Category Archives: The Mitigation Battle

PLEA Network

Why is oil and gas activity causing earthquakes? And can we reduce the risk? If you’ve been following the news lately, chances are you’ve heard about – or even felt – earthquakes in the central United States. During the past five years, there has been an unprecedented increase in earthquakes in the North American mid-continent, a region previously considered one of the most stable on Earth. According to a recent report by the Oklahoma Geological Survey, Oklahoma alone has seen seismicity rates increase 600 times compared to historic levels. The state has gone from experiencing fewer than two magnitude-three earthquakes per year to greater than two per day, the report found. Similarly, my home state of Texas has experienced a near 10-fold increase in magnitude-three earthquakes or greater in the past five years. Read More here

 

 

PLEA Network

5 May 2015, ACF Report: Subsidising Big Coal: Handouts to Australia’s biggest coal mining companies through the Fuel Tax Credits Scheme. The Government hands out around $6 billion dollars in fuel tax subsidies every year to a wide range of industries through the Fuel Tax Credits Scheme. Despite only making 1 per cent of claims, the mining industry received 40 per cent of the total amount of fuel tax credits claimed in 2012-13. The biggest average claims in the mining industry are made by the coal miners. This report makes a preliminary estimate of the amount of fuel tax credits claimed by the biggest coal mining companies in Australia. Read More here

PLEA Network

24 April 2015, SMH: Metgasco wants police help for gas drilling at Bentley after court victory. Energy company Metgasco says it will need police to escort gas drilling equipment onto its site on the NSW north coast following a court victory overturning a suspension imposed on it by the state government. Chief executive Peter Henderson said protesters would return to the site at Bentley once the company seeks to start drilling in about three months’ time. “When we drill now we know there are going to be protesters and we will need police in there to uphold our rights,” he said. “Otherwise NSW will be the state of anarchy…..” Read More here

 

PLEA Network

April 2015   A Climate Institute Briefing Note: Updates global climate action where the US lays its cards on the table but what of Australia? The Climate Institute states “Countries that formalised their initial post-2020 emission reduction offers over the last month included the United States, the world’s biggest economy. Others ramped up their domestic climate action, with China’s clamp down on coal use among the key headlines…..”  Read More: CI Research Briefing Note