Northern Territory Liberal Party all for French nuclear company against Aboriginal landowner
Mr Lee, a member of the Djok clan and senior custodian of the land known as Koongarra, could have become one of
Australia’s richest men if he had decided to allow Areva to extract the estimated 14,000 tonnes of uranium from its 12.5 square kilometre mineral lease in the area.
NT Opposition supports French bid to mine uranium ABC News 21 June 11 The Northern Territory Opposition says it supports the commercial right of French nuclear energy company Areva to mine an area near Kakadu National Park. By Bridget Brennan and Jano Gibson, 21 June 11
Areva had planned to establish a uranium mine in a small area called Koongarra, but traditional owner Jeffrey Lee has donated the area to the Commonwealth.
The Federal Government now wants to include Koongarra in world-heritage-listed Kakadu. Continue reading
Swap your BHP shares: rooftop solar is a better investment
Rooftop Solar Power A Better Investment Than Shares, Renewable Energy News by Energy Matters 20 June 11 An independent think tank believes Australian retirees investing in solar power will find it a more profitable investment than BHP Billiton shares and safer than bank shares.
Writing for the Australian Financial Review, David Hetherington, Executive Director of independent progressive think tank Per Capita, says new “solar plus storage” technology for homes and small businesses offers a way for retirees and others to future proof against rapidly escalating electricity costs. Continue reading
Western Australian leader says that Labor Party will keep anti uranium policy
Ripper says uranium policy unlikely to change. Joe Spagnolo State Political Editor PerthNow , June 21, 2011 THE WA Labor Party is unlikely to change its anti-uranium mining policy at this weekend’s state conference, Opposition leader Eric Ripper says. Mr Ripper told PerthNow he expected the issue to be debated. But he believed Labor’s policy would not be changed ……
“The party has been concerned about uranium mining for 40 years,” Mr Ripper said….
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/ripper-says-uranium-policy-unlikely-to-change/story-e6frg14c-1226079290569
Community wind power to the people of Hepburn, Victoria
Australian community wind delivers power to the people Recharge 22 June 11 Community wind farms are no stranger to the US — where the sector is comparable to the size of the entire Australian commercial wind industry. But Australia has been slow to jump on the community bandwagon. Low-cost electricity generated from the country’s vast coal and gas reserves provides real challenges to the economics, while connecting windy but often remote regions to the national grid is difficult and expensive.
Enter the pioneers of the Hepburn Wind Park — Australia’s first co-operative wind farm, about 100km northwest of Melbourne, Victoria.
Commissioned this week, nearly four years after the co-operative was registered, Hepburn’s two 2MW turbines now supply enough electricity to power 2,300 homes — 300 more than are in the area.
The community-owned project moved from dream to reality in April last year, when Germany’s REpower signed a contract to build the wind farm, and a final offer for 1.8 million shares was released. Continue reading
30 year radiation health monitoring for 2 million Fukushima residents
Two million Fukushima residents to undergo radiation health checks Telegraph By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo, 22 June 11 More than two million residents living in the region surrounding Japan’s damaged nuclear power plant will undergo longterm health checks starting from this month. The health of residents in Fukushima prefecture in northeast Japan will be monitored over the next 30 years in order to ease growing concerns surrounding radiation contamination.
The project is believed to be unprecedented in terms of the number of residents involved and the predicted time span of three decades during which their health will be monitoreResidents are expected to receive questionnaires to determine the degree of their contamination risks, with subsequent tests including examinations for internal radiation contamination.
The health checks will start at the end of the month, focusing firstly on 28,000 residents in the three communities currently nearest to the power plant – Iitake village, Kawamata and Namie – before expanding across the region.
The findings will be stored on a database created by Fukushima Medical University in order to monitor the longterm potential effects of radiation exposure in the region.
Residents in the Fukushima region have expressed growing concern surrounding the possible longterm health risks, in particular for children, triggered by the on-going nuclear power plant crisis.
Plans for the health checks were confirmed at a weekend meeting by Fukushima prefectural government authorities in response to growing local concern surrounding the health implications of the on-going nuclear crisis……..http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8585961/Two-million-Fukushima-residents-to-undergo-radiation-health-checks.html
35,000 Western Australian homes to get wind energy
GE’s wind technology enters Western Australia, Industrial Fuels and Power June 21st, 2011 by IFandP Newsroom A consortium including GE and Australian firm Leighton Contractors has received a US$130m contract to supply and install 22 GE 2.5-100 wind turbines for the Mumbida Wind Farm. Located 40km southeast of Geraldton, marks the entry of GE in the Australia/New Zealand region.
A 50/50 partnership between Western Australia-owned utility Verve Energy and Macquarie Capital, the Mumbida Wind Farm will generate 55MW of renewable energy for the South West Interconnected System, enough to eliminate 165,000t of greenhouse gases annually and supply power to around 35,000 homes…….http://www.ifandp.com/article/0011718.html
WA politicians told to get modern – dump uranium industry and boost renewables
Get with the times: Parliament told nuclear power is ‘so last century‘ WA Today Courtney Trenwith June 22, 2011 Uranium is so last century; renewable energy is where it’s at. That was the message to West Australian politicians last night during a protest against uranium mining.
An oversized cheque for 10,248 signatures (tabled during the past two years), cheekily made payable to WA Parliament, also was on display. A colourful slideshow of hand-written messages was projected on the front wall of Parliament House to mark the tabling of more than 10,000 signatures calling for the government to reinstate the no-uranium mining policy.
Conservation Council WA anti-nuclear campaigner Mia Pepper said the creative protest symbolised that the writing was on the wall for nuclear power.
“We hope to offer support to those in Parliament that are standing up against this industry.” “This industry is in decline and we need to take the lead and back out of this industry as quickly as possible,” Ms Pepper said.
The hand-written messages were sent over the internet from supporters around the state…….Organised by the WA branches of the Conservation Council, Nuclear-Free Alliance and the Anti-Nuclear Alliance, the rally was addressed by WA Greens Leader Giz Watson and Labor MP Sally Talbot, on behalf of Opposition Leader Eric Ripper…. Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/get-with-the-times-parliament-told-nuclear-power-is-so-last-century-20110621-1gddv.html#ixzz1Pz04XuCj
CSIRO’s new solar research hub
PICTURES CSIRO Newcastle solar tower opens: pics By Michael Lee, ZDNet.com.au on June 20th, 2011 CSIRO opened Australia’s largest solar thermal research hub over the weekend, providing the Hunter region with another source of renewable energy and industry with a new hub for research…. http://www.zdnet.com.au/csiro-newcastle-solar-tower-opens-pics-339317052.htm
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 