The Turnbull Government is negligently concealing its massive climate change policy failure, writes Peter Boyer. 

I'M SEEING RED this holiday season. It’s happened in other years, but as 2017 ended it’s deeper and darker than ever.

I don’t mean the red in shop windows or bus drivers in Santa hats – of which I thoroughly approved – nor the bright glow lighting up the dark of a northern winter as a huge wildfire ate into the outskirts of Los Angeles. (Whoever heard of such a thing?)

The red I’m seeing is caused by a malignant trend in public life: the willful, calculated, planned use of the festive season to disguise government failure to meet its obligations.

In this case, it’s about accounting for national carbon emissions as required under an international agreement to which we’re a party — and the principal culprits are Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

I’d rather not keep coming back to this issue year after year, but it’s getting to me. Climate change is not just some trivial idea to be tossed aside at will. It’s real and it’s dangerous. And in failing to take their reporting obligations seriously, the Minister and his leader are seriously negligent.

This latest example of Turnbull Government misbehaviour also happened last year. By rights, the pair should be made publicly accountable; and applying their own party’s law-and-order mantra about repeat offenders they should, at the very least, lose their jobs. Fat chance, I know.

read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/turnbull-gove...

In the week before Christmas the government yet again released its latest data on greenhouse gas emissions in the hope they would be missed amid other news and the nearing festivities. As we start the new year let us revisit the data and highlight just how terrible the government’s record on emission reduction has been.

The news that the temperature in Penrith reached 47.3C on Sunday naturally had people talking of climate change. And while noting that a very hot day is evidence of climate change is not as stupid as the very stable genius, Donald Trump, suggesting that the cold snap in the east of the USA meant climate change was fake, we should remember that weather – even if it is hot – is still not climate.

Fortunately we do have data that shows the average temperatures for the entire planet over a year, and not just for a day, in a particular part of Australia. Less fortunate however, the data shows that things are very bad.

2017 will be the second warmest year on record and easily the warmest ever for a year not affected by El Nino...

....

In the 12 months to September 2016, Australia’s annual greenhouse gas emissions rose to a record level of 550.2 Mt CO2-e if you include the rather dodgy emissions from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sectors.

The government’s report sought to paint a nice picture, noting that this was just 0.7% above the previous year and was “0.8% below emissions in 2000 and 9.1% below emissions in 2005”.

But we can all cherry pick dates. For example, while it might be below 2000 and 2005 levels the latest emissions are around 4% above where they were in June 2014.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/grogonomics/2018/jan/09/australias-...

 

Trumble is negligent... And his revision of the Snowy Mountains Scheme won't change a thing, unless the power to pump the water back up comes from renewables. But then the private companies will have to charge the government for the electricity... What will be the cost? 7 cents per kilowatts as paid to private solar panels owners providing electricity to the grid? Most likely it would be more... How many kilowatts are used to pump 1000 litres up about 200 metres?

An independent energy agency on Monday rejected a Trump administration plan to bolster coal-fired and nuclear power plants with subsidies, dealing a blow to the president’s high-profile mission to revive the struggling coal industry.

The decision by the Republican-controlled Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was unexpected and comes amid repeated promises by Trump to rejuvenate coal as the nation’s top power source. The industry has been besieged by multiple bankruptcies and a steady loss of market share as natural gas and renewable energy have flourished.

Energy secretary Rick Perry last year proposed fresh government support for coal-fired and nuclear power plants in an effort to slow the rate at which these units are being phased out, stating the output is needed to avoid power outages “in times of supply stress such as recent natural disasters”.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/08/donald-trump-coal-in...

Australia’s renewable energy sector responds to the success of South Australia’s Tesla lithium ion battery. South Australia will build the world’s largest solar thermal plant, and a Queensland wind farm may be the site of a new record-breaking battery.

The Aurora solar plant in Port Augusta, SA, will begin construction this year, and is slated to provide 100% of the state’s electricity needs by 2020, the state’s acting energy minister, Chris Picton, announced on Wednesday. 

The $650m, 150-megawatt plant uses mirrors and solar power to heat molten salt and generate electricity, and was approved this week by the state government. It will be built by American company SolarReserve, and is expected to create 650 local jobs during construction.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/11/big-new-renewable-pr...

-----------

Australians would pay more for electricity and have more volatile supply if the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydropower project is not built, Josh Frydenberg has said.

The energy and environment minister has strongly argued for the necessity of the scheme in an opinion piece for the Australian Financial Review, despite the feasibility study revealing that its estimated cost had blown out by more than $2bn to between $3.8bn and $4.5bn.

The Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro scheme would add 2,000 megawatts of capacity to the existing hydro plants and 350,000MW hours of storage.

Frydenberg said that the scheme was “a giant battery that makes renewables reliable”, filling what he called a “gaping hole in the National Electricity Market” – the lack of storage.

“With the capacity to store enough energy to run for seven consecutive days at its maximum output, Snowy 2.0 will be Australia’s biggest battery,” he said.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/09/higher-electricity-b...

The cost of this project is far more than the new renewable technology that would supposed to fill up the dam in down time... To this we need to add the cost of electricity to pump the water back up...

 

---------------------------

MEANWHILE:

When Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing from the Paris climate change agreement in 2017, experts predicted that American cities and states would go it alone and continue to introduce policies to deal with the Earth’s rising temperatures, without federal leadership. 

Six months later, New York City is doing just that, in a big way. 

The New York City government has announced its plans to sue the world’s five biggest fossil fuel companies over their contribution to climate change, and the city will be divesting $5 billion from the fossil fuel industry. 

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced overnight they had filed a federal court lawsuit against five oil giants: Exxon Mobil, BP, Shell, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.

“They are the central actors, they are the first ones responsible for this crisis, and they should not get away with it anymore,” Mr de Blasio said in the press conference announcing the lawsuit.

"We’re going after those who have profited. And what a horrible, disgusting way to profit, a way that’s put so many people’s lives in danger.”

New York City is seeking billions of dollars in damages that will be used to fortify the city against extreme weather, rising seas, and future major storms such as 2012’s devastating Hurricane Sandy.

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/hack/nyc-climate-change-lawsuit/9...

 

Read from top...

 

Nearly 60 Australian industrial sites have been given the green light to increase greenhouse gas pollution, potentially cancelling out hundreds of millions of dollars of public spending on emissions cuts under the Coalition’s Direct Action climate policy.

The increases have been quietly approved under the “safeguard mechanism”, which was introduced as part of Direct Action to ensure cuts paid for using the main part of the policy – the emission reduction fund – were not undone by emissions increasing in other parts of the economy.

Under the safeguard mechanism, government agency the Clean Energy Regulator sets an emissions limit for each large industrial site based on its highest level of emissions over the previous five years. But companies can apply to have the limit recalculated.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/feb/19/emissions-increas...

The Federal Government has announced it will spend $6 billion buying out New South Wales' and Victoria's shares in Snowy Hydro Limited.

The deal means the Commonwealth will wholly own the company and is a step closer to starting work on the Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme.

It is buying New South Wales' 58 per cent stake in the project for $4.1 billion, while Victoria has agreed to relinquish its 29 per cent shareholding for $2 billion.

The purchase was flagged in last year's budget.

The Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said it is a good deal.

"This is fair value for this important asset," he said.

"It unlocks $6 billion for the people of New South Wales and Victoria to invest in the infrastructure they need."

The deal stipulates the states have to spend the money on "productive infrastructure" which could include projects like transport, schools or hospitals. 

Mr Frydenberg said the Federal Government will not have a say on which projects are funded.

"While we don't have a final say over their choice of projects, we would expect the states to invest the money consistent with that broad commitment," he said.

"They will have responsibility for using this money wisely."

 

Read more:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-02/government-buys-out-states-snowy-hydro-shares-for-$6b/9500908

 

This is back room accounting with plastic cash that the nation does not have. It is designed to make the NSW government pork barrel at the next election... "Use it wisely?" I already smell a bunch of gold plated dead rats. Adding the cost of this Snowy buy-out to Snowy 2.0 Trumble's baby, the cost of the Snowy scheme will end up adding another $12 billion to the national debt... and there is chance it won't work well at all...

I can't wait to have enough cash to buy solar panels and a battery system to go off-grid. May be I could ask for a donation of one gold plated dead rat from the now loaded NSW government?

 

Read from top...

The promised Snowy Hydro 2.0 project will be an expensive white elephant according to a leading energy expert.

Key points:

• The Snowy Hydro 2.0 scheme will be an expensive white elephant says leading energy expert Bruce Mountain
• The project was initially forecast to cost $2 billion and be completed in four years
• Mr Mountain says it will end up costing five times that amount and take twice as long to build

 

"Here is a project that is likely to cost five times more than the then prime minister [Malcolm Turnbull] said it would, and whose capability is nowhere near what has been claimed of it," the director of the Victorian Energy Policy Centre, Bruce Mountain, told 7.30.

"This is a project that we can confidently forecast will be a drain on the public purse and whose service in the transition to a cleaner energy future can be met far more cheaply from other sources.

"Snowy Hydro 2.0 was a political get-out-of-jail card, played at the public's expense."

Read more:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-14/snowy-hydro-2.0-expensive-and-won...

 

Read from top.

 

The chaotic protests rocking Washington DC have caught the attention of Poland, after protesters targeted a statue of an Eastern European military hero and statesman.

The US capital fell victim to an orgy of destruction on Sunday, after thousands of demonstrators descended on the city, sparked by the police killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

Although many protesters were peaceful, fires broke out and stores were looted as law enforcement and military police attempted to enforce the city’s 11pm curfew.

One act of vandalism has gone largely overlooked – at least until now. Photographs show that a statue near the white house of Thaddeus Kosciuszko, a Polish military leader and statesman, was covered in graffiti by protesters. Messages spray-painted onto the monument included “BLM” (Black Lives Matter), as well as “F**k Trump.”

The vandalism prompted Polish Ambassador to the US Piotr Wilczek to issue a diplomatic protest of his own.

 

Read more:

https://www.rt.com/news/490394-poland-statue-kosciuszko-dc-vandalized/

One could wonder what this article is doing about in a section reserved for the "Snowies", the "high" mountains of Australia. At a bit more than 2,228 metres the top of Australia in the Snowy Mountains is named Mount Kosciuszko...

 

I think it was Count Paul Edmund Strzelecki, the explorer who named the bloody thing...

 

The race that costs a nation. Snowy 2.0 a dead cert for EPIC ten-peat!

by Ted Woodley

 

Spring racing fever is in the air, and nowhere is the excitement more electric than at the starting gate of the 2026 EPIC Cup – the energy industry’s rival to the Melbourne Cup and Sydney Everest. Ted Woodley with this year’s odds.

While the ‘sport of kings’ is notorious for separating mug punters from their cash, the EPIC Cup – “Electricity Projects Incompetently Costed” – celebrates the ‘sport of governments’, in saddling taxpayers and consumers with atrociously costed, outrageously expensive, electricity mega-projects.

The EPIC Cup was created in 2017, the year Snowy 2.0 was foaled. Once again, the perennial crowd favourite is at unbackable odds to win by a country mile and complete an unprecedented ten-peat.

Yearling sale steal

What a steal Snowy 2.0 was at the 2017 yearling sales when legendary horse whisperer Malcolm Turnbull snapped him up for just $2B and promised his first stud season as soon as 2021.

Six years later, Snowy 2.0’s new Labor owners were thrilled to discover that his value had bolted to $12B, and his stud servicing had drifted to 2028.

More jubilation followed last October when Snowy Hydro flagged a sixth blowout. The Italian trainer, WeBuild, nicknamed “Lento e Incredibilmente Costoco” or “slow and incredibly expensive”, was asked to complete a meticulous nose-to-tail reassessment.

Taking only a year to complete, incredibly fast for WeBuild Lento, Snowy 2.0’s weight was declared last week to be an off-the-charts $25bn, whilst his stud servicing has drifted to 2029. Celebrations are likely to continue for weeks.

Florence, oh Florence!

But there’s more to come. Once again his ever-humble owners have only guesstimated Snowy 2.0’s liveweight. Pundits are tipping his gross weight, once financing, extra gear and transmission connections are loaded into his saddlebags, will be approaching $50B – a staggering 25:1 return on his purchase price!

The EPIC organisers have ordered another digit for the tote board.

What genius it was for Snowy Hydro to switch to a cost-plus training contract, gifting WeBuild Lento an open chequebook, and no spurs to step the pace up to ‘pronto’.

Florence, the rarely boring machine, has been hobbling through soft turf and hard rock for five years, recently making it to the halfway marker of the seventeen-kilometre headrace tunnel. Her year-long breather in the sinkhole she dug at the start is now a distant memory. Surely WeBuild Lento will soon give her another well-earned spell.

Meanwhile, Monica, ‘Go-slo-Flo’s’ wunder-filly bred for rock fault tracks, has been floated to the far end to mosey back to Mum. But it’s odds on that even under the whip, their underground reunion will be years away.

Thankfully, there is Buckley’s chance of Snowy 2.0 being sold or scratched given the Government’s lifetime sponsorship deal and taxpayers’ deep pockets. Still years from maturity, who knows what further records we will see.

The also-rans

Even though EPIC remains a one-horse race, let’s turn our binoculars to a few fancied runners in the parade ring.

Pleasingly, Snowy 2.0’s transmission links to his patiently waiting mares in Sydney and Melbourne are starting to hit their stride.

SnowyLink North, now HumeLink, was picked up at the 2020 yearling sales by TransGrid, on a tip from AEMO, for just $1B. By 2024, she had bulked up fivefold to $5B, and slipped years behind schedule. Another weigh-in is due, hopefully this time with the $2B northern link, Sydney Ring South, tucked under her saddlecloth.

Twin sister SnowyLink South, now VNI-West, was also picked up at the 2020 sales for $2B. By last year her value had quadrupled to $7.5B, with an upper estimate of $11B.

Unfortunately, VNI-West is being heckled by local spoilsports objecting to her gallivanting across vast tracts of Victoria. Also, punters were recently spooked when the Victorian Labor Government ordered an independent review, and the Coalition Opposition and One Nation vowed to scratch her altogether.

Surely sense will prevail so she and her sister can continue to prance over 1,100 kilometres of picturesque landscapes and farms, delighting racegoers and milking mug consumers.

Snowy Hydro’s flatulent runt

The Kurri Kurri Gas/Diesel/Hydrogen Power Station, nicknamed KK, has been doing his best to keep up with his dad and twin sisters but lacks their physique and staying power.

KK was snapped up by the greenhorn Morrison-Taylor Syndicate in 2021 at the bargain price of $600m to replace Liddell before his knackering in 2023.

When it was discovered there was no gas within Cooee, 50 kilometres of massive pipelines and storage had to be built, quadrupling his cost beyond $2B. Even so, KK will run out of feed after ten hours. The word is that his connections are a bit embarrassed KK will only be capable of half-day sprints and will never develop into a stayer like other gas-powered stations.

Years late, KK has yet to clear his barrier trials, with chronic colic hampering his preparation. Last year, the EPA Stewards sent him to the spelling paddock after he belched putrid diesel smoke as far as Newcastle.

Sadly, KK seems doomed to have few track outings, pinning his hopes on the promised Albanese-Bowen hydrogen wonder-feed arriving one day from cloud cuckoo land to supercharge his cost and prepare him for net zero.

EnergyConnect, a cunning owner

EnergyConnect, the sprightly interconnector between NSW and South Australia, was valued at $300 – $700m in 2016.

By 2020, EC had firmed to $1.5B and was cleared by the Stewards, the Australian Energy Regulator. A year later her price firmed again to $2.3B: $1.8B for TransGrid’s NSW section and $500m for ElectraNet’s South Australian section. The stewards waved her through again.

True to form, in 2025 TransGrid doubled the cost of its NSW section without bothering to get the stewards’ nod. When TransGrid submitted the paperwork, the betting ring was stunned by the steward’s rejection. The smart money is on normality prevailing, with TransGrid’s protest being upheld and consumers slugged the additional $1.8B.

Contrast cunning TransGrid with the naive ElectraNet, which completed its South Australian section on time and on budget, three years ago, gobsmacking the racing fraternity. Such blatant competence is inexcusable these days, resulting in immediate disqualification from the EPIC field.

A dead cert winner

Many other promising runners are crowding the parade ring, including Queensland’s CopperString with a sevenfold cost increase, Tasmania’s scaled-back Marinus Link (fourfold increase) and Victoria’s Western Renewables Link (threefold increase).

Also, if trackside rumours are on the money, the Snowy dynasty will soon swell to six stablemates with Snowy 3.0 and HumeLink 2.0 thought to be in the breeding pen.

But for this year, once again, you can put your glasses down.

Australia’s ‘Electric Phar Lap’ is at unbackable odds for an EPIC ten-peat in 2026!

You can bet your bottom dollar that Snowy 2.0 will be first past the post again, further burnishing his national and international fame. Rumours are rife of a livery change to Snowy 50.0 to flaunt his snowballing value and unrivalled EPIC pedigree.

It’s anyone’s race for second, which is shaping up to be a photo finish between HumeLink, VNI-West, EnergyConnect(NSW) and Copperstring.

How lucky are we Aussie taxpayers and consumers to be bankrolling such a world-class EPIC field, headed by the invincible Snowy 2.0. What a thrill to watch these mega-projects strut their stuff at our expense.

Back in the marquee

This year’s ACE Plate – “Accurate Cost Estimating” – was again cancelled for lack of eligible runners. Its sole contender, EnergyConnect(SA), was disqualified because of its coupling with the over-budget EnergyConnect(NSW).

With no runners, the Stewards have locked the Plate in the trophy cabinet for what promises to be a lengthy spell.

https://michaelwest.com.au/the-race-that-cost-a-nation-snowy-2-0-a-dead-cert-for-epic-ten-peat/

 

 

READ FROM TOP.

PLEASE VISIT:

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT — SINCE 2005.

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

         RABID ATHEIST.

         WELCOME TO THIS INSANE WORLD….