The European Parliament rejected on Thursday (23 July) the hard-won decisions of the EU Council. MEPs criticised, among other things, cuts to climate programmes and voiced fear that billions of euros could fall into the wrong hands. 

The Parliament rejected the Council’s decision on the multiannual budget (MFF) and recovery plan by a clear majority. MEPs called the compromise too unambitious and criticised the cuts in climate-related funding.

Some Green MEPs expressed their disappointment in advance of the debate.

The national leaders’ agreement was a “turning away from the Green Deal,” wrote German Michael Bloss. “The European Union must cut back its support programme for CO2-free steel. The programme for investments in the future has been cut by €30.3 billion to now €5.6 billion. The fund to support coal regions purrs together from €40 billion to €10 billion,” he complained.

In a resolution drafted by the group leaders on Wednesday (22 July), the Parliament said, among other things, “we believe that the proposed cuts in programmes for the transition of coal-dependent regions run counter to the Green Deal agenda.”

This refers in particular to the Just Transition Fund (JTF), which the Commission had wanted to increase from €7.5 billion to €40 billion as part of the EU’s coronavirus aid, but which was cut back to €17.5 billion during the negotiations between member state leaders. […]

Stumbling block in the recovery fund

German MEP Delara Burkhardt (S&D) sees the proposal for the recovery fund as a stumbling block. Although climate protection is anchored in the so-called “Recovery and Resilience Facility” (RRF), for which the Council allotted €672.5 billion, the proposal is not a complete success.

The annex to the draft lists seven priorities, which the member states can weight differently. These include investments that “effectively contribute to the green and digital transitions.”

Burkhardt fears that member states “choose the combination of criteria fulfilment in such a way that they would not have to meet any ecological conditions at all. This is especially possible if they instead fully focus on digital transformation.”

Full story

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July 24, 2020 at 02:27AM

RAINFALL: Hanna is expected to produce 3 to 5 inches of rain with isolated maximum totals of 10 inches through Monday along the Gulf Coast of the United States from Louisiana to south Texas, and inland to the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and northern Tamaulipas. This rain may result in life-threatening flash flooding, rapid rises on small streams, and isolated minor to moderate river flooding.

NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL082020
100 AM CDT Fri Jul 24 2020

…HANNA CONTINUES MOVING SLOWLY WEST-NORTHWESTWARD TOWARD TEXAS…

LOCATION…ABOUT 360 MI…575 KM ESE OF CORPUS CHRISTI TEXAS
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…40 MPH…65 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT…WNW OR 285 DEGREES AT 7 MPH…11 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…1002 MB…29.59 INCHES

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for… * Mouth of the Rio Grande to San Luis Pass Texas

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for… * San Luis Pass to High Island Texas

A Tropical Storm Warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 36 hours.

A Tropical Storm Watch means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 48 hours.

Interests along the Texas and Louisiana coast should monitor the progress of this system.

… the center of the storm is expected to move across the northwestern Gulf of Mexico today and tonight, and make landfall along the Texas coast on Saturday.

Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 km/h) with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is expected until the system makes landfall. Steady weakening is expected after Hanna moves inland.

SURF: Swells generated by Hanna are expected to increase and affect much of the Texas and Louisiana coasts during the next few days. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Please consult products from your local weather office.

See entire bulletin:
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3+shtml/232046.shtml

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July 24, 2020 at 01:40AM

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

Who could have seen this coming? Comfortable middle class householders making money selling rooftop solar back to the grid, cash strapped governments greedy for new sources of revenue…

Rooftop solar panel owners could be getting charged fees to sell energy back to the grid

By Nick Harmsen
Posted Thursday 16 July 2020 at 8:35pm

Householders with rooftop solar panels and batteries have reacted with fury to proposals which could see them charged for exporting power to the electricity grid.

Over the past decade, state governments have actively incentivised households to feed their solar into the grid, by offering generous feed-in tariff schemes. Most have now closed to new entrants.

But now, welfare groups and transmission company SA Power Networks (SAPN) have asked the Australian Energy Markets Commission to change market rules to allow charging of household exporters.

They argue that under the current system, households without solar could be unfairly burdened with the cost of augmenting power networks to cope with the increase of new panels, which is already placing a strain on the network in states with heavy solar penetration like South Australia.

…

Solar owners furious

The idea has drawn a furious response from many solar panel owners, including Adelaide man Michael Preus.

“People will just disconnect them, and tell them to get stuffed, that’s what I would do,” he said.

Mr Preus said he had installed his household solar PV system to save money and help the environment, but was now questioning his investment.

“We’ll never, ever in our lifetime recoup our investment, the return is just not there.”

…

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-16/rooftop-solar-owners-could-be-charged-to-sell-energy-to-the-grid/12461748

This move echoes the Spanish Government to impose a “sun tax” in 2015, though they later cancelled the tax in 2018. Spain now encourages householders to invest in energy storage, “self consumption”, to avoid flooding the grid with power nobody wants, because solar power peaks at the wrong time of the day.

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