Antinuclear

Uranium mining’s threat to beautiful Australian animal

BHP Billiton’s plan to dig the world’s biggest uranium mining hole at Olympic Dam aspparently, (they say) requires them to have a desalination plant at Point lowly, Spencer Gulf , South Australia.

This will mean the extinction of Australia’s uniquely beautiful  Sepia apama Giant Australian  Cuttlefish. (photo by Helen Crawford from http://groups.google.com/group/point-lowly-action

by aussiecuttlefish -14 Jan 2010 – excerpt from comment on this site at Uranium and the giant cuttlefish « Antinuclear “…..The Giant Australian Cuttlefish is iconic to Australia, but more so it is endemic to the 8 kilometre section of coastline that has the most ideal conditions for placement of egg-sacs – the next generation.

The Giant Australian Cuttlefish has several things against it and some of these being:-
* They hatch, live, breed and die within 12 – 18 months
* Their eggs are the next generation of the species
* Their hatchery in the upper Spencer Gulf is dependent on the salinity of the seawater – any increase could spell disaster for the species as we know it
* The cuttlefish is only protected in the waters immediately off the tip of Point Lowly to the end of the Santos Loading wharf and a straight line across False Bay to the OneSteel Wharf – outside of this area is open slather for any fisherman.
* The mining giant BHP Billiton believe that Point Lowly is the BEST place for their desalination plant (the largest in the Southern Hemisphere) that will spew hundreds of millions of litres of hyper-saline brine back into the gulf seawater, everyday for the next 70+ years – the only bedroom/nursery of the Giant Australian Cuttlefish!  Point Lowly Action | Google Groups

January 14, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, environment | Australia, BHP, BHP Billiton