Northeast warming more rapidly than most of

Sarah Coughlin from Dorchester practiced
 her yoga routine on a dock on the
 Charles River Esplanade on Thursday.

New England is likely to experience significantly greater warming over the next decade, and beyond, than the rest of the planet, according to new findings by climate scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The region’s temperatures are projected to rise by an average of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels by 2025, according to the study, published this week in PLOS One, a journal published by the Public Library of Science.

The scientists found that the Northeast is warming more rapidly than any other part of the country except Alaska — and that the 3.6 degree Fahrenheit rise in the region is likely to come two decades before the rest of the world gets to that point.

Read David Abel’s story in the Boston Globe  - “Northeast warming more rapidly than most of US.”

Joyce in verbal scuffle on Uralla's Top Pub

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce told a constituent to "piss off" after a heated exchange over mining in a pub in his New England electorate.
 

‘At that stage the bar staff woman came in beside me and she put her arm straight out between Barnaby Joyce and myself’

 

Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce in Uralla's Top Pub.

Mr Joyce lost his temper with Nicola Chirlian, a Tamworth beef farmer and anti-mining activist who had tackled him on the topic of coal and coal seam gas mining on ABC's Q&A program in Tamworth on Monday.

According to witnesses at the Top Pub in Uralla, a female bar worker stepped in between Ms Chirlian and the Deputy Prime Minister after he had loudly told her to "piss off" three times in the public bar.

Fairfax Media has spoken to five people, including Ms Chirlian, who were in the bar on Thursday night and witnessed the exchange but there are two markedly different versions of what led to Mr Joyce, who famously told Johnny Depp's dogs Pistol and Boo to "bugger off" back to the US, reacting the way he did.

Read Heath Aston’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Election 2016: Barnaby Joyce tells constituent to 'piss off' during heated pub exchange.”

Santos renews plans to explore Deputy PM's land

Coal seam gas miner Santos has renewed plans to explore a remote part of NSW where Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce owns nearly 1000 hectares of grazing land. 

Documents obtained under freedom of information laws show Santos has kept alive its drilling ambitions around Gwabegar, a community in the heart of the Pilliga Scrub, about 130 kilometres from its operating CSG plant at Narrabri. 

As revealed by Fairfax Media on Monday, Santos has submitted new plans with the NSW Government to explore for CSG in ‘‘PEL 1’’, its ‘‘petroleum exploration licence’’ area centred on the Liverpool Plains in Mr Joyce’s electorate of New England. 

Opposition to CSG is widespread in New England and Santos has said its focus remains around the less-fertile Pilliga.

Read Heath Aston’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Santos turns up gas over Joyce’s land.”