The government introduced a Bill into parliament last week to amend the Renewable Energy Target (RET). The Bill, if it passes the Senate will to reduce the amount of electricity that must come from renewable sources by 2020 from 41,000 GWh to 33,000 GWh. The change is being proposed by…
Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) is, in its simplest form, meeting the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future (World Commission on Environment and Development (1987), ‘Our Common Future’, also commonly known as ‘The Brundtland Report’). It requires that actions to protect…
Last week my local paper included an invitation from the Council to comment on a proposed road extension, so having an interest in these matters I took a look at the EIA document and was immediately struck by the absence of any consideration of alternatives. If you look at the figure showing…
Yesterday I was listening to discussion on the radio about a planned artificial reef near Geographe Bay in the south west of Western Australia. Information on the artificial reef plan can be found at the Fisheries department web site [http://www.fish.wa.gov.au/docs/media/index.php?0000&mr=846]. The commentators were arguing about the costs and benefits of…
The last couple of blogs have been on policy mechanisms for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Solar power is often touted as a fundamental part of the solution to reducing emissions and there has been a lot of angst about the profitability of solar power companies. One concern is that the…
Yesterday the Senate passed the 18 Clean Energy Bills for control of greenhouse gas emissions, more commonly known as the carbon tax laws. The Gillard government after initially promising not to introduce a carbon tax was corralled down the road to taxation by minority members of the governing coalition. Is…
It is common for a company to be required to monitor certain species that may affected by their operations or for governments to introduce management measures for protection of rare or endangered species. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who seriously objects to this; it is a reasonable…
