What’s stopping windy Western Australia from developing wind power?
Why isn’t WA harnessing wind power?, WA Today April 4, 2012 – Perth is an international hotspot for windsurfing and the destination of choice for the ISAF Sailing World Championships. If you thought Western Australia was a leader in wind power, think again.
New research reveals while Perth is the third windiest capital in the world, it is in the doldrums when it comes to wind power….. With an average wind speed of more than 27km/h and twelve operating wind farms lining the coast from Coral Bay to Albany, WA could be leading the nation. Read more »
Western Australia’s Horizon Power’ s solar feed-in tariffs will especially benefit rural communities
Solar households in towns located further from energy generation sources, or where power generation is expensive, will be offered higher prices for the electricity they export to the grid…. For households in regional and remote areas of Western Australia, under Horizon’s new feed in tariff structure the savings could be much higher.
Horizon Power To Offer Location Based Solar Feed In Tariff, Energy Matters, 3 April 12, In what appears to be a first for Australia, Western Australia’s Horizon Power will introduce area-specific solar feed-in tariffs. While owners of systems in some towns will receive a much higher rate, others will receive less.Horizon Power’s Renewable Energy Buyback Scheme rate is currently equivalent to a customer’s current electricity tariff, minus GST. Horizon’s incentive is in addition to Western Australia’s state government mandated feed in tariff rate of 8c per kilowatt hour. Read more »
Nyoongar Tent Embassy in Western Australia – push for Aboriginal Sovereignty
Nyoongar Tent Embassy puts sovereignty on the agenda, Green Left, March 31, 2012 By Alex Bainbridge, Perth A movement for Aboriginal sovereignty has galvanised around the February 12 formation of the Nyoongar Tent Embassy in Perth.
The embassy was directly inspired by two developments: the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra, which promoted a national push for Aboriginal sovereignty, and the February 8 report about negotiations between the state government and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council (SWALSC) about Nyoongar native title.
The embassy suffered a heavy blow on March 22 when an operation of more than 60 police tried to close the embassy down. However, the embassy has so far survived the attack and the subsequent increase in police harassment.
Bail conditions on key participants who were arrested that day have prevented them from returning to Matagarup (Heirisson Island), the site of the embassy.
The discussion since that event reveals that sovereignty is an idea that will not simply go away….. On March 28, 100 people took part in an Aboriginal rights rally organised by the Dumbartung Aboriginal Corporation. The rally explicitly rejected the state government offer of a $1 billion land and cash package to extinguish Nyoongar native title.
Instead the rally called for 5% of the value of economic activity in the Nyoongar land to be paid every year to Nyoongar people…..
The SWALSC has produced a document explaining its approach to negotiations with the state government. It said the maximum potential gains of pursuing any native title process were extremely restricted by the inherent limitations on native title from the original Mabo High Court decision and the later legal restrictions imposed by the Keating and Howard governments.
SWALSC said more can be gained by pursuing negotiations with the state government than a bid to gain native title rights through the courts. These are the only two ways to achieve native title rights. But the sovereignty movement says Aboriginal people deserve a lot more than just native title rights.
Greens politican Robin Chapple told Green Left Weekly that he believes the WA government has been happy to engineer a situation in which Aboriginal people are fighting among themselves and that this may even have been Premier Colin Barnett’s goal all along.
The next step for the Nyoongar Tent Embassy will be a rally on April 5 at 11am, starting at the Supreme Court Gardens and marching to Matagarup (Heirisson Island)… http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/50562
Western Australia’s Premier complacent about increasing number of nuclear submarines to Perth
Barnett relaxed over nuclear subs 9 News Mar 28 2012 West Australian Premier Colin Barnett says he has no objection to more American nuclear submarine visits to Perth’s Garden Island naval base if US-Australian defence co-operation is boosted.
The two nations are planning an expansion of military ties including the rotation of US Marines through the Northern Territory and more access to HMAS Stirling at Garden Island in Perth’s south. Mr Barnett told ABC radio on Wednesday he would accept a boosted American presence….. Mr Barnett said the ANZUS defence treaty was the centre of Australia’s
defence policy and Garden Island was a strategic base on the Indian
Ocean which was becoming more central to world affairs. … http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8442686
Toro Energy’s uranium project in Western Australia may or may not be a goer
Toro uranium project faces feasibility study http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-22/toro-uranium-project-faces-feasibility-study/3906292 ABC News, March 22, 2012 Toro Energy has contracted an Australian engineering company to conduct a feasibility study into its uranium project near Wiluna in northern Western Australia.
The study by Bateman Australia will determine the operating costs and capital needed to mine uranium to sell to overseas customers. Toro Energy is still seeking federal and State Government approval to begin operations at the site where it hopes to mine up to 800 tonnes of uranium oxide concentrate per year. The feasibility study is expected to be completed by September, while Toro Energy hopes to begin selling uranium in 2014.
Comparing conditions for Lynas’ radioactive waste: Australia or Malaysia
Let’s de-politicise the Lynas issue — Stop Lynas Coalition, The Malaysian Insider March 21, 2012 “…….Lynas loves to boast that their project is approved in Australia also. Given Australia’s high environmental standard, if it is approved in Australia, why would Malaysians reject it? However, Lynas hid from the public that the Australian proposal was approved under extremely stringent conditions.
The table shows the conditions under the Australian proposal [6] compared to LAMP.
Regardless of what justification the government gives, any person of general intellect can deduce that LAMP is shifted to our shores because Lynas wants to dump its waste here. How can our government inflict such indignity on the very people it is elected to protect?…
[6] “Proposed rare earths mining and beneficiation at Mt Weld, Laverton and secondary processing at Meenaar, near Northm”, Ashton Rare Earths Ltd, August 1992. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/lets-de-politicise-the-lynas-issue-stop-lynas-coalition
USA Nuclear submarines a dangerous presence for Garden Island, Western Australia
Greens Senator Scott Ludlam said the Australian Defence Force posture review – an inquiry into Australian defence bases – was off-target with the suggestion that US nuclear submarines should be serviced at Garden Island. “The risks of routinely floating nuclear reactors in and out of Cockburn Sound shouldn’t be underestimated,” he said. “WA police and emergency services personnel are completely under-resourced to cope with even a minor reactor leak.”
Senator Ludlum said offering infrastructure to nuclear submarines from other countries would damage Australia’s standing due to worldwide efforts towards nuclear disarmament…..
Mr Gray said “The recommendations refer to providing facilities for US nuclear-powered submarines and other vessels.
“Preliminary recommendations of the Australian Defence Force posture review are for Defence to develop options to provide improved facilities for US Navy nuclear-powered submarines.
The review’s final report will be submitted to the Government at the end of this month. The Defence white paper is due to be released in the first quarter of 2014. http://www.inmycommunity.com.au/news-and-views/local-news/Conflict-over-idea-for/7616382/
Will Western Australia take climate change seriously, or just pander to fossil fuel lobby?
You’d think that Western Australia would now go all out for renewable energy. You’d think that Western Australia would now renounce all projects for water intensive uranium mining.
But it seems that the W.A. government will still be fiddling around, pandering to the fossil fuel and uranium industry, while their State burns.
WA’s south-west ‘drying out’ fast, Daniel Mercer, The West Australian, March 14, 2012, Two of Australia’s foremost scientific agencies have warned that south-west WA is warming and drying faster than anywhere in the country and will be increasingly prone to drought.
After a record eighth heatwave in Perth this summer, the Weather Bureau and CSIRO will today release the latest biennial snapshot of climate trends in Australia. The report backs up earlier conclusions that Australia’s land and sea temperatures are rising and rainfall is shifting from southern latitudes to the country’s centre and north.
It said average temperatures were expected to increase 0.6C to 1.5C by 2030 and 1.0C to 5.0C by 2070, with particularly harsh effects on south-west WA, including Perth. The report suggested the area would have long-term reductions in rainfall and more years like 2010 – the driest ever.
Rising greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the rising acidification of Australia’s oceans were noted in the report, which said it was “90 per cent likely” the trends were because of man-made global warming…… http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/13159615/was-south-west-drying-out-fast/
Lynas moved its rare earths processing to Malaysia because of Malaysia’s less stringent laws
ANAWA and EDO strongly believed that Lynas had chosen to move its operations to Malaysia because of the heavy metals and radioactive waste involved in the processing. “We believe Lynas picked Malaysia to save money and enable it to operate under less stringent laws,”
“The biggest concerns about the processing are the storage and waste management issues which are made more difficult in Gebeng which we understand to be wetlands.”
“There is no way it could operate the way it is in Malaysia over here,” he said. “Australia’s laws are much more stringent.”
Aussie NGO: Gebeng not part of Lynas’ blueprint, Free Malaysia Today News, Stephanie Sta Maria | March 6, 2012 Anti Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia (ANAWA) claims that Lynas’ massive changes to its plan has resulted in its plant being built in Gebeng where laws are looser and labour is cheaper. PETALING JAYA: The Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia (ANAWA) has revealed that Lynas Corporation Ltd was supposed to build its plant in Western Australia and not Malaysia.
According to ANAWA, Lynas’ 14-year-old blueprint indicated that the Australian mining giant had orginally planned to build its processing plant in Meenar a decade ago. But until today there had been no signs of any development on the intended site.
ANAWA spokesperson Marcus Atkinson told FMT that the orginal approvals were given by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) for Lynas to ship rare earth to buyers and confirmed that he had viewed these relevant documents firsthand.
However, he said that Lynas had since made numerous alterations to its operations to the point that its rare earth refinery had now landed in Malaysia. “Instead of transporting processed rare earth, it is now shipping a concentrate which contains thorium and other radioactive material with more heavy metals,” he told FMT. Read more »
Malaysia considering sending Lynas’ radioactive waste back to Western Australia
No decision yet on sending Lynas waste to Western Australia The Star, Malaysia, KUALA LUMPUR, 7 March 12, : The Cabinet has not decided on a proposal asking Lynas Corp rare earth waste material to be sent back to Western Australia, said Green Technology, Energy and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin.
He said Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore was entitled to his view that Australia would not accept responsibility for any waste produced by Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd. “Our Cabinet has not made a decision on the matter. Wait for it to be announced,” he said after the launch of the National Energy Security Conference 2012 yesterday.
Moore told the Australian parliament that the Western Australian government does not support the import and storage of other countries’ radioactive waste.
PKR MP Fuziah Salleh had proposed that the rare earth waste material for Lynas be returned to Australia. ….
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/29/nation/10825847&sec=nation
Lynas’ Mt Weld rare earths mines found to have out-dated safety permits
Lynas’ Mt Weld Rare Earths Mines Safety Permits Outdated : http://community.nasdaq.com/News/2012-03/lynas-mt-weld-rare-earths-mines-safety-permits-outdated.aspx?storyid=125132#ixzz1oO63K2tj NASDAQ 3/5/2012 by Esther Tanquintic-Mis The controversy now has hit home. With Lynas Corp. still to fully arrest and win over the controversy surrounding its Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) in Malaysia, here comes yet another information that could possibly whip up a storm right where its home base is.
In a statement released to media news agencies worldwide, the Anti-Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia (ANAWA) is set to file a motion today, Mar. 6, at the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to question the authenticity and effectiveness of the health and safety approvals issued to Lynas Corp. in reference to its Mt Weld rare earths mines in Western Australia.
According to the Free Malaysia Today, it was the Environmental Defenders Office of Australia that issued the media statement.
Marcus Atkinson, ANAWA spokesperson, alleged Lynas Corp. had made a number of alterations on the original health and safety approvals issued more than a decade ago for the operations of Mt Weld that did not undergo through the appropriate standard operating procedures relative to updating or modifying obsolete approvals.
“Lynas are currently operating under approvals issued to them 14 years ago,” Atkinson said, noting the terms and conditions contained in the original approvals could possibly no longer hold true to this day, specially “the amounts of radioactive materials being transported from Mt Weld through Fremantle Port.”
The Australian non-governmental organization urged the EPA to scrutinize the present operations at Mt Weld versus was what contained in the original health and safety approvals. ”Health and safety issues need to be thoroughly examined to ensure the best protection of those involved in the handling of this material,” he said.
“The approvals given 14 years ago need to be re-examined by the EPA and stronger regulations need to be put in place to ease the fears of the community.” ANAWA also called for “extremely stringent” safeguards to protect Fremantle residents and other communities along the transport routes.
“We have made many mistakes in the past with the transport of lead and other materials, and we need to ensure that the same mistakes are not made with rare earth products,” Atkinson said.
Lynas Corp. is currently embroiled in a bitter battle against residents and political wannabes in Malaysia over its $200-million rare earths processing plant project in Gebeng, Kuantan.
Malaysians asking questions about Lynas’ rare earths and radioactive wastes
The Lynas Advanced Material project will produce 20,000 tones of radioactive waste, which is 10 times more than the Asian Rare Earth factory in Bukit Merah.
1. Why didn’t Lynas set-up the rare earth plant near its source of extraction in Western Australia as it would have saved a huge amount of money in shipping costs?
2. Why didn’t Lynas obtain an approval from the authorities in Western Australia to set-up the plant?
3. Could the authorities in Western Australia be concerned about the possible radiation leaks, health hazards, birth defects, lead poisoning and other complications?
4. Shouldn’t this in itself raise a red flag with the Malaysian authorities?
Gov’t fails to learn from Bkt Merah tragedy http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2012/02/22/govt-fails-to-learn-from-bkt-merah-tragedy/ Free Malaysia Today February 22, 2012 Is the RM700 million in Lynas investment more important to the government than the lives of its citizens? By Charles Santiago Severe birth defects, eight leukemia cases over five years in a community of 11,000, tears and anguish of the poor people from a largely shoe-making community – these are not news headlines. Neither is it the plot of a movie.
These are the consequences of carelessly allowing the Asian Rare Earth factory to be built in Bukit Merah, Perak in 1982. When Mitsubishi Chemical started operating its rare earth factory, the villagers complained of choking sensation, pungent smell, coughs and colds. The community also saw a sharp rise in the cases of infant deaths, congenital disease, leukemia and lead poisoning. While US$100 million is estimated to be the clean-up cost of the factory and dump site, the
largest in the rare earth industry, it has not wiped out the memories and heartache of the villagers who lost their children and loved ones.
But 30 years later, the government has again allowed a rare earth factory to be set-up by Lynas Corporation Ltd in Gebeng, Kuantan. This means the government has waved the green flag with full knowledge of
the possible consequences and deadly effects. Read more »
Melting permafrost leads Australian uranium company to exploit Greenland
Asian, European Firms Circle Greenland Mining Project, WSJ, By Robb M. Stewart, FEBRUARY 22, 2012, In one of the world’s coldest climates, competition to develop a future source of uranium and rare earths is heating up…. The impact of climate change has made mining in Greenland easier by melting permafrost, while the island’s growing autonomy from Denmark has enabled officials to award more exploration licenses….
The government of Greenland late last year amended the Perth-based Greenland Minerals & Energy company’s exploration license to include uranium, the first such permit for the nuclear fuel on the island. According to John Mair, the company’s executive director of business development, an attractive option as a strategic partner would be a consortium interested in rare earths as well as uranium…. http://blogs.wsj.com/dealjournalaustralia/2012/02/21/asian-european-firms-circle-greenland-mining-project/
Racist statements by mining magnate Lang Hancock, and claims that he had Aboriginal children
THE families of people claiming to be children born out of wedlock to Lang Hancock work in his mines, it was claimed yesterday. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/daughter-claims-lang-hancocks-descendants-work-in-mines/story-fn7x8me2-1226271180226 Gemma Jones From:Herald Sun February 15, 2012
Aboriginal elder Hilda Kickett, 68, who has been accepted as Mr Hancock’s love child by his widow, Rose Porteous, said some of the relatives of seven other suspected part-Aboriginal children of the late mining magnate were even paid royalties from mines opened on their traditional land.
Many of Mr Hancock’s suspected grandchildren have taken jobs in family mines and others in the vast northwest of Western Australia, which was opened up by the businessman……
Mr Hancock, who discovered iron ore in the Pilbara, once called for part-Aboriginals to be sterilised.
He also dismissed indigenous land claims, saying: “The question of Aboriginal land rights and things of this nature shouldn’t exist.”
He referred to part-Aboriginal people as “no-good half-castes” and said to deal with those who were unemployed he would “dope the water up so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in the future”. ….. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/daughter-claims-lang-hancocks-descendants-work-in-mines/story-fn7x8me2-1226271180226
Aboriginals’ peaceful protest against extinguishment of native title in Western Australia
The deal, which the government hopes to conclude by the end of the year, would extinguish all future native title claims for the area
Ms Mackay said Mr Barnett was “a coward for running away from us”. ”We are never violent. We come and we are loud, but we are peacefully loud,” she said.
Protestors surround Barnett after ‘$1 billion native title whitewash’, SMH February 8, 2012 - Angry Aboriginal protesters have confronted West Australian Premier Colin Barnett in Perth, leading security officers to rush him to the safety of a waiting car.
The protesters delayed the premier’s departure from Fraser’s Restaurant in Kings Park on Wednesday after he addressed Noongar elders about a proposed $1 billion deal to settle native title claims in WA’s southwest.
In a scene reminiscent of the Aboriginal protest in Canberra on Australia Day, around 70 protesters waving placards and Aboriginal flags surrounded Fraser’s, demanding Mr Barnett come out and not hide inside….
No one was hurt in the jostling and police said no arrests were made. 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
