Renewable energy laws pass Australia's parliament

Rob Taylor, Reuters 19 Aug 09;

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia's government struck agreement with opponents on Wednesday for 20 percent of the country's energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, unlocking a $22 billion investment rush and reviving hopes of a later emissions trade deal.

In a peace offering in its row with the government over climate-change policy, the conservative opposition controlling the largest Senate vote bloc said it had reached agreement with Climate Minister Penny Wong after days of negotiations.

"Today's decision is a victory for common sense, it's a victory for the environment and it's a victory for renewable energy," conservative environment spokesman Greg Hunt told reporters after striking the deal.

While the Senate will not formally vote until Thursday on the deal, the agreement raised hopes of a follow-on in November when controversial emissions trade laws will return to parliament, where they were rejected by the Senate last week.

"I urge those opposite who have become supporters of renewable energy in recent times to join the bigger fight, the bigger fight against climate change, and I urge them to support when the government next presents the carbon pollution reduction scheme," Wong told senators.

The conservatives joined with Greens and independent senators to block the emissions trade scheme, which aims to cut carbon emissions by between 5 and 25 percent by 2020, warning of its impact on jobs, the economy and the environment.

Rudd could have the option of calling a snap election if the Senate rejects the emissions laws a second time..

Kim Beazley, a long-time former leader of Rudd's center-left Labor in opposition, said earlier on Wednesday that he had no doubt an early poll was in the offing if the emissions impasse continued ahead of scheduled elections late next year.

"Kevin Rudd does not want an early election. I think at the end of the day he'll have to have one," Beazley told local television.

20 PERCENT OF ENERGY

The renewable laws will come into effect on January 1 next year and target production of 45,000 gigawatt hours of clean energy, or 20 percent of Australian energy, over the next decade. Electricity retailers will have to offer renewable power.

The target matches one set by the European Union two years ago and which the European Commission hopes will create 2.8 million new jobs and boost European GDP.

Renewable wind, solar, hydro and geothermal energy currently account for only 5 percent of Australian power consumption. Clean energy firms estimated renewable target delays were costing A$2 million $1.65 million) a week due to stalled investment.

Companies with exposure to wind projects include Transfield Services Infrastructure and Viridis Clean Energy, while AGL Energy and Orgin Energy have prioritized renewable energy.

Wong announced compensation for electricity intensive exporters, such as aluminum smelters Alcoa Inc., Alumina Ltd and Hydro Aluminum, and said emissions scheme buffers would be copied to renewables.

The interim arrangements would cover industries until the more controversial carbon emissions trade laws, and associated compensation schemes, were passed or rejected by the parliament sometime after November 16.

Hunt said the conservatives agreed to the renewable laws after extracting more effective compensation promises for the aluminum, silicon and newsprint industries, as well as a lifeline for food processors previously left out of assistance.

They also convinced the government to classify coal seam methane gas -- a coal mining waste product -- as a renewable energy source in a transitional measure that Wong said would not count toward the 20 percent renewable target.

"Even the Mad Hatter could never have imagined a world in which fossil fuels are actually renewable energy sources," environment group Greenpeace said of the methane inclusion.

Green senators controlling five key swing votes failed with a bid to have the planned 20 percent target lifted to 30 percent, outnumbered by the government-opposition alliance.

"It's a sad day when what should have been a celebration for renewable energy in Australia turns into another field day for polluters," Greens Deputy Leader Christine Milne said.

($1=1.210 Australian Dollars)

(Editing by Bill Tarrant )

Australia targets 20% renewable energy by 2020
Yahoo News 20 Aug 09;

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia on Thursday passed a clean energy law requiring the country to produce 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020 in move that could draw billions of dollars of green investment.

The Australian senate passed the government-sponsored bill just days after parliament rejected further-reaching but controversial legislation aimed at slashing carbon emissions.

"This is an extremely important achievement and it is one of the key institutional changes in the battle that the government is undertaking to deal with climate change," said Greg Combet, deputy minister for climate change.

"The passage of the legislation will help unlock investment in renewable energy generation and of course in jobs associated with those industries in areas like solar and wind power, amongst others," Combet told parliament.

Electricity companies will now be forced to buy a portion of their power from renewable sources under the laws, which passed without opposition after being split from the controversial emissions trading bill on Sunday.

Origin Energy, Australia's largest green energy provider, welcomed the renewable energy laws but said they were a poor second to the tougher carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS) proposed under the emissions bill.

"In the longer term, the CPRS is the lowest cost way to drive investment in cleaner technologies," said Origin executive general manager Carl McCamish.

"We encourage all political parties to negotiate a workable agreement to ensure that the CPRS is passed as soon as possible."

Combet warned that without the CPRS emissions would be 20 percent higher in 2020 than they were in 2000.

"It is the principal mechanism by which we will go ahead to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in this country and play a constructive role in international negotiations over climate change," he said.

The conservative opposition joined forces with the Greens and independents in the senate earlier this week to reject the combined renewables-emissions bill, which aims to cut carbon pollution by five to 25 percent by 2020.

The Greens supported the separate renewable energy plan despite failing in a bid to have the target lifted from 20 to 30 percent.

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Germany wants a million electric cars by 2020

Aurelia End Yahoo News 19 Aug 09;

BERLIN (AFP) – The German government unveiled plans Wednesday to get one million electric cars zipping around the country by 2020, offering sweeteners to jump-start national giants like BMW and Volkswagen into action.

"It is the federal government's aim that by 2020, there will be a million electric cars on Germany's streets," said Berlin's "national electro-mobility plan" which was approved by the cabinet.

"In 2030, this could be over five million. By 2050, traffic in towns and cities could be predominantly without fossil fuels," the proposals added.

Berlin plans to spark development in electric cars by offering incentives for research in area such as batteries and recharging systems, as it battles to catch up with Asian firms which have zoomed ahead of their German rivals.

"We are very confident that we in Germany can provide enough of an impulse to compete with the United States and Asia," Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee told reporters.

"The Japanese are strong in hybrid technology but ... the big markets in Europe, the United States and Asia are still open," he added.

He said the goal of the plan was to "bring electro-mobility as quickly as possible into everyday life."

The plan added that Berlin is "examining an incentive programme for the purchase of 100,000 electric cars," but it nevertheless drew fire from green groups.

Environmentalists had called for a subsidy of around 5,000 euros (7,050 dollars) for consumers to buy electric cars along the lines of Berlin's five-billion-euro "cash-for-clunkers" scheme to support the traditional auto industry rolled out in January.

"The government has introduced a subsidy to sell an old technology but has not put in place incentives to buy the new electric vehicles," Renate Kuenast, parliamentary group leader of the Green Party, told the Weser-Kurier regional daily.

The motorists club of Germany (VCD) was also sharply critical of the proposals. "Electric cars are not going to save the climate in the foreseeable future," the group said in a statement.

"The government says there could be a million electric cars on the road by 2020, but this is in comparison to 50 million petrol and diesel vehicles," said Werner Korn from the VCD.

However, the German Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), welcomed the plans, describing them as a "milestone towards improving the sustainability of road traffic."

German luxury car maker BMW has already teamed up with auto parts maker Bosch and its Korean partner Samsung to supply lithium-ion batteries for a future electric city car.

Volkswagen hopes to turn out its first all-electric car in 2013, VW head Martin Winterkorn said in July.

Meanwhile, Daimler launched its first hybrid model earlier in June, almost 10 years after the market leader, Japan's Toyota.

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Toyota to raise output, buy batteries from Sanyo

Yahoo News 19 Aug 09;

TOKYO (AFP) – Toyota Motor has raised its production target for this year and plans to start buying batteries from Sanyo Electric to meet brisk demand for its hybrid vehicles, reports said Wednesday.

The world's largest automaker now aims to produce 5.95 million Toyota-brand vehicles in 2009, up from a previous goal of 5.8 million, the Nikkei business daily and other media reported without naming their sources.

Toyota is enjoying brisk demand for its remodelled Prius, which has been Japan's top-selling car in recent months as government incentives spur strong demand for fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Japanese giant will buy some 10,000 lithium-ion batteries a year from Sanyo from 2011 because its battery joint venture with Panasonic is having difficulty keeping up with strong demand, the Nikkei said.

Sanyo -- which is being bought by Panasonic -- now supplies nickel-metal hydride batteries to Honda Motor and US auto giant Ford. It also plans to supply lithium-ion batteries to Germany's Volkswagen.

A Toyota spokesman declined to comment on the reports, which sent Sanyo shares soaring more than 10 percent to 247 yen, while Toyota shares gained 0.2 percent to 4,050 yen, outperforming the wider market.

Toyota, which overtook US rival General Motors in 2008 as the world number one, has idled plants and slashed thousands of jobs as it tries to recover from its first annual loss in the year to March 2009.

Earlier this year it appointed Akio Toyoda as its new president, turning to the grandson of its founder to rescue it from its biggest ever crisis.

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Mercury-tainted fish found widely in U.S. streams

Steve Gorman, Yahoo News 19 Aug 09;

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Scientists have detected mercury contamination in every one of hundreds of fish sampled from 291 freshwater streams, according to a U.S. government study released on Wednesday.

More than a quarter of those fish contained concentrations of mercury exceeding levels set by the Environmental Protection Agency for the protection of people who eat average amounts of fish, the U.S. Geological Survey report said.

More than two-thirds exceeded the EPA-set level of concern for fish-eating mammals.

"This study shows just how widespread mercury pollution has become in our air, watersheds, and many of our fish in freshwater streams," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. The USGS is part of the Interior Department.

The neurotoxin enters the environment chiefly as an air pollutant spewed into the atmosphere by industrial emissions, then falls back to the surface in precipitation and particulate matter carried over long distances.

The main source of atmospheric mercury, according to the EPA, is coal-fired power plants.

Conducted from 1998 through 2005, the USGS study is the first comprehensive survey of mercury contamination in the water, sediments and fish of rivers and creeks throughout the United States.

Most previous studies have focused on lakes, reservoirs and wetlands. Mercury contamination in ocean species such as tuna has also received widespread attention.

'BLACKWATER STREAMS'

Some of the highest levels of mercury in the latest study were found in the coastal "blackwater" streams of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana -- relatively undeveloped areas marked by abundant pine forests and wooded wetlands.

USGS hydrologist Barbara Scudder said those characteristics somehow enhance the conversion of mercury from its inorganic form in the atmosphere to a more toxic organic form, methylmercury, which accounts for at least 95 percent of the mercury found in fish.

"Just as there are members of the human population, such as children and developing babies, that are sensitive to the mercury that they get, there are some ecosystems that are also more susceptible to producing methylmercury," she said.

High concentrations also were found in some streams in the West fed by areas where mining had taken place, Scudder said.

As with many pollutants, mercury concentrates as it moves up the food chain, from algae, to insects to small fish and larger predators. The main source of mercury poisoning in humans is from eating fish and shellfish.

Scudder said researchers typically sampled about five fish from each of the 291 streams surveyed. They focused on bigger species such as largemouth bass because they are at the top of the in-stream food chain.

She suggested that people concerned about mercury contamination in stream-caught fish should eat more of the smaller pan species, such as perch, bluegill or crappie.

The EPA said this year that it intends to issue new rules under the Clean Air Act to control air emissions of mercury from coal-fired power plants.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

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Cyclone damage to the Great Barrier Reef 'a warning on climate'

Sydney Morning Herald 20 Aug 09;

It could take 15 years for a quarter of the Great Barrier Reef to recover from the effects of Cyclone Hamish which tracked along the Queensland coast in March, researchers say.

Cyclone Hamish was part of a "triple whammy" - stifling heat, heavy rainfall and destructive winds - to the reef and a foretaste of the possible effects of climate change, scientists say.

The severe tropical cyclone, responsible for the ship Pacific Adventurer spilling oil along southeast Queensland beaches, has caused far more widespread damage, it has emerged.

Bureau of Meteorology reef weather stations recorded wind speeds of over 200km per hour as the eye of the cyclone passed over about a quarter of the length of the reef.

Preliminary results of research by scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) will be released on Thursday, a statement from the organisation said.

"Most cyclones track fairly directly from the Coral Sea to the coast and so only relatively small areas of the Great Barrier Reef are affected," the statement said.

"By running parallel to the coast for about 500km, Hamish damaged much more of the (reef) than most recent cyclones."

AIMS scientist Dr Ray Berkelmans said the damage was patchy.

"Reefs within 30km of the cyclone eye sustained most damage, with around half of the 500 reefs in this area exposed to destructive waves and suffering significant damage," he said.

Based on past experience with similar reefs, the researchers estimate that coral should recover in eight to 15 years, if there are no further major disturbances such as cyclones, coral bleaching or declines in water quality that might reduce the resilience of these reefs.

Dr David Wachenfeld of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said the summer of extreme weather brought a triple whammy of pressures to the Great Barrier Reef and was a stark reminder of the potential impacts of climate change.

"We saw stifling heat, heavy rainfall causing significant flooding, and destructive winds from cyclone Hamish, all compounding to have a hard hitting impact on the Great Barrier Reef," Dr Wachenfeld said.

"The research results from the AIMS surveys continue to remind us of the remarkable nature of this extraordinary ecosystem and the importance of ensuring that it is as healthy as possible to withstand the impacts of more extreme weather events in the future."

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El Nino climate pattern to last into 2010

Yahoo News 19 Aug 09;

GENEVA (AFP) – The World Meteorological Organisation said on Wednesday that an El Nino current now in the Pacific Ocean would probably last into 2010, promising unpredictable disruption to weather around the globe.

In June and July, sea surface temperatures in the eastern equatorial Pacific area were about 0.5 to one degree Celsius warmer than usual at this time of the year, the WMO said in an update on the climate pattern.

"The expectation is for El Nino conditions to very likely prevail through the remainder of 2009 and into the first quarter of 2010," it added.

El Nino is an occasional seasonal warming of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean that upsets normal weather patterns from the western seaboard of Latin America to east Africa, and potentially has a global impact on climate.

"El Nino, which is established right now, is associated with weaker monsoons and also weaker cyclone (hurricane) season in the North Atlantic," WMO scientist Rupa Kumar Kolli told journalists.

"We are already aware that South Asia is under a grip of an intense drought because of the very weak monsoon actuivity," he added.

In the past, El Nino has also been associated with drought in Australia and Indonesia, storms in the western Pacific islands, and extremely heavy rainfall in East Africa, at different times of the year.

However, while its impact on winds and rainfall in the more immediate region around the Pacific coasts of Latin America and Asia is better known, scientists say its broader impact is less easy to judge.

Kolli pointed to the size of the Pacific as the largest ocean basin on the planet, where El Nino produced "large scale atmospheric patterns."

That would in turn produce "significant regional climate impacts ... around the world," he added.

However, Kolli cautioned that those more distant effects also depended on other local climatic conditions.

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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Aug 09

Photos from the pre-National Day cleanup @ LCK mangrove
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore and Site Buddy and Newbie Briefing Session 2009

Singapore and marine litter: Coastal Cleanup Sep 09
from wild shores of singapore and fishing nets hurt sea turtles

Close encounters at midnight, Tanah Merah
from wild shores of singapore and singapore nature and colourful clouds

Banded Woodpecker picking ants
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Where Does Attap Chee Come From?
from Life's Indulgences

Prof Leo Tan on "Confessions of a Nature Addict"
from wild shores of singapore

New Book: Decapod Crustacean Phylogenetics
from The Biodiversity crew @ NUS

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New interactive Singapore map to be available soon

Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times 19 Aug 09;

FANS of the outdoors will be able to find campsites, walking trails and barbecue pits on a new interactive map being developed here - and immediately book them if they are available too.

The Singapore Land Authority's (SLA) new intelligent map service, expected to be up in the next few months, as well as a $27 million investment to improve the accuracy and distribution of the geospatial data being collected by the Government, were both announced yesterday.

The SG-Space (Singapore Geospatial Collaborative Environment), project will be developed over the next five years and eventually offer authorised users all kinds of geographical information, from real-time traffic conditions and the location of underground utility pipes to places of interest.

Geospatial information has become a part of our daily lives, said Senior Minister of State (Law and Home Affairs) Ho Peng Kee at the Map Asia conference yesterday.

'In the morning before leaving for work, some of us check our mobile phones for the day's weather forecast. We listen to the radio for traffic updates to ensure a smooth journey to the office. At noon, some use Google Earth to locate a restaurant that they want to patronise. And in the evening, we navigate to a popular nightspot using our on-board car navigation system,' said Associate Professor Ho, the guest of honour at the event.

While more than two dozen government agencies, from the Singapore Land Authority to the Housing and Development Board, collect and use geospatial data, not all of this data is in the same format, scale or digital quality.

Thus the need for 'a coordinated effort to better govern the collection, storage, dissemination and use of geospatial information across all government agencies', added Prof Ho.

This will give users accurate and inter-operable data, all easily accessible using a Web browser and with all kinds of sorting and analytical tools for the user to find exactly what he wants, said SLA chief executive Vincent Hoong.

Currently, such information is not integrated and users may have to go to different agencies to call up multiple blueprints, maps or services.

Because of the sensitivity of some of the data collected, access will be limited to government agencies to start with, with the less sensitive areas being made available to businesses and consumers over time.

This will allow commercial entities to develop more applications and grow the geospatial industry here, providing more jobs for those with skills in this area, said Mr Hoong.

The three-day event at the Suntec Convention Centre, the first time the eight-year-old event has been held in Singapore, attracted about 800 participants and exhibitors from about 30 countries.

SG-Space to be a one-stop data exchange platform
Today Online 19 Aug 09;

A SUPER-ACCURATE interactive map of Singapore is in the making, thanks to the Government earmarking $27 million - to be spent over five years - to build the infrastructure and develop the collaborative environment for the sharing of national spatial or geographic data.

A crucial component of SG-Space - the national spatial data infrastructure - is the setting up of a one-stop data exchange platform for geospatial information for government agencies. It has been spearheaded by Singapore Land Authority and the Infocomm Development Authority since last April.

SG-Space (Singapore Geospatial Collaborative Environment) will give users access to all kinds of geographical information, from weather forecasts to the movement of soil to illegal dumping.

In a survey of 65 government agencies - which will be the first authorised users - 83 per cent said they rely on spatial data within the Government to support or enhance their operations.

Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs, Ho Peng Kee, who announced the initiative at the first Map Asia conference yesterday, said it will not only benefit inter-government activities but ultimately extend to the private sector, and to the individual.

It will be a launch pad for all public agencies to build their own geospatial services using a common and consistent map, as well as the gateway for the private sector to mesh content from various sources with their own collection of geospatial information. For individuals, the map could be used for day-to-day social activities, such as guiding friends to a dinner location.

The three-day Map Asia Conference saw about 800 local and international delegates from 28 countries meet over location-based solutions for land planning, climate change, disaster management, transportation, e-city and utilities. 938LIVE

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Taiwan tanker on fire in the Straits of Malacca

Straits Times 19 Aug 09;

KUALA LUMPUR - A TANKER carrying 58,000 tonnes of naphtha was involved in a collision with a cargo ship late on Tuesday in the Strait of Malacca, leaving nine crewmen from the oil vessel missing, a Malaysian maritime official said.

Oil traders said on Wednesday the Cargill-chartered tanker, Formosaproduct Brick, was shipping the naphtha cargo from the United Arab Emirates to Daesan and Yosu in South Korea.

The origin of the naphtha was likely from Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), with whom US trading firm Cargill has a term contract to lift around 100,000 tonnes for an unspecified period, traders added.

The official from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said there was no danger of oil spill from the Liberian- registered tanker with 25 crew, which was on fire hours after the collision with the Ostende Max, a British-registered bulk carrier.

But shipping in the busy waterway was not disrupted, he added.

However, a Reuters cameraman near the scene said the fire appeared to have been put out and the tanker did not seem to be listing or at risk of sinking.

Traders said the naphtha was slated to be supplied to South Korean end users - Honam Petrochemical, LG Chem and Yeochun Naphtha Cracking Centre (YNCC).

'The barrels were meant to arrive in South Korea in second-half August, but I doubt there will be any major impact.

Inventory is not that low (in South Korea),' said a Northeast Asian trader. 'Additionally, there are still some September cargoes that traders had not sold.' Most petrochemical feedstock buyers have completed their September purchases, and are looking to replenish first-half October stocks.

'As far as we know, Cargill has not indicated what they will do next,' another trader said.

Asian naphtha supplies were tight after Europe choked off exports on refinery run cuts, and strong demand for the light fuels for petrochemical and gasoline production.

Cracks spreads - premiums or losses from refining Brent crude into naphtha - hit a near six-month high last week at US$114.85 (S$165) a tonne. But unexpected spot exports from Saudi Arabia and China helped to plug most of the void left by Europe, sending the cracks down to US$97.73 a tonne on Tuesday. -- REUTERS

Tanker Catches Fire After Colliding With Bulk Carrier Off Port Dickson
Bernama 18 Aug 09;

SEREMBAN, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- A tanker caught fire after colliding with a bulk carrier in the Melaka Strait, about 20 nautical miles off Port Dickson near here Tuesday night.

The flames could be seen from the beaches in Port Dickon and the heat from them prevented rescuers from approaching the vessel.

Port Dickson police chief Supt Mazlan Othman said the tanker was from Liberia and the bulk carrier from Britain and that each had a crew of 25.

"The crew from the tanker are safe and are on their way to shore while no one on the bulk carrier was injured," he told reporters at the Port Dickson jetty.

He added that the bulk carrier was reported to have sustained only slight damage and had continued with its journey to Singapore.

Mazlan said the tanker was still in flames and was waiting for fire-fighting boats from Port Klang to arrive.

He said the Fire and Rescue Department was notified at 9.15pm and it is believed a major oil spill had occurred.

He said police had relayed the information to the Department of Civil Aviation to warn of heavy smoke which might affect flights going to and coming from the KL International Airport.

The jetty has become a hive of activity with hordes of journalists as well as boats from the Marine Department, the police's Marine Operations Force, Fire and Rescue Department and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, which are participating in rescue and spillage containment efforts.

-- BERNAMA

Tanker Collision: Maritime Agency Activates Rescue Ops Centre
Bernama 19 Aug 09;

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has activated its search and rescue operation centre following the oil tanker-bulk carrier collision in the Strait of Melaka, off Port Dickson, last night.

MMEA public relations officer Faridah Shuib said the agency deployed its assets from Linggi, Port Klang and the Subang Air Base late last night to help put out the fire onboard the fuel tanker, MT Formosa Product Brick, and to rescue the crewmen.

"Initial reports showed that the MT Formosa Product Brick, laden with 58,000 tonnes of naftar oil (a component of crude oil) was on its way from the United Kingdom to Singapore and collided with the bulk carrier MV Ostende Max which was coming out of Port Dickson Port heading for Singapore," she said in a statement.

Faridah said the MMEA's assets involved were four speed boats and two N3 Dauphin helicopters.

The agency also coordinated assets from other agencies such as the Marine Operations Force, an aircraft from the police air wing and two more from the Port Klang Marine Department.

She said that the Malaysian navy deployed KD Jerai and KD Laksamana Hang Nadim from Lumut to assist in the operation.

A tugboat, Sam Son Mariner, is assisting the Fire and Rescue Department to put out the fire on the tanker.

"A merchant ship, Nordspring which was passing by the area had also assisted in the rescue operation," she said.

Sixteen crew members were rescued at about 3am today while nine others are still missing in the 9pm incident.

Meanwhile in PORT DICKSON, MMEA's search and rescue operation director First Maritime Admiral Tan Kok Kwee said the operation covered an area approximately 50 sq km.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, the operation, which was called off at about 4.30am, resumed at 7am today.

The MV Ostende Max, which was only slightly damaged in the incident, is now in Port Dickson for investigations.

"We are now towing the MT Formosa Product Brick which is adrift 18km from its original location and is now in Sepang waters. So far, there is no oil spill detected," he said.

Negeri Sembilan police chief Datuk Osman Salleh said police would take statements from both captains to facilitate investigations.

-- BERNAMA

Naphtha tanker burns, leaks fuel off Malaysia
Reuters 19 Aug 09;

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A tanker carrying 58,000 tons of naphtha was still burning on Wednesday, nearly 24 hours after a collision with a cargo ship in the Strait of Malacca, and had started to leak fuel, Malaysian officials said.

Officials feared the possibility of a spill of naphtha, saying firemen were cooling the ship's storage tank to prevent an explosion.

The search continued for nine of the tanker's 25-member crew. The others have been rescued.

Oil traders said the Cargill-chartered tanker, Formosaproduct Brick, was shipping the cargo of naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, from the United Arab Emirates to Daesan and Yosu in South Korea.

The origin of the naphtha was probably the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), with which U.S. trader Cargill has a term contract to lift around 100,000 tons for an unspecified period, traders added.

The police chief of Port Dickson in central Malaysia told Reuters that the Liberian-registered ship was listing but there was no immediate danger that it would sink.

"Our biggest concern now is the possibility that the cargo could spill," said Mazlan Othman.

A spokeswoman from the Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said the vessel was drifting and still ablaze, nearly 24 hours after the collision with the Ostede Max, a British- registered bulk carrier.

"The shipping lanes are not affected now because we pulled the tanker away," she told Reuters. "There is still no word about the nine crew members."

CARGO BOUND FOR S.KOREA

Traders said the naphtha was destined to be supplied to South Korean end users -- Honam Petrochemical, LG Chem and Yeochun Naphtha Cracking Center (YNCC).

"The barrels were meant to arrive in South Korea in second-half August, but I doubt there will be any major impact. Inventory is not that low (in South Korea)," said a Northeast Asian trader. "Additionally, there are still some September cargoes that traders had not sold."

Market sentiment was edgy following the collision, sending crack spreads -- premiums or losses from refining Brent crude oil into naphtha -- up by $10.67 to $108.40 a barrel on Wednesday.

But this was still lower than August 11, when cracks hit a near six-month high at $114.85 a metric ton, as unexpected spot exports from Saudi Arabia and China helped to plug most of the void left by a fall exports from Europe.

Asian naphtha supplies were tight after Europe choked off exports due to refinery run cuts and strong demand for the light fuels for petrochemical and gasoline production.

Most petrochemical feedstock buyers have completed their September purchases, and are looking to replenish first-half October stocks.

"As far as we know, Cargill has not indicated what they will do next," another trader said.

The collision occurred at 10:00 p.m. (1400 GMT) in international waters in the Malacca Straits bordering Malaysia and Indonesia, another MMEA official said, adding that the tanker was towed 33 km offshore from Port Dickson.

The MMEA spokeswoman earlier said the cargo ship was empty when it sailed from Port Dickson for Singapore at the time of the collision and the slightly damaged bulk carrier had been directed to return to the west coast Malaysian port for investigations.

(Reporting by Razak Ahmad, Yoong Chee Weng and Niluksi Koswanage; Additional reporting by Seng Li Peng and Yaw Yan Chong in Singapore; Editing by Anthony Barker)

Tanker ablaze off Port Dickson
Straits Times 20 Aug 09;

KUALA LUMPUR: A Taiwanese oil tanker carrying 58,000 tonnes of naphtha fuel was ablaze yesterday after it collided with another ship in the Strait of Malacca the night before.

Nine Chinese crew members were missing after the tanker collided with a Greek-managed bulk carrier vessel, the Ostede Max.

'The MT Formosa Product Brick is on fire and is now listing on its left side. We fear it may sink,' local marine police chief Rizal Ramli told news agency Agence France-Presse.

'The collision happened last night in clear weather off Port Dickson. We have rescued 16 crew members, mainly of Chinese nationality,' he said.

He added that two of the rescued crew were Taiwanese, and a search was being conducted for the remaining nine of the 25-man crew.

The oil tanker was heading for South Korea via Singapore when the collision occurred.

Some oil was spilt, and dozens of maritime officials in 11 boats and two helicopters were involved in battling the blaze, according to Negeri Sembilan police chief Osman Saleh.

Stricken Oil-Product Tanker Towed to Malaysian Port (Update2)
Yee Kai Pin, Bloomberg 19 Aug 09;

Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- An oil-product tanker that caught fire after colliding with a bulk carrier in the Straits of Malacca is being towed to Port Dickson, Malaysia, Bernama reported.

The Formosaproduct Brick, a 70,000-deadweight ton Liberian- flagged vessel, is carrying naphtha, a light oil product usually used as petrochemical feedstock, according to Bruce Blakeman, a spokesman in Singapore for charterer Cargill Inc. The company can’t immediately confirm who owns the cargo.

Sixteen crew members were rescued by a passing container ship after the collision late yesterday, while nine others are missing, Bernama said, citing police spokesman Mazlan Othman. The incident occurred about 20 nautical miles off Port Dickson, and no oil leaks have been sighted, the Malaysian national news agency reported.

The Malacca Strait is the shortest sea route between the Persian Gulf and Asia, with more than 50,000 vessels passing through every year, according to the U.S. Energy Department. It’s 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers) wide at its narrowest point, “creating a natural bottleneck, as well as potential for collisions, grounding, or oil spills,” the department’s Web site said.

Ship Ablaze

The ship was listing to port and was ablaze near the stern, in front of the bridge, based on an Associated Press picture published earlier today by the British Broadcasting Corp.

Cargill is seeking to establish the identity of the owners of the naphtha, Blakeman said.

“The cargo on the boat -- that’s a very complex question - - it moves through different stages at different points through the shipping” journey, he said. “The destination was South Korea and it was going to totally discharge at South Korea.”

South Korean petrochemical makers Honam Petrochemical Corp. and LG Chem Ltd. each were to receive 25,000 metric tons of naphtha from that tanker and Yeochun NCC Co. Ltd. the remaining 8,000 tons, two traders familiar with the transaction said. Calls to Honam Petrochemical, LG Chem and Yeochun NCC outside of office hours weren’t answered.

The tanker, built in 2005, is registered by a company known as Formosa Brick Marine Corp., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It has a double hull, a design meant to prevent oil leaks or flooding beyond the outer compartment.

The rescued crew members including the captain were picked up and taken to Port Dickson at 3:30 a.m. local time today, and a search for nine others resumed at 7 a.m., according to the Bernama report.

Both vessels were heading to Singapore at the time and the bulk carrier, Ostende Max, has docked at Port Dickson for investigations, Bernama said.

Fire on naphtha tanker put out
Business Times 21 Aug 09;

(KUALA LUMPUR) Malaysian authorities have put out most of the fires on a tanker carrying 58,000 tonnes of naphtha after it was involved in a collision with a cargo vessel in the Strait of Malacca, a Malaysian official said yesterday.

A Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) official said that there were still no signs of a spill of naphtha, and that search efforts were continuing for nine of the tanker's 25-member crew.

The rest were rescued by a passing vessel soon after the collision on Tuesday.

'Reports from firefighters on site as of 5.30am (2130 GMT) said most of the fires are out, so the focus now is ensuring the cargo doesn't leak,' the official told Reuters.

The official added that the ship, though listing, was not in any immediate danger of sinking.

Oil traders said that the Cargill-chartered tanker, Formosaproduct Brick, was shipping the cargo of naphtha, a petrochemical feedstock, from the United Arab Emirates to Daesan and Yosu in South Korea.

The origin of the naphtha was probably the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), with which US trader Cargill has a term contract to lift around 100,000 tonnes for an unspecified period, traders added.

The official said that a report from the tanker's captain, who was among the 16 rescued crewmen, noted the possibility that the nine missing crew did not manage to abandon ship after the collision with the Ostende Max, a British-registered bulk carrier.

Faridah Shuib, a spokeswoman for the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, said that the thick smoke may have prevented the crew from leaving the the stricken ship.

The maritime agency on Wednesday deployed seven boats to the scene, off the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, to help with the rescue after the collision two days ago. The ship can't be towed to port because of the risk to other vessels, according to Ms Faridah.

The last person to leave the vessel couldn't see anyone on board or leaping from the decks, she said.

The ship, delivered to its owner in 2005, has a double hull designed to prevent leaks or flooding beyond the outer compartment, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Straits of Malacca is part of the shortest sea route between the Persian Gulf and Asia, with more than 50,000 vessels passing through every year, according to the US Energy Department. It's 2.7km wide at its narrowest point, creating a natural bottleneck, as well as potential for collisions, grounding, or oil spills.

South Korean petrochemical makers Honam Petrochemical Corp and LG Chem Ltd were to receive 25,000 tonnes of naphtha each from the tanker and Yeochun NCC Co Ltd the remaining 8,000 tonnes, two traders familiar with the transaction said\. \-- Reuters, Bloomberg

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Protection plan deep-sea coral reefs considered

Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Yahoo News 18 Aug 09;

FIFTY MILES OFF CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Deep beneath the crystalline blue surface of the Atlantic Ocean off the southeastern U.S. lies a virtual rain forest of coral reefs so expansive the network is believed to be the world's largest.

A 23,000-square-mile area stretching from North Carolina to Florida is just part of that entire reef tract now being proposed for protection from potential damage by deep-sea commercial fishing and energy exploration.

So far, it's been relatively untouched by man because of its largely unreachable depths, providing scientists a unique opportunity to protect an ecosystem before it's destroyed.

"Most of the time, science is trying to catch up with exploitation," said Steve Ross of the Center for Marine Science at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Ross is leading a four-part research cruise that began Aug. 6 aimed at studying these deep sea environments, hoping to find new species of fish, crab and corals that could lead to scientific and medical discoveries.

Environmentalists say crab pots and bottom trawling for shrimp are the most immediate threats.

Margot Stiles, a marine scientist for Oceana, an international environmental advocacy group, said other deep water reefs off the U.S. have been severely damaged by trawlers.

"In this case, we have 23,000 square miles of known deep sea corals, and it's not too late to protect them," Stiles said. "This particular reef is to the deep sea what the Great Barrier Reef is for the world."

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is pushing the proposal to protect the region, about the size of West Virginia, in depths down to 2,500 feet and below, creating the largest deep water coral protected area off the Atlantic Coast.

Specifics on regulations and restrictions are still being reviewed, but if approved by the U.S. Commerce Secretary, the plan could take effect by next year.

"As far as we can tell, there's relatively little damage," Ross said. "That's very different from other parts of the world. In Scotland and Ireland ... there's been significant damage mostly from fishing and now those reefs are being protected."

While fishermen have for centuries dragged up corals from the deep sea, it wasn't until the early 1900s that scientists discovered these extensive cold-water reefs existed. And it wasn't until the 1970s that researchers were able to use submersibles and cameras to reach the sea floor to document them. It had long been thought coral reefs only formed in shallow, warm waters.

Deep water reefs and pinnacles are much more slow-growing and can take several million years to form. Ross said science is only now beginning to understand these underwater "frontier zones."

Out on the research ship, scientists gather corals, sponges and fish samples by sinking deep to the ocean floor in a four-man submersible about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. The team is comprised of researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Florida Atlantic University, the U.S. Geological Survey and others.

"We've barely seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of new species out here," Ross said. "We'll find out five or 10 years from now that we made an amazing discovery and we just didn't realize it ... A lot of our pharmaceuticals come from a tropical rainforest environment. The same people are looking for these in the deep sea, and there are expectations that there will be drugs made that could potentially provide cures for some types of cancer.

"There is just a great deal of concern that once these habitats are gone, the potential for realizing those discoveries are eliminated," Ross added.

The deep water reefs also are seen as indicators of the ocean's overall health; because they are so remote, it takes longer for phenomenon like climate change to affect them.

"Science is questions, it's not answers," said Liz Baird of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, cautioning that it may be years before researchers realize the full potential of the reefs.

Most in the fishing industry agree that protecting these reefs is good for business, said Steven Wilson, owner of International Oceanic Enterprises in Alabama. Wilson has been shrimping in the Atlantic for 30 years and has been working with officials preparing the protection plan.

While law enforcement says some fishermen will drop crab pots or drag nets near fragile corals to score big catches, regardless of the damage, Wilson said it's mostly accidental.

"We can't make any money trawling over coral. In fact, we lose money," he said, noting that it destroys the nets.

Woody Moore, a commercial fishermen out of Jacksonville, Fla., has been trawling for shrimp in the Atlantic for three decades and also has been helping develop the deep reef protection proposals.

Moore puts it simply: "We don't want any closures but you gotta give them something or they'll take it all. You gotta play the game."

___

On the Net:

Daily logs and information from the research cruise:

http://fl.biology.usgs.gov/DISCOVRE/cruise(underscore)plan(underscore)2009.html

http://naturalsciences.org/microsites/education/deepsea/index.html

South Atlantic Fishery Management Council: http://www.safmc.net/

Oceana: http://www.oceana.org

New Marine Protected Areas Declared in Mexico
Three new preserves will protect 795,000 acres of Mexico's oceans
The Nature Conservancy 18 Aug 09;

COZUMEL, QUINTANA ROO, MEXICO — June 2009— As part of World Environment Day celebrations hosted this year by Mexico, President Felipe Calderón announced the creation of three new marine protected areas, including Mexico’s first deep sea marine protected area. The Guaymas Basin and Eastern Pacific Rise Hydrothermal Vents Sanctuary, the Lobos-Tuxpan Reef System Flora and Fauna Protected Area, and the Whale Shark Biosphere Reserve will together help protect 795,000 acres of Mexico’s oceans.

The Guaymas Basin and Eastern Pacific Rise Hydrothermal Vents Sanctuary will actually protect 360,000 acres of benthic (deep sea) habitats around two underwater hydrothermal vent systems in the Gulf of California and in the Pacific Ocean west of the Baja California Peninsula. The sanctuary will protect the water column from the sea floor up to approximately 1,650 feet below the water’s surface, which means the fisheries industry will not be affected.

The Guaymas Basin polygon in the Gulf of California measures approximately 118,000 acres, with hydrothermal vents located at a depth of approximately 5,900 feet. The Eastern Pacific Rise polygon in the Pacific Ocean measures approximately 242,000 acres, with hydrothermal vents located at a depth of approximately 8,500 feet.

Hydrothermal vents are fissures in the Earth's crust that emit water heated from below the surface. Above ground, hydrothermal vents often take the form of hot springs and geysers, but on the ocean floor, these vents form columns of water much hotter than the surrounding ocean water. Some of these under-sea vents—known as black smokers—create black, billowing flues when the heavy concentrations of sulfur and other minerals in these super-heated jets come in contact with the cold water of deep seas. Black smokers are present in the Eastern Pacific Rise portion of the new sanctuary.

Other-worldly animal communities of giant tube worms, mollusks and crustaceans thrive on bacteria that feed on sulfur and other chemicals dissolved in the vent fluids. At least 41 species of invertebrates and two vertebrate species occur in these two new protected areas. Of these, eight are endemic to Mexican hydrothermal vents, such as the tube worm Ridgeia piscesae. These creatures represent ideal models for studying how animals adapt to extreme environments.

The Nature Conservancy’s Mexico Program—together with Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo, A.C., Guaymas Unit—provided technical support and data to Mexico’s National Protected Areas Commission in developing the justification study used in the creation of this new sanctuary.

Not only is this sanctuary a first for Mexico, but it also is a new strategy for deep-sea conservation and a successful model that can be expanded to other deep-sea habitats where fisheries interests might prevent the protection of the entire water column.

The other two marine protected areas announced by President Calderón in celebration of World Environment Day will also preserve important ocean habitats. The 75,500-acre Lobos–Tuxpan Reef System Flora and Fauna Protected Area adjacent to the state of Veracruz will protect the country’s northernmost Gulf of Mexico reefs, and the 360,000-acre Whale Shark Biosphere Reserve will shelter one of the world’s largest concentrations of whale sharks (Rhincodon typus). The Nature Conservancy supports local organizations already doing whale shark research in this zone where the nutrient-poor Caribbean Sea meets the much richer Gulf of Mexico, and data will be shared with the new park’s managers to help ensure the protection of the species.

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"Walking Wetlands" Help Rare Birds, Boost Crops

John Roach, National Geographic News 18 Aug 09;

The request struck Dave Hedlin, a farmer in Washington's fertile Skagit Valley, as particularly odd: Conservationists wanted him to voluntarily flood his fields.

"Most of us have spent our entire lifetimes trying to keep water off the land," said Hedlin, whose farmlands are nestled among inlets, bays, and estuaries in the shadow of the snowcapped Mount Baker volcano.But he decided to take part in a pilot project run by the Nature Conservancy, which temporarily floods agricultural fields to restore shorebird habitat.

The flooding would be part of his farm's regular crop rotation, and in theory would pay for itself by filling the fields with natural fertilizer, drowning disease-causing bacteria in soil, and boosting crop yields.

In turn, the wetlands would again become a rest and refueling station for migratory shorebirds between their Arctic breeding grounds and southern winter retreats.

Of the 53 shorebirds that breed in North America, more than half are at grave risk, according to the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, a program run by a coalition of public and private organizations.

After three years, early results suggest that the project is working: Fifteen shorebirds have returned to the restored wetlands.

So far, three participating farmers have been happy with the experiment, including Hedlin, who said that he has not suffered financially.

Changing Tides

Before the valley was converted to agriculture at the beginning of the 20th century, its wetlands had teemed with crustaceans, fish, and bugs.

But since the wetlands became farmlands, most of the 50,000-some birds that visit each year feed in the nearby estuaries instead.

"We've totally changed this landscape," said Julie Morse, an ecologist with the Nature Conservancy in Mount Vernon, also in the Skagit Valley.

"It used to be tidally influenced, but now it is very much a diked system, and there are just not the wetlands that there used to be."

The Skagit Valley project is modeled after a decade-old "walking wetlands" concept in the Klamath Basin of southern Oregon and northern California, where farmland within a wildlife refuge is placed on a wetland rotation.

Laura Payne, a wildlife ecologist based at the University of Washington in Seattle, called the project an innovative collaboration between farmers and conservationists.

"This idea has the potential for wide application, and I think it is absolutely relevant," Payne said.

If the project is successful, the Nature Conservancy plans to replicate the walking wetlands concept on farms throughout migratory-shorebird flyways, which extend from the Arctic to Central and South America.

(Read about more sustainable-agriculture projects here.)

"Loss of wetlands in coastal areas for farming has happened all around the world, so it could be implemented anywhere," the Nature Conservancy's Morse said.

Temporary Wetlands

The three Skagit Valley farmers, including Hedlin, who signed up to participate in the project have also helped shape it.

"They asked for advice first off, instead of telling us what they wanted to do," Hedlin said.

The team hatched a plan to flood select fields with a thin sheet of water—no more than four inches (ten centimeters) deep, an ideal level for shorebirds—for three years. The plots stayed flooded for the entire experiment.

Doing so required the farmers to build berms to prevent water from flooding their neighbors' land.

Early Results

Preliminary results of the first three years suggest a partial success.

In the first year 15 species of shorebirds used the flooded fields, and only 2 shorebird species used the grazed and greenchop fields—pointing to a possible ecological benefit of the flooded parcels.

The Nature Conservancy team has no data on how many shorebird species historically visited the wetlands, Morse said, and only about three species had been spotted after the conversion to agriculture. So the team was pleased to see 15 species return, Morse said.

But by the second year, cattails in the flooded fields were more than 15 feet (5 meters) tall, which proved too difficult for the shorebirds to navigate. That year only eight shorebird species visited the fields.

"It is pretty amazing that you let nature go and it [returns to a native state] that quickly," the Nature Conservancy's Morse said.

The conservationists are now considering plans to actively manage the flooded fields to keep them primed for shorebirds.

Financial Benefit

Farmers also saw a financial benefit: Nitrogen levels in the flooded fields increased on average by 50 pounds (23 kilograms) per acre (0.4 hectare), which means that farmers may have spent less money on fertilizer.

Hedlin, the farmer, said he used the three-year flood to transition his field to organic, as fields have to sit fallow for three years for organic certification.

"We had a positive experience and didn't go backward financially," he said.

The Nature Conservancy's Morse is now comparing how much money is gained on a grazed field versus a greenchop field versus a flooded field.

"The big thing that we are doing that they haven't done in the Klamath is really trying to quantify how much value it provides to the farmers and how much [shorebird] habitat it provides," Morse said.

"And we're comparing the ecological benefits of those three habitats as well," she added.

Links in a Chain

Mark Colwell, a wildlife biologist at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California, praised the project's innovation.

But helping migratory shorebirds bounce back is not easy, Colwell said.

Habitats such as the Skagit Valley and the Klamath Basin can be thought of as links in a chain along the migratory-shorebird flyway.

"You can do stuff at a series of links in the chain up and down the flyway, but if at one site there's a serious problem there, well, the whole population could plummet."

Nevertheless, Colwell added, enough of these projects spread out along the flyway could help birds find enough food over the courses of their annual migrations.

The University of Washington's Payne noted that migratory shorebirds are opportunistic, particularly along inland flyways where wetland conditions are unpredictable.

They know a good habitat when they see one, such as a normally dry area that floods in a particularly wet year, Payne said.

Alternative habitats such as temporarily flooded fields, she said, "suits this group of species."

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Australia's ecology in for a shock

ScienceAlert 19 Aug 09;
Australian National University

The authors of a report released today by Peter Garrett MP have warned of the dangers posed by climate change on Australia’s biodiversity and eco-systems.

The report – Australia’s Biodiversity and Climate Change: Summary for Policy Makers – was launched this morning by Mr Garrett, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts.

It was written for the Federal Government by a team of eight experts led by Professor Will Steffen, Director of the ANU Climate Change Institute and including Professor David Lindenmayer and Professor Pat Werner of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at ANU.

Professor Steffen said the report takes a comprehensive view of the future of Australia’s biodiversity under a rapidly changing climate and came to some important conclusions.

“First, with unabated climate change, the rate of extinctions will rise sharply,” he said. “We will indeed be facing an even more serious biodiversity crisis than we are today. With a worst-case scenario, our ecosystems would face a shift in climate equivalent to the transition from the last ice age to the present warm period. That transition took thousands of years; this one would occur in just 100 years.

“Second, in terms of biodiversity, climate change is operating on anything but a clean slate. We have already seen massive changes to our biotic fabric in the last 200 years. Most of the existing stressors – land fragmentation, invasive species, altered disturbance regimes – continue to operate. Indeed, many will be exacerbated by climate change. Thus it is essential that we continue to deal with these existing stressors.

“Third, biodiversity intrinsically has low adaptive capacity to rapid change. The most appropriate approach to minimising biodiversity loss is to make space for ecosystems to self adapt. This means a continuing focus on national parks and other protected areas as reservoirs of well-functioning ecosystems, but it also means an increasing emphasis on off-reserve conservation.

“Finally, Australians may well need to change our fundamental views of the natural world around us. Species may no longer exist in places we expect them to; some of our most valued ecosystems and biomes will change; and novel ecosystems will develop. Surprises will abound. But above all, we’ll need to invest much more in our natural environment if we are to maintain our essential ecosystem services, which ultimately depend on diverse and well-functioning ecosystems,” he said.

Original news release.

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