Gas flows under pressure

The Australian Greens don’t yet seem to grasp that effective environmental stewardship depends on corresponding progress in justice, public health, education, trade, security, indigenous and international relations, social and economic wellbeing.

Not all power resides in the ACT

The ACT is suffering from the same energy problems as New South Wales and Victoria, and proper planning is required to ensure security of supply in the future.

Is the Murray River flowing back to the future?

The South Australian Department of Environment and Water is reportedly excited that the Lower Lakes and the Coorong are “heading back towards their natural best”.

Batteries not included?

The silence from green technological optimists concerning the ‘Big Battery’ fire at Moorabool near Geelong is deafening, and inquiries into the accident should raise wider questions about the use of large lithium batteries in energy management.

Not cooking with gas

Is natural gas making us sick? According to the Climate Council it contributes up to 12 per cent of the childhood asthma burden in Australia. So, should gas appliances including heaters, hot water services and cooktops be phased out?

A fishy tale…

Fish farms, such as those which produce salmon in Tasmania, may appear more environmentally friendly than the wild fishing industry, but cause environmental problems of their own.

Is the cure worse than the disease?

The dangers of lead in the environment are well understood, but unleaded petrol can cause problems of its own.

The answer is blowin’ in the wind

Proposals for a new wind turbine site on Robbins Island raise questions about the environmental trade-offs involved even in renewable energy production.

It’s a gas, gas, gas

Victoria’s state government has rejected a plan by AGL to establish a floating liquid natural gas import terminal at Crib Point in Western Port, but is it the right decision?

After the deluge

The impact of recent floods in NSW have shown how landscape changes induced by natural events, climate change and human activity affect water quality and make water supplies for our fast growing cities less reliable.

Lead – but not easily

The Victorian state planning minister has intervened to approve a secondary lead smelter in the Latrobe Valley following the refusal of the local council to issue a permit, but are environmental objections justified?

A heretical view of energy ‘indulgences’

Policy makers should guard against a ‘Tragedy of the Commons’ in the vexed area of energy policy, where individuals acting in their own interest cause significant collective harm.