All environment activists , last chance to add your opposition to the Narrabri Gas Project - please lodge a written submission with the IPC by 5pm, Monday 10 August.
Online assistance can be found at https://www.lockthegate.org.au/csg_around_narrabri. There are plenty of details and comment published, including most recent fossil fool bulletins, 21st  and 28th July 2020.

Transcripts of the recent public hearings are available. There is plenty of evidence that this project is a money extraction operation for the proponents, including our Australia coal and gas oligarchy, with their "limited-liability". It is a high risk project for everyone else. Our civilization has a regressive fixation on "old energy", supported by corporations and governments. We have run out of easy fossil fuel resources. The proponents are into cooking their books, and the global climate. Now even the banks that lend out the money must be starting to feel the fossil fuelled heat.

How fossil fuel industry fraud is setting us up for a climate and financial implosion. Professional fraud investigation report - "Exposing a ticking time bomb". This is specifically a USA report, and the USA is in several ways a global center of fossil fuel fraud. Australian government members are peripheral easy marks.

Misleading statements and omissions by Exxon about climate risk that we find are pervasive in the industry.

Widespread climate change denial indicates it's the money, stupid, with a dash of social class conformity.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his social position (and political job) depends upon his not understanding it! - Upton Sinclair almost had it right.

Of course we have all been seduced by the temporary lifestyles and consumption power of gods that the global fossil fuel boom has enabled. Everyone of us has suspended our disbelief, with our brains flooded with supra-natural temptations of modern cargoism. Fossil fuels, through global heating, and their impermanence, are discovered to be a Faustian bargain, with inescapable consequence at the end.

The end is happening now. Australian governments still show no political choice other than their stance of following the lead of fossil fools with institutional denial. We are still in the thrall of several decades of listening to the sweet words of mining lobbyists, while building a mountain of guilt and accumulated legal liability. Present government members selected and filtered through our fossil fuel political styled systems are incapable of admitting complicity. This must be so convenient for Fossil Fuel corporations.

From the efforts of hundreds of participants at the "2020 National Bushfire and Climate Summit", 165 recommendations. Some of them need real government funding. There is only one way that this could done with some climate justice.

To meet the increasing costs of climate-fuelled disasters, Australia must create a national climate disaster fund to raise money through a levy on fossil fuel producers, as current funding arrangements are administratively complex and demonstrably insufficient.

This article by Latnam & Wilson, states that a Masters thesis in Chinese exists, was translated, that records how in 2012, 6 miners had severe viral lung infections, from 2 weeks regular exposure to bat faeces in a mine in Yunnan province of China. Three of the miners died. Survivors had a prolonged illness of months, with intensive care. Researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), took bat faecal samples soon after from the same site. Among them was a betacoronavirus sequence, labelled RaTG13, that is the closest genetic match to CORVID-19 (3.8% difference). This is big evolutionary gap, but the authors say that prolonged residence in one human body during a 2 - 3 months infection of lung tissues, could be all that was necessary to cause a rapid evolution. Viruses undergo a rapid evolution when first introduced into a new biological and immune system environment, because of higher selection pressure.

During the miners hospitalisation, many samples were taken and sent to the WIV. These may have been frozen and stored until the WIV facilities were enhanced and certified to higher standards in 2018. Various handling, sequencing, and cell-line transmission experiments are likely to have been done since. Evidence exists that containment in all such virology Institutes is an imperfect and risky business. Despite all precautions, an already human pre-adapted virus, derived from those previous recorded human infections, could have escaped. The CORVID-19 virus has barely changed since its first pandemic samples, which indicates it was already fully adapted to humans, requiring no further evolution.

The authors call this COVID-19 origin hypothesis,  the Mojiang Miners Passage (MMP) hypothesis. If correct, it is possible that a viral pandemic can happen, from the likes of RaTG13, after a prolonged infection in just one human being. The CORVID-19 pandemic started up in fully finished form, in Wuhan in close vicinity of the WIV.  This makes a strong case that any and all unpublished records from WIV activities on these related viruses should be not be withheld.

A strong low pressure system with heavy swells on the NSW coast has caused large amounts of beach front erosion, worst ever at Wamberal Beach.  Local residents complain that the local council has sat on its hands, and also sat on the home owners hands, for decades doing nothing about this impending fate.

On the global climate science front, the West Antarctic Thwaites Glacier is under-assault from warmer sea waters.  Its collapse time is getting nearer. When this happens, it will cause about half a metre of sea level rise.

Most of the countries that have implemented carbon pricing since 2007 have achieved overall reduction in CO2 emssions, according to econometric data, published in this study. 

We find evidence that the average annual growth rate of CO2 emissions from fuel combustion has been around 2 percentage points lower in countries that have had a carbon price compared to countries without. 

-- from Carbon Pricing Efficacy: Cross-Country Evidence

Not bad, but more effort is required. Sadly only 43 of 142 countries in the study had some form of carbon price as defined by this study. Overall carbon emissions still growing from the other 99.

The Independent Planning Commission is scheduled to hear public submissions on the Narrabri Gas Project. Speaker registration has already closed, and they have been numerous, and these will take all week, from five days from July 20 to July 24th, 2020. Written submissions are still being accepted, for about a week afterwards. It is good that the NSW state government has appointed a few commissioners, that seem well qualified for this task. Five days is a long time for a strenuous public hearing of all views, in front of the public. It will be video-streamed. It will seem like a long deliberative trial, only there is no random selected jury.  All sorts of persons will have a lot to say, with some repetition, especially the public, and public organisations on behalf of nature. Below are links to watch or send a submission.

BINOY KAMPMARK writes about the Australian Government harsh repression of journalistic exposure of some of their more shameful acts of State Government policy. Meanwhile, Australia continues to participate in the USA's ongoing Afghanistan War Lies. Now with a new $270 billion dollars for new defence hardware scams, which cannot keep up with all the lies, which won't protect anyone from a climate devastated future.

Attorney-General Christian Porter insists on prosecuting former ASIS officer Witness K and his lawyer, Bernard Collaery, for daring to shame Australian government by exposing a blatant intentional wrong against a friendly country. And of course Australia's old partner in Crimes of Imperialism, United Kingdom is being by allowed by federal ALP and LNP parties to torture Julian Assange unto death by prosecution or extradition, which ever comes first. Prosecution of journalists demonstrates the continued desire of States to commit further heinous crimes.  States prove their own guilt by tossing the messengers into goal. Crimes of individuals are overpowered by ongoing crimes of nation - states, for which there are no laws, police, or prosecution, for the acts of  fossil-fool, stupid-wealth-crazy political classes.

There is a growing record - sized petition, and email campaign, against both Australian and UK state institutions, to do something about the log jams in their eyes. ( https://www.assangecampaign.org.au/ )

The collapse of the coal industry in the USA is leaving behind a mess of mining damage without even the legislated promised funds to attempt some form of rehabilitation. Insurance backers are likened to a collapsing house of cards.

The head of Australia's consumer watchdog has slammed the gas industry, accusing it of misleading governments into approving massive gas export projects that have led to soaring power prices, killing off companies and jobs.

He said the Federal Government should be "a bit sceptical" about what companies said."Often self-interest dominates what companies tell governments," Mr Sims said.

"A lot of scepticism" could happen if both big parties didn't take large donations from mining corporations. ALP and LNP are too easily persuaded by lobbyists from foreign corporate wealth looters, for which our government hands over large investment and operational subsidies, and rubber stamp "approval status" for financial backing. Australia receives little back in taxes on profit, because costs of energy extraction are high, and global prices are low. Australia gets ruined land and water in return. The world gets global heating.

That is with continued business as usual, at the rate of destruction of ecosystem habitats still happening. No one set out to systemically target Koala habitats. They just set out to keep making money by selling products made from chewed up native forests. Agricultural clearing, drought and bushfires and global heating have changed entire systems. Some species will never return to the same places, as they fail to tolerate growing extremes of heat and variable rainfall. Ecosystems evolve, and diversify locally. They are not planted for our convenience. If koala habitats are going fast, si are many other less  less iconic species. They will also be going away forever, along with the possibility of co-evolving for a long time. Even Australian's thin soils need time to be replaced on our ancient continental island.

Robert Hunziker writes again on our global multiple screaming ecosystem alarm bells, while our Industrial Civilisation sticks its collective heads deeper into the sands of denial. Some leaders are even using our intrinsic denial to counter the facts of our corona virus pandemic.  This cause an uncertain temporary dip effect on our global population growth, and ecosystem impacts. Our rebound of population growth and ecosystem exploitation is still to be feared.

... whilst climate change disrupts ecosystems on the fringes of civilization, [industrial] society comfortably exists in artificial complexities of cement, steel, glass, and wood within a vast chemically induced world that only recognizes the danger of collapsing ecosystems after it’s too late. Then, it is too late!

To the most hostile and fearful politicians of Australia,

The targeting of Mr Moselmane by police raids, for having expressed China appreciation sentiments, has been timed perfectly just before peak pre-poll voting period for the tight Eden-Monaro by-election. The media mud is likely to stick a while longer after failure of the spooks to disprove innocence, whilst the perpetrators will never be accused of lack of national security vigilance

From the SMH article. 

The state government is banking on global coal demand defying the Paris climate goals of slashing carbon emissions, predicting instead only a marginal cut in consumption of the fossil fuel by mid-century.
According to the government's new Strategic Statement on Coal Exploration and Mining, to be released on Wednesday, the appetite for thermal coal burnt in power stations will only ease about one-tenth from just over 1 billion tonnes a year to about 900 million by 2050.

Deputy Premier and resources minister John Barilaro said the resilience of the coal industry has "never been more important" given the state's need to bounce back from drought, bushfires and now the COVID-19 crisis.

So the thought that carrying on with business as usual, exporting as much coal as usual, will put an end to all our pretensions of industrial civilisation, has never stuck in the minds of our Coal-Politician government. To them, the resilience of the coal industry has "never been more important", to the detriment of everything else.  The good news is that more policies of this kind will ensure that "forever" will be a much shorter time, and a bigger waste. Unfortunately the wealthy political class are in a state of wishful dreaming. The more we struggle to achieve growth and prosperity, the less prosperity and usable planet there is per person, excepting for those few in the self-important Ownership class of course, until just before the final collapse. The rate of rise in energy cost of Energy, is dependent on how fast we are using it up. The faster we go, the greater we exceed the waste processing speed limits that Nature has set down for us. De-growth which amounts to energy usage reduction and rationing is finally self-imposed upon us.

Apologies to Alfred Tennyson "The Charge of the Light Brigade".

Record prolonged summer temperatures around the Arctic circle are melting the ground permafrost that lies below most of Siberia's infrastructure. ABC radio national inteviewed Samantha Burgess, from the Copernicus Climate Change Service in the UK. She emphasized that our climate predicament is dire, and we are really doing almost nothing about it, compared to actual mitigation requirements. We need to rapidly abandon our greenhouse gas emitting lifestyles. 

Verkhoyansk is in north-east Russia, has a new record maximum of + 38°C. It holds a global records for measured widest temperature range on Earth. Verkhoyansk winter temperatures fall towards -50°C. It is all about location, which is inland, with extreme seasonal variation of day length above the Arctic Circle. Even so, this new record is +17°C above the expected average temperature.  Siberia's forests are again burning from wildfires, one of several global heating positive feedbacks that likely to be getting worse, put on top of our own record accumulation of hydrosphere carbon-dioxide.  Our global weather systems are complex. Earth's weather systems have more heat energy to be redistributed. Our global heating changes are causing multiple systems-wide effects. 

Australia's next fire season will again be a new incremental roaster.

Published July 2019. Indicates that renewable energy investment is the only way now possible to get a reasonable return on investment of fossil fuels. Already beset by rising extraction costs and diminishing energy return,  price crashes, and drop in global affordability, fossil fuels look like they will soon not be able to pay for themselves. Global economic slowdowns due to corona virus, threaten the very large debt bubble that was propping up much fossil fuel extraction operations.

Summary :  Researchers have calculated the EROI for fossil fuels over a 16 year period and found that at the finished fuel stage, the ratios are much closer to those of renewable energy sources -- roughly 6:1, and potentially as low as 3:1 in the case of electricity.

Link was found in the article "Europe must prepare for life after oil" by Nafeez Ahmed.

Link to ACF petition, and campaign to push politicians for Australia to get off its coal addiction, and massively increase investment in renewable energy. 
Watch the video , or read this "The Conversation" article  to see why.

Thank you to the insurance companies Liberty Mutual and HDI/Talanx. News by email was read today, 12th June 2020, that "Liberty Mutual" has categorically ruled out further insurance of Adani's coal project in Queensland. HDI/Talanx sent "Market Forces" at letter stating that they had "terminated the insurance cover for this project" and "have even excluded the Carmichael project from insurance coverage for significant suppliers." Thank you to many activists that supplied the ongoing social pressure who are still campaigning hard.

Now all we need is the Gas and Coal coalitions of conniving politicians in the Australian Federal Government, and State governments to be denied reserve bank and global finance and bonds for funding for their reckless promotions of new coal and gas projects in Australia. They are meeting and plotting with their culpable lobbyists everyday in the halls and desktops of money and power. The economic downtown has been deemed the perfect time for emergency powers and corporate ambush of democracy. Coalitions of conniving political units powered by fossil fuelled wealth are still plotting systemic ecosystems destruction. We need a loud and commensurate opposition, not a bunch of willing political collaborators.

Growth of large scale coal mining, and all fossil fuel powered economic development, is incompatible with global heating mitigation, as greenhouse gas emissions need to be falling rapidly now.  No more to "OLD ENERGY".

Queensland now has "human rights" legislation. It remains to be seen how this legislation stands up in court against the huge money weight of vested interests.

Thank you to these young Queenslanders who are taking on Clive Palmers coal company

In a landmark case, 25 young people aged 13 to 30 are mounting a legal challenge to the massive, Clive Palmer-owned Galilee Basin coal project. This will be the first time human rights arguments are used in a climate change case in Australia.
Palmer’s proposed Waratah Coal mine in the Galilee Basin will dwarf Adani’s operation, extracting four times as much coal per year.

With Morrison now pursuing bilateral agreements with the states to open up more gas reserves, it is vitally important to interrogate the logic of gas as a transition fuel.
. . . in the 30-odd years since gas was first talked up as a transition fuel, humans have added more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere than they did in all of human history before that point. We are twice as far from stable global temperatures now as we were when the the concept of a transition fuel was born, and emissions are accelerating in the wrong direction.