessary, but will also be highly rewarding…
http://www.forbes.com/sites/energysource/2016/05/24/why-divesting-from-big-oil-will-only-hurt-the-environment-in-the-long-run/#1ed23fe3376f
24 May: ClimateChangeNews: Megan Darby: Oil majors and climate change – a bluffer’s guide
International climate goals and oil company business models are on a collision course…
Something’s got to give. Trillions of dollars, not to mention the liveability of the planet, are at stake…
To stand half a chance of staying under the 2C threshold, a third of proven oil reserves and half of natural gas worldwide need to stay in the ground. That is according to UCL scientists in the most comprehensive study of its kind last year…
Why do shareholders care?
For some, it is a moral issue. Dominican nuns and Franciscan monks are behind two of the shareholder resolutions filed with ExxonMobil. They cite Pope Francis’s teachings on care for creation…
ExxonMobil faces a record nine climate-related shareholder resolutions at Wednesday’s meeeting.
These range from requiring the company to publish a “stress test” of how its portfolio will fare in a 2C future to appointing a board member with environmental expertise…
Ceres (LINK) lists 79 institutions representing US$10 trillion worth of assets that intend to vote for the “stress test” resolution at Exxon.
These include big hitters like Norway’s US$900 billion sovereign wealth fund and pension providers from California to New Zealand…
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2016/05/24/oil-majors-and-climate-change-a-bluffers-guide/
30
Any environmentalist who has shareholding with Exxon is a complete and utter HYPOCRITE, ..
….. or a green funded industrial saboteur.
I though all AGW followers were meant to divest their shareholdings from evil fossil fuel companies !
81
I am WHITE HOT with rage about this.
Lord Monkton warned in Feb 2015 about the pending overthrow of Tony Abbot – see here
So then, in September 2015, Tony gets knifed by Turnbull who then presents a bill to the Senate (Dec 2015) initiating a carbon tax/ETS (what Turnbull ALWAYS wanted). Passed by the Senate with the approval of Labor and the Greens – OF COURSE.
Seems no matter who we vote for in Aust (AND worldwide) we get socialists and communists.
Makes me so FN angry – we need a revolution!!!!!
Cheers,
170
With a tendency towards libertarianism, I have a prevailing feeling of angst towards the ever expanding influence Governments are having on our lives. With no reins on this sphere of influence and the ever increasing debt accumulated by their “progressive social experiments”, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Frédéric Bastiat explained it best.
In The Law, he wrote that everyone has a right to protect “his person, his liberty, and his property”. The State should be only a “substitution of a common force for individual forces” to defend this right. “Justice” (defense of one’s life, liberty, property) has precise limits, but if government power extends further, into philanthropic endeavors, government becomes so limitless that it can grow endlessly. The resulting statism is “based on this triple hypothesis: the total inertness of mankind, the omnipotence of the law, and the infallibility of the legislator.” The public then becomes socially-engineered by the legislator and must bend to the legislators’ will “like the clay to the potter”.
He also went on to say:
“I do not dispute their right to invent social combinations, to advertise them, to advocate them, and to try them upon themselves, at their own expense and risk. But I do dispute their right to impose these plans upon us by law – by force – and to compel us to pay for them with our taxes”.
So maybe a revolution now and then is not a bad thing.
20
Stop paying taxes and giving your consent by registering to vote. If enough did this they would soon disappear.
00
Just to add,
As I see it voting implies ones consent.
Registering to vote and voting means that you are a franchisee of government – “Franchise” means a privilege or right granted by government, which means that those elected are not your servants –
“..In Australia today, citizens over the age of 18 can vote. Over the years, many people and groups in Australian society have campaigned to ensure that the franchise is enjoyed by all adult citizens. On several occasions, Australia has been at the forefront internationally of efforts to extend the franchise. This was the case with the push for women’s suffrage in the late 1800s, and the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18 in the 1970s……
http://www.aec.gov.au/About_AEC/25/theme2-voting-any-way-you-can.htm
00
“Government” is a religion. (Larken Rose)
This is an excerpt from Larken Rose’s new book, The Most Dangerous Superstition.
The Religion of “Government” (TMDS pp. 28-32.)
“Government” is neither a scientific concept nor a rational sociological construct; nor is it a logical, practical method of human organization and cooperation. The belief in “government” is not based on reason; it is based on faith. In truth, the belief in “government” is a religion, made up of a set of dogmatic teachings, irrational doctrines which fly in the face of both evidence and logic, and which are methodically memorized and repeated by the faithful. Like other religions, the gospel of “government” describes a superhuman, supernatural entity, above mere mortals, which issues commandments to the peasantry, for whom unquestioning obedience is a moral imperative. Disobedience to the commandments (“breaking the law”) is viewed as a sin, and the faithful delight in the punishment of the infidels and sinners (“criminals”), while at the same time taking great pride in their own loyalty and humble subservience to their god (as “law-abiding taxpayers”) And while the mortals may humbly beg their lord for favors, and for permission to do certain things, it is considered blasphemous and outrageous for one of the lowly peasants to imagine himself to be fit to decide which of the “government” god’s “laws” he should follow and which it is okay for him to ignore. Their mantra is, “You can work to try to change the law, but as long as it’s the law, we all have to follow it!”
The main factor distinguishing the belief in “government” from other religions today is that people actually believe in the god called “government.” The other gods people claim to believe in, and the churches they attend, are now, by comparison, little more than empty rituals and half-heartedly parroted superstitions. When it comes to their everyday lives, the god that people actually pray to, to save them from misfortune, to smite their enemies, and to shower them with blessings, is “government.” It is “government” whose commandments the people most often respect and obey. Whenever a conflict arises between “government” and the teachings of the lesser gods — such as “pay your fair share” (taxation) versus “Thou shalt not steal,” or “duty to country” (military service) versus “Thou shalt not murder” — the commands of “government supersede all the teachings of the other religions. Politicians, the high priests of the church of “government” — the mouthpieces and representatives of “government,” who deliver the sacred “law” from on high — even openly declare that it is permissible for the people to practice whatever religion they wish, as long as they do not run afoul of the supreme religion by disobeying “the law” — meaning the dictates of the god called “government.”……
http://deadlinelive.info/2011/02/28/government-is-a-religion-larken-rose/
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“Karl Marx said it right, ‘Religion is the opiate of the masses.
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Acts 5:29 KJV –
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“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
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23 May: Space.com: Mike Wall: Superflares from the Sun May Have Sparked Life by Warming Earth
Potent and frequent solar eruptions could have warmed the planet enough for life to take root, and also provided the vital energy needed to transform simple molecules into the complex building blocks of life, such as DNA, researchers said…
“That means Earth should have been an icy ball,” study lead author Vladimir Airapetian, a solar scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said in a statement…
The new study was published today (May 23) in the journal Nature Geoscience.
http://www.space.com/32956-sun-superflares-life-on-earth.html
with links:
25 May: WSJ Blog: Christopher Harder: Chevron Boss Says Climate Change Could Help Business – Energy Journal
CEO John Watson’s stance sets him apart from oil counterparts amid pressure from environmentalists, investors
The chief executive of Chevron Corp. questions shareholder proposals that want companies to explain the risk that climate change poses to business, and argues that the change might even be good for Chevron, Bradley Olson and Sarah Kent report. Climate change might spur more of a shift from coal to natural gas.
“I hope to gain market share in some areas,” he said…
Some industry insiders are afraid that Mr. Watson’s opposition to the idea that climate change may challenge the oil industry could backfire. But Mr. Watson argues his positions represent realism.
A Chevron-led group, meanwhile, plans to invest up to $37 billion to boost production at the Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan, the country’s energy minister said, Simon Clark and Selina Williams report…
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/05/25/chevron-boss-says-climate-change-could-help-business-energy-journal/
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Just want to give Jo special thanks for allowing me to use this story in my latest article!
http://dailybail.com/home/climate-alarmist-admits-the-real-motive-behind-global-warmin.html
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No doubt some people will make vast amounts of money from this scheme. How do you think it will be scammed?
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‘How do you think it will be scammed?’
Every which way and politicians are prone to reevaluating long standing beliefs in the heat of an election campaign. No longer a white knight.
Barnaby at the old homestead.
“It’s the driest I’ve ever seen it,” Mr Joyce said. “And then, as if suddenly possessed by the valley’s ghosts (or something equally whoopee), Barnaby Joyce takes a tentative step into the realm of scientific consensus. “When I look at this,” he says, shaking his head, “I start to wonder whether climate change might really be happening.”
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/deputy-prime-minister-barnaby-joyce-faces-the-reality-of-climate-change-20160520-gozlh3.html#ixzz49jEgApTb
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook
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Nearly all our politicians are scientifically illiterate and illiterate in other ways.
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I sent this post to my LNP member Warren Entsch who rang me and said he had not heard about it and claimed he hadn’t read the Alan Kohler article in the Oz !! Must think we’re stupid.
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I walked past Palmer one day a few months back. It took every bit of self control I had, to not spit on him.
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