Great Barrier Reef at Risk
Unit 3: Energy and the Greenhouse Effect Tagged carbon-trading, climate change, emissions, energy, greenhouse gas, power July 5th, 2008
Professor Ross Garnaut has warned that the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu’s wetland system and the Murray-Darling Basin are all at risk from the warmer, drier temperatures and rising sea-levels caused by climate change. Professor Garnaut released his draft review of the social and economic effects of a carbon emissions scheme yesterday. “The risk can be substantially reduced by strong and early action by all major ecomonies”, he said in a speech to the National Press Club.
On the same day, Origin Energy has finally committed to building a $640 million gas-fired power plant at Mortlake. The 1,000 MW facility will be built in stages and, when completed, will produce enough electricity to power up to 1.5 million homes. Energy and Resources Minister, Peter Batchelor, claims that the gas-fired plant will emit 70% less greenhouse gases than a brown coal fired plant.
