Traditional owners, Central Land Council, unions marched in Tennant Creek, against nuclear waste dump
Waste dump opponents ‘not going to back down’ http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-27/waste-dump-opponents-not-going-to-back-down/4715238 By Gail Liston May 27, 2013 More than 200 people have marched in Tennant Creek to protest against a nuclear waste dump planned for Muckaty Station north of the town.
Traditional owner Diane Stokes says the chairman of the Central Land Council (CLC), Maurie Ryan, addressed the rally, declaring the CLC will support the protesters. Mr Ryan told the crowd, the CLC is on a collision course with the Northern Land Council over how they have handled the Muckaty nomination. Ms Stokes says it is time the CLC takes control of the country as far north as Elliott to support traditional owners in their bid to stop the dump going ahead.
“We were saying before about the boundaries to be put back now because Central Land Council is very strong on helping us out, supporting us in getting the boundary back to Elliott,” she said.
She says representatives from Unions NT and the CLC travelled to Tennant Creek to join the rally. “I’m very happy that we’ve marched and I know I want these people out there to know that we’re still standing strong and I want to let the supporters know that I want to thank them for supporting us,” she said.
Natalie Wasley from the Beyond Nuclear Initiative says the protesters recognise that the proposed nuclear waste dump is not just an NT issue. “This is shaping up to be a very important issue in the Northern Territory for the federal election and so that was expressed very strongly at the rally, that people are going to be knocking [on] the doors of all the candidates and asking where they stand and are they going to stand up for the Territory on this issue,” she said.
She says it has been six years since the site was nominated and no-one is planning to give up the fight. “It was noted that this Muckaty campaign has outlasted many federal ministers, chief ministers and chairpeople and CEOs of the Northern Land Council,” she said.
“The community is absolutely resolute and they’re not going to back down. “They’re going to build up and radioactive waste is going to last even longer than all of those politicians.”
Toro Energy’s Wiluna uranium unlikely to make a profit
So how do the economics of the Wiluna project stack up? According to our modelling – based on Toro Energy’s own cost figures ?– not well……
Why Wiluna is worth watching, Business Spectator, Rod Campbell, 28 May 13 What could be Western Australia’s first uranium mine is unlikely to turn a profit unless costs to clean up the mine can be made to disappear.
Our modelling of the economics of Toro Energy’s Wiluna uranium project found that the mine is unviable if Toro Energy has to pay even optimistic estimates for the decommissioning and rehabilitation of the site.
The public and the environment have quite a stake in most mining projects and uranium projects in particular. Not only is it the public’s own mineral resources that are being sold – it’s often forgotten that all mineral resources are held by the Crown in the name of the public – but the environmental impacts of mine closure can be serious if not carried out properly.
Properly cleaning up a uranium mine can be an expensive business, so here’s why the public should be interested in the finances of mining projects – if in 2030 Toro Energy cannot foot the bill, Western Australians will face the unpleasant choice of paying the bill or accepting a degraded, potentially radioactive landscape. Continue reading
From Flat Earth to Creation Science to Climate Denial to Wind Turbine Syndrome
The director of the Institute of Public Affairs’ deregulation unit, Alan Moran, will also address the rally on “the failed economics of 
wind power”.
Serial ratbag, radio demagogue and leader of the rent-a-rage crowd, Alan Jones, will act as ring master at the circus.
Wind power in the sights of climate change deniers the Australian Environment Foundation http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/wind-power-in-the-sights-of-climate-change-deniers-the-australian-environment-foundation/story-e6frerdf-1226651595470 by:Paul Syvret :The Courier-Mail May 28, 2013 DUANE Gish was an American biochemist, best known for his unshakeable belief in creationism over evolution.
When debating his detractors, he would seek to overwhelm them by spewing forth a torrent of pseudo-science, half truths and utter fancy rapidly shifting over a multitude of angles, leaving his opponents little hope of refuting the barrage of BS in any reasoned or logical fashion, and certainly not within the confines of a formal debate.
The technique has come to be known as the “Gish Gallop”, which Project Reason founder Sam Harris once described as “starting 10 fires in 10 minutes” and leaving your opponent no opportunity to douse every falsehood, no matter how brazen the untruth.
Another Made in America phenomenon in recent years has been astroturfing, where vested interests establish a (arm’s length) movement that is ostensibly independent or grassroots yet largely serves to further their own ends. This is particularly prevalent in areas of environmental debate such as climate science, and gun law reform.
A case in point here is the Australian Environment Foundation, which was spun out of the IPA back in 2005. Continue reading
King Island community split by influx of anti wind energy campaigners
it didn’t take long for the discredited anti-wind group – the so called “Waubra Foundation” and their backers – to line up the locals opposed to the proposal. How this can be called a “Foundation” escapes this correspondent. Sandi Keane has written extensively in Independent Australia about the dubious credentials of this group, their murky sources of finances and clear links to the fossil fuel lobby. A mind-boggling chart of the web of interests can be found in Professor Simon Chapman’s article in Crikey…..
King Island’s collateral damage from anti-wind forces Independent Australia 28 May 13 Part-time King Island resident, David Looker, despairs of what he calls “collateral damage” as TasWind engages with residents in a battle to win support for its $2 billion proposal to build Australia’s biggest wind farm.
KING ISLAND sits at the western end of Bass Strait and is bisected by the 40th degree of latitude, which puts the lower half of the island literally in the Roaring Forties. The weather may be fine and windy, wet and windy, cloudy and windy — but it will be windy……
The consistent winds of the Roaring Forties have attracted TasWind, a division of Hydro Tasmania, to target the Island as the potential site of a 200-tower, 600MW capacity mega wind farm that would include a high voltage, undersea cable, enabling the electricity to be exported to the mainland, probably nearGeelong.
E3 Planning in Hobart prepared a Preliminary Socio Economic Impact Study for TasWind. This is a respected company, well-known on King Island but, of course, in the eyes of critics, suddenly not “independent” as this study was commissioned by Hydro Tasmania. E3 estimates the economic benefits to King Island to be between $255.75 and $310.65 million and points to substantial benefits to Australian renewable energy targets: Continue reading
First World Indigenous Network (WIN) Conference opens in Darwin
World Indigenous Network 5 Day Conference Underway In Australia By Albert Oppong-Ansah Ghana News -SpyGhana.com 28 May 13 The inaugural World Indigenous Network (WIN) Conference has formally been opened in the Northern Territory capital of Darwin, Australia.
The five day conference, which is being attended by about 1,500 delegates from over 50 countries including Ghana, would share stories, knowledge, cultural experiences and ideas on how to better manage ecosystems, protect the environment and support sustainable livelihoods…….
Dr Braulio F. de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, said initiatives such as the WIN which recognized and thrives on local knowledge and actions was the surest method to achieve the Aichi target by the UN.
The Aichi target, he explained, seeks to reduce direct pressure on biodiversity and promote its sustainable use.
Dr Dias said traditional knowledge was the most efficient method of conserving the environment and called on governments to adopt such an approach.
Ms Eleen Ravin, Manager, Equator Initiative at the United Nations Development Programms, said WIN’s commitment to promoting local and indigenous knowledge and experience was a value closely shared by the Equator Initiative, and by UNDP as a whole.
“Although there are synergies between the vision of the Equator Initiative and that of the World Indigenous Network we see WIN as additional opportunity to build on our experience of working to connect local and indigenous land and sea managers,” she said.
Ms Ravin said UNDP recognised community-based approaches seriously because it could help nations to advance people-centered development solutions.
She said sharing similar values regarding the importance of utilizing local and indigenous knowledge was a tool for addressing some of the most pressing development and environmental issues facing the world today. http://www.spyghana.com/world-indigenous-network-5-day-conference-underway-in-australia/
While millions now have solar energy, Australia’s big utilities step up fight against it
Solar Power In Australia – The Battle Ahead http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3761 27 May 13 It’s no surprise to the renewables industry, but that solar actually works has been a surprise to Big Energy – and this is increasingly making fossil fuel generators very nervous.
Speaking at the Solar 2013 conference in Melbourne, the Australian Photovoltaic Association‘s Muriel Watt warned that incumbent energy businesses will step up their fight against solar in the form of regulatory and tariff protection and campaigns to demonise it.
The latter is by no means a new development – the solar industry has been fighting myths and misinformation for years.
According to an article on RenewEconomy, Ms. Watt says incumbent utilities would attempt to push back on solar using a considerable arsenal of possibilities. Continue reading
Navajo will block transport of uranium
Navajo plans to block access for uranium transport, Yahoo 7 Finance, 28 May 13 Navajo Nation plans to deny uranium mining company permission to transport ore on tribal land By Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press |FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A uranium mining company seeking a mineral lease on state land in northwestern Arizona could have a hard time transporting the ore off-site because of the Navajo Nation’s objections to an industry that left a legacy of death and disease among tribal members.
The section of land in Coconino County is surrounded by the Navajo Nation’s Big Boquillas Ranch. The tribe has said it will not grant Wate Mining Company LLC permission to drive commercial trucks filled with chunks of uranium ore across its land to be processed at a milling site in Blanding, Utah.
The Navajo Nation was the site of extensive uranium mining for weapons during the Cold War. Although most of the physical hazards, including open mine shafts, have been fixed at hundreds of sites, concerns of radiation hazards remain.
The tribe banned uranium mining on its lands in 2005, and last year passed a law governing the transport of radioactive substances over its land. The ranch itself is not part of the reservation, although the Navajo Nation owns it.
“Given the (Navajo) Nation’s history with uranium mining, it is the nation’s intent to deny access to the land for the purpose of prospecting for or mining of uranium,” officials from the Navajo Department of Justice wrote in response to the mineral lease application.
The parcel of state land is in a checkerboard area of Arizona, east of the Hualapai reservation and south of the Havasupai reservation and Grand Canyon National Park. Tribal officials and the park superintendent have said any mining would threaten nearby water sources,……
Documents filed with the Arizona State Land Department indicate Wate Mining had requested approval from the Navajo Nation for the proposed access route, but the tribe said it has nothing on record showing that, nor does the state have access to the property.
“We have no intention of allowing them to cross Navajo lands unless they have appropriate access rights,” Navajo Deputy Attorney General Dana Bobroff said in an email…… http://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/navajo-plans-block-access-uranium-154503649.html
Prospect of a High Renewables Future
power industry structure includes hefty and durable fossil fuel subsidies, which amount to $1.9 trillion per year or more, according to a report from the International Monetary Fund earlier this year. Those fossil fuel subsidies far outweighed the smaller and more transient subsidies offered to renewables, according to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2012.
Is a high renewables future really possible? REneweconomy, By Peter Bronski 27 May 2013“……..Renewables’ track record shows that they continue to outpace skeptics’ expectations. “People thought that maybe renewables would get to two percent. When they did that, people said maybe five percent. Then 10 percent,” says Hutch Hutchinson, managing director at RMI. “Renewables have been fighting and scratching the entire way. Now, there’s good analytical evidence that with some creativity and customary levels of reinvestment in our energy system, we can get to a high renewables future.”
Eric Martinot, author of REN21’s Renewables Global Futures Report 2013, said something strikingly similar during a recent visit to RMI’s offices. He noted that the World Bank and others typically have a view of renewables that’s either behind the times by a decade (their image of 2013 is what renewables actually looked like in 2003) or low by a factor of ten (they think there’s much less renewable capacity than there really is).
But if we look to a growing body of consensus among energy futures studies and to an increasing number of examples from around the world today, we’ll see that a high renewables future is both possible and capable of coming soon. Indeed, in some places it’s already here.
The Prospect of a High Renewables Future
United States Continue reading
Fossil fuel economy in decline: climate campaigners are helping Australia’s fuure
How climate campaigners are protecting the economy PAUL GILDING ABC Environment 27 MAY 2013 The climate campaigners holding up new coal mines and coal seam gas projects are inadvertently preventing Australia from rushing headlong into economic collapse.
IRONY DOESN’T GET ANY better than this. Environmentalists and farmers fighting the expansion of coal mining and coal seam gas across
Australia are protecting the economy. If they are successful in slowing down or reversing these sectors in Australia, future governments will be spared an economic mess, Australian workers will have much improved employment prospects and our big banks will be
spared major losses.
That’s because, while not their intention, such campaigns are the only thing likely to moderate the rude economic awakening we face when the global carbon bubble bursts and the fossil fuel industries start their inevitable and terminal decline. Continue reading
As Australians learn about cheaper renewable energy, most want to keep the carbon tax
Mixed Greens: Swing voters want carbon price to stay – poll REneweconomy, By Sophie Vorrath 28 May 2013
The Australian reports that the poll also showed that while 42 per cent of voters want the carbon pricing regime repealed, when given a message suggesting it would make renewable energy cheaper, that number falls to 35 per cent. The poll also showed that, when given this positive message, the number of voters who thought carbon pricing should be given a chance to work rose from 39 per cent to 45 per cent. Of Labor voters, 76 per cent think the carbon price should be given a chance; and 77 per cent of Greens voters. But 65 per cent of Liberal voters want the carbon price repealed, reports The Australian…. eneweconomy.com.au/2013/mixed-greens-swing-voters-want-carbon-price-to-stay-poll-65575
In 2001 Australia’s Liberal Party began the Renewable Energy Target, but now backtrackng on it
Renewable Energy Projects in Australia Shelved Until September Election Results International Business Times,By Athena Yenko | May 27, 2013 Future plans of further developing the Infigen renewable energy project in Canberra and other related projects has come in a standstill as Australia waits for September election results…… Meanwhile, the challenge in changing or developing renewable energy projects is on opposition leader Tony Abbott. The challenge is politically risky for Mr. Abbott not only because there is a multi-billion of dollars at risk but more importantly because the campaign for renewable energy is Conservative’s “baby project.”
It is to be recalled that in 2001, the conservative government introduced the world-first mandatory target for renewable energy. The decision followed scientific warnings of global warming and pressure from the public to act on the ten-year drought…….
During Labor’s seat in power in 2007, laws were passed requiring that 20 per cent of power will come from renewable energy come 2020. The said law stated that fixedRenewable Energy Target of 41,00 gigawatt hours from solar, geothermal and win. This was supported by certified certificates saying that to make renewable energy more usable than coal generators, the RET will be supported by 41 million tons of greenhouse produced from national emissions yearly.
But as Australia waits for the September 14 results, all planned remained hanging in the air.
Nathan Fabian, head of Australia’s Investor Group on Climate Change, said that “We expect changes. We don’t know what they’ll be. But the uncertainty is having a crippling effect on the market. We don’t see any clear long-term policy direction on the climate or energy sector from the opposition. And until that is clear, capital is sitting on the sidelines.”
Mr. Fabian and Australia’s Investor Group on Climate Change had investments with approximately $900 billion in funds – a great risk they fear if the industry suffers because of the change in political seats. The group’s investments include pension funds and major international banks.http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/471478/20130527/renewable-energy-projects-australia-september-14-elections.htm#.UaUITdJwpLs
National Reconciliation Week 27 May to 3 June
2013 Australia – Significant Aboriginal Dates in Aboriginal History 27052013Monday 27th May to Monday 3rd June 2013
This week is National Reconciliation Week. National Reconciliation Week celebrates the rich culture and history of Australia’s First Peoples. Initiated in 1996, the week aims to foster reconciliation discussion and activities.
Preceded by National Sorry Day on 26 May, National Reconciliation Week is framed by two key events in Australia’s history, which provide strong symbols for reconciliation:
- 27 May 1967 – the referendum that saw more than 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Australian Government power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and recognise them in the census.
- 3 June 1992 – the Australian High Court delivered the Mabo decision, which recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a special relationship with the land. This paved the way for land rights known as native title.
National Reconciliation Week is an ideal time for everyone to join the reconciliation conversation and reflect on our shared histories, contributions and achievements. Reconciliation Australia Projects
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 