Australia’s controversies uranium, coal seam gas, wind – especially rife in Victoria
Victoria’s Premier Ted Baillieu has been conspicuously absent from hailing the visit of Crown Prince Fredrick and Princess Mary from Denmark. And no wonder. It’s an embarrassment.
WIND ENERGY As a leader in renewable energy, and with its thriving wind turbine industry, Danes must find it strange indeed, to be in Victoria – where wind energy is judged as unhealthy, and government seems determined to stall its development, and go all out for fossil fuels (and maybe, later, nuclear)
Over 40 per cent of Victoria is now under licence — , CoalWatch, allows users to see at a glance which areas of Victorian have been leased to mining companies for the mining of brown coal…….. massive 3,700 sq km lease EL4416 to Dr. John White’s Ignite Energy Resources. Cutting a swathe right across southern Gippsland’s prime coastal and tourism region, it runs the entire length of the spectacular 90 Mile Beach from the top of Wilsons Promontory to the Gippsland Lakes, half circling the towns of Bairnsdale, Sale and Traralgon… http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/environment/victoria-goes-dirty-brown/
NUCLEAR NON PROLIFERATION Denmark partners Australia in being a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and has signed and ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).Denmark now sees Australia now abandoning its role in the Treaty
Uranium sales to India – looking a bit doubtful. What a pity if Julia Gillard has gone to all that trouble to sell out on Australia’s membership of the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty – for a lousy few $billions to foreign owned companies like BHP , Rio Tnto, exstrata – and now – two hurdles to face:
1. The Labor Party conference will hold a divisive debate on the issue, and the anti uranium members just might win.
2. India’s nuclear power program appears to be coming unstuck. That great “cash cow” of Australia’s uranium boom just might not happen. – Christina Macpherson
Labor’s Party President says No to uranium sales to India
Re-elected Labor Party president Jenny McAllister says yes to gays, no to uranium, BY:MILANDA ROUT , The Australian November 26, 2011 “……Jenny McAllister says she has always been opposed to expanding uranium exports.
Ms McAllister, from the party’s Left faction, was yesterday declared the winner of the month-long ballot for the figurehead role after more than 12,000 votes were lodged by members……
Ms McAllister, who campaigned on a platform of party reform, also said she had concerns about exporting uranium to more countries. The Prime Minister last week announced her plan to lift the ban on uranium sales to India.
“I have a longstanding and very public position against the expansion of uranium exports,” Jenny McAllister said…..
She said she was especially looking forward to discussing ways to give grassroots members more of a voice in the party’s policy formation…http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/re-elected-labor-party-president-says-yes-to-gays-no-to-uranium/story-fn59niix-1226206539925
India’s nuclear future now shaky – might not need Australia’s uranium
In the shadow of increasingly fierce grassroots opposition, India’s nuclear ambitions – and Australia’s future uranium cash cow – are looking decidedly less promising.
India’s nuclear ambitions come up against people power, BY:AMANDA HODGE, IDINTHAKARAI, TAMIL NADU :The Australian . November 26, 2011 1 India’s Koodankulam nuclear power project is like the proverbial cockroach in an atomic storm. It has survived the fall of the Soviet Union, the assassination of an Indian prime minister and the Boxing Day tsunami, when waves surged over the site where it now stands.
The first of six reactors to be built on the shore of India’s southernmost tip in Tamil Nadu was to have been switched on next month, 23 years after Mikhail Gorbachev and the slain Rajiv Gandhi signed off on the friendship project.
Instead it has hit another obstacle – an emerging national anti-nuclear campaign that has gained serious momentum since Japan’s Fukushima meltdown in March. Continue reading
Anti nuclear movement succeeding in India
Anti-nuke lobby seems to be winning the battle in India:Expert, IBN Live , Bangalore, Nov 25 (PTI) A key member of the Indian nuclear establishment today cautioned that if protestors of Koodankulam project in Tamil Nadu succeed in their objective, the country’s entire nuclear programme could be in jeopardy. “..if they (protestors in Koodankulam) are able to succeed, then they can succeed in shutting down the entire nuclear programme ……..a Member of the Atomic Energy Commission M R Srinivasan told PTI.
His warning came even as the protest by locals against the Koodankulam nuclear power project in Tamil Nadu’s Tirunelveli district entered the 100th day yesterday. Srinivasan, a former Secretary to the Department of Atomic Energy, said the “anti-nuclear movement” in the country has become “very strong with lot of support from elsewhere”. “It seems they (anti-nuclear lobby) are winning the battle”, he said. Srinivasan said “anti-nuclear people are working in an orchestrated way” in Koodankulam. “They are all joining up together…anti-nuclear people in the United States, Australia, Finland, Germany”. “It’s orchestrated completely. Why should school children sit (in protest) morning to evening? Do they understand the issues involved?. They have been told by their parents, they have been told by some religious leaders. So, it (the protest) goes on” http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/antinuke-lobby-seems-to-be-winning-the-battle-in-indiaexpert/914642.html
Danish visitors puzzled by Victoria’s laws against wind farms
Wind turbine rules mystify Danes, The Age, Adam MortoNovember 26, 2011 The head of the world’s largest wind energy company has questioned the Baillieu government’s rationale for giving households veto rights over turbines within two kilometres of their homes.
Ditlev Engel, chief executive of Danish company Vestas, said he had ”no idea” where the policy had come from. Mr Engel, who is visiting Victoria with Crown Prince Frederik and Tasmanian-born Crown Princess Mary, said no one had explained the motivation for Victoria’s most restrictive regulations on turbines.
Mr Engel backed opening wind farms to the public to dispel myths about wind power. Denmark generates a quarter of its energy from wind power. Vestas had turbine blade manufacturing plants in Victoria and Tasmania, but they closed in 2007 over policy uncertainty… http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/wind-turbine-rules-mystify-danes-20111125-1nzb0.html#ixzz1eqqTjYpA
Victorian wind farm visited by Denmark’s Prince Frederik
Denmark’s Prince Frederik visits Victorian wind farm, Herald Sun November 26, 2011 A BOYISH Prince Frederik inspected the Macarthur Wind Farm in south-western Victoria yesterday…. For now, the site’s paddocks boast sheep, bulldozers and the half-built towers of windmills that will soar as high as 140m when completed.
The project, costed at $1 billion, will be the biggest wind farm south of the equator, and may power more than 220,000 average homes. An estimated 25 per cent of Denmark’s power is generated by wind.http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/denmarks-prince-frederik-visits-victorian-wind-farm/story-fn7x8me2-1226206401754
Denmark plans ahead – to beat economic, climate, resources crises with renewable energy
Denmark faced three global crises which will hit it “with a force that is so far absolutely unheard of” — an economic and financial crisis, a climate crisis and a resources crisis. “This proposal will address all three crises.”
Denmark aims for 100 pct renewable energy in 2050
* Proposes to get 52 pct of power from renewables in 2020
* Aims for entire energy supply from renewables in 2050
* Minister says investment in green energy can pay off
By Mette Fraende COPENHAGEN, Nov 25 (Reuters) – Danish government proposals on Friday called for sourcing just over half of its electricity from wind turbines by 2020 and all of its energy from renewable sources in 2050. Continue reading
Australians can now check out coal seam gas activities on ABC’s new map
ABC’s new CSG site, ABC News 24 Nov The ABC has mapped every coal seam gas well in the country and compiled a bank of information on a new website available from today.
The site explores the cumulative impacts of coal seam gas activities in Australia, including the amount of water used to produce CSG and the consequences for salinity and greenhouse gas emissions. ABC journalist and site creator Wendy Carlisle says people can look up a well by place name or postcode. “This industry has, you know, arisen out of almost nowhere in the last decade” she said.
“There is no site you can go to which presents to you in a readily understandable way the extent of the industry as it currently stands.”(There’s) information about how much water may be extracted, how much salt could be extracted and what the greenhouse gas footprint of those activities are likely to be.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-24/abc-sets-up-new-website-about-coal-seam-gas-mining/3690542
Gas lobby attacks Australian Broadcasting Commission over its coal seam gas website
The ABC said it had conducted the report to counter the lack of available, readily understandable information about the industry, including its environmental impacts. The report, which features an interactive website, consolidates government and industry reports on CSG, many of which are more than 10,000 pages.
Gas lobby blows up over ABC ‘errors’, BY:ANTHONY KLAN AND AMOS AIKMAN, The Australian November 26, 2011 THE coal-seam gas lobby has attacked an ABC report into the practice as “riddled with factual errors” and lodged an official complaint with the broadcaster. Continue reading
Non Government Organisations support Aboriginals, urge repeal of punitive Intervention legislation
“The compulsory nature of income management and its blanket imposition (in combination with other changes, such as local government reform, shire amalgamations and losses of local councils; changes to CDEP; the loss of the permit system; and changes in land tenure) are likely to have contributed to people’s feeling of a loss of freedom, empowerment and community control.”.
Aboriginals of Australia: NGOs Urge Government to Repeal Intervention Legislation Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organisation (UNPO) 26 Nov 11 Despite government-sanctioned reports that ‘welfare quarantining’ has resulted in the disenfranchisement of indigenous communities in their own affairs, Canberra has voted to extend the legislation. NGOs are particularly concerned with the development of a measure which would suspend welfare payments to parents whose children exhibit recidivism in low school attendance. Continue reading
Despite world economy problems, renewable energy, especially wind, now trumps fossil fuels
Renewable power trumps fossil fuels for first time L.A. Times, 25 Nov 11 Renewable energy is surpassing fossil fuels for the first time in new power-plant investments, shaking off setbacks from the financial crisis and an impasse at the United Nations global warming talks.
The findings indicate the world is shifting toward consuming more renewable energy even without a global agreement on limiting greenhouse gases. Delegates from more than 190 nations converge in Durban, South Africa, on Nov. 28 to discuss new measures for limiting emissions damaging the climate….
Wind operators are likely to install 43 gigawatts of generating capacity this year and 48 gigawatts next year, up from 36 gigawatts in 2010, GWEC estimates…. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-renewables-20111125,0,2421278.story
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 