Antinuclear

Olympic Dam an unprecedented attack on Australia’s environment

BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam mine expansion will leave an uprecedented environmental legacy THE AUSTRALIAN,  BY:PAUL CLEARY  October 11, 2011  FUTURE generations of Australians will have to contend with an unprecedented environmental legacy from the expansion of Olympic Dam’s copper-uranium mine, but our system provides no way of compensating them.

BHP Billiton’s open-cut expansion of mining to extract an estimated $800 billion in mineral wealth will leave behind an above-ground heap of radioactive tailings spread over 44sq km and as high as the Sydney Opera House.

After 40 years of production, the mine will also leave behind a toxic crater measuring 4km wide and more than 1km deep.

Both legacies pose significant risks to ground water, according to BHP’s environmental impact statement . . . although these were dismissed yesterday by Environment Minister Tony Burke.

Under Australia’s federal-state system, the South Australian government has no incentive to set up a future fund so that it can compensate future residents for having to live with much less mineral wealth, and with the environmental costs of this development. Nor has the federal government or opposition shown any interest in measures to compensate our grandkids, and their descendants, for having used our inherited mineral wealth to inflate our standard of living…..  the mineral resources rent tax won’t collect any of the above-normal profits earned from developing one of the world’s biggest ore deposits, because it only taxes coal and iron ore production.   http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/counting-the-cost-of-bhps-olympic-dam/story-e6frg9if-1226163362958

October 11, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | environment, South Australia, uranium, wastes | South Australia