One small concession to Australia’s environment – BHP to pay a bit for future water grab
(once again – so much news about BHP Billiton and Olympic Dam uranium mine – more items at http://nuclearnewsaustralia.wordpress.com/ )
BHP forced to pay for Great Artesian Basin water, ABC Rural By Annabelle Homer , 13/10/2011 The South Australian Government and BHP Billiton have signed an Indenture Agreement to enable the Olympic Dam mine expansion to go ahead. The Indenture Bill will be introduced to State Parliament next week to enable this agreement to be backed by the full force of South Australian law.
As part of the agreement, the company will now be charged for the water it extracts from the Great Artesian Basin and $350 million a year in royalties will be generated once the project is at full capacity….. BHP has accepted reluctantly they will now come under Environment Protection Agency, they are paying for the first time ever for the Great Artesian Basin water.”
BHP will be charged on the current NRM Board levy rate (currently $0.0318/KL) for the region (capped at $0.10/KL), for a period of 30 years from the commencement of the project.The charge will then revert to the current NRM Levy rate.
BHP will not be required to pay for water being taken on the Special Mineral Lease.
Independent environmental consultant David Noonan says the BHP is not paying enough. “He says the company will be paying $1.3 million to $1.5 million a year for essentially a precious water resource.”
The Bill also includes a 12-month sunset clause, which means the company has one year from when Parliament passes the Bill to get the approval from its Board of Directors to formally begin the expansion. http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201110/s3338957.htm
How Australian governments gave BHP special treatment, and free groundwater
Public resources for private profit: free water for the largest open-pit mine in the world Coober Pedy Regional Times, by: Nectaria Calan, 13 Oct 11 In August mining giant BHP Billiton announced record financial results for the 2011 financial year, recording a total net profit of US$23.95 billion, nearly double its 2010 figure of US$13.01 billion.Friends of the Earth call for transparency on proposed Whyalla In Situ Leach uranium trial
14 oct 11, Public submissions for Samphire Uranium’s application for an In Situ Leach trial mine closed yesterday. Better known as the Mullaquana project, the proposed trial site is located 20km from Whyalla, 3.6km from the Upper Spencer Gulf. Samphire Uranium is wholly owned by UraniumSA, a new entrant in the uranium mining industry.
In Situ Leach mines pump highly acidic substances into an aquifer to mobilise uranium. The liquid is then pumped out of the aquifer and processed to remove the uranium. The waste liquid is then pumped back into the aquifer.
Two grassroots environmental groups, Friends of the Earth Adelaide and West Mallee Protection, stated in their joint submission that:
“Given the number of risks involved with the proposed Mullaquana trial, particularly the routine contamination of groundwater by heavy metals and radioactive materials associated with In Situ Leach mining…we strongly recommend that this proposal is rejected.”
“Using…questionable, fuzzy logic, attempts are made to argue that low soil productivity and the low quality of groundwater negate potential risks and minimise the impact of contamination…this is essentially saying that it’s okay to pollute soil and groundwater with radioactive materials and heavy metals simply because it is of a lower quality.”
Friends of the Earth Adelaide and West Mallee Protection are calling on PIRSA to reject the application.
“The In Situ Leach method of mining has left numerous sites in Eastern Europe heavily contaminated. In South Australia, there have been over 20 spills at the Beverley In Situ Leach mine. In January 2002 a pipe burst, releasing 62, 000 litres of contaminated water. UraniumSA claim that they have recruited heavily from within this sector,” said Nectaria Calan, of Friends of the Earth Adelaide.
No commercial acid leach mine in the USA has ever been given environmental approval because of the high risk of contamination.
“Given UraniumSA’s public commitment to transparency, we are calling on the company to commit to making publically available the In Situ data that will be obtained during the trial, and the models they use to obtain it,” stated Ms Calan.
Soouth Australia’s Mike Rann gives freehold to BHP over Olympic Dam uranium mining lease
“They have a code of silence at that mining lease that’s stronger than any code in downtown
Calabria,” “They even have the government tied up because when BHP says jump, the government says how high.”
Yesterday, Rann again signed off on BHP’s powerful proprietary interests over the site. BHP gets freehold over the extended Olympic Dam mining lease. Few mining companies have this ultimate level of control.
The estimated mining royalties for South Australia ($350 million) from the “world’s biggest mine in human history” are around one tenth of what Western Australia pulls every year from iron ore.
Mike Rann delivers Kloppers’ Kingdom in Melbourne, Crikey, by Kevin Naughton of InDaily, 13 Oct 11,
“…….Rann was in Melbourne at BHP Billiton’s headquarters to sign the indenture agreement that specifies several of the terms under which BHP can expand its mine at Olympic Dam. Marius Kloppers, the busy global boss of the company with more than $72 billion turnover, held the whip hand on the Premier of a state with annual turnover of about $13 billion.
The indenture agreement goes before Parliament next week where there will be some token debate, but little in the way of exhaustive analysis of the terms of a deal that gives BHP 45 years of certainty, control and exclusive access rights that make this mine site look more like Kloppers’ Kingdom than a part of South Australia. Continue reading
Unlikely to succeed – Tony Abbott’s “pledge in blood” to repeal carbon tax law
Abbott’s gory pledge would be a legal bloodbath , Crikey.com 13 Oct 11, by Fergus Green, a lawyer and policy analyst specialising in climate change Abbott’s hyperbole has certainly attracted the headlines, but it betrays a curious tactic. By using such uncompromising rhetoric John Howard gave us the “non-core promise”. Now Tony Abbott has added a new category to the hierarchy of political commitment with his “pledge in blood” to repeal the carbon tax, which passed the lower house of Parliament yesterday (unless, of course, that was just an “unscripted remark” made “in the heat of verbal combat”.)
Abbott has left himself no room to move if repealing the nascent scheme becomes legally impossible or popularly unpalatable.
No amount of blood-pledging, pinkie-swearing, or scout’s-honouring will change the constitutional and political obstacles that an Abbott government would face if it tried to repeal (what will soon be) theClean Energy Act and its 18 associated acts of Parliament….. http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/10/13/abbotts-gory-pledge-would-be-a-legal-bloodbath/
Indian protesters blockade nuclear power plant
Jaya supports Kundankulam nuclear plant protesters Money Control, Oct 13, 2011
The agitation against Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) near Tirunelveli reached a feverish pitch on Thursday with thousands of activists blocking all the entry points to the project site.
Employees who reached the KNPP for shift could not enter the premises which brought routine works to a grinding halt.
This is the first time that a nuclear reactor was affected following agitation by the local residents. However, protests are only set to intensify with the Tamil Nadu chief minister openly supporting the protestors. Jayalalithaa has said that the people’s interest will not be compromised.
This comes a day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged her to support the nuclear plant. http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/current-affairs/jaya-supports-kundankulam-nuclear-plant-protesters_598922.html
Distressed French nuclear industry pushing nuke sales to South Africa
The French nuclear industry is in distress, with an ageing domestic-reactor fleet and a decline in the international nuclear market. The French companies Areva and EDF need to sell reactors abroad to survive and, after Fukushima, the number of countries investing in new nuclear industry is very limited. Hence France’s strong nuclear lobby and “friendship” with South African politicians over the past few years.
Nuclear power will cost the country dearly Mail and Guardian RIANNE TEULE:
ENERGY Oct 14 2011 The Mail & Guardian’s front-page story last week (October 7) highlighted the upcoming nuclear battle for a total of R1-trillion worth of reactors in South Africa and the fact that the country is being forcefully lobbied by the French and other nuclear countries. The exorbitant costs and the nuclear industry’s desperation prove that it is absolute lunacy for South Africa to choose the nuclear route.
Governments around the world are rethinking nuclear energy after the Japan nuclear disaster. The German government has decided to phase out nuclear energy and in a recent referendum in Italy, 95% of Italians voted against the use of nuclear. By contrast, South Africa plans to launch a tender for 9 600MW of new nuclear energy, requiring an investment of up to R1-trillion.
Australian Greens may yet put a spanner in the works of expanding Olympic Damn Uranium mine
Greens threaten BHP deal, BY:MICHAEL OWEN ,The Australian ,October 14, 2011 KEVIN Foley, who for six years led the South Australian government’s negotiations with BHP Billiton over its planned Olympic Dam expansion, has slammed the Greens for threatening to stall the passage of an indenture agreement through parliament in a spat over royalties.
- The indenture, signed by the former treasurer and Premier Mike Rann with BHP chief Marius Kloppers in Melbourne on Wednesday, fixes royalties at the current 5 per cent for uranium and 3.5 per cent for other minerals for the first 45 years of the project.
- The indenture needs to be ratified by the state’s parliament and a bill will be introduced on Tuesday, but there is no guarantee of a swift passage through the upper house, where the Labor government does not have a majority.
Greens upper house MP Mark Parnell yesterday vowed to move amendments to the royalty deal. “All companies want security, they love to know things that will be set in stone forever but . . . royalties go up and down, mostly they go up,” Mr Parnell said. “A lot of states are thinking of putting theirs up higher, so to lock in a company with its own special act of parliament to not have to pay any higher royalties for 45 years I think is wrong and I think we have sold ourselves short.”.. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/mining-energy/greens-threaten-bhp-deal/story-e6frg9df-1226166214071
Australia’s carbon tax – an economic opportunity for regional businesses
it’s really in our interest economically to start becoming more efficient and do more with less.
How to stop whingeing and get with the carbon program, ABC Rural News, By Caddie Brain, 13 October 2011 Many businesses in regional Australia are concerned about higher energy costs under a carbon tax.
But Jon Dee, the founder of Do Something! and a former NSW Australian of the year, says it’s not all bad news.
He says the carbon tax presents an opportunity for businesses to innovate and become more efficient. Continue reading
1.This month.
Zoom webinar – “Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange.”
April 7th at 11:30 am PST / 2:30 pm EST
Nuclear Winter: The Environmental Consequences of a Nuclear Exchange”
Join us for an informative webinar with renowned atmospheric scientist, Professor Brian Toon, as he discusses the environmental risks and global impacts of a nuclear war. Despite the potential damage caused by the blast from even small nuclear weapons, many countries continue to invest in and expand nuclear arsenals. Professor Toon will provide a scientific assessment of civilian fatalities, agricultural failures, climate concerns, and complications with food supply that would follow any international nuclear conflict. We need to plan how to prevent nuclear conflict and avoid catastrophe. Politicians and military planners must be made aware of global climate and agricultural complications that would ensue. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from, and engage in, this vital conversation
The Road to War brings a sharp focus to why it is not in Australia’s best interest to be dragged into a war with China which will almost inevitably go nuclear very quickly. The filmmaker has interviewed some of Australia’s senior foreign policy analysts who have vast experience behind them in analysing what really is going on here as the United States rattles its sabres with China. And sets us up to be its proxy, like the poor Ukranians have been fed into the Meatgrinder. So America can remain the Top Dog. The Road to War reveals how the United States through its spy base at Pine Gap and by stationing six nuclear capable B52 bombers in the Top End (without permission from the traditional owners) is making Australia a prime nuclear target if the current war of words suddenly melts down into full scale war.
The Road to War shows the implicit connection between Carbon emissions (the US military uses a whopping 70% of America’s annual petroleum to move its armies and vast War Machine around the globe to its 800+ military bases..but under a loophole wangled at Kyoto, the US military does not have to report its C02 annual emissions). The Road to War starts screening at selected cities and regional centres in March. See the trailer end for details.
Antinuclear 