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 NEW ZEALAND ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT DIGEST   August 25, 2004             
OIL PRICES

€    How oil slipped out of Treasury’s grip
 The Dominion Post 20/08/2004. Unbecoming as it is to dredge up economists’ forecasts – economics is, after all, an inexact art–– oil prices at more than US$40 a barrel and rising are sending Treasury’s Budget night assumptions and the Economic Development Ministry’s longer-term projections up in smoke. Just three months ago, the Treasury was assuming Brent oil spot prices would be US$32 a barrel through the middle of this year before easing back toward its assumed “equilibrium” of US$19. Between finalising its forecast and publishing the Budget, prices had already increased to US$37 a barrel, according to Treasury’s “stop press”. The Economic Development Ministry is now equally out of step with reality. Its October 2003 assumptions saw prices rising from US$20 a barrel in 2004 to US$25 by 2020 and remaining stable. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3008366a1865,00.html

€    ALP backs natural gas as oil replacement to offset the impact of skyrocketing oil prices
 The Age 17/08/2004. ALP energy spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the government had no real plan to deal with Australia’s dependence on imported oil. He said with oil prices hitting $US46 a barrel and few new finds of oil in Australia, more had to be done to find alternative transport fuels. Technology which converted gas to transport fuels would be a priority of a Labour government, he said.  
More… http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/08/17/1092508441792.html

NUCLEAR ENERGY

€    Interest in nuclear power rises as costs fall
 The National Business Review  13/08/2004  Strong international demand is nuking the price of clean, green nuclear reactors and has renewed a call for rational analysis of a New Zealand-friendly nuclear power option. Safe nuclear power plants have never been cheaper to build and operate, even allowing for high capital and consent costs.
More… http://www.nbr.co.nz/home/column_article.asp?id=9886&cid=8&cname=News

WIND ENERGY

€    Opposition voiced against windmills
 The Manawatu Evening Standard 18/08/2004. Manawatu and Tararua people have generally embraced wind farms with open arms - but Tararua foothills farmer David Argyle is leading a small group that’s had enough of windmills. “When CentralPower (first) put them up there, there was fair public support - local generation for local usage,” Mr Argyle said. “But that’s no longer the case. “My contention is that (TrustPower, Meridian and NZ Windfarms/Windflow Technologies) are here to farm the subsidies, the Kyoto credits. The electricity is in fact a by-product.”  
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/manawatustandard/0,2106,3007188a6502,00.html

HYDROGEN ENERGY

€    Future of motoring is dolphin-shaped
 The Guardian 16/08/2004. The Shetland islands may not have much of road network, but they have become the test centre for a car hailed as the future of motoring. Its designers say the hydrogen-powered car, whose only emission is water and which is said to be capable of circling the globe using less power than your average lightbulb, heralds a new age of clean, quiet motoring. In 15-20 years, hydrogen powered vehicles could be commonplace on the roads, they say. But only the diminutive will be able to drive the dolphin-shaped BOC Gh2ost at present - at 40kg, it weighs less than the interior fittings of a standard family saloon.  More… http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1283850,00.html

ENERGY INDUSTRY

€    Top Energy appeals geothermal decision
 IRN News 19/08/2004. Top Energy will lodge an appeal with the Environment Court against a decision which has blocked expansions at its Far North geothermal plant. The company wants to expand its Ngawha plant from 10 to 25 megawatts by taking more than double the amount of geothermal fluid currently used. More… http://home.nzcity.co.nz/news/default.asp?id=42349

€    $A25b Australian gas deal out of pipeline
 The Sydney Morning Herald 19/08/2004. Australia will reap the benefits of the booming Chinese economy with the likely signing of another huge gas export deal with Beijing, worth an estimated $25 billion. China’s dominant gas importer has confirmed that a new loading terminal will be built and then supplied with Australian liquefied natural gas (LNG) to feed the country’s almost insatiable energy demands.Mark Qiu, chief financial officer of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, said gas from the Gorgon fields, off Karratha, in the north of Western Australia, would supply a terminal in the eastern province of Zhejiang. More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3009521a6026,00.html

€    Generators, Govt scramble to plug supply gap
 Dow Jones 20/08/2004 New Zealand faces a major challenge as it scrambles to plug a power supply gap that will open up when the country’s giant offshore Maui natural gas field runs dry in a few years time. The government and power generators are working to boost petroleum exploration and power output, but critics say not enough is being done. They say the government lacks a comprehensive energy strategy and accuse it of ad hoc intervention. More…

CONSERVATION

€    Dunne backs call for DOC to be restructured
 NZPA 17/08/2004. United Future is backing a call by its affiliate party Outdoor Recreation for the Department of Conservation to be restructured. Outdoor Recreation Party chairman Paul Check said today the department should be split into two autonomous but inter-related arms. One would have responsibility for conservation, with the other looking after outdoor recreation and the eco-tourism market.
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3006203a6160,00.html

€    Public access part of pop star’s land deal
 The New Zealand Herald 20/08/2004. The Overseas Investment Commission will make trampers’ access a condition of sale of two South Island hill country station leases to Canadian country-pop singer Shania Twain. The track easement will open up some of the island’s best scenery to the public, said Geoff Chapple, of Te Araroa - the Long Pathway Trust. The new 48km tramping route would run from Glendhu Bay on Lake Wanaka to Arrowtown. Twain and her husband, Robert Lange, are seeking commission approval to buy the Crown pastoral leases for adjacent Motatapu and Soho Stations. More… http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3585595&thesection=news&thesubsection=general

€    Whale-eating makes meal of Kiwi ban policy
 The Sunday Star-Times 22/08/2004. University students, a government analyst and fishing industry representatives are under fire after eating whale meat at a banquet in Japan. At least four New Zealand delegates ate raw or cooked whale flesh at a buffet banquet during the International Institute of Fisheries Economic and Trade (IIFET) conference in Tokyo in July. Conservation Minister Chris Carter condemned any government official who sampled the meat.
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3010828a7693,00.html

POLLUTION

€    NZ cars worse than imports
 TVNZ 18/08/2004. Research shows cars that have been bought in New Zealand new emit more pollution than second-hand Japanese imports. The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) says the research, carried out in Auckland, shows well-maintained second hand cars from Japan give out less carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons. NIWA says this is because countries like Japan imposed stricter emission regulations as far back as the 1970s, but it only started happening in New Zealand in the late 1990s. More… http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_national_story_skin/442467%3fformat=html  

€    Group appeals Fonterra outfall decision
 The Timaru Herald 20/08/2004. A society that says it represents the interests of Ngai Tahu fisherpeople has appealed the decision to allow dairy giant Fonterra to construct an ocean outfall for its Clandeboye factory. The New Zealand Federation of United Seafood Interests wants the decision reversed, saying it is erroneous in fact and/or law. Environment Canterbury-appointed commissioners in July approved the outfall, which would allow for a maximum of 34,000 cubic metres of wastewater to be discharged each day. Fonterra hoped to have it operating in time for the 2006/07 season.
More… http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3008709a8153,00.html

WASTE MANAGEMENT

€    Environment Ministry slashes own waste
    The Dominion Post 18/08/2004. The Environment Ministry has slashed the amount of rubbish it sends to landfills from 30 kilograms to 6kg a year for each of its 250 staff. Minister Marian Hobbs came to the ministry’s head office yesterday to celebrate the achievement and to encourage other New Zealanders to join in their efforts. Staff had simply applied common sense, she said.
More... http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3006304a7693,00.html

€    Aucklanders to chew on food waste collection
 Scoop.co.nz 19/08/2004. Auckland City will undertake consultation on a collection of food waste as part of its Waste Management Plan review. A regional organic waste working group, made up of Manukau, North Shore and Auckland City councils, commissioned a comprehensive investigation into regional options for food waste composting by URS Limited.
More… http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/AK0408/S00162.htm

CARBON CREDITS

€    Carbon credit bids may boost generation
 The Dominion Post 20/08/2004. New power projects able to cover more than 1.5 years’ growth in New Zealand’s electricity demand may be kick-started by a second round of bidding for carbon credits under the Government’s climate change strategy. Businesses will be briefed next week on the offer of six million of the units, worth more than $10 each, for projects that can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the first tender last year, four million emission units were allocated which, if all the projects go ahead, would increase or bring forward generation of 240 megawatts from 2008.  
More … http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3008603a7693,00.html

GLOBAL WARMING

€    Global warming to devastate Europe first
 NewScientist  19/08/2004. European winters will disappear by 2080 and extreme weather will become more common unless global warming across the continent is slowed, warns a major new report. Europe is warming more quickly than the rest of the world with potentially devastating consequences, including more frequent heatwaves, flooding, rising sea levels and melting glaciers, says the European Environment Agency (EEA) document, launched on Wednesday.
More… http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996302

WATER

€    Call for legislation to cover all NZ rivers
 Otago Daily Times 17/08/2004. Comprehensive legislation to cover water allocation on all New Zealand rivers is needed, not just for the Waitaki catchment, according to the Save the Waitaki group. Last week, the group called on Environment Minister Marian Hobbs to put on hold the Resource Management (Waitaki Catchment) Amendment Bill. The Bill would put in place a process and a board to prepare a water allocation framework for the Waitaki catchment.
More… http://www.odt.co.nz/cgi-bin/getitem?date=17Aug2004&object=MGG2269704HD&type=html

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