Australia’s Week: goodbye Penny Sackett, hello Ian Chubb
A busy week on many fronts:
- Dissension in Australian Liberal party over Climate Change
- Australian company Lynas chooses Malaysia for its Thorium wastes, because Malaysian environmental law is weaker than Australia’s
- As the take-up of small solar power has blossomed in rural and working class areas – State governments pull the plug on the solar feed-in tariff
- Australia gets a new Chief Scientist – a word now about this:
Malaysian protest – Lynas, take back your radioactive wastes to Australia
300 Malaysians protest plant on radiation fears TODAYonline May 20, 2011, KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – About 300 Malaysians have staged a peaceful protest against plans for an Australian-built rare earth refinery amid fears of radioactive pollution.The plant being built by Australian miner Lynas in eastern Malaysia ………..Protesters including opposition lawmakers marched Friday from Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Twin Towers to a street near the Australian High Commission. Some carried banners that read “Go back to Australia” and “Malaysia not a radioactive waste dump site.”…..TODAYonline | Business | 300 Malaysians protest plant on radiation fears
Farmers win legal case to protect water from uranium mining
That issue is the question of who has the legal standing to go to court to ask for protection for the environment, which is unable to speak for itself….plan to extract large quantities of water from an underground water source in such a dry, environmentally sensitive and hitherto unspoilt area……Valencia Uranium and the four Government respondents were ordered to pay the farm owners’ costs in the appeal.
Uranium company loses desert water plan appeal, the 
Namibian, 20 May 11, By: WERNER MENGES A LEGAL challenge to a Canadian-owned mining company’s plan to use underground water to set up a uranium mine in the Namibia Desert south-west of Usakos is heading back to the High Court after an appeal judgement that was given in the Supreme Court yesterday. Continue reading
BHP’s desalination plant a threat to Upper Spencer Gulf ecology
at left – the unique and beautiful Giant Cuttlefish faces extinction by the desalination plant
Green fears aired over Olympic Dam mine plans ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) May 20, 2011 Concerns have been raised about BHP Billiton’s plan to expand the Olympic Dam mine.A fishing group in Upper Spencer Gulf says BHP Billiton’s revised plans do not go far enough to protect the environment.In its revised environmental impact statement, BHP confirmed it will go ahead with a desalination plant at Point Lowly. BHP also plan to build an unloading facility to barge machinery further up the gulf.
Robin Sharp from the Coastal Homes Association says he is worried the region’s ecosystem will be in danger.”We’ve already got an invasive oyster up here that we believe has been introduced by shipping over the last 20 or 30 years, pretty much overrun the whole razorfish intertidal zone, so it will pretty much wipe out all the razorfish in this area,” Mr Sharp said.Green fears aired over Olympic Dam mine plans – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Rural Australia’s enthusiasm for solar and for feed-in tariff
“A sensibly designed scheme would make Australia a world leader in solar power.”…The feed-in tariff scheme’s cancellation comes despite huge interest in solar power across the State.
Wanted: sensible solar, The Land RICHARD FOX, 21 May, 2011 “…….“Australia has an excellent resource for solar, particularly west of the Dividing Range, and consumers have an enthusiasm for renewable energy. Continue reading
New South Wales rally for solar feed in tariff to re-open
Australian Solar Energy Society holds rally to demand re-opening of New South Wales feed-in tariff Solar Server 20 May 11 On May 18th, 2011, the Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES) organized a rally in Sydney, Australia to ask the New South Wales (NSW) Government to re-open its Solar Bonus program.The NSW Government has announced that it will not accept applications to the program filed after April 28th, 2011, and has reduced the existing feed-in tariff level for the highest tier.
“AuSES and NSW homeowners are calling for certainty and security,” stated AuSES CEO John Grimes. “The rally is the last chance for solar, because businesses and livelihoods are on the line.”…KW20 | Australian Solar Energy Society holds rally to demand re-opening of New South Wales feed-in tariff – SolarServer
Western Australia and NSW govts strike down solar power
Western Australia FiT chopped in half, PV-Tech By Emma Hughes – 19 May 2011, Less than a week after the shock closure of the feed-in tariff scheme in New South Wales, the Government of Western Australia has cut the subsidy rate for new residential applications submitted after June 30. The state will also be subject to a cap on installations, putting a halt to progress just one year after the scheme was introduced.
The feed-in tariff rate for new installations will now be cut in half, with applicants receiving AUD$0.20/kWh instead of the AUD$0.40/kWh rate that was introduced in July last year. All existing customers will continue to receive the higher tariff rate for the originally-proposed 10 years.
Alongside the tariff cuts Western Australia will also be hit with a 150MW cap, which when reached, will mark the end of the program, when no further applications will be received….Western Australia FiT chopped in half | PV-Tech
Fukushima highlights dangers of similar nuclear reactors in USA
Most such reactors in USA also have much larger loads of spent fuel in their cooling pools than did their counterparts at Fukushima….
Nuclear power safety: Latest on Japan crisis fuels new concern in US Nuclear Regulatory Commission still insists that US nuclear plants with same design as Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi facility are safe. But watchdog groups cite failed venting system, which led to hydrogen explosions. CSMonitor.com, By Mark Clayton, Staff writer / May 20, 2011 Continue reading
Liberal Party attack on environmental education in school
Mr McKim said “But what [Mr Ferguson] has now revealed is that if there was a Liberal education minister, they would be sending out directives to schools saying we are banning you from making decisions about who you invite into your school and what they can say.
Libs lash ‘green’ schools push, The Mercury, SUE NEALES | May 20, 2011 THE State Opposition has warned parents their children are at risk of being brainwashed by extremist environmental groups now Greens leader Nick McKim is Education Minister. Continue reading
Australian Liberal Party Schism over Climate Change
Tony Abbott on his climate crusade | Herald Sun, May 21, 2011, TONY Abbott is behaving like the next election campaign has already started.He’s on a frantic crusade, visiting marginal seats and barnstorming the nation.And everywhere he goes he has one simple message: the carbon tax is toxic and will ruin your life……but he didn’t look happy when Malcolm Turnbull took fire at the Coalition’s “direct action” alternative, saying it would blow the Budget by 2050….Tony Abbott on his climate crusade | Herald Sun
Jaitapur anti nuclear protest goes global
last week more than sixty-two thousand people from all over the world joined the people of Jaitapur and wrote or called HSBC and BNP Paribas to demand a halt to the Jaitapur project.
Protest mounts against earthquake prone nuke plant Greenpeace International by Karuna Raina – May 20, 2011 Since its earliest stages, the proposed Nuclear Power Plant at Jaitapur has faced concerned opposition from local people who clearly recognised the inherent risks that the Indian government appeared to be ignoring. With the proposed site sitting directly on top of one of India’s most seismically active zones, those with the most to lose saw clearly the danger they were being placed in and started the fight for their safety, their livelihoods and the future of their families. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 