'There'll be no park to preserve': Australia's fuming wildfire-control debate

Rosemary McDonald woke to a roar like a generator, her mesh tent lit by a vivid glow. Along a nearby ridge, red-tipped flames ballooned into the night sky. McDonald and her husband, Mike, hurriedly pulled on pants and boots, shouting, "Get up! Quickly!" to the other campers.

Wildfire: critics argue that too much is being burnt too often in the Northern Territory. 

"An enormous fire was heading straight for us," McDonald recalls. "We had about 15 minutes before it hit.”

It was June 2014, and the 10 bushwalkers were at a little creek in the remote and ruggedly beautiful Kimberley region of Western Australia. Surrounded by dense cane grass that acts like rocket fuel, and dangerously exposed, they abandoned their tents and grabbed the essentials: torches, water, food, cooking pots, sleeping bags.

"We ran for our lives," McDonald says. "One poor woman didn't have time to get dressed and had to leave in her underpants." Within minutes they saw another approaching fire front, "massive and really terrifying”.

The hikers were experienced and didn't panic. They had used GPS plotting to mark their outward journey waypoints on a map. And they were lucky: a full moon helped them retreat to the safety of a deep gorge.

Read Chris Ray’s story in today’s Melbourne Age -  “'There'll be no park to preserve': Australia's fuming wildfire-control debate.”

Expansion of Loy Yang B power station angers green groups

The Loy Yang B power station will be expanded.

A major generator of Victoria's coal-fired electricity is set to be expanded, sparking protests from environment groups over the effect on carbon emissions.

The planned upgrade of the Loy Yang B power station in the Latrobe Valley comes as its majority owner, Engie, prepares to shut down the Hazelwood plant and coal mine in March.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has granted "works approval" to upgrade turbines at the plant, which will result in the burning of an extra 400,000 tonnes of coal each year.

Loy Yang B provides about 17 per cent of Victoria's energy needs.

Read the story by Benjamin Preiss in today’s Melbourne Age - “Expansion of Loy Yang B power station angers green groups.”

Social decisions play a major role in mitigating GHG emissions

S

ocial decisions will play a major role in mitigating the emissions that culminate in climate change.

There has been significant social
pressure around the closure
of the brown coal
Anglesea power generator.

And it is that which has led to the closure of the rather dirty Anglesea brown coal generator.

Reneweconomy wrote: “It could be the classic tale of a stranded asset. And one that should resonate throughout the energy and investment sector. Even when Alcoa announced 15 months ago it would close its Point Henry aluminium refinery near Geelong, it refused to shut the highly polluting brown coal coal fired generator that had supplied the refinery for 46 years.

“Alcoa reasoned that someone must want to buy its output, or even the generator. “Alcoa believes the Anglesea power station is a viable asset and that is why it will be offered for sale,” a spokesman said in early 2014.”

Read the story - “Anglesea brown coal generator to close after losing social licence”.