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Community It's just wind As readers are doubtless aware, in the past week the US has been battered by a series of deadly hurricanes of mind-bog- gling size and ferocity, which must come as something of an embarrassment to president Donald Trump. Not only can he not blame the hurricanes on Barrack Obama, but he can't claim they're fake either – which are his two go-to responses to bad news. His supporters can, though. Right-wing shock jock Rush Limbaugh claimed the liberal media were hyping up the Hurricane Irma as proof of their global warming "lie". Limbaugh is based in South Florida. "You can accomplish a lot just by creating fear and panic and it's mission accomplished, agenda advanced," Limbaugh told his apparently irony-proof listeners. Even Big Water was in on the conspiracy, Limbaugh con- cluded, because people were stocking up on bottled water for a storm that wouldn't come when they could just use the water coming out of their taps. In case you think Limbaugh is a fringe crank, his audience is estimated at 15 million and last week vice president Mike Pence was on the show. In the event, Limbaugh himself fled Florida on the eve of Irma making landfall, claim- ing evacuation had been forced on him because it was "legally impossible" to do the show from Florida. Dirty protest You've got to hand it to the kiwis for being direct. When they don't like something, they don't mince their words, a fact that New Zealand environment minister Nick Smith must be painfully aware of. Water pollution has become something of an issue in New Zealand. Despite the stark beauty of the landscape, run-off from agriculture and wineries has been blamed for turning many stretches of water toxic. Back in February, Smith announced a new national water policy that would aim to make 90 per cent of the coun- try's lakes and rivers swimma- ble by 2040. What has enraged environmentalists is that a major plank of the policy is to lower the bar for the classifica- tion of "swimmable". Artist Sam Mahon has made no bones about what he thinks. He sculpted a life-size stature of Smith with his trousers round his ankles, genitals on display, defecating into a glass of water. Which he placed in front of the environment office. For his part, the minister described the protest as "a bit crass" but claimed he "wasn't that bothered". He's doubtless getting used to it by now. Earlier this year conservation trust manager Greg Byrnes placed a small ad in a local newspaper challeng- ing Smith to a fist fight, "the loser to frolic in the [polluted] Otukaikino water hole for no less than 5 minutes". A little problem A news conference in Japan called to warn against the emergence of a deadly disease borne by ticks descended into farce when a live tick brought along as an example of what to look out for escaped. The governor of Miyazaki prefectural was forced to apolo- gise for the debacle the next day. The conference had been called on his initiative to warn against the tick-borne disease Thrombocytopenia syndrome, aer a number of residents in the district had fallen ill with it. A live tick had been brought along to the event for the press to photograph but then disap- peared. The assembled journos were roped into trying to find it, to no avail, and the room was subsequently fumigated. "We should have been more careful,' admitted a remorseful governor Shunji Kono. Disconnector Editor, Utility Week, and content director, Utilities: Ellen Bennett, t: 01342 332084, e: ellenbennett@fav-house.com; Deputy editor: Jane Gray, t: 01342 332087, e: janegray@ fav-house.com; Features editor: Lois Vallely, t: 01342 332080, e: loisvallely@fav-house.com; Senior reporter: Tom Grimwood, t: 01342 332061, e: tomgrimwood@fav-house.com; Policy correspondent: David Blackman, e: davidblackman@fav-house.com; Production editor: Paul Newton, t: 01342 332085, e: paulnewton@fav-house.com; Sales executive: Sidney Houliston, e: sidneyhouliston@fav-house.com. t: 01342 332009; Conference sponsorship manager: Sophie Abbott, t: 01342 332062, e; sophieabbott@fav-house.com; Publisher: Amanda Barnes, e: amandabarnes@fav-house.com. General enquiries: 01342 332000; Membership enquiries: Peter Bissell, t: 01342 332057, e: peterbissell@fav-house.com. ISSN: 1356-5532. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Printed by: Buxton Press, Buxton, Derbyshire SK17 6AE. Published by: Faversham House Ltd, Windsor Court, Wood Street, East Grinstead, West Sussex RH19 1UZ, 3,580 Average circulation Jan–Dec 2015 Membership subscriptions: UK £669 per year. Overseas £781 per year. Contact Peter Bissell on: 01342 332057 Utility Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates the UK's magazine and newspaper industry). We abide by the Editors' Code of Practice and are committed to upholding the highest standards of journalism. If you think that we have not met those standards and want to make a complaint please contact the editor, Ellen Bennett, at ellenbennett@fav-house.com. If we are unable to resolve your complaint, or if you would like more information about IPSO or the Editors' Code, contact IPSO on 0300 123 2220 or visit www.ipso.co.uk William Marchant @richonlyinname For those asking, I'm not happy with today's CfD results. I'm delighted with them. It's a good day. Costs of transition look far less scary. William Marchant @richonlyinname I might even go so far as saying its the happiest day I've had in the energy industry since Energy UK appointed Angela Knight as CEO. Adam Bruce @adamrbruce What a journey to yesterday's #offshorewind #cfd results Only seems like y'day we took @ charles_hendry to #arklowbank and talked #supergrid Alasdair Grainger @alasdairg Sep 11 #CFD AUCTION RESULTS - £57.50/MWh - a lower outturn than pretty much every prediction. Historic. Simon Virley @SimonVirley Sep 11 Incredible! Costs of offshore wind halve in past 2 years. £57.50/Mwh is a game changer for the UK energy market. Leo Hickman @LeoHickman 3h3 hours ago The Times, Telegraph, Daily Mail and Financial Times all have editorials on plummeting cost of wind power. Guess which one is not happy? Evening Standard @standardnews 'Biggest ever' fatberg weighing 130 tonnes found in east London sewer EY Power & Utilities @EY_PowerUtility What do you do when there's no wind or sun? There will be a premium for flexibility #EYEnergy The Guardian @guardian UK green energy expensive? Not any more. From now on it's cheap Top Tweets UTILITY WEEK | 15TH - 21ST SEPTEMBER 2017 | 31