Lenore Taylor’ 4/11/08; (3 Items)
The Rudd Government should abandon plans to include agriculture in its emissions trading scheme in 2015 and instead consider immediately implementing a carbon levy to reduce emissions from the farm sector. The Government has said it intends to include agriculture – the nation’s second-biggest source of greenhouse emissions – from 2015, after a review in 2013, but a discussion paper prepared for the Australia Institute, to be released today, says practical difficulties will make this impossible. … But the authors say the practical difficulties of including farming should not mean the sector gets off scot-free, and the Government should push for other policies to be introduced immediately to start bringing agricultural emissions down. … “Delaying the decision to include agriculture in the (ETS) will only serve to shield it from the implementation of alternative abatement policies, for it will be equivalent to providing the industry with 100 per cent free and uncapped permits until at least 2013, a disincentive for early emissions abatement.”
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24590915-5013404,00.html
Wong sets proviso on water cash
Peter Ker; 4/11/08
Farmers seeking financial incentives to quit irrigating will be unable to receive money from the Federal Government until Victoria removes a series of barriers to water trading. In an aggressive play that was dropped on the states by surprise, Federal Water Minister Penny Wong declared that grants for small-scale farmers to cease irrigating will be paid only to those whose home state has agreed to the Commonwealth’s demands over abolishing certain trading rules. The move has renewed tensions between the Rudd and Brumby governments over reform in the Murray-Darling Basin and forces the Brumby Government to effectively choose between two groups of farmers.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/wong-sets-proviso-on-water-cash-20081103-5h0r.html
Mines breach pollution licences
Ben Cubby; 4/11/08
Coal mining companies in NSW have breached their pollution licences more than 3000 times in the past eight years, but only six cases have made it to court. The figures show the NSW Government is failing to police the licensing system, the NSW Greens say. The Environment Protection Authority has recorded a sharp rise in the number of breaches in the past two years, including the leaching of water laced with arsenic and other heavy metals into water catchments. The rise in breaches reflected stricter reporting, but the number and regularity of breaches, plus the system of self-monitoring, meant the mining industry felt confident it could evade agreed pollution standards, the Greens said. “Coal companies are pushing ahead with continual breaches, knowing they can usually get away with it,” said a Greens MP, Lee Rhiannon. “The proof is there in the numbers and if the fine does kick in it’s barely petty cash for the mining companies.”
See: http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/mines-breach-pollution-licences/2008/11/03/1225560738041.html
Tags: Australia, Environment, Irrigation, Mining