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The financial case against Australia’s largest coal mine
Posted by Guardian: Jennifer Rankin on May 14th, 2015
Guardian: The case against building Australia’s largest coal mine has focused on the threats of runaway climate change and ruin of the Great Barrier Reef. But finances may yet prove the key.
Leading economists and City analysts are baffled by plans from India’s Adani Group to build the A$16.5bn (£8.4bn, $13.2bn) Carmichael mine and Abbot Point port expansion – just as coal prices have collapsed.
If the Carmichael project fails to convince investors, it could jeopardise plans for at least eight other...
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Ofwat to block ‘unjustified’ Thames Water price hike
Posted by Guardian: Jennifer Rankin on October 16th, 2013
Guardian: The water regulator Ofwat plans to block an "unjustified" 8% increase in customer bills proposed by Thames Water. Thames Water wants to add £29 to the bills of its 14 million customers in London and the south of England, arguing that the one-off charge is needed to help pay for the Thames tideway "super-sewer" in the capital, as well as an increase in Environment Agency charges and a spike in unpaid bills. The price hike would take the average annual bill to almost £400 by 2015. Ofwat said the...
United Kingdom: Fracking firm’s drilling plan unnerves West Sussex villagers
Posted by Guardian: Jennifer Rankin on May 9th, 2013
Guardian: The only company to have fracked for shale gas in the UK, Cuadrilla, is to drill for oil in a West Sussex village from next month.
The energy firm has said the eight-week exploratory drill near Balcombe will not involve fracking, the process of blasting liquid into rock to free natural gas trapped inside, but nonetheless the planned 3,000ft well in the local woodland of Lower Stumble, near Ardingly reservoir, looks set to hit a wall of opposition in this Conservative heartland.
"It seems such...