Terrible fires destroyed 69 houses and 30 caravans and another 39 houses were damaged in Tathra in SE Australia last Sunday.
Greens Chieftain, Richard Di Natale, waited at least two minutes before exploiting their pain to make advertisements for the Green Industrial Complex:
Government’s climate stance ‘like NRA’s on guns after a massacre’
Greens leader Richard Di Natale has controversially likened the government’s refusal to recognise climate change as a cause of the southern NSW bushfires to the National Rifle Association’s failure to acknowledge the role of gun laws in preventing mass shootings in the US.
Asked what the government could do about a global problem when Australia accounted for just 1.3 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, Senator Di Natale said the risk of extreme weather events could be mitigated if the nation transitioned “away from coal”.
“We have to stop the Adani mine from being built. We have to recognise that coal doesn’t have a long-term future. We need to ensure that we take advantage of the huge jobs* that come with building more solar farms, more wind farms,” he said.
According to the Greens, fires are mostly a one variable event. More CO2 means more fires and fires can be prevented if we buy enough solar panels and Tesla batteries. The issue is not fuel loads, fallen power lines, or houses built close together and close to tons of tall flammable carbon forms with leaves. The damage toll is not affected greatly by turf battles, a lack of communication, poor mobile reception or decisions to say “No thanks” to extra fire trucks.
If only we converted the whole country to solar panels, no building would ever burn through bushfire — (only through solar malfunction. Like BeaverCreek Walmart, last week).
The Rural Fire Service thinks differently — blames power lines for fires:
Power lines were the likely cause of the devastating bushfire that swept through the small town of Tathra on the New South Wales south coast on Sunday, a preliminary investigation has found. The investigation by the Rural Fire Service has found “electrical infrastructure on Reedy Swamp Road” as the likely cause.
Those power lines are managed by Capitalist Pigs... the NSW government.
… the Electrical Trades Union said there were “serious questions to answer” over cuts to funding for power line maintenance in the state.
The union alleged that, over the last seven years, Essential Energy had sacked almost 40% of its workforce, underspent on its operating expenditure by $129m and slashed capital expenditure by 38% since 2012 due to restrictions imposed by the Australian Energy Regulator.
So rules made by one government agency caused problems for another government agency:
The ETU’s NSW assistant secretary, Justin Page, said the funding cuts “may be placing the public at serious risk”. “The NSW government has been focused on cutting costs at Essential Energy, including slashing maintenance and capital works expenditure, while at the same time maximising profit,” he said.
Maximizing profit?
Government agency, Capitalist pig, what’s the difference?
Companies that compete make profits. Agencies with a government monopoly collect taxes.
Meanwhile the guys paid to fight fires blame a lack of backburning in the area:
“The bushes here haven’t been burnt off for that many years (and) there was that much energy and force in it that once it started, you couldn’t stop it.
“I think there should be a lot more backburning happening, which we’ve been fighting for and we can’t get it because of the new laws – it’s ridiculous.”
… and the turf war:
The Fire Brigade Employees Union claimed many of the 69 houses lost in the fire could have been saved if offers of assistance from metropolitan fire brigades weren’t rejected by the Rural Fire Service.
Our thoughts are with those who have lost so much.
*Let’s talk about the “huge jobs” generated by wind and solar, and let’s also talk about the even bigger job losses that go with that. For every Green job created, between two and five other real jobs, that did something useful, are lost. But that’s only data from Spain, Italy, Britain, and Germany.
** Guns laws? Not so simple either: States with more guns don’t have more gun-murders. See also JustFacts for interesting graphs and Bill Whittle on “per capita murder rates”.
have heard lawyers are gearing up to help place the blame on someone or something or other.
Insurance companies continue to look for excuses to up their premiums:
22 Mar: Guardian: Arthur Neslen: Flooding and heavy rains rise 50% worldwide in a decade, figures show
Such extreme weather events are now happening four times more than in 1980, according to a European science paper
Other extreme climatological events such as storms, droughts and heatwaves have increased by more than a third this decade and are being recorded twice as frequently as in 1980, the paper by the European Academies’ Science Advisory Council (Easac) says.
The paper, based partly on figures ***compiled by the German insurance company Munich Re***, also shows that climate-related loss and damage events have risen by 92% since 2010…
Prof Michael Norton, Easac’s environmental programme director, said that greenhouse gas emissions were “fundamentally responsible for driving these changes”…
The Easac study, Extreme weather events in Europe: Preparing for climate change adaptation, looked at new data and models focused on a potential slowdown of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, due to an influx of freshwater from melted ice sheets in Greenland.
It was compiled by experts from 27 national science academies in the EU, Norway and Switzerland, although the data was ***not peer-reviewed…
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/21/flooding-and-heavy-rains-rise-50-worldwide-in-a-decade-figures-show
Daily Mail doesn’t mention the paper was partly (MOSTLY?) based on figures compiled by German insurance company Munich Re, and forgets(?) to mention it is not peer-reviewed:
22 Mar: Daily Mail: Prepare for more extreme weather: Storms like the ‘Beast from the East’ have become TWICE as common since 1980 due to climate change, and the trend is set to continue
Extreme weather events have become more common in recent decades
Floods, storms and other damaging climate events have spiked since 1980
Climate change and a slowing down of the Gulf stream may be to blame
By Joe Pinkstone
The European group of academics are calling on EU officials and policy-makers to face up to the problems posed by climate change.
Professor Michael Norton, EASAC’s Environment Programme Director said: ‘There has been and continues to be a significant increase in the frequency of extreme weather events, making climate proofing all the more urgent.’…
In the report, the researchers discuss whether the Gulf Stream, or Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), could ‘switch off’…
Professor Rob Wilby, Professor of Hydroclimatic Modelling at Loughborough University, said: ‘The risk of extreme weather events is unlikely to follow a neat trend but rather will rise and fall into hazard-rich and poor decades…
As well as the risk to human life, the altering climate patterns are also financially costly…
For example, damage from thunderstorms in North America has doubled since 1980.
The estimated cost was just under £7 billion ($10 billion) in 1980 and that has risen to almost £14 billion ($20 billion) in 2015…
***Dr Phil Williamson, climate researcher at the University of East Anglia (UEA), said: ‘The EASAC report does provide convincing evidence for an increasing frequency of extreme weather in Europe, with major economic consequences.
‘These results are fully consistent with the global trends, from this new report and other analyses, on the consequences of increased heat energy in the Earth system. For example, there have been roughly ten times more warm record-breaking temperatures than cold ones in the past 150 years.
‘On a day-to-day basis, we can’t choose what weather we get. But there is a societal choice on what the climate will be in future, with its associated weather extremes, depending on how rapidly national commitments relating to the Paris Agreement are implemented’.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5527963/The-melting-Greenland-icecap-shut-jet-stream.html
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confirmed by no-one:
21 Mar: Phys.org: New data confirm increased frequency of extreme weather events
GRAPH:
Geophysical events (earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption)
Trends in different types of natural catastrophes worldwide, 1980-2012 (1980 levels set at 100 oercent). Credit: ***Munich Re NatCatSERVICE
GRAPH:
Geophysical events (earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption)
Meteoroligical events (storms)
Hydrological events (floods, mass movement)
Trends in different types of natural catastrophes worldwide 1980-2016 (1980 levels set at 100 percent). Credit: ***MunichRe NatCatSERVICE
Provided by European Academies’ Science Advisory Council, Leopoldina – Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften
This Phys.org Science News Wire page contains a press release issued by an organization mentioned above and is provided to you “as is” with little or no review from Phys.Org staff.
https://phys.org/wire-news/283094461/new-data-confirm-increased-frequency-of-extreme-weather-events.html
62
The $10bn in 1980 is equivalent to $31bn in 2015 terms so the physical damage has actually reduced.
92
I was going to say that! In 1980 the median house price for Sydney was 68850 and in 2017 was 1110000 a factor of 16 change. This suggest that storm losses of 10bn in 1980 are equivalent to 160bn in 2017 making 20bn a eight fold REDUCTION in losses (based on Sydney) not taking into account increases in urban density over that period.
This is very good news.
80
I have been under the impression that fire is natural, and necessary, for various seeds to germinate in the Australian bush.
Obviously the issue is poor planning on the part of the local Council.
The homes were burnt down, because they were built at the wrong time, and in the wrong place. Had they been built elsewhere, there would not have been an issue.
110
Everybody mentions heat required to germinate, but I believe that the WA Kings Park team found it was smoke, not heat, that caused germination.
00
Germination is only a small part of the requirements for successful establishment.
You also need a fine seed bed, no vegetation competing with the seedlings, much reduced insect predation and much reduced canopy-shading…… all of which are provided by a hot fire.
The aboriginals favoured a cool fire that preserved adult trees, thinned seedlings and scrub, and favoured a grassy understory.
10
https://youtu.be/pvNSl9Ig040
00
Its interesting that they will claim climate change as the cause of alleged change over the last 20-30 years, yet if you point out failed predictions over the same period (sea level, temps, artctic ice still being there) you would be cherry picking.
20
Then why isn’t CC in their (the councils) planning requirements? They’ve known about this 1990.
10
Pat noted, re Insurance Companies:
Gee. Someone, somewhere might just have a rush of brains to the head (perish the thought! In this day and age when brains are a liability…?) and actually start reading and researching the well-documented history of the Little Ice Age, particularly about the bit at the beginning, as the Medieval Warming morphed into The Return of The Weather. It’s all part of the Historical Record. (Or should that be the Hysterical Record? The Models can’t agree 🙂 )
You all know the bit: from 1300AD, the bit about the massive North Sea Killer Storms, like the one which dug out the Dutch Zuider zee—yes, that one, that’s the one where a coastal inlet became an inland lake washing away (killing) over 50,000 people at the same time.
Now, that history is a paper/parchment-based one, not electronic. So it’s not able to be “ Homogenized ” and “ Adjusted.” It’s the same each time it’s read.
Oh, sorry, of course, under the IPCC’s “Business as Usual” scenario, that really is History and Cannot Possibly Happen Again. It’s warming warming warming all the way out to 2100. (stand and salute, you louts!) And
badextreme weather is what you get when it warms, despite the last 30 years experience of ever milder and calmer conditions.Cooling started in 2003, fifteen years ago even if it wasn’t “Statistically Significant” and the warnings from Nature started appearing from 2007 … to more baffle-gab.
What If it’s chilly chilly chilly all the way out to 2300? What if the Sun really goes to sleep, or the world jumps on the Paris Accord and stops emitting CO2, or Both? And all the plants on the planet soak up all that lovely CO2 in no time?
We know because Di Natale tells us so (ad infinitum and totalitarianly tediously) that:
Less CO2 => Lower temperatures.
However it happens:
Lower Temps = Cooling.
And That’s what 97% of Klimate scientists agree, it’s strictly according to the IPCC Konsensus.
It doesn’t matter what causes cooling. It doesn’t matter how cooling happens: it’s still cooling and the weather does what it did in previous cooling times: it goes really bad.
So Who/what is preparing for that?
I’m going to enjoy the liability claims and the “Share the Blames” which will surely come; it will be amusing. Sad, but amusing.
20
So let me get this right.
/Abject failure to manage undergrowth torched off by downed power lines is somehow related to a lack of solar panels.
More alternative energy sources would somehow abrogate the idiocy of politicians who have yet to do what they were elected to do./ Sarcasm Off.
I suppose that settles it.
Everything is the fault of anyone who hasn’t fully supported everything that politicians continually blame for everything except when they haven’t or didn’t, and only then if said things are contrary to what the political consensus says is rational.
It must be truly awful to live inside of a fantasy that continually changes the rules of reality and logic.
When the jobs are gone, the lights go out, the populace is starving, and the economy is crashed, we can always blame a lack of solar panels. See there? The excuses of madness are justified by further madness. Its the progressive way.
382
Power lines do not have to come down to light a fire. A branch falling onto a line and then to the ground can do it.
161
Gonna have to ban electrons, CO2 molecules are covered in the things. Should have left the black fire rock in the ground, instead we make electrons with it. Getting rid of carbon will never do, we must root out this evil scourge before the blizzards wipe us out.
61
But but but. what about all the Natural ones?
There’s the secondary cosmic ray ones which create the paths through the atmosphere for the lightning bolts, … and, and …
Right: Ban Cosmic Rays and Lightning. It’s Obvious!
10
Ted
One would think that it would have to be a pretty tall tree to get a branch on a powerline. And that they would be trimmed back a bit.
But that would be ignoring the world of government speak.
Queensland requires the holder of a land parcel to maintain a secure boundary.
It also in its generous wisdom allows the clearing of a 3 metre strip on the roadside of such boundary – and only that – even where the timber is tall, up to about 20 m in our case. But that IS an improvement – for a while it was 1.5 m.
20
Our local poles and wires people only got enthusiastic about power line trimming after the 2009 bushfires and getting sued for buckets of money. They now give quite radical haircuts.
50
A couple of years ago late one afternoon we drove down the freeway from Sutherland to Wollongong into the teeth of a particularly strong southerly buster. The trees were twice the height of the power lines, and it would have been amazing if no branches came across the lines.
30
No, when the economy crashes the left will blame all white males who do not vote for them.
212
We have a new national sport – THE ALLOCATION OF BLAME.
00
No sport in that – it only goes one way
10
Exactly.
A quick read through the NSW Fire Management Diktat should quickly acquaint one with the reality of a massive, sustained, and uncontrolled build up of bush floor fuel, let alone any absence of maintenance in the clearance of bush to a safe distance around high tension overhead lines.
The Greens are the sole architects of these uncontrolled, unmanaged conflagrations and it suits their disgusting eco-marxist objectives nicely, because it provides the necessary optical charade on which to promote the climatism lie.
282
In the sense that they are responsible for the outcome, perhaps the Greens should change their name to
” the black environment party”, or BEP for short.
KK
102
KK,
The greens selected that name because their preferred name
was already taken……
By a Rugby Club….
10
a bit more than a club KK
10
… that’s just such smutty thinking … KK 🙂
10
‘The Greens are the sole architects of these uncontrolled, unmanaged conflagrations’
This is unquestionably true. In many areas residents, and fire and park services, are prevented from managing vegetation appropriately. Moreover, people are encouraged to romanticise living next to and even beneath a canopy of explosive fuel. Just plain dumb, and just a dangerous and heartless creed.
192
And I think it grossly unfair to link the NRA with something as appalling as the extreme greens…at least the NRA does its bit to maintain liberty by re-inforcing the 2nd Ammendment.
Whereas the greens…..
20
But are we allowed to discriminate on the basis of religion?
40
The beauty of a democratically elected government is that it will be replaced by another government in the next election, and it will no longer be responsible for consequences of its decisions. While in power, do everything to stay popular. Ban clearing underbrush, and you win sympathies of environmentalists. It will take 10 years for catastrophic fires to come, by then you will hopefully be retired. After us, the deluge.
90
Since the problem has been made worse by the laws based on green requirements isn’t it about time those people that lost homes and property sued the green party for restitution?
Way back when I was living in Australia, 60s – 70s, there was a move by the greens to stop necessary ground litter clearing in the tropical rain forests. They won but nature took over and did the clearing with a greater loss of environment than if there had been controlled clearing.
Now it appears that the greens stupidity has come home to roost and they should pay for it.
110
And that’s the crux of the matter. Whether lightning, maintenance failures or arson started the fire, had there been sufficient back burning of fuel loads, fire services may have had a chance at saving houses and forest. As it is, nature steps in and razes the lot to ground.
Not that’s a bad thing unless people are involved. For instance, eucalypts have evolved to require fire to germinate seeds.
It’s bizarre that the Greens want to protect forests by banning the burning of fuel loads, yet not realise that everywhere they practise this, bushfires are bigger and more ferocious.
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a nail.
40
What cold comfort the facts in Jo’s article must be. Never have I read a story quite like it, so many villians for the victims to blame. The Greens are suffering from climate change madness, totally obsessed with every event blamed on it. Their dear leader has totally lost the plot and slipping out of any rational comment and thinking. I am reasonably sure that the lack of back burning can be laid at the feet of the Greens as well. The other situations are equally weird with the fire fights at logger heads and the government cutting back is also deeply disturbing.
282
Richard Di Natale, disgusting excuse for a comment from a disgusting excuse for a human being.
The faux concern for people is purely for political point scoring, what score for what point is any ones guess.
262
As I keep reminding people di Natale has the face of Lucifer; it’s baffling how he has credibility with anyone.
Granted, yer green isn’t just anyone, it is, primarily, an evangelist with a grossly deficient intellectual capability, well beyond oddball.
What else can you say…? live and let live I guess.
00
Credibility is a puzzling issue.
Flannery is still the go to spokesman/person/thing for climate comment. Track record? laughable.
Gore is still a global brand relating to climate. Track record? even more laughable?
Mann, still a US media darling and gets awards. Track record? erg, I think I threw up a little.
You look at these and other dills, and then look at the rational scientists and its like chalk and cheese. Yet the media consults those more aligned with snake oil and reading goats entrails.
20
Richard hasn’t had much sleep this week.
I don’t know the details of the Tathra fire, but the criticism of allowing fire fodder to build up for years sounds justified. But the mounting furore in the time since indicates that somebody may have been spoiling for a fight.
There has to be a big blow up between volunteer fire fighters and professionals sooner or later. it’s just a matter of time. It isn’t just the paid v unpaid doing the same work. The professionals have been given the authority, and too often use that authority to stop volunteers from doing work they want to do. People don’t down their own tools and volunteer to be told to wait around and come back tomorrow. And they don’t volunteer to be humbugged. Volunteers must be given more autonomy. They do have training, and most have experience.
Then there’s the Marxism problem. To a militant unionist volunteers are scab labour, despised. See Victoria.
282
And to say nothing that the offered vehicles did not have the required crew safety features to fight bushfires.
No refuge capacity, no vehicle deluge systems….
We learnt our lessons in putting people in those sorts of vehicles decades ago.
110
‘Then there’s the Marxism problem. To a militant unionist volunteers are scab labour, despised.’
While all the time the left rabbits on about ‘community’. The glory of hypocrisy.
120
Having over 40 years of fire fighting in my locale with the volunteer unit,i can only say that local knowledge is very important.We live in mountainous country in NW NSW and have irregular inserts of fires originating in the NP and affecting local properties.Their origin is usually lightning strike and n many cases they remain latent until the wind picks up;god forbid a NWester with 50k plus winds.That being said mistakes are made with National parks and locals regarding delineation and emphasis,but its getting better.Choppers with water bombs make life easier than in the past.What we we dont want is too many chiefs.
100
Glen
Then you must know the routine of the “crock of sh1t that stinketh” at local level is translated up the chain of command into “powerful fertilizer” by the time the minister hears of it
10
I’m of the opinion that Di Natale rushed out with this first thing, as quickly as he could, to deflect commentary away from the disastrous results in Batman, and in South Australia.
“Quick, get out and say something,” so the media can concentrate on that rather than ask any other ‘hard’ questions.
Just one day of his wet dream, (well, less than even one hour really) will kill off the Greens altogether if they turned just one of the major plants off in each of the three Eastern States.
Then all you’d hear from dear Richard is ….. “What the hell just happened then?”
Tony.
332
You give the Greens too much credit. They are not that clever. He made that comment because that’s what he really believes. He would have said it regardless of the election results.
172
We should be thankful for Di Natale. He continually talks of “stopping dangerous climate change”. Since, over the last 2000 years, there doesn’t appear to have been any “dangerous” climate change we have nothing to worry about. We don’t need to do anything to stop climate change at all! Thanks Richard. Heh heh!
On Tathra, I was down that way in December 2017 and noticed all the bush and tall trees (forest) that abound around that hilly country. I even mentioned to family that I wouldn’t like to live there if a major fire came through. Just like the Warrumbungles that I posted about a few days ago, not allowing hazard reduction burns. Solution: Tie greenies to a tree in a bushfire zone when a bushfire is coming through. See how quickly they change their minds about hazard reduction burns?
212
they wont be within 200kms of the areas they want to dictate their stupid mandates on
10
I hope his reasoning powers were much more closely linked to reality when he was a practicing doctor.
Poor patients if he wasn’t!
132
Something along those lines was said of medically qualified Dr David Owen MP, ‘liberal social democrat’ in the UK Parliament in ’70’s or ’80’s. Scorn was poured on him by a Conservative leader of the time, ‘if he is as bad at medicine as he is at politics, I pity his patients’.
20
Well he can’t use
“What Happened”
for the title of his autobiography as it has already been claimed
51
Was that used by Hillary Clinton?
50
Yes, it was Hillary Clinton and the answer her book gives to that question boils down to “It wasn’t my fault!”
40
No it was the fault of a second-rate British spook, that nobody had heard of, until he stepped up to being third-rate. 😉
20
As long as you can follow the money you can determine who is “spook”, who is Second and third rate, and mostly you can determine that Hillary isn’t fit to be among them.
She fits into a special class of: Privileged Bitch and Clueless.
That is why she asks the question as her title. She really doesn’t know.
50
Rereke:
Are you saying the Brits can actually improve?
Heh, looks good for the cricket if that’s the case, and it had gotten off to such a wonderful start, too
00
every time she falls down some steps
00
what …I was under the impression that they gold plated the infrastructure in JG time …thats why power prices went up isnt it?
202
“Poles and wires” she used to explain was her version of why electricity prices are rising.
But failed to explain that those poles and wires were new feeder power lines from wind and solar business sites to the electricity grid.
202
I think Premier Gladys sold some of the poles and wires to overseas interests and then poured the money into Sydney infrastructure.
111
Yes, but she was Young and Naïve when she said that.
101
The “gold plating” that I saw was the replacement of whole fleets of equipment. This, however, may not have been gold plating. It might well be that it had been found that it was cheaper to buy new equipment than to upgrade the existing fleets to meet new OH&S regulations.
51
Perhaps she used Iron Pyrite instead of Gold as its cheaper and she could spend the savings on additional equipment (or something)?
41
RicDre:
That’s a bit subtle for our trolls too busy red thumbing to do any thinking. I have commented about the Greenies lack of knowledge in chemistry, along with physics, palaeontology, archaeology, mathematics, history and logic.
70
The score well in drama, but poorly in common sense.
20
There must be a niche for a Green University in AU, feelings and lesbian dance studies for all!!
00
Whatever it was, it would have to be somebody else’s.
00
Traditional Aboriginal burning
Published: 12 June 2013
Traditional burning
Traditional burning. Photo © Parks and Wildlife
Before Aboriginal people populated the Australian continent some 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, the major cause of fires would have been lightning. Aboriginal people learnt to harness the naturally recurring fire caused by lightning and other sources to their advantage, which resulted in skilful burning of landscapes for many different purposes.
Fire was used to:
make access easier through thick and prickly vegetation
maintain a pattern of vegetation to encourage new growth and attract game for hunting
encourage the development of useful food plants, for cooking, warmth, signalling and spiritual reasons.
Early European explorers and settlers commented on the Aboriginal people’s familiarity with fire, and the presence of fire in the landscape continually throughout the year. Most of the fires were relatively low intensity and did not burn large areas.
This constant use of fire by Aboriginal people as they went about their daily lives most likely resulted in a fine grained mosaic of different vegetation and fuel ages across the landscape. As a result, large intense bushfires were uncommon.
Fire is a significant part of Aboriginal culture and the knowledge of its use has been retained by many Aboriginal families as their culture and values are shared between generations. Karla Wongi – Fire Talk is an interesting article that provides additional information.
The plants and animals themselves provide clues to the ubiquitous presence of fire.
153
Traditional burning for land management is now taking place in the Kimberly Region WA and in Kakadu National Park NT with indigenous rangers employed to work with modern fire control methods and systems.
I read that traditional burning is based on the seasons and therefore cooler months are best and when the prevailing wind is from the safest direction for the burn area. There is more to it including removal of unwanted undergrowth and encouraging more space between trees.
This obviously worked well for what is now believed to be 65,000 years based on cave excavations in Kakadu National Park and discovery and dating of stone tools that were better manufactured than the roughly split stone of flint tools found elsewhere.
123
It worked so well that Australia supported a population of about 300,000.
101
Around Melbourne there were 1000 Aborigines in 10,000 square kilometers – one per 10 sq km – some of the most productive land in the country.
81
That’s the way to go, if you like the Greenpeace.
Unfortunately, they don’t practice it themselves – not yet.
21
If indeed this all happened as described (we tend to award retrospective magical powers these days) it was on a pooftenth of the landmass. Lets not kid ourselves it was geoforming the general landscape. Populations were tiny, travel was not over vast distances (the wheel and all that)
40
Europeans settled in South Africa in 1652. The native population who were hunters and gatherers had a population of between 700,000 (1600) and 1,000,000 (1700). Currently the population supported by European farming techniques is about 55,000,000 although it will probably drop dramatically once they murder the farmers.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_South_Africa
21
That makes sense, although there is the idea that Aborigines set fires purely to drive wildlife from the bush and forests to make it easier to hunt for food.
The spiritual element is more likely a 20th Century invention, much like the ‘welcome to country’ and the dot paintings.
50
Open to correction, but I was once given the impression that long term human promoted burning actually changed the entire landscape of Australia into one that actively LIKED to be set on fire. As we now there are some native plants that actively require the heat of a bushfire before they will seed which gives rise to the casual association that Australia always has bushfires and will always need them.
The other way of looking at that argument is that every ‘normal’ (for want of a better term) plant that wasn’t as skilled in surviving bushfires was literally burnt to extinction and replaced by those that do. Hence instead of praising countless generations of pre-European Australians on their understanding of the fire cycles of Australia, we should be questioning the wisdom of starting that practice in the first place.
111
As one inclined to avoid anthropomorphising the landscape into one that ‘liked’ fires, I suspect the evolution of controlled burning arose from the necessity of addressing uncontrolled burning created chiefly by lightening strikes, from which Australia does more than passingly well. A quick look on Goolag should help with the stats, which are impressive – think hundreds of thousands in a storm.
100
It’s dangerous to criticise aboriginals because you can immediately be labelled “racist”. But without making judgement, it does appear from geological/archaeological records that the dominant flora of eastern Australia, 50,000 years ago, was broadleaf rainforest. This was burnt out by the natives over thousands of years until only the eucalyptus forest dominated. Unlike most trees, eucalypts readily re-sprout new growth, after a severe bushfire, even from a blackened stump.
80
The aboriginal population were aware of bush fires and over 50,000 years they managed to minimise the danger by picking up dead wood along walking trails.
Carrying a bundle on top of the head until they set up camp for the night and cooked a meal. Is that a fossil fuel?
53
Australian Government Department of Agriculture …
Eucalypts are iconic Australian forest trees. Ninety-two million hectares of the Eucalypt forest type occurs in Australia, and forms three-quarters of the total native forest area.
The term ‘eucalypt’ includes approximately 900 species in the three genera Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora. Almost all eucalypt species are native to Australia. Eucalypts evolved from rainforest ancestors, adapting to an environment in which drought, nutrient-poor soils and fire were increasingly common.
Eucalypts have oil-rich foliage that burns readily, and they display a range of strategies to survive and recover from fire. The majority of eucalypt species are evergreen, retaining their leaves year-round.
51
Also and more interesting history of Eucalypts in Australia …
http://www.adonline.id.au/plantevol/australian/
21
the history of eucalypts in California is not a pretty one, sort of like their cane toad
00
A drive around my district Tamborine inland from the Gold Coast has graphic proof of the lie of this increasing number & strength of storms Just look at the trees.
There were dozens of very large trees blown down, or snapped off in a thunderstorm last month. The reason for the huge damage is those tees have had 20 years of uninterrupted growth to get big & tall, since the last big blow around here.
Twenty to 30 years ago we had similar blows in thunderstorms most years. the weaker or less well rooted trees were weeded out long before they got so big.
It took a dozen of us with 5 chain saws to clear enough fallen trees to just get through the 2 kilometres to the main road.
About half the population here are new chums, for whom this blow was a big event. They tend not to believe us old chums, who have seen much more structural damage to buildings from stronger.
It is easy to con them, when this was the strongest in 15 or 20 years. If they had lived here 30 years ago, this blow would have them preparing for the really big one that is bound to follow some time soon. When it does it is sure they will believe the global warming scam, rather than us.
Oh, & could someone please tell Di Natale that CO2 is used to extinguish fires, not accelerate or cause them.
290
It’s not CO2 that is the problem, it is the electrons which cause the fires.
The CO2 is just a byproduct of making electrons.C02 has blinded us to the real culprit– electrons.
Look, toasters use electrons and when they do, whst occurs? The toaster gets hot! And when you use too many electrons, what happens?
You BURN YOUR TOAST!
It’s the electrons!
This is the great insight that came to the dear leader, the real truth, that every green-weirding knows in their guts, this is the message the Great Leader Di Natale dares not speak … yet.
But the electrons must go.
And this is why the Great Leader promotes renewables, not because they work, but because they don’t.
Do you see? Such superman like brilliance, such a vision! Throw away your toasters! Go off the grid. Save humanity by curing it of electron addiction!
The Dear Leader just uses CO2 as a proxy for getting rid of all electrons. Get it now?
Once you realise that, everything begins to make sense!
91
DOnt forget this really important point – this whole renewables mess couldnt have got this far without liberals, labor and greens colluding…….acting as one…..
40
Dennis
More in
Bill Gammage, “The biggest estate on earth”
70
Thank you, I have that book on my shelf.
Also Cape York The Savage Frontier, Rodney Liddell and Dark Emu Black Seeds – agriculture or accident, Bruce Pascoe.
Since becoming more interested in the pre-1788 Australian Aborigines I have visited Art Galleries and Museums to view diary notes, sketches, paintings and other since colonisation but early settler material to try and get a broader impression of the up to or around 300 separate tribes and tribal lands. Obviously they were not all the same and they had different languages and dialects with on average about 1,000 words or sounds.
And no pretending that they were other than stone age people but many of the tribes were more advanced than others and naturally lifestyle and diet varied by region.
92
Who created the “Bradshaw”Art found in the Kimberly?Many of these are overpainted by artworks of the” Wanjina,? Spelling wrong “but the fact is that they were created long before the art of the current occupants who admit that they have no idea of who created them.
80
Go to the site of the dig tree near Innamincka and ask for the local ranger farmhand to show you photos of Petroglyphs some in ironstone and weathered from the area .
They actually look more Maori.
81
Interesting.
It has been said that the present aborigines arrived in Australia about 20,000 years ago and this would have coincided with the lower sea levels of that time.
It’s reported that they replaced another race present before them.
61
that might explain this
00
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-15/nt-businessman-could-have-aboriginal-status-revoked/9551048
00
Bradshaw website with much to look at;
https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/bradshaws/
01
Read it.
21
Essential has been sacking union workers and replacing them with contract labour, who might not be up to scratch.
40
Often in such situations, the workers are the same people, with a pay check that has a new name on it.
Sometimes a government worker becomes the business owner that provides the contract labour, who sometimes are previous co-workers.
The follow-on is that only emergencies and essential repairs are done, while what might be considered regular maintenance is ignored.
20
The Greens policy statement says: “Human induced climate change poses the greatest threat to our world and civilisation and urgent and sustained local, national and global action is required to ensure a safe climate”.
Whether gun law amendments to the US Constitution would make any difference to the murder rate in the USA is at least an arguable proposition whereas there is absolutely no possible rational link between Australia’s coal use and “extreme weather events” or bushfires.
The weather on the south coast of NSW around 18th of March was not “extreme”.
110
An extreme weather event would be the 1939 heat wave over SE Australia.
The max T along the SE coastal strip of NSW on the 18th was around 13C above average for March and that lasted one day.
But if one trolls through the BOM recent weather maps it’s not unusual to find somewhere at +12C above or below the average, for instance on the same day in 2012 there were large areas of WA over 12C below average.
40
When was the climate ever ‘safe’ during human existance? We are fortunate to be living in relatively benign times. It doesn’t mean that we are free of whatever nature throws at us, whether in the past, present or future.
01
What we can do is try to use a bit of commonsense in where we live in preparing our homes and infrastructure, not spend billions and trillions on a climate-panic farce that end up making matters much worse.
00
Di Natale is a throwback, a throwback to the days of the 16th. and 17th. centuries, the height of the Little Ice Age Climate Change and the madness of the Witch Hunts.
We’ve seen it all before. The Witch Hunts were wrong then. Evil, and totally ineffective.
The CO2 witch hunts are wrong now. Evil, and already known to be totally ineffective.
Richard Di Natale has a learning deficiency: Those who do not know their history (let alone their science) are doomed to repeat it.
He’s on the right track to do that and eventually make a laughing stock of himself as well. Ah well, he’s a big boy now and he’s busy making his bed. As Napoleon is reputed to have said: “Never interrupt your opponent while he’s making a mistake.”
Elections do tell…
161
Yes, there is much to be thankful for that Di Natale is citizen one of the Greens.
51
If we don’t back burn (aka controlled burn) eventually nature will take its course and create massive fires that will destroy many more homes and lead to many deaths. Anyone who doesn’t understand that really has no place in politics or any decision making process because they are a danger to society as destructive as an arsonist.
130
Yeah mate, but it’s ‘natural’ you see. Gaia doesn’t need or want humans. /sarc.
80
The current crop of no-hoper pollies have no comprehension of many fields of knowledge, other than the wisdom of fuel control.
They have no business wielding political power, period.
80
not aka really, they are two different things
60
This link has an aerial view showing the ignition site which is NW of Tathra, and a bit east of Bega, across the Bega River.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/rural-fire-service-confirms-tathra-fire-caused-by-fallen-powerlines-20180322-p4z5ro.html?btis
With the strong north westerly, it was pointed straight at Tathra. And yes, I understand there is a strong green influence in the local council, preventing sensible land management.
Dave B
100
I guess the RFS/CFA thought the Bega river would prevent the fire reaching Tathra.
Wrong, in retrospect, but probably a reasonable assumption 9 times out of 10 ?
00
That was my guess also Chad. Certainly some of the early reports said it had “crossed the river”. I had to subsequently look at maps to discover the course of the Bega , and then guess that the crossing point was probably about where it turns north. And then straight into dense scrub.
Cheers,
Dave B
00
Fires spot kilometres ahead. A river will not do much of anything if there is any breeze.
10
I always wonder how the Greens get anything more than a handful of votes. Who votes them in? Do those voters live nestled deep in the explosive forest? Are they voting for their own demise?
60
You have exactly described the Green voters in Eltham and Warrandyte VIC
Then there are the inner city tossers that think they know how the world works and whats best for us all
20
Nup, I would want to see the actual fire arrowhead before I believe a news report.
10
“If we don’t back burn (aka controlled burn)” Wrong wrong wrong!!!!!!!!!! Controlled and back burning are not the same thing. Controlled or hazard reduction burning is reducing the fuel level to make fires more manageable, and to actually prevent them in the first couple of years following the burn.
Back burning is what we do to create containment lines around a wildfire. It is what it says, BACK BURNING against a bush fire.
150
Hi Ted,
I appreciate the distinction but for a great many older types mostly we heard of back burning in relation to preparation of the area in a manner that is now ” controlled” burning.
My impression, and I am a city dweller, was that you might do some pre_emptive burning back away from the property to be protected and towards the vegetation threatening.
A small point, the big thing is to do it regularly.
KK
60
TedM has it right. Backburning is employed to fight an existing fire by widening a firebreak ahead of the wildfire. This is where we get the saying to fight fire with fire.
Some “controlled burning” employs the same methods, I.e. lighting along one side of a prepared break, but most controlled burning in National Parks relies on existing breaks and natural conditions to limit the extent of the fire.
30
Thanks Ted,
When I come to think about it, the most common expression was that someone was going to do a ” burn off “.
It was only later during the politically correct era that burn off became “controlled burn”.
There were a lot of burn offs but not many controlled burns.
Currently there are far too many people living far too close to potential fire danger and with escape roads from the area having road edges loaded with kindling up to the start of the tar and far too often trees forming a beautiful arch overhead.
Most people don’t think about it until it’s too late.
10
Exactly KK. The term “back burn” has only come to be misused in place of “burning off” since the rise of the idiot reporter dressed up for a conflagration, standing next to a smoking stump, microphone in hand, babbling innacuracies to an equally ignorant urban audience.
30
I love the way the faithfull in the Tathra area had the solar panels arranged to display an inspirational word , if you happen to be going by in a low flying aircraft. Thereby adding costs and complexity to the installation for no real purpose other than to massage someones ego. Green genius shines through every time.
100
22 Mar: NewCivilEngineer: Jess Clark: ICE urges ‘leadership’ on climate change
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) says it is asking members to “show leadership” on environmental issues after being called on to demonstrate how it is helping to combat climate change.
***Legal & General Investment Management has written to several professional bodies to ask them to explain how they have made a deliberate effort to embed climate change mitigation and adaptation into their qualifications
“We would like to understand what your professional body has done to embed, not as an ad hoc voluntary area of learning but as an integral part of the professional qualification and practice of all your members,” says the letter. “Given the UK’s phenomenal reputation in the built environment for skills both in engineering, design and project management, leadership by your professional body to embed this revolutionary change into how we design and implement and create our built environment within the next 10 to 20 years is fundamental.”
In response, ICE director general Nick Baveystock said: “The issue of climate change, and more broadly sustainability, are something that the ICE takes incredibly seriously and has done for many years.”…
Candidates seeking to become Chartered Engineers or Incorporated Engineers must demonstrate knowledge of sustainable development, it said.
As a member of the Society of the Environment, the ICE can award the title “Chartered Environmentalist” to qualified members. “Becoming a Chartered Environmentalist confirms an engineer’s credentials as an expert in environmental matters, giving employers, clients and peers trust in their professional capabilities,” Baveystock said…
Baveystock said the ICE had held a round table discussion as part of its “energy, resilience and climate change” knowledge campaign…
A Global Engineering Congress will be held in October which aims to focus on “how engineers can better the lives of the billions of people around the world who still face a myriad of challenges including water poverty, slum accommodation and poor health, and who deserve better in the 21st century”.
https://www.newcivilengineer.com/business-culture/ice-urges-leadership-on-climate-change/10029390.article
April 2017: Financial Times: ***Legal & General warns companies exposed to climate change
Legal & General Investment Management has written to 84 global companies to warn that it will vote against board chairmen at businesses that fail to prepare for a move to a greener economy. The UK’s largest asset manager this year contacted the largest companies across six sectors it believes are the
LGIM launches climate change tracker fund for retail investors
Investment Week-23 Jan. 2018
Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has launched a unit trust version of its Future World index tracker fund for retail investors… “This fund not only aims to help investors navigate these long-term risks, but also provides the opportunity to take advantage of the benefits yielded by the transition.
***Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Its products and services include life insurance, general insurance, pensions and investment management. It has operations in the United Kingdom and United States, with investment management businesses in the Gulf, Europe and Asia. Wikipedia
Wikipedia: John Kingman
Sir John Oliver Frank Kingman KCB is Chairman of Legal and General plc. He is also Chair of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a Government body overseeing £6bn a year of science and innovation funding. He is a former Second Permanent Secretary to HM Treasury…
From 2010-2012 Kingman worked at Rothschild, the investment bank, where he was Global co-head of the Financial Institutions Group. He is now a senior adviser…
Previous roles in the Treasury included: Press Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; Director of the Enterprise and Growth Unit; and Managing Director responsible for public spending control. In 2004 Kingman led a cross-Government 10-year review of UK science funding. From 2003-6 he was a main board Director of the European Investment Bank.
From 1995-97 Kingman was a Lex columnist for the Financial Times. He also worked in the Group Chief Executive’s office at BP…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kingman_(businessman)
30
So now we have engineering standards being dictated by insurance companies. The world is really going mad.
Dave B
100
And don’t the insurance companies just love climate change.
Higher premiums!
70
Prior to 1998/2000, when the UN defined, introduced, politicised and compelled the term ‘climate change‘ supplanting the non-compliant, falsifiable term ‘global warming, ‘the collective insurance companies enjoyed a long, tranquil, benign, profit-making epoch.
With the advent of evangelical ‘climatism’ born out of the MSM narrative, diktat of settled politics, and Alinsky-esque retooling of the lingua franca of weather to portray anthropogenically induced catastrophe, profits have soared rather nicely.
30
Insurers have been involved in engineering standards for a very long time.
FM Global have been leading research into fire control for decades.
Lloyds are very active in the development of ship classification and construction standards.
It is not surprising that insurance companies are at the forefront of design standards because they typically carry the can for the failures.
A recent example, who will pay for the losses involved in the pedestrian bridge collapse in Miami.
50
There shouldn’t be any harm in that, indeed it should be and is beneficial.
The problems arise when false premises are admitted.
30
There is a disturbing trend world wide of businesses dictating the way people live and what they are allowed to see and do. Censorship of the trivial on various Internet platforms, banks deciding they wont partcipate in various industried because of the management political inclinations, biased employment preferences etc
10
LGIM say in their letter . . “Given the UK’s phenominal reputation in the built environment-skilled engineering-professional body-leadership-reputation,etc etc blah blah blah”, are they really serious?
They must have been on another planet when the Grenville Tower disaster/inferno occurred in London last year!?
GeoffW
70
You’re not supposed to remember that. It was last year.
90
‘how engineers can better the lives of the billions of people around the world’
A couple of spellos – what they meant to say was:
‘how engineers can better live off the billions of people around the world’
11
Yes, insurance companies do dictate standards. An aside argument is the use of mobile phones whilst driving regulations and why “Professional” police, ambos and firies are exempt.
What is insidious (or,should that be invidious) is the need to make environmentalist as a level of engineering? Realy? Social Engineering is course of study now, is it?
30
Agree Jonesy, leave the engineers to do the engineering I say;
I’m sure that they have enough design issues to consider without a bunch of unqualified green zealots interfering in area’s in which they have no expertise.
And as for becoming a chartered ‘environmentalist'(#17 above) well I think that those with such qualifications should confine themselves to something simpler, say managing the nature strip.
GeoffW
10
surely we’ve been told CAGW is destroying agriculture. so how come Tony Mahar hasn’t got the message?
Heat on fast food giants to tell customers where ingredients come from
Herald Sun-21 Mar. 2018
National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar said it had a vision for Australian agriculture to be a ***$100 billion industry by 2030 – up from its 2016-2017 value of ***$63 billion. “To achieve this, the sector will require growth across a number of fronts…
more good CAGW news, kind of:
21 Mar: National Geographic: More Birds Expected for Majority of National Parks — Here’s Why
Climate change may have big impacts on avian species, and all the results may not be positive.
By Jason G. Goldman
Collectively, birdwatchers spend some $107 billion dollars annually in the U.S. But if climate change continues uninterrupted, duck enthusiasts may have to travel elsewhere if they wish to catch a glimpse of a Northern pintail. By 2050, this species could no longer find suitable habitat in Yellowstone. On the other hand, avian enthusiasts could begin to see the Western scrub jay showing up there, at least in the winter…
Recent assessments of the impacts of climate change on birds in the U.S. and Canada suggest that one in five species are highly vulnerable to climate change; that is, they are so particular about the temperatures they can tolerate that they may disappear entirely from some parts of their range. But if they’re lucky, they can expand elsewhere into newly suitable habitat…
A team of researchers from the National Audubon Society and the U.S. National Park Service reported Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE (LINK) that 60 percent of U.S. national parks could become more hospitable for birds overall by the middle of the century—if climate change continues apace. In other words, the number of potential new colonizations would exceed the number of potential local extirpations for roughly three out of every five national parks. That’s based on an assessment of 513 species across 274 parks…
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/birds-climate-change-national-parks/
40
Are these predictions as accurate as the Adelie Penguin predictions?
30
Well, they have been made by bird-brains.
20
Just wait till it comes out there was more than one call for help knocked back by the local brigade and while not suited for rural they could have defended the town possibly successfully with the urban pumpers .
But no , both calls rejected .
50
Is that true?
If the NSW fire service knew that there was a fire why didn’t they go to it?
40
From what I understand a dispute between rural and urban firefighters, when the fire/s started they started in the bush so the rural mob had the call and were in charge .
So a similar thing that’s happening in this state between the CFA and CFA volunteers only worse by the look of it .
Person I spoke to had some inside knowledge of the two calls offering to help and both calls were rejected , I’m assuming there was a third call after the houses started to catch on fire .
50
I was on the edge of a post mortem of a rural fire in very remote country. City fire units had been sent. First question from one was
“Where is the nearest hydrant?”
90
That does tend to illustrate a point.
50
KK
Thanks – it was meant to
20
Sorry to burst your bubble boys:
1) Tathra is not a remote area, much of it is relatively built-up with very good sealed roads, million dollar houses and town water with a capacity measured in mL/day, perfectly suitable for urban fire units
2) RFS bushfire units need to be regularly re-supplied by dedicated RFS tankers and by a fleet of private water carters. If a tanker can re-supply an RFS unit it is not too difficult for it to also re-supply urban fire units which are capable of pumping from swimming pools for instance
10
In VIC. Imagine a fire starting in Kangaroo Ground and sweeping in Warrandyte/Eltham. Confusion and carnage when that day arrives.
10
I’m very much afraid that that will happen sometime. We fairly often take a route to Melbourne through Warrandyte but avoid it in bushfire-type weather. Christmas Hills, Kangaroo Gound, Eltham are all places to avoid at such times. I wonder about Trawool area too.
11
Sadly its just a matter of time. How it happens is anyones guess. On Black Saturday my bogan neighbour (in the suburbs in those days) set fire to his own garden with a cigarette butt. Took 3 households to put it out before the firies arrived.
10
Jo,
Excellent post.
It’s bizarre to compare the wisdom of ABC TV’s Four Corners programme WEATHER ALERT of 5/March, quoting from the transcript first from Dr Braganza of the BoM and then from Deputy Commissioner, NSW Rural Fire Service.
Brissenden is the ABC’s investigative reporter
Braganza has been hyperventilating about warmer springs causing more bushfires for a while now, but those months still remain much cooler than in summer and all the really bad fires have occurred in summer and sometimes autumn. Remember Ash Wednesday in Feb 1982 when 75 people died in SA and Victoria?
Motorbikes carrying fire fighting gear? They can’t be serious!
122
As anyone living along the NSW coast and ranges knows, or should know, spring can get dangerously hot and dry with all the right wind patterns for fire. And you can add the last month of winter to that. A good growth cycle preceding makes spring fires worse, as in 1895, 1951 and 1980. That’s right, those unprecedented 1913 fires were well and truly precedented – apart from having a Prime Minister on the truck. It’s not rare around here to be told that burn-off season is over by September.
Funny how Sydney springs are getting hotter by mean max. Here on the midcoast we had our hottest springs by mean max between 1910 and 1920. But I guess AGW is like an emerging rock band and needs to hang out where it can get most gigs. The touring comes later.
90
Quad bikes are sometimes useful for spotfires. Ideally a tanker.
00
In grassland preferrably.
00
delete one’r’
00
Cyclone Mahina 1899, Black Thursday 1851, Gundagai Flood 1852, Gundagai Flood 1853, Federation Drought, the Big Heats of 1896 and 1939, the super El Nino of the early 1790s…one could go on. I, as well as others, have mentioned it all before on this site.
There is no possible way that Di Natale and the climatariat can be ignorant to this degree. There is something else at work, an urge to mass control not much different to the collectivism which murdered all those millions last century.
You don’t have to tell the loopiest collectivist that his Great Leap Forward isn’t working. Mao knew that his home iron smelters, bird-harassing campaigns and agricultural collectives were keeping hundreds of millions of people exhausted to no end. That was the whole point.
Just like energy poverty, water poverty, demographic shock and the wilting of the middle class is the whole point of Sustainable Development. And if you argue the Son of Heaven will send more light rails, desalination plants and wind turbines to punish. Think of a giant battery, Winston, stamping on a human face…
90
Diktat Democracy. (
10
The thing is mosomoso, it’s an utterly unsustainable ideology. Screw with liberty and prosperity and the show falls apart, albeit at variable rates, but fall apart it does. Human nature as history has shown, appears essentially unsquashable. Constrain it at your peril.
20
***former BBC CAGW gate-keeper, Richard Black, is still at it:
21 Mar: Business Green: Gas ‘crisis’: Case for state intervention?
ECIU’s Richard Black reflects on how the cold weather has played havoc with debate surrounding the UK’s energy industry
by Richard Black
The Beast from the East briefly blew a fresh wind into the pages of several national newspapers and into the energy-nerdy corners of the Interweb.
It was – tacitly – a call for more state intervention in the energy market.
Wait – what?
In normal times, the bulk of energy commentary focuses on the electricity sector, where there is plenty of state intervention. And usually, the call is for less intervention – to reduce prices, to increase competition, and even to enhance energy security, on the grounds that ‘meddling’ is making it less and less attractive for investors to put their money into ‘firm’ power.
Gas, by contrast, has been just about as unfettered a free market as you could imagine…
When Murray Douglas of Wood MacKenzie and Richard Howard of Aurora Energy Research tell The Times that the current situation is a bit precarious and hint that government should do something – what, exactly? With what (inevitably distorting) impact on the gas market and system overall, and with what impact, therefore, on bills?
Should government support a big new storage facility to replace Rough? There would be a strategic rationale. But it would go down very badly with fracking companies, whose prospects rise with the gas price – and with oil and gas companies that have invested in LNG terminals.
***Then there is the point that within a few decades, Britain won’t be using much natural gas at all. Cutting our greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent from 1990 levels by 2050, the central target of the Climate Change Act, means virtually eliminating use of fossil gas in heating by mid-century, and some years before that in power generation. Given that it might take 5-10 years to get another Rough-sized facility up and running, would it be worth the effort?
We may well use low-carbon gas after mid-century – biomethane, or hydrogen made via electrolysis of water, for example – but either of those would probably be injected into the gas grid at many places around the country, raising the question of whether a central store would be appropriate…
Brexit throws up a second issue specific to energy. Stoked by fears among Eastern European countries that at some point President Putin might turn off the gas on which they rely, European Union member states have been working for years to enhance gas security through an agreement to help each other out in times of crisis. Within the constraint of finite pipeline capacity, this agreement provides a backstop that could help Britain out of a genuine gas supply crunch. Except that presumably Britain will not be part of that mechanism once it leaves the EU.
All of the above needs to be seen with one crucial point of context: Britain’s energy systems, both electricity and gas, are extraordinarily secure. The electricity system, for all the intervention, has not seen a single power cut from lack of generation capacity in well over a decade, probably two. Gas, without intervention, has proven similarly robust. Each has its occasional issues – but it’s hard to discern reasons for making a real fuss about either.
https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/opinion/3028888/gas-crisis-case-for-state-intervention
18 Mar: CityAM: Diplomatic row with Russia ignites blackout fears
by Courtney Goldsmith
The Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) said the decision to close Centrica’s Rough gas storage facility made the UK more reliant on imports, according to The Sunday Times.
“Getting gas from the Middle East or Russia is not without risk. This week’s events have highlighted the scale of those potential risks for the UK and western Europe as a whole,” Mike Foster, chief executive of the EUA, said…
30
Quote:
“I think there should be a lot more backburning happening, which we’ve been fighting for and we can’t get it because of the new laws – it’s ridiculous.”
This is not rocket science; you either correctly manage threatening vegetation i.e. Backburn.
There is only one alternative: you don’t build there!!
The Greens know NOTHING about the environment.
Given that all they control turns black, maybe they should change the name of their parti. (tok pisin) makes more sense than tok grine.
KK
80
Richard Black’s dreamworld has gas being phased out!?
22 Mar: OilPrice: The Battle For China’s Growing Gas Demand
By Tim Daiss
Russian natural gas giant Gazprom said that gas from its Siberia fields could start moving through pipelines to China within the next five years. The disclosure came as Gazprom representatives discussed the development of the Kovyktinskoye field with officials from the Irkutsk region in southeastern Siberia. The talks took place in Moscow on Tuesday.
Gazprom is shaping a major gas production center in the Kovyktinskoye field, which is unique in terms of its gas reserves (2.7 trillion cubic meters), Gazprom said…
Gazprom already has in place a 30-year sales agreement with state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) that calls for 1.3 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas per year through the pipeline…
CNPC, with a market cap of $229 billion, is the world’s third largest oil company and China’s largest oil and gas producer and supplier…
Other variables in the equation include increased Qatari output, which will see the country raise its liquefaction capacity from 77 mtpa to over 100 mtpa within the next five years, as well as a so-called second wave of LNG project development in the U.S. that will start to come on-line after the start of the next decade. Australia, for its part, will soon have as many as ten major LNG export projects operational…
In an effort to go long on gas and not get caught flat footed again during another cold winter, CNPC also plans to build eight gas storage facilities with a total capacity of 21 billion cubic meters (bcm), China’s state run news agency Xinhua said on Monday.
The gas storage facilities, located in southwest China’s Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality, will cost more than 21 billion yuan (3.3 billion U.S. dollars), said Ma Xinhua, general manager of PetrolChina Southwest Oil and Gasfield Company, a CNPC affiliate…
China is also keen to lock in more LNG supply deals, with numerous producers, including American producers. Last month, U.S.-based LNG exporter Cheniere Energy announced that it had signed two long term LNG supply and purchase (SPA) agreements with CNPC. Under the SPAs, CNPC subsidiary PetroChina International Company Ltd. will purchase approximately 1.2 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG from Cheniere’s Corpus Christi export terminal under construction in Texas. Cheniere said that the deal will help it move closer to expanding the site…
Reuters, citing analysts, said that the deal should move Cheniere to the top of the pack of companies competing to build the next generation of U.S. LNG terminals to meet possible supply shortages in the early 2020s.
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/The-Battle-For-Chinas-Growing-Gas-Demand.html
as for oil:
21 Mar: Reuters: Shell bets on petrol stations as electric revolution looms
by Ron Bousso; Additional reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru
Royal Dutch Shell is placing a big bet on petrol stations and convenience stores in China, India and Mexico as it looks to shore up profits during the electric car revolution.
By 2025, the oil and gas giant plans to grow its global network of roadside stations by nearly a quarter to 55,000, targeting 40 million daily customers, Shell said in a statement on Wednesday…
Shell, as well as rivals such as BP, sees retail as a way to secure demand for the fuels it refines, as consumption could peak as early as by the end of the next decade due to the growth in electric vehicles…
Around half of the new petrol stations will be built in fast growing economies, mostly in China, India, Indonesia, Russia and Mexico, where Shell’s market share is smaller compared to local companies, Istvan Kapitany, Shell’s head of retail said.
“These markets will produce half of the oil (demand) growth by 2025,” Kapitany said…
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-shell-outlook/shell-bets-on-petrol-stations-as-electric-revolution-looms-idUSKBN1GX0LJ
10
‘ We need to ensure that we take advantage of the huge jobs* that come with building more solar farms, more wind farms,” he said.
HUGE JOBS FOR HOW LONG AND AT WHAT COST?
They (the greeens) have been lauding the cheapness and simplicity since renewables first started.
80
The 20 per cent to 30 per cent factor of wind and solar subsidised businesses grid input and destabilisation?
21
Renewables are chap allright, no worries about that.
The mooted CSP at Port Augusta has a nameplate of 150MW. It will probably generate around 400GWH of power a year.
Its cost? A blindingly cheap $650 Million.
How cheap is that?
Cheap as chips!
So, if Bayswater can generate 17000GWH of power a year, then we’ll only need 43 of these CSP to deliver the same power as what Bayswater delivers.
So, 43 times $650 Million ….. umm! ….. $28 Billion. Oh, and multiplied by two because Bayswater has a projected life span of 50 years, double that of any CSP plant, if it can last that long at all. So, now it’s $56 Billion. And how long to construct those 43 plants in the first place?
See, what did I tell you.
Cheap as chips!
And you only have to go without power for around 6 hours a day, oh, and most of Winter.
Tony.
120
Tony
O/T
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2018/03/we-dont-need-no-685.html#comments
And comments
10
“huge jobs” reminds me of Rik Mayall in The Young Ones taunting with “big jobs Vivian” and I laugh at it.
00
Tesla batteries you mentioned.
I thought I heard a headline that Elon Musk has parted company with Tesla.
Not a week after the South Australian election!
Now, this seems awfully cynical, but……
Could there be a connection?
50
You need to check your hearing Ted !
And find more reliable sources of headlines.
Musk has not parted from Tesla…
That was an old fake news trick, to lure fools into a bitcoin scam
50
Tell ‘im ‘e’s dreamin’!
00
Such is the Messiah complex surrounding Musk, I think its fair to say that Musk is Tesla and the whole house of cards would crumble if he left or died. The faithfull see him as a super being responsible for all that is good in the world. I am not exaggerating or being sarcastic, you should read the some of the stuff on the fanboy sites, its incredible.
Im guessing the followers thought the same about Jim Jones.
30
As others have noted, back burning and fuel reduction burning are often errouneously used interchangeably.
The former is a fire fighting tool and the latter a bushfire prevention method.
The latter has been little utilised around Tathra for years.
80
And further, because there have been no “fuel reduction burns”, the fires are so intense that back_ burning is no longer possible.
71
“Good News for Aussie Greens”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/03/23/good-news-for-aussie-greens/
30
and when our powerlines carry solar and wind generated electricty and their infrastructure fails due to pathetic maintenance and further communties get scorched is that because we didnt reduce co2 fast enough?
61
The fail is due to CO2 diluting the air so it isn’t thick enough to hold the pylons up (/s in case)
60
Odd, how the NRA is always brought up for vilification; as someone has noted:
80
Maybe something to do with the fact that they are the ones preventing any significant reform of gun control legislation !
47
https://rosebyanyothernameblog.wordpress.com/2018/02/15/illegal-weapons-and-gun-laws/
50
Also #33.1
20
or alternatively upholding the constitution of their country
50
Hi Chad:
Just curious: What ” … significant gun control legislation … ” do you have in mind? Last time I checked, there were well in excess of 20,000 Federal, State, and Local laws or ordinances regarding the sale, use, possession, transport, and manufacture of firearms and their related accessories.
What law specifically would you have enacted, that eliminates the crimes for which the NRA is being held responsible?
I’m just curious, you understand. Somehow the existing legislation is insufficient, so one more law is going to prevent a crime?
As we tend to say, “Free men own guns; slaves don’t.”
Regards,
Vlad
40
While I cannot be certain of this, it is possible that the first observation of this fact was by the national radio talk-show host, Rush Limbaugh. Whether he made this determination on his own, or was mentioning something from another source, I do not know.
Thumbs up (and green, which should make our alarmist friends happy … … ya know, ‘green’ and all that … … … )
Vlad
61
I doubt any of the shooters that kill 700 a year and wound 2500 in Chicago (Melbourne sized) are NRA members either. The NRA is a convenient whipping boy with a membership 5 million in a country of 300 million.
61
yay! red thumb! I’m on fire!
41
Of course, there may be other causes of climate change that are not even being considered, having nothing to do with burning coal or increasing CO2, or with anything humans are doing. Even if this hypothesis is just slightly true, we should not be holding back on burning the oil!
It would be interesting to see some thoughtful discussion this.
60
I can’t remember seeing anything on plate tectonics on future climate but there is lots of studies and proof of how it’s changed our climate in the past , Australia is moving Northeast at a significant pace in geological terms .
41
Then again, when our forward looking forest management set out to do a “controlled burn” near my birthplace in New Mexico,
they caused huge destruction. The post mortem found that among other things, they had ‘managed’ the forest or years form a desk in foggy bottom, refusing to clear underbrush, create fire breaks, maintain logging roads, etc. Then, the burn times having been scientifically calculated by some contract wonk, also in Washington, they burned on the prescribed day — never mind high winds and a dry spell. At no time were any of the ignorant locals who had differing opinions about the forest because, well, wait for it….they lived there…consulted.
You get to be a government official by being a lawyer, working on campaigns, clerking for some minor official, working your way through the office politics of the left by being more orthodox than the next guy, and finally getting an appointment as a reward for years of a**-sniffing. You are then immediately and fully qualified to manage your bailiwick, a forest, a waterway, an airport, a railroad,
a school, an environmental protection racket, whatever.
And every G*** D***** one of these bureaucracies is far more interested in their own power, and how to nobble at the large public funds that are passing them by on the way to being squandered on an ostensible public purpose. Concern for the clients, er….victims is always last on the list and only noted during apologies for massive failure.
Can anyone show me a proven solution other than less government? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?
60
It takes a mountain of paper work and site visits to conduct a fuel reduction burn and if for any reason it gets cancelled the whole process starts again they can’t use the same mountain of paper work .
Safety is always a priority with any burn and rightly so , unfortunately if something goes wrong with a planned burn the criticism and blame game starts then the legal profession moves in .
Planned burns rely heavily on accurate forecasts from the BOM and as we know a forecast is just another word for fortune telling and things can change and change quickly .
Anyone who advocates for no fuel reduction burns should not get insurance for bushfire damage and if you live in the sticks you need to be aware for the risks .
21
The British commentator and journalist Peter Hitchens takes an active interest in mass shootings and alleged Isis terror attacks. He has noticed that every one involves people who have taken drugs and have a drug use record. This can be cannabis, anti-depressants, prescription painkillers and steroids. The Daily Mail doctor wrote an article that looked at the same thing. But the pro-drug authorities don’t want to know and have no intention of looking at this obvious link. In the UK the police rush around looking for organised terror cells controlled by Isis that simply don’t exist, wasting their time and our money. All of the London Bridge killers used steroids, as did the Westminster Bridge killer. Drug use is there for the latest US shooting.
40
More around this
https://rosebyanyothernameblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/20/guns-and-home-invasion/
10
This kind of faulty cause and effect linking is becoming more and more prevalent. For example, two days ago on TV I caught Governor Cuomo of New York alluding numerous times during a news conference on the current Nor Eastern hitting the northern Atlantic coast states that it was evidence of global warming. Indeed he started out saying that it is “either global warming or we have done something to really, really, annoy mother nature.” Nothing like preconditioning they listener from the outset. He went on to say that such storms are unprecedented in both intensity and frequency.
50
Dave in the States said:
Send him a copy of Brian Fagan’s little book to read. He’ll soon learn such storms are neither unprecedented nor unknown in either frequency or intensity. He will learn the lead in to the Little Ice Age had more and meaner storms than any he’s seen so far.
FAGAN Brian (Dr): “The Little Ice Age, How Climate Made History” [2000] Basic Books
ISBNS: 0-465-02272-3 / 978-0-465-02272-4
He might well be scared by finding out all about what’s yet to come. 🙂
30
So once again of finger of blame is pointing at another blaming finger that points right back at the first one. What’s new?
Wouldn’t you like to cut off both of those blaming fingers by going back to what long experience has taught the human race to do to minimise the chance of these fires in the first place? And in the second place, why not do what we already know helps to minimize the extent and damage from any fire if it does get started?
Common sense would use experience as a teacher. Or so I used to think. But common sense is no longer so common, whether it’s fire or whether it’s guns makes no difference. Politics trumps experience and wisdom every time. No pun intended.
50
Its been interesting to watch “The Russians!! The Russians!!” slowly wend its way around the loop back to its sources in the US.
70
I don’t think we’ve seen anything yet! Just wait for the DOJ IG report due out late next month or early in May.
Trump screwed up today signing that budget bill a lot of people think. I’m not so sure. And even if he did I’m not close to pulling my support for him. Chester Nimitz as an ensign was the duty officer and ran a destroyer up on mud flats. He was court-marshalled and received a letter of reprimand. It would have ended the career of a less promising and determined officer. Nimitz learned from that and one of his sayings was “Every dog deserves two bites”. Trump won’t make the same mistake again IF it was a mistake and based on what he has done so far he deserves the benefit of any doubt.
70
I would apply to Trump an old saying: Democracy is an absolutely horrible system. It just happens to be better than anything else.
40
As I was driving back from Pennsylvania today I was listening to the Rush Limbaugh show. One caller after another whining and sniveling and claiming they were done with Trump because he had betrayed them. At was sickening! What a bunch of damned wimps.
What has been going on has been hardball politics from the get to against Trump. Despite the establishment “Never Trumpers” in his own party and the Democrats breaking every law they thought they could get away and their media telling every lie they can in their efforts to bury the guy he has not only survived but has managed to implement much of his agenda. And so he signs a huge spending bill and justifies doing so despite not wanting a lot of what was in it on the need to rebuild the military because for national defense. I listened to one caller after another claiming that this is it! They can’t support Trump anymore! He betrayed us! etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum!
This old sergeant just wanted to bring out his old sergeants voice and get in their faces and tell them suck it up buttercups. This is the real world and the best of leaders at times have to compromise to get what they want based upon what they believe to be the most important priority at the time! You people call yourselves conservatives? You aren’t. Your pansies not fit to shine the shoes of the forefathers who fought so hard to make our country great. When the going gets tough the tough get going and they don’t snivel and whine and say that they’re going to quit like all you people are doing today! You disgust me!
So there is my rant for the day! I just wish there was a chance in hell to have gotten my call taken if I had been able to get through.
70
RAH
Seems not necessarily in that he can quote the Obama precedent of spending, not spending or spending on something else
20
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/03/23/president-trump-reluctantly-signs-omnibus-maga-community-feels-a-little-less-great-today/
30
RAH
The bill Trump signed doesn’t bother me even half as much as the Republican controlled House and Senate that once more sent a president a bill so big that no senator or representative could possibly have read it. They don’t know what they voted yes on.
I’m likely to have simply sent the bill back with my veto on it, were I Trump and then tell the country exactly who is responsible for shutting down the government and why. But he apparently wanted a few things in that bill badly enough to sign it. Now he says he’ll never do that again. Unfortunately the cat is out of the bag, isn’t it? 🙁
I hope he knows what he’s doing because the Democrats and RINOs were allowed to drive the car this time. And they don’ have a driver’s license among them.
Omnibus spending authorizations are a noose around every taxpayer’s neck from Atlantic to Pacific and Alaska to the Mexican border.
My opinion of DC at this point is unprintable in polite company.
20
It should be noted that the NRA (National Rifle Association) is a private organization that gets NO TAX DOLLARS and completely funded by it’s membership and other nongovernment domestic sources and it’s publications. It is not a governing body and it’s funds for lobbying are miniscule compared almost all other special interest groups one would find lobbying in Washington DC. Membership is open to anyone that will pay the dues. What gives the NRA it’s power in soliciting it’s views to politicians is their understanding that the NRA does not just represent the views of it’s 5 million plus membership on the 2nd amendment but also the values of many times that in none members. Al Gore found that out the hard way during the presidential election of 2000. Bill Clinton said after that election the reason why his VP did not win was because of his anti 2nd amendment stance. Thus in 2004 we US voters were treated to Democrat candidate and gun grabber John Kerry wearing a brand spanking new hunting jacket and walking into a Ohio Bait shop asking “Can I get me a hunting license here?” after it had been demonstrated that he lied about being a hunter when nobody could find a record of him ever having a hunting license anywhere.
In my view and that of the NRA is that the 2nd amendment is our FIRST freedom because it provides the citizens with the ability to defend all other freedoms and liberties when tyranny reigns. The very spark that fired the American revolution and resulted in “the shot heard around the world” was a march by the British out of Boston to capture and destroy a cache of arms, powder and shoot they believed were stored at Concord. And that there is no more fundamental right than to be able to protect ones own life and that of ones family. Liberties and Rights are not what someone wrote on a piece of paper.
60
If I were American I’d want to keep my gun. US politics is a powder keg with a short fuse. Civil disobedience may prove to be the only thing between keeping your republic and a globalist tyranny.
30
shot not “shoot”. Darn it!
20
di Natale is a grub and an utter disgrace to the medical profession. He should be named as a co-defendant in a class action lawsuit directed against those that oppose burning off of fuel loads.
50
Washington examiner say some gun deaths don’t involve violence- what they include psyche deaths or magic due to displays of guns. Nearly all gun deaths involve violence and 100% of reported deaths involve violence- suicide with a gun is violent, accidental shooting is violent.
20
I think they are playing semantic games with a serious topic
00
***it already has, as evidenced by the headline calling CAGW “climate change”:
23 Mar: Smithsonian: ***Climate Change Can Also Transform Language
As our world warms, warps and melts, metaphors of the past take on new meaning
By Rob Nixon, Aeon
(from Aeon: Rob Nixon is the Barron Family Professor of the Humanities and the Environment at Princeton University. His latest book is Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor 2013)
Take the adjective “glacial.” I recently came across an old draft of my PhD dissertation on which my advisor had scrawled the rebuke: ‘You’re proceeding at a glacial pace. You’re skating on thin ice.’ That was in 1988, the year that the climatologist James Hansen testified before the United States Senate that runaway greenhouse gases posed a planetary threat.
If I repeated my advisor’s admonition on a dissertation today, the student might assume that I was rebuking them for writing too darn fast. Across all seven continents glaciers are receding at speed…
Have we reached a linguistic tipping point where “glacial pace” is incapable of conveying meaning with any clarity? Under pressure of a warming world, does “glacial” need to be decommissioned and pushed over the climate cliff?
Abrupt climate change challenges not just the capacity of the living to adapt, but also the adaptive capacities of human language…
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/climate-change-transforms-language-180968571/
Wikipedia: Aeon describes itself as a publication which “asks the biggest questions and finds the freshest, most original answers, provided by world-leading authorities on science, philosophy and society.”
Aeon was founded in London in September 2012 by Paul and Brigid Hains, an Australian couple. It now has offices in London, Melbourne and New York. On July 1, 2016, Aeon became a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission, in the categories of advancing culture and advancing education…
00
CHECK THE PIC OF MACRON WITH THE STAR HALO BEHIND HIS HEAD. REMINDS ME OF OBAMA HALO PICS OF THE PAST.
22 Mar: Reuters: Macron pushes for EU minimum price for carbon
by Richard Lough and Jean-Baptiste Vey; Editing by Robin Pomeroy
Europe must set a minimum price for carbon, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday, something that would require a new tax on imports from non-EU countries that are not doing enough to tackle climate change.
Since his election in May, Macron has championed policies to combat climate change, putting him at odds with President Donald Trump who pulled the United States out of the 2015 Paris Climate accord…
Macron reiterated that France would increase the price of carbon emitted there to 84 euros per tonne in 2022 from 44 euros this year. But he said the carbon trading market was not working efficiently at the European level.
“We need a European price floor for carbon. I know it won’t be easy, there will be resistance from all around,” Macron told a conference on financing sustainable growth in Brussels ahead of a summit of European Union leaders…
Such a minimum price would incentivise greener investments, but would need to be accompanied by a tax on goods from countries beyond Europe’s borders who do not “make the same environmental choices”, he said.
Macron also said there should be a target for EU budget spending to help a transition to a green economy and no EU spending should be “hostile” to the environment.
“I think a target of 40 percent of the budget would allow for this transition to be ambitious rather than measured, as it is today.” …
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-macron-green-economy/macron-pushes-for-eu-minimum-price-for-carbon-idUSKBN1GY1TJ
10
***”progressive” leftist praises Big Oil, Republicans, for being climate warriors! calls on “progressives” to join the fight! what a topsy turvy world we live in:
23 Mar: The Intercept: Climate Change Policy Is Proving Difficult To Enact Even in Liberal States with Democratic Control
by Kate Aronoff
“Taxes in general are hard, and certainly in Washington State they’re hard,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., told me…“When I was in the legislature we did pass a pretty significant gas tax increase. But other than that it’s been a hard state to pass tax reform of any kind.”…
Not all carbon taxes are created equal, and much of the debate about them orbits around how to use the funds they generate.
***SB 6203, for instance, was crafted with a keen eye toward the state’s budget shortfalls…
Multinational oil companies are actively pushing for a price on carbon, and six of them wrote a letter in advance of the Paris climate talks in 2015 requesting world governments enact a “clear, stable, long-term, ambitious policy frameworks. We believe that a price on carbon should be a key element of these frameworks.”
When he was still CEO of ExxonMobil, recently ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson even suggested such a policy and advocated for “returning the tax revenue back to consumers through reduction in other taxes — payroll taxes or a simple dividend.” Shell has written that “the “transition to low-carbon solutions is best underpinned by meaningful government-led carbon ‘pricing’ mechanisms.” The list goes on…
The Climate Leadership Council — founded to support a “Conservative Case for Climate Leadership”, drafted by a who’s who of Reagan and Bush-era economic advisers — counts BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP among its corporate founding members. As the CLC founder and plan co-author Ted Halstead stated in a recent TED Talk, “I am convinced that the road to climate progress in the United States runs through the Republican Party and the business community.”…
With a party of outright climate deniers controlling every branch of the federal government, simply making the moral point that climate change poses a danger to human life — and that there are very specific industries causing it — has been a worthy cause in itself. The fossil fuel industry, meanwhile, is already engaging in a more sophisticated climate conversation and intervening to shape policy responses to it from states on up through the United Nations.
With the possibility of Democrats retaking Congress this November and time running out to roll back emissions, the question is whether progressives are prepared to do the same.
https://theintercept.com/2018/03/23/climate-change-washington-state/
00
Notice how Aronoff describes gasoline tax increases as a tax “reform.” A topsy turvy world indeed. Also notice how “climate progress” is measured by how much tax is being collected. Very telling. That’s what is really going on here.
30
24 Mar: Reuters: ANALYSIS-Race to rebuild European gas inventories supports British prices
* Plunging winter temperatures drove up demand
* UK gas prices soared to record levels in March
* Refilling must start from April for winter needs
By Nina Chestney and Sabina Zawadzki
Benchmark British wholesale gas prices will stay elevated for the rest of 2018, as operators across Europe race to replenish inventories that have plunged to their lowest in at least five years.
Prices soared to record highs in March as freezing temperatures lifted gas demand to its highest level since 2010, drawing down stocks across Europe and exacerbating tightness from outages and reduced liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
Britain, whose gas prices are a benchmark for other European hubs, relies on reserves to manage its winter demand. It will need to refill at record pace this summer, at a time when European nations are also chasing extra supplies.
Adding to Britain’s headache, what was its largest storage site, Rough, has now closed, removing an extra cushion to meet winter demand that once had capacity to inject gas into the national network for 90 consecutive days if needed.
Northwest European gas storage volumes are expected to start the summer season at about 6 billion cubic metres (bcm), the lowest level since at least 2013, when Thomson Reuters Eikon data for European inventories began and stocks stood at 10 bcm.
Unseasonable cold weather in Britain is expected to continue to the end of March, pushing inventories lower still. British stocks now stand at 300 million cubic metres, compared to 1.1 bcm at the same point a year ago.
“If we don’t see injection in April, the lag is going to be so acute going through summer, it has to be a flashing risk for next winter,” Thomson Reuters gas analyst Oliver Sanderson said…
Trevor Sikorski, analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects, said Europe now needed to find an extra 8-10 bcm by October to replenish stocks. “That will take quite a lot of additional LNG, and if not, increased nomination from Russia,” he said…
Although Russian gas accounts for less than 1 percent of British demand, Britain relies heavily on supplies from the Netherlands, which may itself have to increase Russian imports as the Dutch government reduces output from a major gas field.
The Dutch government says it wants to cut production to 12 bcm a year at its Groningen field “as quickly as possible”, from more than 21 bcm now. The initiative aims to reduce the risk of tremors caused by the production process.
Britain could turn to its other main supplier, Norway, but it will face competition for the gas from elsewhere in Europe.
The amount of LNG Britain receives over the summer is also uncertain as much depends on the development of Asian spot LNG premiums over European gas hubs.
“There are geopolitical issues, storage is obviously a concern, uncertainty around Groningen, a lack of LNG although this might change and French nuclear is still a concern for me this winter,” said Wayne Bryan, analyst at Alfa Energy.
https://uk.reuters.com/article/britain-gas-prices/analysis-race-to-rebuild-european-gas-inventories-supports-british-prices-idUKL8N1R52SG
19 Mar: Reuters: Exclusive: Rough justice? UK snubs call for gas storage capacity review
by Susanna Twidale
Britain has rebuffed calls from the gas industry for an urgent review of the country’s gas storage capacity after a cold snap this month triggered warnings of supply shortages and gas prices spiked to their highest in at least a decade.
Operators of gas storage sites, industries reliant on gas and developers of new storage projects have been asking for an inquiry since November, following the closure of the Rough site that provided 70 percent of Britain’s gas storage capacity.
They met officials from the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on Friday but the government declined to open an inquiry, saying market forces would ensure there was enough gas, according to two people who attended the meeting and a third who was briefed on the outcome.
The government says it is up to the market to determine whether it makes sense to invest in new gas storage and if there are any supply shortages, prices will rise sufficiently to attract more gas from elsewhere.
“There is still a level of complacency in the government that despite recent events the best course of action is to just accept these price shocks,” said Clive Moffatt of consultancy Moffatt Associates, who attended the meeting and represents several storage developers and industry associations…
Britain’s storage levels, however, are well below most European countries. Germany has the largest capacity with some 24 billion cubic meters, 17 times that of Britain, while other European countries such as Italy keep strategic gas reserves…
The EU operates a solidarity principle regarding gas which means in the event of a serious crisis member states are expected to help each other maintain supplies.
“If there is a crisis, member states could hold on to gas stocks for their own supplies and there would be no obligation to ship to Britain – even if prices are higher,” he said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-gas-exclusive/exclusive-rough-justice-uk-snubs-call-for-gas-storage-capacity-review-idUSKBN1GV18X
00
UK seems intent of building self manufactured crises at many levels. Yes , glass houses and all that commenting from OZ.
10
Yes, indeed. Pot/kettle?
11
This is interesting and worth a book mark.
https://realclimatescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Percent-Of-Days-Above-900-Vs-Year-1895-2017-At-All-Australia-GHCN-Stations_shadow.png
10
They would say that wouldn’t they
50
Especially if its true, contract labour was brought in to reduce costs at the expense of safety.
21
And the former labor govt did a lot of meddling and cost cutting including a reduction in linesman etc via their decree about how much the poles and wires charge could be or something similar, there was a big stink about it at the time .
41
our “conservative” PM looks like a fan – see pic?
24 Mar: Daily Mail: Barack Obama is set to earn $1.3million for a whistle-stop speaking tour of Australia and New Zealand
Former US President appeared at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney
He stayed at the $2,449-a-night Intercontinental Hotel overlooking the harbour
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull paid him a visit in his suite earlier this week
Now flown to New Zealand where he’s golfed and will jet to Singapore and Japan
By Gareth Davies
Next on his one-week tour is Japan and Singapore, and he is expected to earn seven figures for his work…
He was seen taking in the views over Sydney Harbour and caught up with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull who paid him a visit…
While Mastercard, who are one of the major sponsors of Obama’s trip Down Under, would not reveal how much he is being paid, the Divisional President of Australasia Richard Wormald told the Telegraph: ‘We are delighted to be able to support President Obama’s visit to Australia and New Zealand to enable local leaders to gain insights from one of the most revered leaders of our time.’
Despite him having left the Oval Office more than a year ago, roads were still shut down in a military-style operation to ensure Obama’s safety.
Police in riot gear were spotted around the art gallery in Sydney and dozens of fans gathered to try and get a glimpse of their hero…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5536849/Barack-Obama-set-earn-1-3million-speaking-tour.html
10
‘Earn’?! So many can’t see through him.
21
Awww c’mon Annie! He’s the IPCC’s highest paid “Ambassador.”
As we know, he spread the Propaganda well while in Office, and he can still do it. so they pay him. It doesn’t matter if he’s not saying anything of any value. PR is everything.
30
There are many rooms available at the Inter Continental for less than 2.5 grand a night, but we cant expect Barry to slum I guess.
20
23 Mar: Variety: Pierce Brosnan, Van Jones Speak Out About Climate Change at UCLA IoES Gala
By Ariana Brockington
The UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability held its annual gala Thursday night with celebrities, philanthropists, and business leaders to raise funds to protect the environment.
In attendance at the event, held at Jeanne and Tony Pritzker’s home in Beverly Hills, Calif., were CNN commentator Van Jones, and actor Pierce Brosnan along with his wife and philanthropist Keely Shaye Brosnan who were all being honored by the UCLA IoES for their environmental work.
Inside, the theme of protecting the environment was clear given the ocean life videos that decorated the room…
“I know for sure we don’t have any throw-away species. We don’t have any throw-away resources. We don’t have any throw-away children or throw away neighborhoods either,” (Van) Jones said. “It’s all precious. The idea that we have a disposable planet and disposable people—that is the sin.”…
The Brosnans, who created the 2017 documentary “Poisoning Paradise,” addressed how pollution the dangers of pollution. “As a man who has saved the world four times as James Bond, some of my heroes are here tonight in this very room,” Pierce Brosnan said, “It’s Mr. Van [Jones], as well as many of the scientists at UCLA for whom I have the greatest respect.”…
Keely Shaye Brosnan mentioned President Trump’s administration. “Those of you who support these values have likely noticed the tendency of the current administration to cast anyone who disagrees with their agenda in a light that suggests we are somehow un-American,” she said. “Well, I’m here to say that I believe the environment is a bi-partisan issue.”
A highlight of the night included a guitar signed by Ed Sheeran being sold for $6,000 during the event’s auction…
http://variety.com/2018/politics/news/pierce-brosnan-van-jones-climate-change-environmental-gala-1202734384/
00
MSM’s fave CAGW story today:
23 Mar: Reuters: Nature’s ‘alarming’ decline threatens food, water, energy: U.N.
by Alister Doyle
OSLO – Human activities are causing an alarming decline in the variety of plant and animal life on Earth and jeopardizing food, clean water and energy supplies, a U.N.-backed study of biodiversity said on Friday.
Climate change will become a steadily bigger threat to biodiversity by 2050, adding to damage from pollution and forest clearance to make way for agriculture, according to more than 550 experts in a set of reports approved by 129 governments.
“Biodiversity, the essential variety of life-forms on earth, continues to decline in every region of the world,” the authors wrote after talks in Colombia. “This alarming trend endangers the quality of life of people everywhere.”…
Four regional reports covered the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Africa, Europe and Central Asia – all areas of the planet except the poles and the high seas…
Robert Watson, chair of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), said biodiversity was not only about saving rare butterflies, trees, birds or rhinos.
While that was important, he told Reuters a key message was: “Please stop thinking of biodiversity just as an environmental issue. It’s way more important than that”…
Unless governments take strong action to limit greenhouse gas emissions, “climate change may be the biggest threat to biodiversity” by mid-century, Watson said…
He said U.S. delegates had not challenged findings about man-made climate change, although U.S. President Donald Trump doubts mainstream scientific opinion and plans to pull out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement…
Amid the gloom, there were some bright spots.
Forest cover had risen by 22.9 percent in China and other nations in northeast Asia between 1990 and 2015. Parks and other protected areas were expanding in many regions, including the Americas and Asia-Pacific.
And populations of animals such as the Iberian lynx, Amur tiger and far eastern leopard were coming back from the brink of extinction thanks to conservation.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-biodiversity/natures-alarming-decline-threatens-food-water-energy-u-n-idUSKBN1GZ1UR
IPBES: Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions Continue Dangerous Decline, Scientists Warn
The result of three years of work, the four regional assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem services cover the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Africa, as well as Europe and Central Asia – the entire planet except the poles and the open oceans. The assessment reports were approved by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), in Medellín, Colombia, at the 6th session of its Plenary. IPBES has 129 State Members…
Note: A 5th new IPBES assessment report, on global land degradation and restoration, will be launched on Monday, 26 March 2018, at 08:30 Colombia Time…To access the live webcast of this launch go to LINK…READ ON
https://www.ipbes.net/news/biodiversity-nature%E2%80%99s-contributions-continue-%C2%A0dangerous-decline-scientists-warn
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Re fuel reduction burning, on average,if fine fuel is reduced 50%:
1, rates of spread are 50% lower while
2, fire intensity is 75% lower
As a bonus it replicates the Eucalyptus species evolutionary preference of a cool burn approx every 5 years
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The Fire Brigade Employees Union claimed many of the 69 houses lost in the fire could have been saved if offers of assistance from metropolitan fire brigades weren’t rejected by the Rural Fire Service.
Since when does a fire brigade need permission to fight a fire , every day Australians were out there fighting the fire and not asking permission .
If the NSW fire brigade or in fact any fire brigade in Australia needs permission to go and fight a fire then you need new fire brigade
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Jobs are a cost, not a benefit.
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