Tony Abbott’s climate plan just can’t work
If you stop to think about it for a minute, it’s obvious that Direct Action won’t work. It doesn’t introduce a proper market mechanism for carbon abatement. It doesn’t seek to cap Australia’s carbon emissions. The odds are against it, even before we examine the depth of the Coalition’s actual commitment to addressing climate change. No wonder Tony Abbott can’t find any economists or climate scientists prepared to support it.
A close look at Abbott’s Direct Action plan, ABC Drum, Ben Eltham, 21 JULY 2011, “……What exactly are the policies of the Coalition, and would they work? After all, there’s been plenty of media scrutiny of the Government’s carbon tax. There’s been precious little on the Opposition’s own carbon policy, which it calls “Direct Action”, or the many sweeping statements on climate change and the carbon tax by Tony Abbott. Continue reading
Anti nuclear protest at Australian Uranium Conference on in Fremantle.
Anti-uranium protest in Fremantle, Anti-uranium campaigners have staged a protest outside Australia’s largest annual uranium conference., ABC News, July 21, 2011 “…….Politicians and uranium industry delegates are attending the forum to discuss the future of the industry in WA, which as yet has no operational uranium mine.
The Conservation Council of WA organised the rally, which included Australian Manufacturing Workers Union WA boss Steve McCartney, Greens MP Robin Chapple and Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitte.
The protesters say they hope to draw attention to the decline in the nuclear industry and reflect on the recent tragedy at the Fukushima plant in Japan…
Fukushima ‘incident’ makes nuclear industry safer, says Paladin chief
He said the Fukushima incident in Japan had been nothing more than a smokescreen obscuring the positive underlying fundamentals of the industry.A positive side to the Fukushima incident, where there were no deaths despite alarmist reports, was that it will make the industry even safer
Paladin Energy CEO delivers broadside against Greens Party, A leading Australian uranium industry figure fired a broadside at the country’s Greens Party which has pushed a case that Australia could be run totally on renewable energy by 2040. Ross Louthean, Mineweb 21 Jul 2011 PERTH – –
Speaking in the last session of the Australian Uranium Conference in Fremantle this evening, Paladin Energy Ltd’s chief executive John Borshoff described the case made by the country’s Greens Party that Australia could be run totally on renewable enrergy by 2040 as stupid. Continue reading
Doctors welcome Australia’s carbon tax plan as a healthy measure
A small but significant step towards a healthier world, Crikey, July 11, 2011, by Melissa Sweet, It’s time for the health professions to rally around the patient, Dr David Shearman, Honorary Secretary of the Doctors for the Environment Australia,writes:
Doctors for the Environment Australia regards a price on carbon as a public health measure, for climate change is one of the greatest health threats of our time. Continue reading
Now twice as many Japanese cattle likely to be radioactive
Japan’s ‘Major Problem’ With Radioactive Cattle Gets Even Bigger, SF Gate, July 21 (Bloomberg) –– Japan’s government said the number of cattle fed with hay contaminated by radiation has doubled, two days after shipments of beef from cows raised near the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant were banned.
As of yesterday there were 1,256 potentially contaminated cows from 637 two days earlier, said Kazutoshi Nobuto, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.
“This is a major, major problem,” Goshi Hosono, Japan’s food safety minister, said yesterday at a press conference in the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. Hosono is also in charge of the response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster…. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/07/21/bloomberg1376-LONZP86S972801-3CL2GT5F8SH7TVV2BED2RK9I63.DTL
Lynas’ Malaysian rare earths plant an experiment in irradiating local community
“We will see whether there is any increase of people afflicted with radiation-linked diseases or cancer,”…So what if the future health of the people is adversely affected. Nothing is mentioned about compensation….
It is now abundantly clear that the project had been scheduled to proceed right from the beginning, when it was surreptitiously approved without consultation of the people, way back in 2008.
How else can you explain Lynas construction of the plant, now at 40% completion, when they didn’t have government approval or sanction in the first place?
Gebeng residents mere guinea pigs for Lynas project, Malaysi Kini, Kuantan Resident, Jul 21, 11, All is not quiet on the western front. Some may think they have won the battle. But they have not won the war yet!
Yesterday’s Star report (20.7.2011) on ‘Lynas to compile residents’ health data for future comparison’ is laughable.
Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) director general Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan said it would serve as a baseline data for Lynas before the operation began.
“It will be used later to provide a comparison for assessing the operation’s impact on the people living in nearby areas such as Balok. Continue reading
A second Australian govt Aboriginal Intervention to provide land for uranium industry
Labor’s next phase seeks to go further in closing “unviable” remote communities, opening up Aboriginal land for exploitation and creating a “work-ready” cheap labour force….. Long-term leases are also being established over Aboriginal land to give open access to mining
Australian government deepens Northern Territory “intervention”, World Socialist website, By Susan Allan , 21 July 2011, The Gillard government last month marked the fourth anniversary of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Intervention by announcing a further intensification of its regressive measures against Aboriginal people. A “second stage” of the intervention will commence next year, when the emergency legislation was due to expire. Continue reading
NASA acknowledges the risk of horrifying nuclear space accidents
an accident in which plutonium is released by a space device as tiny particles falling to Earth maximizes its lethality. A millionth of a gram of plutonium can be a fatal dose. The pathway of greatest concern is the breathing in plutonium particle..
As the NASA Environmental Impact Statement puts it: “Particles smaller than about 5 microns would be transported to and remain in the trachea, bronchi, or deep lung regions.” The plutonium particles “would continuously irradiate lung tissue.”
“A small fraction would be transported over time directly to the blood or to lymph nodes and then to the blood,” it continues. Once plutonium “has entered the blood via ingestion or inhalation, it would circulate and be deposited primarily in the liver and skeletal system.” Also, says the document, some of the plutonium would migrate to the testes or ovaries.
What Could Truly End the Space Program: A Nuclear Disaster Overhead , OpED News, By Karl Grossman 21 July 11, Between November 25 and December 15 NASA plans to launch for use on Mars a rover fueled with 10.6 pounds of plutonium, more plutonium than ever used on a rover. Continue reading
Antinuclear 