€    Keep common sense in resource debate
Sunday Star-Times 18/07/2004. New Zealand’s environment laws are such a barrier to doing business that they ranked 60th among 60 nations in a recent inter-national survey, according to Nick Smith, National’s environment spokesman. He used this scary statistic when unveiling his party’s proposed reforms of the Resource Management Act (RMA) at last weekend’s party conference. More…  
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2975397a7693,00.html

WATER MANAGEMENT

€    Mackenzie farmers’ petition
Scoop.co.nz 19/07/2004. The government has every sympathy with Mackenzie Basin farmers wanting water from the upper Waitaki River for irrigation but it cannot cut across legal proceedings underway in the High Court, Environment Minister Marian Hobbs said today. The farmers are petitioning Parliament to honour commitments contained in a 1969 Order in Council which promised farmers some water. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PA0407/S00298.htm

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

€    Energy Minister praises wind power at conference
The Manawatu Standard 16/07/2004. Four-fold growth in wind energy generation this financial year is just a starting  point, Energy Minister Pete Hodgson said in Palmerston North yesterday. A third round of bidding for Kyoto carbon credits, this time 6 million, will run from next month to mid-October. The results will be announced in December. Carbon credits have supported the wind-farm expansion that’s under way. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2974074a7693,00.html

€    Making energy from effluent
The Press 16/07/2004. An ice bank driven by cow effluent could produce more power savings for dairy sheds than heat-exchange technology, says Christchurch engineer Ian Bywater. Bywater won a major award from Europe’s largest engineering body for his idea to chill milk and save power, which draws on new technology by Dunedin firm Waste Solutions and Christchurch’s Thermocell and Whisper Tech. More…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2973169a7693,00.html

€   Science Museum looks to ‘poo power’
Reuters 16/07/2004. The British Science Museum says it is considering a radical way of paying its hefty energy bills – using visitors’ poo. The central London museum is considering taking the waste from its 14 toilet blocks and converting it into electricity. “With free admission it would be a great way for visitors to give something back to the museum and help keep the overheads down,” said the museum’s head Jon Tucker.  More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2973950a4560,00.html

POLLUTION

€   Shellfish warning in Bay of Islands after sewage spill
NZPA 14/07/204. Northland Health is advising people not to gather or eat shellfish from parts of the Bay of Islands because of the risk of sewage pollution. The warning extends from Opua to Te Haumi and Orongo Bay for at least one month. There was a risk of faecal contamination after recent sewage overflows into the harbour areas from the Far North District Council’s Kawakawa and Russell sewage treatment plants, health protection officer Tahi Morton said.  More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2971756a11,00.html

€    Marine Farmers Want Environmental Action
Scoop.co.nz 15/07/2004. Increasing human pollution of New Zealand’s coastal environment has led a New Zealand marine farming leader to suggest that members of his organisations contest every application for new development in areas where sewage systems are deficient. New Zealand Aquaculture Council Chairman and Oyster Industry Association President Callum McCallum says the latest incidents of human waste discharge forcing the closure of Bay of Islands oyster farms has brought a long term, nationwide, problem into focus. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0407/S00156.htm

€    Diesel spill response ‘utterly failed’
The Southland Times 17/07/2004. The Otago Regional Council’s pollution response system had “utterly failed” in the case of a serious diesel spill at Clyde last week, a spokesman said yesterday. Up to 2000 litres of diesel flowed out of a tank and into a drainage system at the Clyde Cartage yard in Springvale Rd, at Clyde, after vandals tampered with it on July 10. Firefighters and police had to deal with the incident on their own, after a pollution control hotline operator could not make contact with the pollution control officer on duty.          
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2974415a7693,00.html

WASTE MANAGEMENT

€    War on waste moves into higher gear
Scoop.co.nz 16/07/200. The Bay of Plenty’s war on waste has moved into a higher gear with the adoption of a regional waste strategy by Environment Bay of Plenty. The new Bay of Plenty Regional Waste Strategy sets tough targets for reducing the region’s waste stream and challenges the regional community to adopt a “Zero Waste” stance. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/AK0407/S00140.htm

ENERGY INDUSTRY

€    Contact Energy Brings Competition To Central Hawkes Bay And Marlborough
Scoop.co.nz 14/07/2004. Electricity consumers in Central Hawkes Bay and Marlborough can now choose Contact Energy  as their energy retailer. The company is expanding its coverage nationwide to offer service to every part of the country. More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/BU0407/S00146.htm

€    Strategy for an Energy-Starved World: Go Coal
Yale Global Online 15/07/2004. With enormous coal reserves worldwide, the technology to turn coal into liquid fuel holds promise. Amidst continuing violence in the Middle East and political turmoil in some other major oil-producing countries  the issue of energy security is again on the front burner. With oil price rising to a peak of $40 a barrel countries have been looking at alternative energy with a greater urgency.
More… http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=4249   

CONSERVATION

€   Kakapo inoculations going well
The Southland Times 19/07/2004. Dobbie the kakapo was  alive and well, Department of Conservation kakapo recovery team leader Paul Jansen reported last night. Dobbie was the first Chalky Island kakapo to be inoculated against the deadly bacteria erysipelas, which has killed three of his comrades. With only 83 of the rare parrots now left worldwide, Dobby and 22 other kakapo were taken from their home on Codfish Island, near Stewart Island, earlier this month. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2975520a7693,00.html

            
€    International Whaling Commission looking at overturning ban
NZPA 14/07/2004. Conservation Minister Chris Carter will be in Italy next week where crucial decisions will be made on whether a ban on commercial whaling should be overturned. The annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) is being held in Sorrento, Italy, from July 19 to 22. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2971884a7693,00.html

€    Millions being wasted on PC lahar plan, says Smith
The Dominion Post 15/07/2004. The Government has been accused of wasting millions of dollars by putting political correctness ahead of public safety in its management of the Mt Ruapehu lahar. National Party local government spokesman Nick Smith said a $64,000 cheque given by Taupo MP Mark Burton to Ruapehu District Council yesterday to cover the costs of lahar planning was “guilt money”.  
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2971980a11,00.html

AGRICULTURE

€    Farm environment awards set the national benchmark
Scoop.co.nz 12/07/2004. A rural environmental award that will soon launch into its third year in the Bay of Plenty is fast becoming the benchmark for other farm awards, says regional judging coordinator Ian Pirani. Mr Pirani, a Katikati farmer, says the Ballance Farm Environment Awards highlight “the way of the future” for farming practice in this country. Eventually, he predicts, all New Zealand will embrace the philosophy of sustainability. More... http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/AK0407/S00102.htm

                          
GLOBAL WARMING

€    NASA launches Aura spacecraft to study atmosphere
The New Zealand Herald 16/07/2004. Nasa successfully launched a new satellite from California on Thursday that promises scientists their best gauge yet of how the tug of war between international treaties and industrial pollutants is being played out in Earth’s atmosphere. The bus-sized Aura spacecraft was launched aboard a Boeing Co. Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 10.02pm NZT.
More….  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3578622&thesection=news&thesubsection=world

€    Seas absorb half of carbon dioxide pollution
New Scientist 15/07/2004. The world’s oceans have soaked up half of the carbon dioxide pumped into the air by human activities since the beginning of the industrial age, according to new two studies. The gas is acidifying the seas and may harm marine life, the authors warn. Atmospheric CO2 has shot up from 280 parts per million (ppm) in 1800 to 380 ppm today. But that figure would be 435 ppm were it not for the oceans. More… http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996164

RECYCLING

€    Recyclers build house of books
The New Zealand Herald 17/07/2004. Susi Newborn has one big worry about living in what may be the world’s first dwelling made from phonebooks - mice could eat her out of house and home. Ms Newborn, a founder of Greenpeace in Britain, lives on Waiheke Island with husband Luc Tutugoro and two children. She wants a house made of phonebooks to recycle a huge wasted resource. More…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3578862&thesection=news&thesubsection=general       

GENETIC ENGINEERING

€    Waitakere Council considers genetic action options
Scoop.co.nz 17/07/2004. Waitakere City’s Environmental Management Committee has decided on a course of action for how to manage genetically modified organisms in the City. In November 2001 Waitakere City was declared GE-Free in field and food, but the use of genetic modification for medical purposes and research in a laboratory situation was not opposed.  More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/AK0407/S00146.htm

INTERNATIONAL ENERGY

€    More Shanghai firms to run at night in power crunch
Reuters 19/07/2004. China’s financial hub of Shanghai will force another 400 companies to switch operations to the night from today to help alleviate a persistent power shortage as temperatures soar. That will mean 2,100 companies will now have to run at night while 3,000 others will switch between day and night-time operations. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2975427a6026,00.html

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