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<< back NEW ZEALAND ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT DIGEST September 1, 2004 POLLUTION € Company fined for mine poisoning The New Zealand Herald 25/08/2004. Heritage Gold NZ has been fined $30,000 after an employee nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning working in a Karangahake mine. On Friday, Waihi District Court judge Peter Rollo fined the Auckland-based mining company $25,000 and ordered it to pay $5000 in reparations to miner Ian MacKenzie. More… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3586677&thesection=news&thesubsection=general € Another fine for serial polluter IRN 26/08/2004. A Southland dairy farmer is being described as one of the region’s worst polluters on record. Environment Court Judge Jeff Smith described water course samples taken from Hubertus de Bruyn’s property as akin to pure effluent rather than water. Laboratory tests of samples revealed the highest levels of pollution ever recorded in the region. More… http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/default.asp?id=42555&c=w € Students help research effects of Christchurch air pollution Scoop.co.nz 25/08/2004. Christ’s College boarders are taking part in a unique study which may throw new light on the health effects of air pollution in teenagers. The research is being carried out by the Canterbury Respiratory Research Group at the Christchurch School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago. The 80 volunteer students at the Christchurch boys’ secondary school have been divided into two groups, those with asthma and those without, and are being studied for the effects of high pollution nights on their breathing and potentially their health. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/ED0408/S00107.htm ENERGY INDUSTRY € Vector sees profit leap to $57.8m The New Zealand Herald 25/08/2004. Power lines company Vector has lifted annual profit to $57.8 million for the year to June 30. The result is up 16 per cent from the $49.7 million reported for the previous period - which spanned 15 months because of a change in the company’s financial year. The Auckland Energy Consumer Trust, which owns Vector, will announce its dividend to customers by September 13 and the payment is likely to come soon after. More… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/businessstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3586710&thesection=business&thesubsection=energy&thesecondsubsection=electricity € Options for Tiwai Pt smelter plant considered The Southland Times 30/08/2004 Plans to secure the long-term future of the New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd (NZAS) plant at Tiwai Point have stepped up a gear, with the company exploring three forms of new electricity generation. Comalco New Zealand chief operating officer Tom Campbell said wind power and thermal generation were the options being considered. The smelter’s electricity contract with Meridian Energy ends in 2012 but the plant would “be around after that”, he said. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3017991a13,00.html CONSERVATION € Conservation order for Motueka River The Dominion Post 25/08/2004. The Motueka River would be preserved in its natural state under a water conservation order approved by the Government, Environment Minister Marian Hobbs said yesterday. “Parts of the Upper Motueka River and other tributaries are to be retained in their natural state for their wild and scenic features,” Ms Hobbs said. Special parts of the Motueka River, Wangapeka River, the Rolling River and the Skeet River would be protected to retain the natural habitat for blue ducks and the brown trout fishery, she said. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3013820a7693,00.html € DOC just got bigger Scoop.co.nz 27/08/2004. South Island High Country farmers are beginning to wonder if the Department of Conservation (DoC) has bitten off more than it can chew. The government yesterday bought 8500 ha of the Castle Hill pastoral lease in Canterbury. This purchase will be part of a wider area of some 200,000 ha that DoC is responsible for in the Waimakariri basin alone. South Island High Country Committee Vice Chairman Donald Aubrey questions why the government needs to own such vast tracts of the South Island. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0408/S00262.htm € Save land first - marine ecologist NZPA 26/08/2004. The Department of Conservation has the right intentions in trying to establish a new marine reserve in Northland, says marine ecologist Dr Floor Anthoni, of Leigh. But the marine ecologist said that a new marine reserve would not provide a silver bullet for problems with marine life disappearing from the coastline. “If you have got two threats in an area that you want to conserve and you take away one, your conservation still will not work. You have to remove all threats,” Dr Anthoni said. Degradation from land-based pollution, including mud, fertiliser and sewerage, was the No 1 problem facing marine life. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3015247a7693,00.html € Lahar alert gets through The Dominion Post 30/08/2004. Conservation staff at Mt Ruapehu are confident the public will have enough warning of a lahar flow if the mountain erupts. A recent Conservation Department exercise in the Whakapapa ski area showed the eruption alarm could be heard by skiers and snowboarders in most parts of the ski area. The alarm operated from Whakapapa Village is a high-pitched siren followed by a message to skiers and snowboarders to move to higher ground. It alerts the public to a lahar or volcanic mud flow coming down from the crater lake. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3017889a7693,00.html HYDROGEN ENERGY € Hydrogen: saviour or fatal distraction? Reed Business Information 24/08/2004. Should developing a “hydrogen economy” be the number one priority for meeting our long-term energy needs while cutting greenhouse emissions? Or should we be investing in more immediate ways to cut emissions, such as burying the carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels? Energy experts are bitterly divided on the issue. John Turner of the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, is a leading advocate of hydrogen. More… http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage1047.html € Scientists suck hydrogen from sunflower oil The Register UK 27/08/2004. In the future, your car might run on sunflower oil, or at least on the hydrogen that can be derived from it thanks to research being conducted at the University of Leeds. A research team led by Valerie Dupont, has found a way to extract hydrogen from the hydrocarbon chains in sunflower oil. The technique does result in some carbon dioxide being released, but the team points out that growing sunflowers would offset it. More… http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/08/27/fuel_sunflower_oil/ GLOBAL WARMING € Bush report accepts global warming Reuters 27/08/2004. Warmer temperatures in North America since 1950 were likely caused in part by human activities, the Bush administration said in a report that seemed to contradict the White House position there was no clear scientific proof on the causes of global warming. In a report sent to Congress this week, the administration noted a recent government-sponsored study supported the view of many scientists that human action from driving automobiles to running power plants helped cause global warming. “North American temperature changes from 1950 to 1999 were unlikely to be due only to natural climate variations,” the report said. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3016154a12,00.html € Global warming means more frost-free days - report Reuters 26/08/2004. Frost will become less and less common across much of the world as global warming accelerates, US researchers have reported. The latest of a series of reports on the real-life effects of climate change shows fewer days and nights when the air temperature dips below freezing. The report, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, joins a study from the same group released earlier this month predicting more severe and common heat waves in cities such as Paris and Chicago and another one focusing on California that showed higher temperatures would threaten the dairy and grape industries. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3015207a7693,00.html OCEANS € Arctic sea under threat from overfishing and oil - UN Reuters 25/08/2004. The Arctic Barents Sea is under threat from overfishing, oil and gas exploration and Soviet-era radioactive waste, the UN Environment Programme said on Tuesday. It urged new regulations and strict enforcement to protect the fragile marine ecosystems north of Russia and Norway from the threats, also including invasive species brought from other regions and dumped by ships flushing out ballast tanks. Over-exploitation of fish stocks including cod and haddock is “the most alarming problem for the region at present,” according to the UNEP report issued at an international oil conference in Stavanger, west Norway. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3014008a7693,00.html WIND ENERGY € When the answer is blowing in the wind The Dominion Post 26/08/2004. Geoff Henderson is caught up in the saga of Windflow’s problematic prototype twin-blade wind turbine on Banks Peninsula. But he’s got lots to prove, as Paul Gorman discovers. Before he was even born, the elements were conspiring to ensure New Zealand wind power and alternative energies guru Geoff Henderson took that career path. He had a brush with death through a childhood cancer that, in a “life’s rich ironies” event, he firmly believes was caused by an enemy, nuclear power, but was also cured by it. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3015167a1864,00.html GENETIC ENGINEERING € Treading warily in GM minefield The New Zealand Herald 30/08/2004. Cows have been shaped by human intervention. They were bred over 8000 years from a wild ox which stood almost twice as tall as its modern descendant but produced far less milk. We have created an animal that is a living milk factory, yielding many times the amount of milk that its ancestors did. Our cows have been sired by only a few prize bulls, their semen collected and inserted by human hands. Yet when AgResearch decided a few years ago to fine-tune this milk machine to produce milk laced with human proteins that might help people with diseases such as multiple sclerosis, it drew 850 objections and a costly High Court battle. More… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3587759&thesection=news&thesubsection=general LEGISLATION € Red tape hitting ‘green’ firms The Birmingham Post 24/08/2004. Government bureaucracy and red tape is preventing firms from extending their “green” credentials, according to a new report. Business is claiming too many barriers are in the way of tackling waste and achieving so-called sustainable development. The report from two business networks - one national, one regional - reveals that while some businesses are working to achieve the same objectives as government in terms of sustainable development, too often misconceived or badly-applied legislation, a lack of practical incentives, and over-complex and bureaucratic systems thwart their efforts. More… http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0150business/0200newstm_objectid=14565015&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=red-tape-hitting-green-firms-name_page.html << back |