Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is over 80 times more powerful than C02 at trapping heat over a 20-year period. The gas industry promotes gas as being natural and clean, and people might easily forget that gas is a fossil fuel.
Evidence in a report by the International Energy Agency confirms that methane abatement is the fastest, cheapest, and most immediately available way to slow climate heating in this decade, delivering short-term progress whilst other longer-term climate threats continue to be addressed. (International Energy Agency)
Pretence by government and industry that Australia’s contribution to global warming is small and being addressed by the slow and difficult switch to renewables is profoundly dishonest. While governments spruik Australia as a future ‘renewable energy superpower’, they keep approving new coal and gas projects as if the laws of physics don’t apply to Australia. (The Australia Institute)
Santos media blitz for Narrabri gas backfires
The cover up of a leak in Santos’ massive gas tank in Darwin scuttled a foreign takeover by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. Since then, Santos has been scrambling to redirect attention from that 20-year methane leak to “news” that the Narrabri Council has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the domestic supply of gas from their Narrabri Gas Project in north-west NSW.
This follows the signing by Santos of three MOUs with various companies in May 2019, but six years later Santos has not made a final investment decision on this controversial project.
Last week, NSW Premier Chris Minns and South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas both backed the Narrabri gas project at The Australian’s Energy Nation Forum. (news.com.au)
However, Traditional Owners have slammed the State Premiers for what they call a ‘disgraceful’ call to push ahead with the Santos Gas Project. Gomeroi Traditional Owners have been fighting the Project for more than a decade, with court proceedings ongoing. (ABC News)
Unions have rejected Minns’ stance on Narrabri Gas Project, calling it “a staggering contempt for the Indigenous and broader Narrabri community” in an escalation of tension between NSW Unions and the State Government. (Maritime Union of Australia)
Meanwhile the building of the pipeline to the east coast, a condition of approval, has been delayed. Landowners are not giving Santos access to their properties due to the gas company’s record of non-compliance and their bullying behaviour. Insurance companies have also refused to insure properties with gas infrastructure. (Morgan English Commercial Lawyers)
Gas market analysts refute the case for Narrabri gas as the solution to eastern Australia’s gas supply, arguing that the gas supplied will be expensive and might indeed contribute to greater gas exports from Australia. (Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis IEEFA)