Archived News for Green Sector Professionals
The Queensland Government has announced plans to significantly cut the state’s green tape, saying that the surrounding bureaucracy has ‘suffocated small business and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.”
“After consulting with industry in the lead up to and after the March 2012 election, it is evident that businesses need certainty to invest and flexibility to allow for growth. The amendments I have introduced this week will deliver just that,” State Minister for Environment Andrew Powell said.
“The Newman government has a mandate to cut regulation and red tape by 20 per cent, and the changes I’m announcing today will go a long way towards that.”
Victoria opens biodiesel facility
The Victorian Government has officially opened the state’s new $4.8 million biodiesel at Shell’s Newport Terminal.
Rann to head Board of Low Carbon Australia
Former South Australian Premier, Mike Rann, has been appointed as Chair of the Board of Lower Carbon Australia.
Tasmania releases biosecurity review
The Tasmanian Government has released a review into the state’s biosecurity strategy in a bid to further strengthen existing quarantine efforts.
Government announces Ningaloo committee
The Federal Government has announced it will establish a community advisory committee to assist in protecting the Ningaloo reef.
MDBA releases updated draft plan
The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) has released changes to its Basin Plan to ministers as part of the Authority’s process of developing the finalised plan.
WWF hits out at New Zealand
The World Wide fond for Nature (WWF) has hit out at the New Zealand Government, saying it is continuing 20 years of environmental neglect and broken promises.
Clean Technology Investment expert committee appointed
The Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation, Senator Kate Lundy, has announced the appointment of an independent expert committee to help Innovation Australia deliver the $1 billion Clean Technology Investment programs.
IEA praises Energy Efficiency Program
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has praised the Federal Government’s Energy Efficiency Opportunities (EEIO Program, describing it as a successful example of how government policy can work with industry to reduce energy use.
Impact of carbon price on landfill emissions clarified
The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus, has released a statement on how the carbon price will apply to pollution from local landfill sites and the potential impact this might have on rates for local communities.
Plantation log growth offsets native log decline
The volume of logs harvested in Australia increased by 3.6 per cent in 2010–11, the first increase in three years, taking the total value of logs harvested in 2010-11 to over $1.8 billion.
Queensland pulls support for Cloncurry Solar Farm
The Queensland Government has announced it has withdrawn financial support for the Cloncurry Solar Farm as part of the state’s ongoing cost cutting.
New Indigenous Protected Area formed
The Federal Government has officiated the formation of the new Yanyuwa Indigenous Protected Area in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Victoria to end Yarra waste discharge
The Victorian Government has announced an agreement that will stop the last discharge of industrial wastewater into the Yarra River.
WA EPA approves state's first uranium mine
The Western Australian Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced it has granted approval to Toro Energy to construct the state’s first uranium mine, after the proposal was ‘meticulously examined by the board.’
Yarwun declared significant
The Queensland Coordinator-General has declared the $2.2 billion coal terminal at Yarwun in the Port of Gladstone a ‘significant project’, meaning the project will now undergo an environmental assessment.
Victoria pushes for less environmental flows
The Victorian Government has released modelling that it says shows that the health of the Murray River can be secured using significantly less water for environmental flow.
Air pollution may be driving expansion of tropics
Black carbon aerosols and ozone, both man-made pollutants emitted predominantly in the Northern Hemisphere’s low- to mid-latitudes, are most likely pushing the boundary of the tropics further poleward in that hemisphere, new research has shown.
Carbon farming projects funded
Research and demonstration grants totalling $72.5 million have been awarded as part of the first round of the Federal Government’s Filling the Research Gap and Action on the Ground programs that are part of the $429 million Carbon Farming Futures program.
Ocean warming contributed to Queensland floods
A record La Niña event coupled with tropical cyclone Tasha generated most of the record deluge of rain that devastated much of Queensland in December 2010, but a new study has found that record high sea-surface temperatures off northern Australia was also a significant contributor.
While it was thought that the twin impacts of the La Niña and the cyclone alone could explain why Queensland’s December rainfall was an all-time high at 154% above normal, the new calculations by climate researchers have revealed that evaporation from the warmer seas to the north and north-west of Australia probably contributed about a quarter of the total.
Sea-surface temperatures off northern Australia in the Indian Ocean, Arafura Sea and Coral Sea were unusually warm at the time, in places as much as 2 degrees C, the study notes: analysing 30 years of historic measurements, the study identified a general warming trend there of at least 0.2 degrees C per decade.
“If the observed warming trend in the sea-surface temperatures continues, this result suggests that future La Niña events are more likely to produce extreme precipitation and flooding than is present in the historical record,” says Dr Jason Evans, of the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre. Dr Evans led the study, to be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, with a French co-author, Dr Irène Boyer-Souchet.
“If the sea-surface temperature increases can be attributed to global warming, then the probability of La Niña events producing extreme precipitation responses similar to December 2010 will increase in the future.”
The researchers caution, however, that this was the strongest La Niña event during the satellite record and that equally extreme events may have occurred before the satellite record began.
The extreme December rains – coming after a wet spring - produced nine floods that affected almost 1,300,000 square kilometres of land, caused billions of dollars in damage, led to the evacuation of thousands of people, and resulted in 35 deaths.
La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean are well known to enhance Queensland’s rainfall. The heaviest falls occurred between December 23 and 28, 2010, when a moist easterly airflow covered most of Queensland and Cyclone Tasha made landfall south of Cairns. Large parts of eastern Queensland received more than 100 mm of rain and several stations set all-time daily records, with some receiving around 300 mm in one day.
Modelling reconstructions showed that on December 14, a low-pressure centre formed off the north-west coast of Australia and moisture-laden air was carried east to New Guinea then south into Queensland, contributing directly to heavy rain between December 23 and 26.
Thousand year view of climate confirms recent warming
In the first study of its kind in Australasia, scientists have used 27 natural climate records to create the first large-scale temperature reconstruction for the region over the last 1000 years.