Antinuclear

Environmentalists call on NSW govt to ban uranium exploration

NSW urged to ban  uranium exploration, 9 News 11 Mar 14,  Environmentalists are calling for a ban on uranium exploration across NSW, after elevated levels of the metal were found inside an aquifer near a coal seam gas site. While the contamination was not linked to uranium exploration, Dave Sweeney from the Australian Conservation Foundation says it should serve as a wake-up call to the state government on the risks associated with the radioactive metal.

He says there have been cases of water being contaminated with uranium 400 times the safe drinking levels at mines across the country.

“(Uranium exploration) threatens the most important resources that sustain life in this state and on this continent,” he told AAP on Tuesday.

Mr Sweeney is calling for Premier Barry O’Farrell to ditch any plans for uranium exploration or mining in the state. n 2012, Mr O’Farrell repealed a 26-year-old ban on uranium exploration, saying the state would be stupid to turn a blind eye to the revenue that it could generate.

But Mr Sweeney says the economic and employment benefits of uranium mining have been “consistently exaggerated”.

“It is high risk and it is low return,” he said.

NSW’s Environment Protection Authority issued a $1500 fine to energy giant Santos last month following a “pollution incident” at the company’s Narrabri Gas Field operations in the Pilliga……..http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2014/03/11/11/07/nsw-urged-to-ban-uranium-exploration

March 11, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized