Antinuclear

Roxby Downs uranium mine will blow out greenhouse gases

“All of our efforts to reduce emissions, to conserve energy, will be undone by just one company, one project” The Advertiser DAVID NOONAN, 20 Jan 2010

The science of climate change demands action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. BHP Billiton’s proposed new open-pit mine at Roxby Downs would blow out SA’s greenhouse gas emissions by more than 12 per cent.

Our CO2 pollution would continue to rise right through to 2020.

Open-pit mining is energy intensive, high in demand for electricity and diesel fuels. BHP plans to dig, crush and process more than one million tonnes of rock and ore a day as the world’s largest open-pit mine.

Roxby would use about 20 per cent of the state’s electricity supply by 2020, when the open-pit mine could first reach full production.

BHP is seeking government approval to increase Olympic Dam’s greenhouse emissions by at least 4.1 million tonnes a year – a 12.4 per cent rise in SA’s greenhouse emissions – and up to as much as 4.7 million tonnes a year.

The company wants to use polluting fossil fuels to generate most of the electricity required and seeks a public subsidy of more than $65 million a year from the Federal Government in diesel fuel rebates through construction and mining operations…………

The Australian Conservation Foundation is calling on all political parties in the state election to commit to a peak and decline of SA’s greenhouse pollution levels in the next state government term to 2014 and to commit to a cut of at least 25 per cent by 2020, in accordance with recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for developed countries.

Responsible action on climate change requires we reject BHP’s proposed 12 per cent jump in SA’s greenhouse gas pollution and for the state government to place a condition on BHP to use renewable energy for full electricity supply to any new open-pit mining at Roxby.

January 20, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | climate change - global warming, energy, South Australia, uranium | antinuclear, Australia, BHP, BHP Billiton, climate change, climate change - global warming, energy, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear wastes, radioactive, South Australia, uranium