Climate change brings longer bushfire season to Southern Western Australia
Fire season is longer E Daniel Mercer, The West Australian October 30, 2013 Southern WA’s bushfire season is up to six weeks longer than 20 years ago, according to a leading firefighter who has warned that preparations are increasingly being hampered by climatic and urban obstacles.
Ahead of 35C temperatures forecast for Perth today, the Department of Parks and Wildlife’s Roger Armstrong said firefighters faced a double whammy as bushfires became more extreme but prescribed burning became harder.
The ominous comments from Mr Armstrong, the department’s principal fire planner, come after his agency burnt just 21,000ha out of a controlled burning target of 200,000ha across the South West last year.
Mr Armstrong said though an overhaul of the department’s prescribed burning policies had contributed to the most recent shortfall, in general it was becoming more difficult to do burns.
He said this was because weather conditions most suitable for burning – which usually happens in spring and autumn – were becoming less frequent so fewer burns could be carried out. He said that added to this was a growing intolerance in urban communities such as Perth of smoke associated with prescribed burns – a trend Mr Armstrong said was exacerbated by the tree-change culture.
Amid a dramatic decline in South West rainfall and rising temperatures, the upshot was likely to be more intense bushfires that would cause more damage to lives and property, he said.
“Certainly our observations are that our bushfire season tends to be about six weeks longer now compared to what it was 20-odd years ago,” Mr Armstrong said.
“Our prescribed fire opportunities have been constrained, which means we don’t get to treat as much of the landscape as we would like to. So the potential for bushfire, the area that’s available in high-fuel condition for bushfire, is greater.
“It’s a circuitous route and it’s here to stay.
“It is challenging, particularly where people with the sea-change, tree-change thing.”………………. Weather Bureau regional manager Neil Bennett said conditions typically associated with spring and autumn were becoming rarer as winter and summer increasingly prevailed in the South West. http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/wa/19597504/fire-season-is-longer/
Turning off the nuclear tap will soon become the only solution.
Nuclear Power Dirty Bomb The Market Oracle, Oct 28, 2013 By: Andrew_McKillop “………LOSS AVOIDANCE IS THE ONLY SOLUTION
Turning off the nuclear tap will soon become the only solution. Civil nuclear power plant growth and proliferation has already cancelled in several countries, including Germany, Japan and Switzerland, and is likely to be placed on hold, because of nuclear debt and the sheer un-economic nature of nuclear power, in other countries. Of course we can be sure that China and India will come very late to the party and may need the “tweak” of one or more worst-case reactor meltdowns to make them move.
We can however be sure that Nuclear Nirvana’s murky underside of a Pandora’s Box of evils will soon cause a sea shift in ruling elite thinking.
Options exist for the rapid removal of nuclear power from the scene. Since 2008, in more than a half of OECD countries exposed to the realities of the sovereign debt crisis, electricity consumption has fallen, sometimes by double-digit amounts in 3 years. The need for nuclear power is cut by this real world trend. To be sure there are also long-term and rising nuclear debts due to accumulated wastes and to the near-term future crisis of reactor decommissioning – which in a sane world would only hasten the total abandonment of this failed option for supplying “cheap, clean and safe” power.
The options are better known than ever. The pathology of “we didnt know” has worn awfully thin after the Fukushima disaster. The same applies to Depleted Uranium weapons, nicely reserved for expert commentators to pontificate about – but which cause real world cancers and economic loss every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The choices and options are on the table for those who want to admit them. Unfortunately our current political decider elite is congenitally unable to admit them. Soldiering along and muddling through with the deadly, high cost option of nuclear power will continue – but not for long. As ever, one disaster is worth a lot more than a million words. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article42864.html
Nuclear plant employees involved in crime
Report: U.S. nuclear reactor operators captured — Several officers wounded — Terrorism charges for wanting to acquire C-4 explosives — Investigated for arms trading, trafficking of illegal substances — Planning kidnapping, murder http://enenews.com/report-u-s-nuclear-reactor-operators-captured-several-officers-wounded-terrorism-charges-for-wanting-to-acquire-c-4-explosives-investigated-for-arms-trading-trafficking-of-illegal-substance
NRC Press Release,, Oct. 28, 2013: NRC Issues Orders to Dresden Nuclear Plant and Former Plant Employees […] NRC investigated the incident in which senior reactor operator Michael J. Buhrman, planned to rob an armored car and recruited the assistance of another senior reactor operator, Landon E. Brittain […] Continue reading
Australia counters New Zealand nuclear disarmament statement – with a weaker one!
Australia’s ‘weasel’ statement on nukes Crikey OCT 25, 2013 Australia’s statement to the UN on nuclear weapons is much less hardline than New Zealand’s, but it is the best policy? Freelance writer David Donaldson looks at the impacts of a watered-down approach.
Is Australia trying to undermine nuclear disarmament? Activists believe Australia made an attempt to split the pro-ban vote at the United Nations First Committee in New York on Monday.
With New Zealand presenting a long-anticipated 125-nation group statement condemning the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons to the UN, Australia took the unusual step of creating a last-minute rival announcement…..(registered readers only) http://www.crikey.com.au/2013/10/25/australias-weasel-statement-on-nukes/
Petition against ‘investor-state dispute settlement’ (ISDS) in Trans Pacific Partnership
Don’t let foreign corporations sue Australia over our policies on GE crops, coal seam gas, health & more! https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Dont_let_foreign_corporations_sue_Australia_for_millionsbillions_over_our_policies_on_GE_crops_coal_seam_gas_more/?sGdGqab
Why this is important The decision by Prime Minister Abbott to reverse the blanket prohibition on ‘investor-state dispute settlement’ (ISDS) provisions in Australia’s upcoming trade negotiations has the potential to irreversibly damage Australia’s national interests by limiting Australia’s ability to set its own policies when it comes to health, the environment, social policies and more.
UK’s new subsidised nuclear power will cost twice as much as solar energy
The UK Government has already applied to the European Commission for permission to provide state aid for nuclear power – something which undermines its claim that the proposed aid to Hinkley C “is not a subsidy” –
Nuclear power gets twice the price of solar! http://www.enn.com/pollution/article/46602 28 Oct 13, The UK government’s policy to pay for more for nuclear power than for power from solar PV is in direct contradiction of EU rules on state aid. The Hinkley C nuclear power station is to be paid more than twice as much as German solar pv arrays of 10MW or more, energy expert David Toke of Aberdeen University has calculated. And even smaller arrays are being paid considerably less than the price paid to EDF at Hinkley.
And according to Dr Toke, this vast differential in state support will seriously distort the EU’s internal market in energy. “This is state aid to nuclear power that is not available to renewable energy and it directly flies in the face of the EU’s state aid regulations”, he says. Continue reading
A warning about the Trans Pacific Partnership
Most stunningly, these new rights in a public treaty could be privately enforceable. The U.S. is pushing for inclusion of “investor-state” enforcement. This little-known mechanism allows foreign firms to bypass domestic court systems and directly sue governments for cash damages
The U.S. proposal could also undermine the drug formularies of Australia, New Zealand and other countries that have successfully controlled drug costs.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) is a mega-treaty across nine or more countries. If the negotiations succeed they will put a straightjacket on the policies and laws our government can adopt for the next century. Corporations will gain massive new powers in Australia. Help us stop the TPPA! OCCUPY T.P.P.A PPA – A Stealth Attempt to Undermine Democracy March 7, 2012
Lori was recently in Melbourne for the TPPA talks and spoke at Occupy Friday on 2 March 2012.
It takes quite a “trade” agreement to undermine financial regulation, increase drug prices, flood us with unsafe imported food and products, ban Buy America policies aimed at recovery and redevelopment, and empower corporations to attack our environmental and health safeguards before tribunals of corporate lawyers. Trade, in fact, is the least of the TPP.
Backdoor deregulation and imposition of new corporate investor and patent rights via “trade” negotiation began in the 1990s, with the “mission creep” of the World Trade Organization and North American Free Trade Agreement. But the TPP now threatens a slow motion stealth attack against a century of progressive domestic policy, of an unprecedented scope. At stake is nothing less than a democratic society’s ability to regulate a market economy in the broad public interest…….. Continue reading
92 years to clean up UK nuclear reactor – that’s if all goes well
Trawsfynydd timeline
1959: Construction started
1965 to 1991: Electricity generation
1993 to 1995: Decommissioning starts – fuel removed and sent to Sellafield
1995 to 2016: Recovery of waste and preparations to put the plant into a ‘passively safe’ state
2020-26: Reduction in height of reactor buildings
2040s: Scheduled removal of Intermediate Level Waste to deep geological storage
2074: Final site clearance starts
2083: Site returned to pre-existing state
How do you close a nuclear power station? BBC By Steven Green 28 Oct 13 As the UK embarks on building what could be a new generation of nuclear power plants, work continues to decommission the first generation of nuclear power stations at sites including Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia which will take an estimated 90 years to complete.
Robotic recovery Eryl Pritchard is at the controls of a robotic arm engaged in the painstaking process of retrieving radioactive resin from a dark, water-filled vault. “It’s not as simple as it looks,” he says. Nothing about it looks simple. Radioactivity inside the vault means everything has to be done remotely using tools mounted on the robotic arm.
A bank of monitors show the arm from various angles. A control panel shows a mind-boggling array of levers, switches and buttons……..
Some of the decommissioning work is considered too dangerous or uneconomic to carry out in the current phase of decommissioning. Continue reading
France’s EPR nuclear reactor fiasco does not bode well for UK’s new nuclear project
Dr Paul Dorfman, of the Energy Institute at University College, London, believes the British public is facing a turbulent nuclear future. He says: ‘It’s extremely likely that the construction at Hinkley Point will be over-budget and late. It is unfortunate because it will be the UK taxpayer and consumer, no doubt, who will be picking up the bill.’…..
Professor Steve Thomas, an energy policy expert at the University of Greenwich, has written a damning report on the EPR project, claiming, in 2010, that the entire design and construction was ‘in crisis’. His 26-page report catalogued the errors at Flamanville and in Finland, and concluded construction had gone ‘dramatically wrong’.
Deaths, chilling safety lapses, lawsuits, huge cost over-runs and delays: Why we can’t trust the French with Britain’s nuclear future, Daily mail UK, , 26 October 2013, By STEVE BIRD
- EDF’s nuclear reactor plant at Flamanville, Normandy, is beset by financial mismanagement and the deaths of workers
- EDF, along with French nuclear group Areva and investors from China, are due to start work on a £16bn plant in Hinkley Point in Somerset in 2017 It will be the first nuclear reactor in the UK in nearly 20 years – and also first European Pressurised Reactor (EPR)
- … yet no reactor of this design is yet working anywhere in the world……
- The optimism and excitement of that first day of construction is now long gone. Continue reading
Labor likely to support axing of carbon tax
Labor’s carbon backflip October 29, 2013 The Age Tom Allard, Mark Kenny Labor is expected to support axing the carbon tax, with senior figures – including leader Bill Shorten – now convinced that its case for action on climate change is more easily sold if the politically ”toxic” tax is abolished……..
Problem with Abbott’s ‘Direct Action’ on carbon emissions – it doesn’t work
Decades of evidence against ‘direct action’ The Age, October 29, 2013 Editorial For all the sound and fury of Australia’s debate on climate change, there is a bipartisan target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Tony Abbott and his colleagues say they accept the climate science, but plan to scrap their Labor predecessors’ policy of carbon pricing. The Abbott government will use a $2.88 billion fund of public money over four years to pay for ”direct action” by business, industry and landholders. The problem with this policy is that it ignores real-world experience of achieving the most cost-effective emission cuts. Economists are well aware of the evidence of successful cap-and-trade schemes and, as The Age has reported, they overwhelmingly favour the carbon pricing policy model.
Of the 35 leading economists surveyed, 30 endorsed carbon pricing and only two favoured direct action. (One regarded a ”no action” policy as right for Australia and the other doubted humans were causing climate change.) Mr Abbott has defied economists’ opinion before and in 2011 ignored a Productivity Commission report that strongly endorsed carbon pricing and trading. He has also conceded the direct action fund may not be enough to cut emissions to 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020, but insists the budget is fixed……….: http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-editorial/decades-of-evidence-against-direct-action-20131028-2wbxt.html#ixzz2j8vd8k5z
Cut carbon emissions by 25% at least – Australia is told
Australia should cut carbon emissions by at least 25% by 2020, says report Oliver Milman theguardian.com, Monday 28 October 2013 Target of 5% not enough, based on warming ceiling of 2C and Australia’s ‘fair share’ of global carbon budget Australia has already eaten through at least two-thirds of its share of a “carbon budget” that would keep global warming below 2C, requiring it to drastically escalate its emissions reduction target, according to a new report.
The study, conducted by consultancy firm Ecofys at the behest of WWF Australia, states that Australia should look to reduce carbon emissions by a “bare minimum” of 25% by 2020, based on 2000 levels. Continue reading
AUDIO: Australia emitting more than its fair share of greenhouse gases
AUDIO: Australia’s ‘carbon bank’ full by 2020: report http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2013/s3877994.htm Lexi Metherell reported this story on Monday, October 28, 2013 TONY EASTLEY: A report out today suggests if carbon emissions don’t fall drastically, Australia will use up more than its fair share of the world’s carbon emissions by the end of this decade.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature-commissioned report, Australia has already used about two-thirds of its so-called carbon budget.
And as governments prepare to meet in Warsaw for the next round of international climate talks, the environmental group is urging the Federal Government to commit to cutting emissions faster.
Lexi Metherell reports. Continue reading
LED lighting is more cost effective than nuclear power
Can LED Bulbs Make Nuclear Plants Obsolete? http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-nsc-can-led-bulbs-make-nuclear-plants-obsolete-20131028,0,6700085.story Michael Kanellos Forbes October 28, 2013
Businesses, voters, utilities and politicians will be asking that question-or an equivalent form of it-several times over the next two decades. Should they invest in technology and projects that generate power or into products like solid-state lights or dynamic air conditioners that conserve electricity?
By a sheer coincidence, LED lights and nuclear power provide an intriguing way to study the issue. Nuclear power plants generate approximately19% of the electric power in the U.S. Lighting accounts for approximately 19% of the power used. Thus, you can argue the fleet of 104 commercial nuclear reactors exists to keep the lights on. If you want to increase functional capacity by 20 percent, you can build 21 nuclear reactors or reduce light power by 20 percent.
The picture stays roughly the same when you look globally. Continue reading
Some important details on the Trans Pacific Partnership
Article 12.8 gives rights holders the right to demand personal information about customers of Internet Service Providers – or other service providers – on a mere accusation. . This is a fundamental attack on the privacy of the citizens of all signatory countries. There is nothing to stop rights holders going on extensive fishing expeditions, searching through millions of users, looking for people to sue. This power is not granted to law enforcement without due process. Handing such powers to corporations without any requirement to show a breach has occurred is an attack upon the process of law. We have a right to not be placed under surveillance by companies based upon their word that illegal activity has occurred
Pirate Party Australia’s Presentation to Trans-Pacific Partnership Stakeholders Meeting in Melbourne March 4, 2012 Here is the speech that was presented by Pirate Party Australia President David Campbell at 11.45am at the TPPA stakeholders meeting in Melbourne. Thanks to Simon Frew (Deputy President) for authoring the speech and Mozart Palmer (Media Relations) for his contributions.
Pirate Party Australia, like many other attendees at the intellectual property section of this Agreement negotiation, first became aware of the proposed intellectual property provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement when the United States negotiating position was leaked last year.[1]
Much of the content of the leak is a wish-list for old media corporations who refuse to adapt to the Internet and instead pay massive “donations” to their government in order to push their legislative agenda against the interests of modern society. This wish-list echoes that of the intellectual property segments of the Stop Online Piracy Act – known as SOPA – and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement – known as ACTA. The US TPPA provisions have been nicknamed “the son of ACTA”. The proposed solutions to online file-sharing will fundamentally change the operation of the Internet, to its detriment.
The extreme position of the leaked United States’ Intellectual Property chapter is highlighted by the unprecedented request for the negotiating texts to remain secret for four years after the agreement is signed. This secrecy is a perversion of democracy. The public would not be given a chance to oppose such a draconian attack on both the Internet and the civil liberties of citizens in all of the signatory countries. All of this to protect the corporate interests of a small sector of one industry? What about the cost to our democratic rights?……..
In Australia, we have seen the harm that tighter intellectual property restrictions can cause through the Australia–US Free Trade Agreement. The Productivity Commission, a body that investigates the economic benefit or hindrance of various Australian economic policies, warned that agreeing to intellectual property provisions in free trade agreements needs to be subjected to a rigorous cost/benefit analysis.
The Australia–US Free Trade Agreement is believed to cost the Australian economy between 88 million and 763 million dollars a year in copyright enforcement alone. This is wealth being directly transferred from Australia to the United States – there is no net benefit to Australia derived from the tighter restrictions.[2]
If the US delegation gets its way, that and more will be forced upon your people and local economy, to what benefit? We urge delegates to reject the inclusion of any intellectual property provisions in your own national interests as they WILL harm your economies. Continue reading
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 