The perfect terrorism targets – nuclear facilities – commercial and military
We know what a suicide plane crash can do to buildings. We know what missiles can do to planes. But what about the radioactive devastation that terrorist missiles, bombs, computer hacking could do to nuclear facilities?
While the nuclear nations ramp up their nuclear weapons – supposedly for “security” “defense” – they are in fact increasing their vulnerability – setting up targets for terrorists.
Nuclear reactors, nuclear fuel pools, nuclear waste containers, nuclear transports – these are indeed the perfect targets for terrorist attack. Meanwhile the nuclear lobby spins out its guff about “energy security” blah blah. Governments worry about earthquakes, floods, tsunamis – and well they should.
The “twin towers” attack of September 2011, the missile attack on a civilian plane over Ukraine – surely these are indications of why it is time to get rid of those even more terrible targets – the world’s nuclear facilities.
Dr Jim Green puts the case for an independent Commission of Inquiry into radioactive waste management
Managing Australia’s radioactive waste, Online opinion By Jim Green – , 12 August 2014 How should Australia manage radioactive waste? The short answer is that there is no obvious approach − hence the need for an independent Commission of Inquiry.
This discussion primarily concerns waste produced at the Lucas Heights nuclear research reactor site 
south of Sydney, operated by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), as well as much smaller volumes produced and/or stored at numerous medical, scientific and military sites. Radioactive waste produced at Australia’s uranium mines, from the use of Australian uranium overseas, and the radioactive contamination of Maralinga and other nuclear bomb test sites, are separate problems.
To date, efforts to find a radioactive waste repository site have been unsuccessful. For the past 15 years, Coalition and Labor governments have attempted a ‘crash though or crash’ approach, attempting to impose a repository first in South Australia and more recently in the Northern Territory − both attempts failed in the face of opposition from Traditional Owners and the wider community.
All options should be considered Continue reading
Japan: a path to a nuclear-free world Hiroshima and Nagasaki Peace Declarations
EDITORIAL: Japan must pursue a path to a nuclear-free world Asahi Shimbun, August 11, 2014 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki this month, both of which marked the 69th anniversaries of the atomic bombings. In the ceremonies in both cities, he emphasized determination to realize a world without nuclear weapons.
However, it seems that the gap between Abe and the cities that were struck by atomic bombs has increased since last year.
In a meeting with Abe in Hiroshima, 85-year-old hibakusha Yukio Yoshioka said, “(The Cabinet’s approval of the exercise of the right to collective self-defense) will make Japan a country that repeats its (past) mistake and can wage a war.”
Miyako Jodai, 75, who served as the representative of atomic bomb survivors in the ceremony in Nagasaki, said, “I want the government not to forget or deny the sufferings of atomic bomb survivors.”
They apparently demanded that Abe withdraw the Cabinet’s approval of the exercise of the right to collective self-defense.
DIFFERENT FROM DESIRES
There are also other causes of concern.
One is the exports of nuclear power generation infrastructure to emerging countries. Another is negotiations to conclude a nuclear power agreement with India, which has conducted nuclear tests without joining the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Both could lead to nuclear proliferation.
The Abe administration also plans to maintain the policy of removing plutonium from spent nuclear fuels and reusing it in nuclear power plants. After the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, the future of nuclear power generation remains unclear. In addition, Japan already holds stocks of more than 40 tons of plutonium whose use has yet to be decided. Anti-nuclear groups in Japan and abroad suspect that Japan has the intention of arming itself with nuclear weapons.
Why are the moves of the government of A-bombed Japan so different from the desires for anti-nuclear policies?………..
TRUST AND DIALOGUE
In the Hiroshima Peace Declaration, Mayor Kazumi Matsui called for the establishment of “a new security system based on trust and dialogue.”
In the world, the Obama administration is losing its centripetal force, and its relations with Russia have cooled due to the Ukrainian situation. China’s maritime advances have intensified friction with neighboring countries. The road to the “new security system based on trust and dialogue” is steep. But is it just a dream?
The Nagasaki Peace Declaration this year again advocated an idea of establishing “nuclear-weapon-free zones.” In the proposal, Japan and the Korean Peninsula are denuclearized, and nuclear powers promise not to attack the areas with nuclear weapons.
The Japanese government is negative to the idea on the grounds that relations of trust, which serve as a prerequisite, do not exist in the areas partly because North Korea has repeatedly conducted nuclear tests. North Korea counters the view, saying that what is a threat is the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
Relations of trust will be established through dialogue. To realize the nuclear-weapon-free zones, Japan should first show its intentions to set up the zones and leave the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Then, it should urge the United States to accept the zones. After that, showing a joint goal, Japan should strongly urge North Korea to take part in the negotiations.
The improvement of relations with China is also indispensable. A council of experts from five countries in the Asia and Pacific region, including former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, asked Japan and China to hold a summit meeting in its proposal compiled in Hiroshima.
It is not easy to untangle a thread. Unless there is a dialogue, however, nothing will start. http://ajw.asahi.com/article/views/editorial/AJ201408110020
Will Liberal MP Dan Tehan kow tow to Tony Abbott on Renewable Energy Target?
Will a Liberal MP resist cuts to renewable energy jobs and investment? Climate Spectator, ANDREW BRAY 11 AUG, Could last week’s backdown on the Racial Discrimination Act offer a glimpse of what lies in store for the government’s plans to take the ideological axe to another publicly popular program, the Renewable Energy Target?Like the RET, the Racial Discrimination Act was created with bipartisan support, was popular and had operated successfully for over 10 years.
Anger at the ideological changes to the RDA bubbled up from the local level, such as in the multicultural Sydney electorate of Reid where Liberal MP Craig Laundy championed his constituents’ concerns. He argued strongly and publicly that his own government was on the wrong track and that the changes to were wrong.
Laundy’s stand was vindicated when the changes were ultimately overwhelmed by the tide of public protest they provoked. A similar passion, but this time over renewable energy, was felt last week by Dan Tehan, Liberal MP for Wannon in south-western Victoria . Continue reading
Thyroid cancer epidemic in Fukushima children
Japan Professor: Outbreak of cancer is now underway in Fukushima children; Clear evidence of an epidemic — All of Japan is still being exposed to nuclear radiation — Gov’t Official: It will be ‘disastrous’ if we have to conclude there’s an actual increase in thyroid cancer from 
Fukushima http://enenews.com/japan-professor-outbreak-cancer-fukushima-children-clear-evidence-epidemic-underway-all-japan-being-exposed-nuclear-radiation-govt-official-will-be-disastrous-conclude-actual-increase-thyroid-ca?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
Excerpts from a report by Dr. Yuri Hiranuma, a physician specializing neuromusculoskeletal medicine, published by Fukushima Voice version 2e, Aug 3, 2014:
[At the July 16, 2014 Expert Meeting Regarding the Status of Health Management of Residents Following the Tokyo Electric Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plan Accident, held by the Ministry of the Environment]
- Toshihide Tsuda, a physician and an epidemiologist at Okayama University, has just emphatically stated that in certain Fukushima municipalities there was a clear evidence of a thyroid cancer epidemic […] Calling this an “outbreak, occurring only 3.1 to 3.2 years after the accident” […] “outbreak” of thyroid cancers in Fukushima children cannot be explained by the “screening effect,” when the data is analyzed and compared with the national cancer statistics as well as within Fukushima Prefecture against municipalities with the lowest exposure dose. Critical of the commonly accepted notion that health effects do not occur below 100 mSv, Tsuda presented numerous published studies that proved otherwise. […] “This Expert Meeting has not brought up these studies so I must do it” […] Tsuda also said that the Expert Meeting should consider the fact that all age groups including pregnant women were still being exposed to radiation in Fukushima Prefecture. […] Tsuda said, “We are all being exposed to radiation in Japan” […]
- [Committee] Chairman Shigenobu Nagataki, emeritus professor at Nagasaki University, a former chairman of Radiation Effects Research Foundation, and a mentor to infamousShunichi Yamashita [said] “Committee members, please do not hesitate to ask questions. Given what was just stated, it will be disastrous for this committee to have to conclude that there is an actual increase in thyroid cancer (due to the Fukushima accident).” […] if the Expert Meeting were seriously considerate of the disaster victims […] why would it be disastrous for this Expert Meeting to have a conclusion that cases of thyroid cancers might be increasing? […]
Excerpts from an article by Japanese independent media outlet OurPlanet-TV summarizing the July 16 meeting, translated by Dr. Yuri Hiranuma, Aug. 3, 2014:
- Professor Shinzo Kimura [who conducted] field investigations in Chernobyl, reported that currently there are many cases of thyroid cancer […] more than 250 km away from Chernobyl
- Matsumoto City Mayor Sugenoya, who has provided medical care to children with thyroid cancer in Belarus [said] even in areas contaminated with low-level radiation with an annual radiation level below 1 mSv, residents showed a depressed immune function, hematopoietic disorders, and perinatal abnormalities [and] medical personnel are not allowed to refer to the Chernobyl accident.
- Okayama University Professor Tsuda pointed out that there is no end of the number of researchers who say, “No cancer occurrence is expected from radiation exposure dose under 100 mSv,” after the Fukushima accident. Tsuda candidly said researchers should refrain from making such statements. […] As of the end of March 2014 [Nakadori, the central region of Fukushima that is 40-80 km from the Daiichi plant] had the highest detection rate [of thyroid cancer,] as much as 11 times higher than Aizu [western region of Fukushima, over 80 km from the plant]. […] thyroid cancers from municipalities other than Aizu region showed rates which were 15 to 40 times higher [than data from the National Cancer Center]. He sounded an alarm […] “It’s only been 3.1 to 3.2 years but there are so many cases observed in Fukushima. We need to take immediate countermeasures.” […] “They are still exposed to radiation. We can’t wait until the results come out. […] All of us as well as Fukushima residents are being exposed to radiation.”
- During this session, the audience applauded several times when witnesses spoke.
Crucial to have Climate Change on G20 Agenda: call to Abbott
Push for climate change on G20 list, The Age August 11, 2014 Dan Harrison Health and Indigenous Affairs Correspondent Three former Australians of the Year, including Nobel laureate Peter Doherty, have signed an open letter to Prime Minister Tony Abbott calling for climate change to be included on the agenda for the G20 leaders summit to be held in Brisbane in November.
Epidemiologist Fiona Stanley and immunologist Sir Gustav Nossal are among a dozen health experts supporting the call, published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
”Current climate trends, driven by global warming, threaten the basis of future economic prosperity, regional political stability and human health,” the letter says.
The letter states that the risks climate change posed to human health included more intense heatwaves, floods and fires, and the spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes………
‘This issue warrants urgent consideration at the G20 meeting. The health of present and future generations is at risk from ongoing human-induced climate change.”
A spokeswoman for Mr Abbott confirmed that as the host nation, Australia set the agenda for the meeting in consultation with other G20 member nations…….
In an interview also published in the journal, United States economist Jeffrey Sachs, a special adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on development, said it was not possible to end global poverty without tackling climate change.
”The G20 countries are the world’s most important economies … If the G20 gets its house in order, the world can be saved. If not, the G20 will wreck the world, pure and simple … Brisbane is therefore crucial.’: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/push-for-climate-change-on-g20-list-20140810-3dgne.html#ixzz3AEzcHzfz
TV host sets out the ‘nightmare’ of Fukushima’s radioactive waste water
TV Host: I’m studying Fukushima every day — “They have no idea what they’re going to do… There’s no solution… It’s a nightmare” — Tens of thousands of gallons of radioactive water spill into Pacific Ocean each day — “We really need to shut down all reactors” (VIDEO) http://enenews.com/tv-host-im-studying-fukushima-every-day?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ENENews+%28Energy+News%29
*NSFW* — Joe Rogan Experience, Aug. 2, 2014 (at 2:21:00 in):
- Abby Martin, host of RT’s ‘Breaking the Set’: I want to ask you, have you seen the VICE special on Fukushima? Oh my good god… Even though I study this sh*t every day I did not realize – until you see it, until you see that VICE special, and you see the tanks — how every day they’re filling this whole reactor up with fresh water, draining the radioactive water multiple times a day, storing it in hundreds of tanks. They’re going to run out of room. All the tanks are leaking. They’re spilling like 30,000 gallons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean water every day [According to the Washington Post, “400 (metric) tons of toxic water is flowing daily into the Pacific”, equal to 105,669 gallons]. They have no idea what the f*ck they’re going to do… There’s no solution — and what are they going to f*cking do? … It’s a f*cking nightmare… Look at Chernobyl; they have this giant sarcophagus that’s cracking… Why are we dealing with an energy that we can’t harness properly? … Clearly we don’t what the f*ck we’re doing with it.
- Joe Rogan, host: You know all it does is make steam?
- Martin: Yeah, that’s what’s so crazy, when you see what it really just is.
- Rogan: Ithought that it did something like made electricity with the nuclear — splitting atoms, and it just goes through the wires. No, they’re making steam… Couldn’t they do that in a better way? Seems like a lot of waste to make steam… What are you a**holes doing? You guys are making some sh*t that you can never shut off… They’re all over the place, too. The really bizarre thing is when you drive down the California coast, and you realize that we are on a fault — California moves all the time — then you go on the way to San Diego, there’s a f*cking nuclear power plant that’s right there! … Once those things go bad, they’re bad forever. So you have, as of now there’s only two spots, but those two spots are toast. Chernobyl and Fukushima are f*cking toast. Those areas are f*cked for 100,000 years. Then you have the storage of the nuclear waste from all the other places that are still operational… What the f*ck. This is less than 100 years of splitting atoms… and you already have two spots that are broken. If you could look at the future and you look at potential spots to go wrong… we’re going to f*ck up a huge percentage of the world with this power source… Maybe that solar thing is something you guys want to look at?
Martin: The thing is, it’s not working. I think that we really do need to shut down all the reactors… At the end of the day, is it worth the risk? To have this sh*t out there for a million years — is it worth it, when we do have other sources?
Full interview here
Watch Martin’s broadcast from this March where ENENews is recommended here
Tony Abbott and co. effusive supporters of coal and nuclear – out to destroy renewables?
Abbott praises coal, gas, dog-whistles to nuclear lobby REneweconmy, By Giles Parkinson on 11 August 2014 Prime Minister Tony Abbott has re-iterated his government’s intention to exploit the country’s coal and gas reserves as fast as it can, and has also raised nuclear as a potential significant energy source for Australia.
In a speech to the Australian Industry Group last week – delivered ahead of a report that will likely decide the fate of the renewable energy industry in Australia – Abbott said the country had plenty of coal and gas and “should make the most of them” – notwithstanding the climate change and other environmental issues
“We have massive reserves of coal, massive reserves of gas; let’s make the most of them,” he told the audience (which, ironically, is the business group that has openly supported the current renewable energy target).
Abbott was particularly effusive in his praise of Environment Minister Greg Hunt, whom he said had swept through approvals for projects worth more than $800 billion. And he couldn’t resist the temptation to raise the prospect of nuclear energy as the government’s preferred choice of fuel into the future.
The address by Abbott once again speaks to the grim determination by the Coalition governments – both at federal and state level – to extract every tonne of coal, and “every molecule of gas” before the window on the proliferation of fossil fuel closes – both as a result of climate concerns and the emergence of cheaper, clean technologies.
It also confirms that Abbott, as we have suggested on many occasions – and most recently in this article: It’s time for Abbott to dump nuclear ambitions – is guided by advisors who believe the only option for Australia is to pursue nuclear energy.
Most of his senior business advisors dislike renewables and are supporters of nuclear, most notably the man tasked with the renewable energy target review, Dick Warburton.………
It is almost certain that the government will announced significant changes to the RET, something that Abbott himself suggested in the speech was inevitable – despite the fact that the government has not yet (officially at least) received a report from the RET Review Panel.
“While energy reform also involves repealing the carbon tax and some work with the Renewable Energy Target, it doesn’t end there either,” he told the audience.
Abbott may well want all the coal, and all the gas, extracted as quick as he can, but he and others are facing a major problem – the ability to attract finance for the massive pieces of infrastructure that are required to deliver these products to market…….. http://reneweconomy.com.au/2014/abbott-praises-coal-gas-dog-whistles-to-nuclear-lobby-41599
Navajo people have water contaminated by uranium mining
With uranium poisoning wells, Navajos must drive miles to get drinking water
BUT MANY WHO ARE CONSTRICTED BY CIRCUMSTANCE STILL USE CONTAMINATED SUPPLIES
Brand 11 Aug 14 on Loomis, The Republic | azcentral.com Uranium’s deadly flow
THE NAVAJO NATION ESTIMATES THAT 54,000 NAVAJOS HAUL WATER FROM UNREGULATED WELLS AND STOCK PONDS NUMBERING IN THE LOW THOUSANDS. “……….Twice a week, the Yazzies, 57-year-old Milton and 83-year-old Della, come down off their lonely hill on the Navajo Reservation’s western side and point themselves toward the city for the clean water they need to keep living. For ages, they drank from a well less than a mile from their home. Then they learned that poison lurked there.Uranium is gurgling up all over Navajo country.
At least three Yazzies have died of kidney ailments, a common result of chronic exposure to uranium. Federal environmental officials warned against drinking more. Milton learned to conserve, using an outhouse across their driveway and leaving the tank-supplied indoor plumbing to Della, because of her failing eyesight.
He begged the tribe, the feds, anyone who would listen, to build a pipeline through the sparsely populated Black Falls area, southeast of Cameron.
“I’ve been working so hard all these years to get good drinking water,” he said, “and it never came.”
Though they live out of anyone’s sight, the Yazzies are far from alone in their hardship……….http://www.azcentral.com/longform/news/arizona/investigations/2014/08/05/uranium-mining-poison-wells-safe-drinking-water/13635345/
Abbott Praises Coal And Gas — Hints At Nuclear
Abbott’s Praise Of Coal All You Need To Know About Renewable Energy Target Review Clean Technica August 11th, 2014 by Joshua S Hill “………To top it all off, and to add insult to injury, Tony Abbott went to speak to the Australian Industry Group last week and promptly made it perfectly clear just how he feels about Australia’s energy future.
“I would like us to be one of the world’s affordable energy capitals. We have an abundance of coal, we have an abundance of gas; let’s make the most of this natural advantage,” he said to the gathering, before concluding with this gem;
“But right now, we have massive reserves of coal, massive reserves of gas; let’s make the most of them.”
The sheer absurdity of Abbott’s understanding of the situation boggles the mind, and leaves one wondering just where his priorities lie and who is in his back pocket (or maybe, whose back pocket is he in).
These comments represent the last straw in understanding Tony Abbott’s position on climate change. His appointments to the four-member RET Review were but another example, as Tristan Edits wrote for Business Spectator.
The chair of the review, Dick Warburton, isn’t willing to accept the conclusions of the Academies of Science of Australia, the US, UK and other nations as well as their meteorological bureaus, that burning fossil fuels creates a major problem with global warming. And another review panel member has declared the RET as a dead-weight loss to society, and assisted the gas industry in their lobbying for it to abolished.
In the end, the actual review of the RET will simply be the final nail the coffin — a coffin, I might add, that contains the health of Australia and her international legitimacy. It’s a coffin that Tony Abbott has already been frantically throwing soil onto, hoping to have the issue dead and buried, all the while the renewable energy industry flounders under the political uncertainty, costing the consumer, the employer, and the environment.
So well done, Mister Abbott, for burying Australia’s chance to be a forward thinking, environmentally conscious, industry leading, scientifically integral, force for change. Let’s all join hands and welcome in a repeat of pre-industrial thinking, where big business drives policy to the detriment of everyone else. http://cleantechnica.com/2014/08/11/abbotts-praise-coal-need-know-renewable-energy-target-review/
South Australia’s wind energy breaks another record
Another Wind Power Record For South Australia, Energy Matters 12 Aug 14 Wind farms in South Australia generated enough electricity to meet 43 percent of the state’s power requirements last month.
A new wind generated power benchmark for July was also set across the entire National Electricity Market (NEM) according to the Clean Energy Council (CEC) – around 6 percent.
“Australia’s wind farms were working overtime in the cold conditions during July. South Australia comfortably powered ahead to set a new wind power record, helped by a bit of extra renewable grunt from the new Snowtown II wind farm,” said CEC Acting Chief Executive Kane Thornton.
“With more than 40 per cent of the state’s power demand provided by wind energy for the entire month, it is clear that large amounts of renewable energy can be added to the system without the need for extra backup generation to be built.”
Mr. Thornton stated more than $5 billion of wind power investment had poured into South Australia in the last decade, creating hundreds of greatly-needed jobs and providing the state with a low-cost, cleaner power supply……… http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=4439
Good news: Single-Axis Tracking Solar PV Project for Moree, New South Wales
Construction Set To Begin At Australia’s First Single-Axis Tracking Solar PV Project Clean Technica 12 Auh 14 While Australia’s carbon policy seems to have hit a dead-end, good news from the renewable energy sector continues to pour in. The country will soon see construction begin on its first solar photovoltaic power project with single-axis tracking feature.
The solar pv project owned by Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) will have a generation capacity of 70 MW (DC) and located at near Moree, New South Wales. The project will be supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which has provided more than A$101 million……
A single-axis tracking panel equipped with horizontal axis trackers would partially rotate about the horizontal axis, and track the sun’s movement through the day in the north-south direction. Panels with vertical axis tracking will track sun’s movements through the day in the east-west direction. Horizontal single-axis tracking arrangement is simpler, easy to maintain, and cheaper than vertical axis tracking arrangement.
ARENA, established as part of the Clean Energy Future policy of the Labour government, has lost favor from the current Liberal government that has spared no effort to ban it. The fact that the agency has survived the axe till now is quite miraculous. But its future continues to hang in the balance. The ARENA repeal bill was tabled in the Australian lower House of Parliament in June, and was then referred to a Senate committee which is seeking stakeholders’ views. http://cleantechnica.com/2014/08/11/construction-set-begin-australias-first-single-axis-tracking-solar-pv-project/
AUDIO: Strengthening campaign to abolish nuclear weapons
AUDIO Working to abolish nuclear weapons, http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/working-to-abolish-nuclear-weapons/5662358 ABC Radio Monday 11 August Professor Fred Mendelsohn The Cold War might be over, but the threat to humanity from the world’s 16,300 nuclear weapons is as great as ever.Professor Fred Mendelsohn argues that it’s time for Australia to start campaigning for a ban on the use, production, deployment and stockpiling of nuclear weapons…….
In March 2013, 128 governments gathered in Oslo for the first-ever inter-governmental conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. It is remarkable that no such conference had ever before taken place in the nearly seven-decade-long history of the atomic era.
- That nuclear weapons have catastrophic humanitarian consequences is obvious. However, until recently, the international community failed to grasp the full destructive potential of nuclear weapons on cities, global climate, agriculture, migration and the economy…….
This February in Mexico, 146 governments participated in a second conference to build the scientific evidence base for eliminating nuclear weapons. Security experts warned of the astonishing vulnerability of nuclear weapons to human error……….
Although Australia is part of a declared nuclear-weapon-free zone, our government claims a security benefit from US nuclear weapons. The theory goes that should we ever be threatened with nuclear attack, the United States would supposedly use its nuclear forces to obliterate the potential attacker. Not only is this far-fetched, it is also morally repugnant. It sends a message to other nations, including potential proliferators, that nuclear weapons are useful, desirable and necessary for security.
To their great shame, both major political parties in Australia support this military doctrine. Consequently, they have resisted international moves to negotiate a global ban on nuclear weapons. Yet the public overwhelmingly supports such a treaty. A Nielsen poll this April showed that 84 per cent of Australians want the government to engage constructively in the negotiating process. More than 800 recipients of the Order of Australia have endorsed an appeal urging the government to adopt a nuclear-free defence posture and promote a ban. Among the signatories are four past prime ministers, three governors-general, High Court justices and four previous chiefs of the armed forces, as well as some of the nation’s most celebrated authors, artists, scientists and sporting legends.
It is time for the Australian government to stand on the right side of history. This December, Australia will attend the third international conference on the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons, to be held in Vienna. This promises to be another important milestone on the path towards a nuclear weapons ban……..
120 objections to Canberra solar farm -(a co-ordinated fossil fuel lobby attack?)
Government swamped by 120 objections to the Uriarra solar farm Canberra Times, August 12, 2014 Kirsten Lawson Chief Assembly reporter for The Canberra Times. The government has been swamped by objections to the Uriarra solar farm, including from federal Labor MP Gai Brodtmann, who said it would damage the character and appeal of the village, block views, affect the rural feel and probably depress house prices.
Ms Brodtmann’s intervention will put pressure on the government, as will the weight of opposition from residents of Uriarra Village across the road from the planned solar farm. More than 80 are among about 122 people to submit submissions.
Just six submissions are in favour, and only one of them if from a resident. John White wrote briefly in support. “Quite frankly, as the village is advertised as being a sustainable eco village, I do not understand the other resident views for not supporting such a wonderful opportunity the village could have gained by this solar farm.”….. http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/government-swamped-by-120-objections-to-the-uriarra-solar-farm-20140811-102rbe.html#ixzz3AEwFXw3x
Tony Abbott’s intentions clear – wants to scrap the Renewable Energy Target
Abbott’s Praise Of Coal All You Need To Know About Renewable Energy Target Review Clean Technica August 11th, 2014 by Joshua S Hill Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott initiated a review of the country’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) less than six-months into holding office. Months later, and Australians are waiting with baited breath for former Reserve Bank board member, and arguable climate-skeptic, Dick Warburton and his committee to hand down their recommendations in the next week or so.
However, Tony Abbott’s intentions already seem pretty clear — and if you’re part of Australia’s renewable energy community, or at all interested in Australia contributing to healing planet Earth, then you’re not likely to be too happy…….
in May a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance found that scrapping the Renewable Energy Target could have dramatic ramifications on consumers and employees if Abbott decides to move that way.
As the time until the review board hands down its recommendations regarding the Renewable Energy Target, I’ve been waiting to see just how bad it will turn out. There is no doubt in my mind that Tony Abbott will move to redraw the RET, but just how far he feels he can go is a matter of opinion…….http://cleantechnica.com/2014/08/11/abbotts-praise-coal-need-know-renewable-energy-target-review/
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 
