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Queensland government poised to declare mine ‘critical infrastructure’ to speed remaining approvals process

The Queensland government is poised to declare Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal project “critical infrastructure”, a rare step that will elevate its status to an operation that is “essential to [the] state’s economic and community wellbeing”.

The Palazsczuk government appears to be bolstering its visible signs of support for the controversial and stalling coal export project. The state mines minister, Anthony Lynham, is reportedly due to accord it the highest priority development status on Monday.

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They are thought to be solitary, but new research shows one shark species to be intensely social

They have a reputation for being sinister loners, creatures that swim the seas in solitary silence before pouncing on unsuspecting prey. Think of the deadly predator in Jaws and you have the perfect stereotype of a shark.

But scientists in the United States, using a novel tagging procedure, have discovered that some shark species are really finny networkers who like to spend their time mixing and chilling out together. In some cases, the sharks were found to spend up to 95 consecutive hours together. And all without Snapchat.

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Beware toxic lead paint on climbing frames and seesaws

Everyone assumes that lead poisoning is no longer a real risk, and that the horror story of lead-laced water in Flint, Michigan, would mean that the only safe amount is no lead at all.

Yet lead is still in use and that means we run the risk of exposure. In the UK we still subscribe to 40-year-old legislation that permits some concentrations of lead (products must contain less than 2,500 parts per 1,000,000).

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Three-month surveillance trial will stream live pictures to surf lifesavers at metropolitan and regional beaches

A three-month trial of drone surveillance will be used at West Australian beaches to monitor shark activity and potentially spot other dangers such as rips and schools of bait fish, which attract the predators.

Under the trial, $88,000 will be provided for a small drone equipped with a high-definition camera to stream live pictures back to Surf Life Saving WA operators at metropolitan and regional beaches.

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Hamelin pool contains the world’s largest collection of active stromatolites – stony mounds of sand and calcium carbonate stuck together with a kind of biological glue, which emerge from the water as the tide goes out. Studying stromatolites today promises an insight into how life began as well as what the Earth was like 3.7bn years ago

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Ten years ago an earthquake detected in North Korea turned out to be the country's first ever nuclear test. Seismologist Mika McKinnon explains how scientists tell the difference.

Theresa May set to support expansion and spare opponents including Boris Johnson and Justine Greening embarrassment

The most high-profile cabinet critics of a third runway at Heathrow – Boris Johnson and Justine Greening – will be “unavoidably away” when the Commons votes on the issue.

With the prime minister expected to announce her support soon, No 10 is devising a strategy to avoid embarrassment for key figures.

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A prototype system of dams and turbines in Swansea Bay could provide Britain with a major zero-carbon source of power

Backers of an ambitious proposal to transform the UK’s power supply will learn in the next few weeks if they are to be given the go-ahead to build tidal lagoons to generate electricity. The green light could see a series of major lagoon projects costing more than £15bn being constructed around the coast of Britain.

A tidal lagoon generates electricity from the natural rise and fall of the tides. Rising water flows into dams many miles in length, driving turbines. It is then held back behind walls as the tide recedes before being released to drive the turbines again, generating thousands of megawatts of power.

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The continuing refugee crisis in Europe, the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew, Paris fashion week – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week

WARNING: this gallery includes images that some might find distressing

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Australa's electricity network is going through a period of major transformation. Indigo Skies Photography/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

On Friday, Australia’s federal and state energy ministers met for an extraordinary meeting following the complete loss of power in South Australia on September 28. The COAG Energy Council announced a wide-ranging independent review to provide advice to governments on a coordinated, national reform blueprint. The review will be chaired by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel.

Dr Finkel has been challenged with steering Australia’s energy system around some big potholes while keeping his eye on the horizon. And all in about six months.

The review will consider work already being done around maintaining the security, reliability and affordability of electricity as delivered by the National Electricity market (NEM) (which covers all states except Western Australia and the Northern Territory).

The state-wide blackout became a political opportunity for Australia’s politicians. Yet it is certainly too early and hopefully wrong to say if this is just a reactive response.

What’s in the review?

The review has three timeframes. The immediate priority will be to systematically assemble existing processes and work programs initiated over the last year by the energy council and identify any major gaps in the context of energy security and reliability in the NEM. Some of these processes, such as a review of market governance arrangements, have been completed but not fully actioned.

Others have only recently been announced. These include analysis of the impact of federal, state and territory carbon policies on energy markets and the reviews of the South Australian blackout. They will not all be complete by the December council meeting.

The review is expected to deliver a blueprint via a final report early in the new year. It is likely to include specific actions, both physical and financial, that respond to recent events such as South Australia’s price shock in July and blackout in September. These two issues should not be conflated. To do so, would risk solving neither.

The council has highlighted the significant transition underway in the Australian electricity market. The drivers include “rapid technological change, the increasing penetration of renewable energy, a more decentralised generation system, withdrawal of traditional baseload generation and changing consumer demand”. The blueprint will address all of these issues in a comprehensive and coordinated way not previously a feature of the council’s output.

There is much uncertainty to how some of these drivers will evolve over the next two decades. To be really effective, the blueprint will need to consider a range of plausible long-term scenarios but focus on near-term options that can be adapted to evolving developments on all fronts.

The Chief Scientist will, amongst other things, bring to the review his knowledge of current and likely future developments in energy technologies. This will be important in considering policy, legislative and rule changes that favour the adoption of technologies that could address both low-emissions and reliability but are otherwise technology-neutral.

The federal energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, and his state and territory counterparts are to be applauded for the speed and cohesiveness they have shown in instigating the review. This follows a similar approach that permeated their August meeting where considerable progress was made on key energy market reforms across several fronts.

Get climate policy right

There are two critical areas of concern. The fundamental driver behind the issues listed in the review’s terms of reference is climate change and the policy response to it.

The federal government is committed to a 2017 review of its domestic climate change policies against its 2030 emissions reduction target.

State and territory governments have announced or implemented their own climate change and renewable energy policies. It is not surprising that states such as Victoria remain committed to these policies even though they are open to criticism for being uncoordinated at a national level, or failing to consider implications for system reliability and security.

Primary responsibility must rest with the federal government to deliver a credible scalable climate policy. Much can then flow from there, including agreement from states and territories to truly act in the spirit of national coordination to which they committed.

Greenhouse gas reduction is best achieved by putting a price on emissions through one of several options that have been canvassed in 2016 and in a form that acts with the electricity market and not outside it. The review’s terms of reference are silent on this issue, and yet recognise that the nature and structure of climate change policy have critical implications for the NEM.

Wind and solar power are intermittent. Their integration into the generation mix while maintaining reliability is best achieved by valuing flexibility either through the NEM or via complementary policies or regulations. The review is oddly silent on this issue. It is to be hoped that this is unintended and will be picked up in the course of the review.

There were high expectations for Friday’s council meeting. A state-wide blackout does that. These expectations have been delegated to the review which the council must support and drive to outcomes.

Minister Frydenberg has strongly and repeatedly emphasised that the government will not compromise energy reliability and security in the transition to a low emissions future. Failure on this front will not be forgiven.

Tony Wood has shares in a number of energy and resources companies via his superannuation fund

The EU helped shape the UK landscape with both money and a swath of rules and directives. In places like Crediton, a picture-perfect corner of rural Devon, locals fear the change to come – but also smell opportunity

The landscape around Crediton in Devon is picture-postcard perfect – a patchwork of fields, thick hedges, woods, rolling hills with rivers, streams and deep lanes meandering through.

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Airedale, West Yorkshire We have kestrel and sparrowhawk here, buzzard and kite, but nothing quite matches the peregrine for dramatic oomph

I’ve spent a lot of time lately staring up at the electricity pylon across the river. Hawks, wrote JA Baker in his 1967 classic book The Peregrine, grow out of dead trees, like branches; I’ve learned that peregrines can also sprout from steel lattice and aluminium alloy.

David, a local birder, pointed out the peregrine on the pylon one morning in late September; it was mantling over a wood pigeon on the lowest crossarm, 15 metres up. Since then, on every visit to the riverside, my gaze has been drawn insistently upward, checking for the falcon’s return.

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Seabirds rely on their nostrils to guide them across the world’s oceans for years at a time. 

Harry Kunz’s search for a successor willing to continue his legacy of caring for injured creatures has been met by an avalanche of calls, emails and visits

For Harry Kunz, the wildlife rescuer who joked he worked with animals because “humans I can’t understand anymore”, it’s been the kind of week that just might have restored some faith in his own species.

The Austrian-born Kunz has been overwhelmed by the global response to his offer to give away his north Queensland wildlife sanctuary to someone willing to carry on his legacy caring for injured and orphaned native Australian creatures.

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Environmentalists plan sustained campaign against Cuadrilla after government gave it green light for drilling

Hundreds of people are expected to protest near a fracking site in Lancashire that was given the green light by the government this week.

The Lancashire Responds rally on Saturday is the first shot across the bows of Cuadrilla, in what anti-fracking groups and local residents say will be a sustained campaign of action to stop the company fracking next year.

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The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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Worsening coastal and riverine erosion is sweeping away homes and livelihoods on the Ghana coast. Photographer Nyani Quarmyne visited the small fishing village of Totope, which was once three miles from the sea but has now virtually disappeared

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A snacking water vole, two-towed sloths and humpback whales and among this week’s pick of images from the natural world

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Astronaut Chris Hadfield discusses with Sarah Montague the importance of fear.

Unpublished study warns of the global health consequences of delaying by five years a cap on the sulphur content of shipping fuels

A push by the shipping and oil industries for a five-year delay to curbs on toxic sulphur emissions would cause an extra 200,000 premature deaths from lung cancer and heart disease, according to an unpublished International Maritime Organisation (IMO) study.

Fatalities from illnesses such as asthma were not covered by the leaked paper, which was based on shipping satellite data and modelling work.

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