The NSW Government will close its generous Solar Bonus Scheme at midnight tonight, and introduce a "new and more sustainable program" with a third of the current tariff rate, or 20 cents per kilowatt hour.
The NSW Land and Environment Court has imposed a $105,000 penalty on a Centennial Coal subsidiary following a spill of sediment-laden water, while the company has committed to spending more than $2 million to improve water management at the mine site.
Both the New South Wales and Victorian biodiversity offset trading programs need to generate more credits and increase the number of trades before their success can be gauged, according to the Victorian environment department's Amanda Cornwall.
As debate rages over a national carbon price, NSW's pioneering trading scheme rolls onwards, with a new report showing three voluntary participants – Xstrata Coal, Boral and Orica – fully met their obligations through on-site action.
Legislation introducing new requirements for managing coastal erosion has passed the NSW Lower House, despite an Opposition warning that its complexity will have lawyers 'salivating' and that it fails to indemnify state authorities for climate change-related damage to major projects.
