Liberal/National M.P. wants uranium mining in New South Wales – just not in his backyard
map shows uranium exploration areas in NSW
MP supports uranium exploration Northern Rivers Echo, Rebecca Masters | 30th March 2012 TWEED MP Geoff Provest has supported legislation changes that allow uranium exploration across the state but maintains he is still firmly against any form of mining on the Tweed..
… State Labor MP Walt Secord raised his fears in parliament this week that the legislation opened the door to uranium mining throughout the Clarence Moreton Basin on the north coast, potentially contaminating the environment and risking the health of communities in the Tweed.
“In 1986, in a spirit of bipartisanship, the NSW parliament agreed that the potential release of toxic elements could contaminate large areas of land and pollute our rivers,” Mr Secord said.
“They knew then, as Labor knows now, that there is still no failsafe way to transport and manage nuclear waste. ”Make no mistake, the government’s decision to allow uranium exploration is a huge betrayal.”…….
Outside of parliament, Mr Provest has dismissed Mr Secord’s comments as “fear-mongering.”…….. ”I will always be against any form of mining on the north coast, this is simply to give us an idea of what is in the ground.”
New South Wales Upper House passes uranium exploration legislation by 20 votes to 18
the Government had no mandate for uranium exploration……..Mr O’Farrell had declared to Parliament in August 2011 that the Government had no plans to allow uranium mining or exploration.
Uranium ban lifted by NSW Parliament, Herald Sun AAP March 28, 2012 LEGISLATION to repeal a ban on uranium exploration has passed through the NSW Parliament, with MPs in the state’s Upper House supporting it by 20 votes to 18. The legislation passed through the Legislative Council unamended today, despite opposition from Greens and Labor
MPs…
.. Separate legislation would be required to lift the NSW ban on uranium mining. Read more »
NSW’s new uranium Bill extinguishes need for consent from Land Councils, and excludes uranium from Aborignal Land Rights Act
Natalie Wasley, 29 March 12, New South Wales’ new Bill allowing fro uranium exploration alters a series of other legislation, including The Mining Act, Radiation Control Act, State Environment and Planning Act and Aboriginal Land Rights Act.
Uranium exploration in New South Wales? – call for inquiry into govt OK to this
Since Premier O’Farrell announced his intention to open up uranium exploration in this state, thousands of people have signed a petition calling on the government to maintain the uranium ban.
Inquiry should probe O’Farrell’s okay to uranium search – ecology groups, Cowra Community News,
http://cowracommunitynews.com/viewnews.php?newsid=142&id=4 28 March 12, STATE and national environment groups have called for an independent public review into uranium mining in New South Wales as legislation to allow exploration is due to be debated in parliament today (Wednesday).
Premier Barry O’Farrell has no mandate to change a long-standing and popular policy banning uranium projects in the state, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Beyond Nuclear Initiative say in a joint statement. The groups have criticised the lifting of the ban on uranium exploration, urging the State Government to set up a public inquiry into the uranium industry. Read more »
Lake Macquarie Council not happy with NSW’s restrictions on wind farms
Concerns over wind farm guidelines, ABC News, Newcastle, March 28, 2012 Lake Macquarie Council will write to the state Planning Department outlining its concerns over the Government’s Draft Wind Farm Guidelines. The Planning Minister Brad Hazzard has described the draft document as the “toughest wind farm guidelines in Australia and possibly the world”.
But the guidelines have been criticised by environmentalists and renewable energy lobbyists as unnecessarily restrictive. Greens Councillor Hannah Gissane agrees. ”We’ve endorsed a submission to the draft guidelines exhibition which would pick apart the bits and pieces of it that make the process too onerous,” she said.
“We’ve also endorsed wind farms as a key mechanism in achieving 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020. ”And that any guidelines should be part of a strategic facilitative approach to renewable energy.”
Councillor Gissane says the guidelines are too tough and criticism of wind turbines is not warranted.
“Our beautiful Lake Macquarie has ash dams, has coal-fired power stations, has coal mines, has subsidence all from non-renewable energy sources,” she said.
“I’d like to see future for the city where the glint of a solar panel and the whirl of a wind turbine were actually features of the city.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-28/concerns-over-wind-farm-guidelines/3916620/?site=newcastle
National Party M.P. John Cobb urged to support new $10 billion renewable energy fund
Participants are calling on member for Calare John Cobb to get behind the renewable energy fund.
Groups shine light on solar energy http://www.centralwesterndaily.com.au/news/local/news/general/groups-shine-light-on-solar-energy/2490146.aspx. Central Western Daily, BY TRACEY PRISK 16 Mar, 2012 ORANGE Climate Action Now and the Environmentally Concerned Citizens of Orange joined forces on the weekend to support a national push for the formation of a $10 billion clean energy fund. Read more »
New South Wales Liberal Premier pleased about Clean Energy Finance Corporation for Sydney
NSW wins multi-billion dollar clean energy deal http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-wins-multi-billion-clean-energy-deal-despite-opposition/story-e6frfkw9-1226291960573 By Malcolm Farr, National Political Editor news.com.au, arch 07, 2012
Sydney to host Clean Energy Finance Corporation
Premier O’Farrell happy despite opposition to clean energy fund
“This is good news whichever way you look at it”
NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell is torn between opposing the Federal Government’s carbon pricing and his pride in Sydney’s selection as host of a multi-billion dollar clean energy fund. Read more »
Let’s not forget that other cancer causer – UV radiation
Students in NSW not sun safe, Sky News, http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=725215&vId= March 4, 2012 New research shows students in NSW have amongst the poorest sun protection in Australia. The state came second last in a nationwide review of the sun protection policies in government schools by the New South Wales Cancer Council.
It’s now calling for an urgent overhaul of the state’s outdated sun policy so students receive the same sun protection measures as schools in other parts of Australia. Skin cancer prevention manager Vanessa Rock says state schools in NSW were failing to implement basic sun protection measures.
As part of the survey, each state and territory was marked on a list of key sun protection requirements, such as wearing a sun safe hat and using SPF 30+ sunscreen. Queensland, the NT, Victoria and ACT all scored top marks while Tasmania, which has much lower levels of UV radiation, came in at the bottom of the list.
Models banned from tanning, SMH 1 March 12, ”….Sue Heward, SunSmart’s manager, calling on Victoria to follow the NSW Government’s decision last month to ban solariums by 2015. ”Not only is solarium use harmful to your health but it can prematurely age the skin making it coarse, pigmented, leathery and wrinkled. It is suggested that 80 per cent of wrinkles are due to overexposure to UV radiation from either the sun or solariums.”
The thinking goes that if the fashion industry sets an example that a tan is not stylish then young women, who are particularly resistant to health warnings, might be persuaded of the dangers of tanning….
.. It has been estimated that each year in Australia, 281 new melanoma cases, 43 melanoma-related deaths, and 2572 new cases of squamous cell carcinoma can be attributed to solarium use.
http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/beauty/blogs/beauty-beat/models-banned-from-tanning-20120301-1u4ff.html#ixzz1oYa4mwyR
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) pushing for nuclear power for New South Wales
A NSW power trip, Climate Spectator, Keith Orchison, 6 Mar 12, ”.. the NSW Legislative Assembly public accounts committee, chaired by Sydney North Shore MP Jonathan O’Dea, which has been given the task by the O’Farrell government of examining the economics of power generation.
…One answer, says the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation in a submission to the parliamentary committee, is to consider diversifying the NSW power system, adding renewables, fossil-fuelled plants with carbon capture and storage and reactors to the mix.
Energy security for NSW, says ANSTO, will be at risk without active consideration of nuclear energy, given that the future cost of carbon isn’t known and wind and what-not is intermittent. Given the availability and price challenges gas generation faces, it suggests the stability of nuclear power pricing should make it attractive…..” http://www.climatespectator.com.au/commentary/nsw-power-trip
NSW Wales government will dump radioactive waste at Kemps Creek
LETTER CONFIRMS O’FARRELL WILL DUMP RADIOACTIVE WASTE AT KEMP’S CREEK (NSW), Beyond Nuclear, 5 March 12, The O’Farrell Government has turned its back on the people of western Sydney – and confirmed it will break its election promise and dump tonnes of radioactive dirt from Hunters Hill in Kemps Creek. This is in addition to radioactive material from the former uranium smelter at Hunters Hill already being sent to the Lidcombe waste facility. In a February 7 letter to Liverpool City Council, the O’Farrell Government confirmed: The material to be removed from the Hunters Hill site is predominantly clean soil interspersed with traces of low level radioactive contamination, the SITA facility at Kemps Creek is the only facility in NSW licensed to accept this class of waste.New South Wales Renewable Energy Guidelines aim to prevent small scale wind energy!
“The Guidelines place incredibly strenuous conditions on the development of wind farms that are
not faced by any other kind of development.
“They appear to have been produced to appease the small anti-wind farm lobby rather than achieving outcomes for the whole community,”
NSW wind farm guidelines shaft clean energy, Green Left, February 16, 2012 The draft planning guidelines for wind farms in NSW, which are now open for public comment, have been labelled inconsistent, too restrictive and politically motivated by environment group Friends of the Earth.
“These guidelines talk about NSW planning to help Australia meet its the 20% by 2020 Renewable Energy Target, but at the same time could pose severe restrictions on the options available to achieve that,” said Ben Courtice, renewable energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth.
“The Guidelines refer to a NSW Renewable Energy Action Plan to be released in 2012, but pre-empt any such planning by placing a severe restriction on wind farms. The guidelines admit that wind energy is the cheapest form of renewable energy.” Read more »
Look out, New South Wales, the uranium economic downward plunge beckons!
Look out – New South Wales residents! You thought coal seam gas exploration was a threat? And it probably is.
But now, your government, in its unwisdom, is going to allow uranium exploration.
The yellow area shows the area of uranium mineralisation in New South Wales.
Very handy, I suppose, to where some of Ziggy Switkowski’s 50 nuclear reactors will supposedly be positioned.
South Australia is going to go down the economic drain, for its drive for all things nuclear. Meanwhile, what with Paladin Uranium looking like going broke, and the nuclear industry winding down, – Does New South Wales want to join this plunge? - Christina Macpherson
GOVERNMENT TAKES STEP TOWARDS URANIUM MINING Lee Jeloscek, 7 News Sydney February 14, A map drawn up by the government and reported on by 7News shows a large swath of land from north western town of Bourke stretching down past Canberra to the Victorian border could be explored for the resource. http://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/latest/a/-/newshome/12905605/government-takes-step-towards-uranium-mining/
NSW people don’t want the uranium industry
Opposition lashes O’Farrell’s plan to overturn NSW ban on uranium exploration, THE AUSTRALIAN, AAP, February 15, 2012 THE NSW opposition has criticised a plan to overturn the state’s decades-old ban on uranium exploration….. Opposition Leader John Robertson said voters don’t support the industry. ”The people of NSW didn’t vote for it and they don’t want it,” he said in a statement. ”Only months ago the Premier categorically ruled out uranium mining and exploration in NSW – now it is on for young and old.”
Greenpeace campaigner Julien Vincent called the expected announcement an “insult”….. ”Next month we are marking the first anniversary of nuclear disaster in Fukushima, which is one of the best reasons for not going nuclear,” he added.
Australian Greens nuclear affairs spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam added: “Australian uranium was used in every reactor at Fukushima. ”Why would the O’Farrell government want New South Wales to be complicit in the next disaster?”
Uranium mining is banned in Queensland but allowed in Western Australia and South Australia.
… Just days before that vote Australian Workers’ Union secretary Paul Howes called on states that don’t allow uranium mining to overturn their bans. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opposition-lashes-ofarrells-plan-to-overturn-nsw-ban-on-uranium-exploration/story-fn59niix-122
Australian research: solar heat + power, plus energy efficiency
Australian Made Solar Roofing Panels Provide Heat And Power by Energy Matters, 14 Feb 2012, In an effort to bring Australia in line with an international zero-emissions building code, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are working on a system to better harness the power of solar energy to generate electricity and heating for homes.
A prototype rooftop solar power system developed by UNSW’s School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Engineering (SPREE) that combines photovoltaics with thermal technology has demonstrated the ability to produce warm air throughout winter.
Unlike conventional PV systems with solar cells mounted on top of the roof of a house, the UNSW technology is designed to be integrated into roofing panels, allowing excess heat generated by the panels – which would otherwise be wasted – to warm the home.
The research is part of a series of ‘carbon-positive’ products that will be tested and further developed by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Low-Carbon Living at UNSW later this year; aimed at bringing Australia in line with Europe and the UK, which plan to introduce a zero-carbon building code in 2016. Professor Deo Prasad, head of the CRC, says when it comes to lowering Australia’s carbon footprint, the biggest savings can be made in energy efficient buildings.
“The built environment is responsible for 40 per cent of energy use and Australia’s homes account for 16.5 per cent of our emissions in electricity use alone, without accounting for energy embodied during the production and disposal of building materials.”….. http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3049
Australian farmers missing opportunity to profit by farming energy
Farmers squeezed out of energy boon, MATTHEW CAWOOD, Stock and Land 04 Feb, 2012 LANDHOLDERS should be capitalising on seismic changes in how we generate energy, says Matthew Wright, but instead they are being
pushed aside.
Mr Wright, executive director of Beyond Zero Emissions, thinks the thrust of current government policy will be to deny many landholders the ability to profit from wind generation, while compromising the enterprises of other landholders who host coal seam gas (CSG) operations without sharing in CSG profits.
Beyond Zero Emissions, a non-profit organisation, has the goal of moving Australia “from a 19th century fossil fuel based economy to a 21st century renewable powered clean tech economy”.
Wind turbines are “about as benign as it gets” for power generation, Mr Wright said, adding CSG is a “fairly destructive option for resource exploitation”.
Read more »
This month
For international news, go to nuclear-news ion for Western Australia’s energy future
http://ifyoulovethisplanet.org/?p=5755 Mary Olson on how women are more vulnerable to atomic radiation
- Muckaty Gathering 25 May 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1J9q-OeEO4 - NuclearKop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpMhhzkeYjk
Anti nuclear action below: - more info at Action Australia « Antinuclear and at Event details « Antinuclear
- http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/put-the-brakes-on-toxic-trucks-no-nuclear-waste-at-muckaty
- Online Petition - against the proposed national radioactive waste dump at Muckaty Station in the Northern Territory http://www.gopetition.com.au/petitions/no-nuclear-waste-dump-at-muckaty.htmlUranium Free WA Sign the online charter saying no to uranium mining in Western Australia http://ccwa.org.au/takeaction/uraniumnotforsaleSIGN THE PETITION TO STOP LYNAS RARE EARTH EXPORTS TO MALAYSIA http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-rare-earth-exports/
EVENTS
- May 29 – Melbourne - Amnesty International panel on weapons and war .
- May 29 – 30 Melbourne - Wind Farms conference
- May 30 Darwin - expert Panel on Nuclear Waste Dump plan for Muckaty
- June 2 - Nuclear Abolition Day
- June 13 - Melbourne -Lizards Revenge -Shut Roxby Down
- June 14 Melbourne Beyond Zero Emissions ZCA 2020 plan.
- June 19 - Melbourne Public meeting US FORCES IN AUSTRALIA: SECURITY OR THREAT? USforcesflyer-2.pdf
The Nuclear/uranium industry and WOMEN - theme for May 2012
Deceptive information given to women about breast cancer. Women are repeatedly told about “genetic causes”, about “risks of obesity:. about “diet factors”, about “not having babies”, or “having a baby at a later age” even about “stress” – as causes of breast cancer. The not so subtle message is that it is THEIR FAULT – a problem caused by the individual woman, so – the only preventive actions must be those made by individual women.
The facts are otherwise. The single most proven cause of breast cancer is ionising radiation. After that, other environmental causes exist, amongst the wash of chemicals, and synthetic hormones, that pervade our environment. After that – probably some hereditary susceptability, amongst some women.
Why is this so? One could conclude that breast cancer is a growth industry. There’s money at every point in this sorry cycle – from the radiation from nuclear fuel through to the medical radiation used to detect and treat breast cancer. There is no money clearly involved in shutting down a toxic industry, and preventing millions of breast cancers.
How does ionising radiation cause breast cancer? Ionising radiation comes in several forms. for example, Gamma rays, x-rays, and some sub-atomic particles such as alpha particles and protons In ionising radiation, a tiny electron is released from an atom, and enters a body cell, hitting the DNA in the cell’s nucleus, and damaging it. The damaged DNA sends out ‘wrong’ messages telling the cell to divide in an uncontrolled manner – cancer develops.
“...the time between radiation exposure and breast cancer development is longest in young women and shortest for older women; young children do not show a detectable elevation in breast cancer occurrence for some 35 to 40 years after exposure. Radiation-induced breast cancers appear to occur later in life during the same ages when breast cancer rates, in general, begin to increase. It appears that a single exposure of sufficient dose during early life can increase breast cancer risk even 50 years later...
the relationship between radiation dose and breast cancer risk can be described by a straight line which implies that no matter how low the dose, there is some small risk associated with the exposure.…
The risk of subsequent breast cancer from very high doses is lower than that which might be expected from the effects of lower doses. This is because radiation at high doses is an effective killer of cells and dead cells are not able to develop into cancer…..
Young girls are at highest risk …when a young girl is exposed to radiation, she will have menstrual cycles for several decades that might enhance the development of any underlying damage caused by the radiation. There is evidence to suggest that exposure to the immature breast during early development, and around the age of beginning menstruation, carries a higher risk than at other times of a woman’s life.
It is unclear how radiation exposure of the breast during pregnancy affects a woman’s breast cancer risk. However, a recent study of women treated for Hodgkin’s disease concluded that pregnancy might be a time of increased sensitivity of breast tissue to the cancercausing effects of radiation……”
.” John D Boyce, Jr, DSc, Scientific Director,Program on Breast Cancer and Environmental Risk Factors in New York State.. Ionizing Radiation and Breast Cancer Risk
