The radioactive poisoning of Maralinga
Historic records of Radiation Monitoring at Australian Nuclear Test Sites, Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog 3 June 13“……..RETURN TO MARALINGA, Australia Bomb Test Site On 24 May 1984 a special VIP flight to the RAAF left Adelaide for Maralinga. On board were the Minister of Resources and Energy, Senator Walsh, and the south Australian Premier, John Bannon, accompanied by scientists of the Australian Radiation Laboratory. The tour of the bomb sites took no more than four hours and the politicians learned little more than they already knew from their briefings in Canberra and Adelaide. But the importance of the trip was symbolic. The representatives of the Federal and South Australian Government were there jointly to express their regret that the atomic test series had ever been allowed to take place in Australia and to pledge their support for all investigations into the possible harm done to servicemen, Aborigines and the environment…….
Bradley Manning on trial
The United States should be in the dock, not Bradley Manning, The Independent, Owen Jones, 2 June 2013
The whistleblower has allowed us to scrutinise the hidden realities of US power “…..Today, American hero stands in the dock, damned for a relatively tiny ray of light he shone on the darker recesses of this elite. Over three years ago, US soldier Bradley Manning – even now just 25 years old – leaked 250,000 US diplomatic cables and half a million army reports. There has never been a bigger leak of classified material in the history of the United States.
His punishment has already been severe. According to Juan Méndez, the UN special rapporteur on torture, he has faced cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. For months, he was deprived of human contact. He was stripped of his clothes, left without privacy, and forced to sleep without any darkness. In 2011, P J Crowley was forced to resign as the US state department’s official spokesman after slamming Manning’s treatment as “ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid”.
Manning now begins a military trial, charged with a capital offence, , though the prosecution promise not to seek the death penalty, leaving him facing 20 years in prison. As two US champions of the First Amendment on free speech, Floyd Abrams and Yochai Benkler, have written: “If successful, the prosecution will establish a chilling precedent: national security leaks may subject the leakers to a capital prosecution or at least life imprisonment.”
Manning is partly being tried under the Espionage Act, a piece of legislation dating back to the First World War. He faces 22 charges in total: to 10 of them he has pleaded guilty, including wilfully communicating to an unauthorised person. But the most alarming charge is that he was “aiding the enemy” – in other words, that he intentionally helped al-Qa’ida.
No wonder powerful interests in the US want to make an example of Manning. Among the videos he released was an Apache helicopter conducting a bombing raid that killed Iraqi civilians and a Reuters journalist. “The most alarming aspect of the video to me was the seemingly delightful bloodlust they appeared to have,” Manning has said, appalled by the lack of “value for human life” shown by the pilots’ descriptions of “dead bastards”. Here was the “on-the-ground reality” of both the Iraq and Afghan wars, he claimed. Continue reading
Hear this podcast: BRITAIN’S PLUTONIUM MOUNTAIN
BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION RADIO 4
PROGRAMME NUMBER: 13VQ5159LH0 Britain has accumulated the biggest stockpile of civil plutonium in the world, a target for terrorists and future bomb-makers. What was once thought to be a valued asset is now a costly liability. The Government faces a dilemma. Should it try to turn the stuff into nuclear fuel at huge cost or write off the plutonium altogether?$billions of investment money on hold due to Federal Opposition’s anti renewables policies
Political Uncertainty Puts Billions in Renewables on Hold Design Build, by By Marc Howe 3 June 13 Uncertainty surrounding environmental policy in the wake of a likely Coalition victory this September has obscured the outlook for renewable energy and led to billions in potential investment being placed on hold.
The Federal Election, slated for September 14, appears increasingly likely to usher in a Coalition government, whose policies could be a setback for Australia’s decade-long shift toward clean renewable energy.
A key issue will be the fate of Labor’s controversial carbon trading scheme should the Coalition be elected. The policy provides a pivotal boost to renewables by striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, yet the coalition has pledged “in blood” that it will cancel the carbon tax.
The Coalition has also said that it will cut power costs, pointing to the abundance of cheap coal in Australia, and reconsider renewable energy policy.The uncertainty surrounding the fate of the carbon tax and the policy environment for renewable energy has impeded many projects in a $20 billion pipeline of investment.
“We don’t see any clear long-term policy direction on the climate or energy sector from the opposition,” says Nathan Fabian, of Australia’s Investor Group on Climate Change.
“Until that is clear, capital is sitting on the sidelines.” The Investor Group on Climate Change represents a group of institutional investors located in Australasia, including pensions funds and major international banks, with around $900 billion in funds under its management……
The development of Australia’s renewable energy sector could also be hampered by the efforts of established power suppliers such as Origin Energy and EnergyAustralia, who are currently pushing for the Renewable Energy Target (RET) and carbon tax to be scaled back or scrapped completely. Earlier this year, Origin’s Grant King launched a attack against the the government’s green energy policy, saying the RET would further increase power costs to the detriment of end consumers.
Members of the renewable energy sector such as Infigen managing director Miles George say the opposition of leading energy companies to RET is motivated by self-interest and, in Origin’s case, the desire to protect billions of dollars in gas investments. http://designbuildsource.com.au/political-uncertainty-puts-billions-in-renewables
Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) clears solar households as cause of higher electrcity charges
Queensland Solar Households Vindicated http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3772 3 June 13 Plans by Queensland Premier Campbell Newman and Energy Minister Mark McArdle to whack solar households with higher electricity charges appear to have been scuttled.
On Friday, the Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) released its Final Determination on regulated retail electricity prices for 2013-14. A typical Queensland customer’s annual bill will increase from $1,184 to $1,451. However, it has not recommended an extra charge for solar users.
Prior to the QCA’s final determination, Premier Newman was pushing a proposal to charge all solar homes an extra $200 a year; even though the Government had promised in December last year that there would be no fixed charge of any sort on people using solar.
Queensland Energy Minister Mark McArdle also launched an attack on solar households, placing the blame for power price increases primarily on green schemes.
This has not been echoed by the QCA, which says the increases are being primarily driven by increases in network charges. The QCA also points out the freezing of electricity rates by the Newman Government in 2011/12 has resulted in a bigger jump now.
The Clean Energy Council has applauded the QCA for moving away from the proposal to levy an extra charge on solar power users, an issue the CEC had heavily lobbied on.
“The QCA’s rigorous and comprehensive analysis of power price rises in Queensland has made it clear that renewable energy was a much smaller contributor to electricity bills than most other factors,” said Clean Energy Council Chief Executive David Green.
Mr. Green pointed out when anyone installs an air-conditioner, it costs all electricity users an estimated $7000 to pay for network upgrades. He also addressed the myth that solar users were “rich”; stating Queensland’s solar hotspots were Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Ipswich, Toowoomba and Beenleigh. Even though the QCA has made it clear that network charges are the major culprit in upcoming electricity price rises, the Queensland Government’s demonising of solar has continued since the Final Determination was released.
Following the Queensland Competition Authority’s announcement; Solar Citizens, an advocacy group representing current and future solar users, has written to Premier Newman and Mark McArdle asking them to address a number of critical questions about what it says are Mr McArdle’s misleading statements on the impact of solar on energy costs in Queensland.
Spurred on by threats to solar households such as those recently issued by the Queensland Government, Solar Citizens is in a recruitment drive to bolster its numbers to ensure Australian solar users are well represented under a united front – and the group’s numbers are rapidly growing.
There are now over 300,000 solar users in Queensland, who have invested over $2.2 billion dollars of their own money into reducing their electricity costs and carbon emissions impact. The upcoming electricity rate increases will see that number grow.
According to national solar provider Energy Matters, a good quality 4kW solar power system installed in Brisbane can return a financial benefit of up to $1,960 a year. Energy Matters now also offers Queensland households a zero deposit payment plan option.
1 This month
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