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Labor and Greens fail in first attempt to disallow Coalition's marine park plans

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-27 19:02

Parties have the option of redrafting the disallowance and resubmitting it as soon as Wednesday

A first attempt by Labor and the Greens to disallow controversial new marine park management plans proposed by the Turnbull government last week has failed in the Senate after the government flipped the order of business and brought on the chamber debate.

The Turnbull government on Tuesday night pulled its proposal to lower the tax rate for big business to 25% and abruptly changed the order of business in the Senate to force consideration of Labor’s disallowance motion on the marine parks.

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Call for post-Brexit trade deals to safeguard against invasive species

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-27 15:01

Conservation charities estimate cost of dealing with predators at £2bn a year, and warns this may spiral without strong prevention measures

Invasive species such as Japanese knotweed, signal crayfish and New Zealand flatworms must be subject to stronger safeguards after Brexit, a group of conservation charities has urged, or the cost of dealing with them may spiral.

They fear that future increased international trade outside EU rules could threaten further invasions, while the status of safeguards under potential trade deals could be put in doubt.

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Hotting up: how climate change could swallow Louisiana's Tabasco island

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-27 15:00

With thousands of square miles of land already lost along the coast, Avery Island, home of the famed hot sauce, faces being marooned

Avery Island, a dome of salt fringed by marshes where Tabasco sauce has been made for the past 150 years, has been an outpost of stubborn consistency near the Louisiana coast. But the state is losing land to the seas at such a gallop that even its seemingly impregnable landmarks are now threatened.

The home of Tabasco, the now ubiquitous but uniquely branded condiment controlled by the same family since Edmund McIlhenny first stumbled across a pepper plant growing by a chicken coop on Avery Island, is under threat. An unimaginable plight just a few years ago, the advancing tides are menacing its perimeter.

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Country diary: conflicted by the regimented lines of coppicing

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-27 14:30

Barford Wood and Meadows, Northamptonshire: Yes, the trees have established beautifully, but a randomness to the planting pattern would be more aesthetically pleasing

Again the landscape is etched with snow. The footpath to Barford Wood and Meadows from Rushton village crosses first under the Midland mainline, emerging on to a wide and exposed field where the chilled wind bites, before passing over the Corby branch line and on to the nature reserve; a tapering wedge of land, bound on the west by the railway and by the thundering A43 on the east.

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Good climate policy is beyond the Australian government – and maybe it should be

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 14:21
Climate policy is a fiendish problem for governments, which is why we need a powerful independent body to call the shots.
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This is how baseload gets replaced by renewables and storage

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 14:06
Report from global renewables agency REN21 highlights just how dramatic the global energy transition will be, as the cost of wind and solar continue to fall, and storage continues its rapid adoption.
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How renewables trumped brown coal and gas over Australia’s summer

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 14:05
Renewables are making an important contribution to meeting peak demand and therefore addressing reliability, as this data from summer shows.
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Solar plus storage spells doom for gas peakers

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 14:01
Renewables paired with storage could see gas peakers become a rarity, only selectively and sparingly used in systems with challenging limitations or localised constraints.
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Redflow recruits new skills for next phase of growth

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 13:33
Australian battery company Redflow Limited (ASX: RFX) has named experienced technology executive Tim Harris as its new CEO to focus on the company’s growth and commercialisation.
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Baker McKenzie advises on the A$350 million project financing of Neoen’s Bulgana Green Power Hub – an integrated wind farm and Tesla battery storage facility located in regional Victoria

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 13:20
Baker McKenzie advised the financiers on the project financing of the Bulgana Green Power Hub (BGPH) in Victoria, an integrated wind farm and battery storage facility - Neoen's largest single-stage project in Australia.
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LONGi Solar Wins TUV Rheinland PV module energy yield simulation award

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 13:17
LONGi Solar President, Mr. Wenxue Li, accepts the PV module Energy Yield Simulation Award by TUV Rheinland
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Big Oil sets sights on Australia’s transitioning energy market

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 13:17
Shell joins rush of Big Oil and other energy majors looking to Australia to learn from rapid energy transition and profit from slow-moving local incumbents.
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Nissan LEAF arrival in Australia may be pushed out to 2019

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 13:03
Australian delivery of next generation LEAF electric vehicles pushed out from second half of 2018, to end March 2019.
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Victoria calls on federal government to fund fresh reviews of forestry agreements

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-27 13:03

A row between state and federal ministers has thrown Victoria’s long-term native forest logging agreements into disarray

The future of long-term native forest logging agreements in Victoria is uncertain because of a row with the federal government over the need to carry out fresh scientific assessments.

Three of Victoria’s regional forest agreements (RFAs) – in east Gippsland, the central highlands and the north east regions – were extended on Monday on a short-term basis, to 31 March 2020.

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Solar rebate debate: It’s nothing to do with men in tights

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 10:34
Painting solar rebates as a "Reverse Robin Hood" mechanism is entirely incorrect. Rather, they empower the solar industry to offer real solutions for those most in need.
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Shepparton council set to go solar, as PV farm plans remain in limbo

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 10:28
City of Greater Shepparton awards tender to install solar across council buildings; awaits state govt decision on 250MW of proposed solar farms.
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Victorian government backs push for solar on all new-build homes

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 10:23
Vic govt unveils $2.18m plan to partner with land developers and home builders to supply zero net carbon homes – rooftop solar included – around Melbourne.
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Solar cemetery considered in Ballarat Community Power scheme

RenewEconomy - Tue, 2018-03-27 10:21
Regional cemetery business looks to go solar – and all electric – as one of first projects to come out of Victorian government's Community Power Hubs.
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Plans to mine 6.2bn tonne Queensland coal deposit quietly revived

The Guardian - Tue, 2018-03-27 09:37

Site owner appears to have no employees or premises and its phone is disconnected

Plans to mine a 6.2bn-tonne coal deposit in north Queensland have been quietly revived, despite the failed sale of the project last year and the collapse of an associated company.

Guardian Australia understands that Wilton Coking Coal made two applications to the Queensland government for coal production permits in the Bowen basin in January.

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Yuri Gagarin: First man in space

BBC - Tue, 2018-03-27 08:34
It's 50 years since the death of Yuri Gagarin, the Russian Cosmonaut who was the first man to travel into space.
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