Protestors rally at South Australian Parliament against nuclear waste dump plan
Nuclear protesters converge at Parliament House https://www.transcontinental.com.au/story/5745040/nuclear-protesters-converge-at-parliament-house/, Marco Balsamo
About 1500 people congregated at the steps of Parliament House in Adelaide to let the government know that they still oppose nuclear waste.
Protesters travelled from the Eyre Peninsula and the Flinders Ranges to join other South Australians on Saturday, November 3 at the rally organised by Don’t Dump on SA.
Federal government had initially planned to make a decision on the facility by the end of the year.
The protest aimed to deliver a message to federal government to abandon the site selection process and to the South Australian government to uphold the state legislation that makes radioactive waste facilities illegal.
“We want the government to take all sites in SA off the table and to hold a full independent inquiry into the best way to manage our most dangerous waste,” Mara Bonacci from Don’t Dump on SA said.
“The government must stop targeting remote and regional areas and give Aboriginal people a right of veto for proposals that threaten their country and culture.”
Two sites in Kimba and one site at Wallerberdina Station near Hawker have been nominated to host the facility.
Among the many speakers at the Parliament House rally was Adnyamathanha man Dwayne Coulthard, who described the selection process as “cultural genocide”.
“We have had enough of being ignored. No radioactive waste dump on Adnyamathanha country in the Flinders Ranges. No waste dump in Kimba,” Mr Coulthard said.
Other speakers at the rally included state Member for Giles Eddie Hughes and federal Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.
Community members from both Kimba and the Flinders Ranges gathered in Port Augusta in August to march across the Joy Baluch AM Bridge in protest against the proposed nuclear facility.
Aboriginal landowners say delay in nuclear waste dump vote may bring more opposition to the plan
Any election delay to nuclear waste dump vote ‘more time to lobby’ https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2018/11/05/any-election-delay-nuclear-waste-dump-vote-more-time-lobby?fbclid=IwAR1cdI5kIpL_S-ItnTa7TRpEPZBNPgJEBOxT6qN4YrCp0Scgsd9nhUTNGG8
A site for Australia’s first nuclear waste dump will not be decided until after the next federal election, Centre Alliance Senator Rex Patrick says.
Two sites near Kimba, 460 kilometres northwest of Adelaide, and one site near Hawker in the Flinders Ranges have been shortlisted.
Community ballots were scheduled for August 20 and stalled by a legal challenge from the Barngarla people.
They argued all Traditional Owners should be eligible to vote, including those not living within the shire’s boundaries.
The next court hearing has been scheduled for January 30.
Mr Patrick said that Resources Minister Matt Canavan does not want the issue to overlap with the federal election.
“He doesn’t want a ballot in Kimba and Hawker happening at around about the same time as the election, he said it sort of confuses the issues,” the Centre Alliance senator told NITV News.
“In my view they simply won’t want to agitate this issue as there is huge division in both communities. They won’t want to agitate this issue this side of the election.”
Regina McKenzie, an Adnyamathanha Elder who opposes the waste dump, hopes to preserve her people’s songlines.
“I would love to see the Traditional Owners be respected and consulted the appropriate way,” she said.
Vince Coulthard, CEO of the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association, has welcomed the ballot being postponed.
“The current government isn’t listening to us as Traditional Owners,” he said.
Australian govt’s nuclear waste dump plan has put Flinders Ranges/ Kimba residents through 3 years of hell
The Federal Government needs to come clean on this and stop keeping our communities in the Flinders Ranges and Kimba dangling as part of their political game. Ever since they made plans for a federal nuclear waste dump for the Flinders Ranges/or Kimba, many people in our communities have become very unwell, some suicidal, which can be directly linked to the stress, bullying and division that this dump business has put upon us all. The government is culpable, and they should be held accountable for our past three years of hell. more https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Friday deadline for nuclear waste dump vote in Flinders Ranges Council area
Just a reminder for people living in The Flinders Ranges Council area – if you haven’t voted yet, remember 5pm Friday 9 November is the deadline.
Probably best to lodge your voting slips at the Council office in Quorn if you still want to vote (or the election box at Hawker Motors in Hawker), as if you mail it now, it may not make it in time for the 5pm Friday deadline!
Make your vote count! https://www.facebook.com/groups/344452605899556/
Call to Melissa Price, Minister For Coal, (sorry, I meant Environment) to explain why Adani project is OK about water
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Adani water project bypasses full environmental impact assessment against advice,
Key points:
Documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) and provided to the ABC by activist group Lock the Gate Alliance showed the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources wrote to the Environment Department suggesting the project could activate what is known as the “water trigger”……… Action will ‘clearly have an impact on water resources’The principal solicitor at the Queensland Environmental Defenders Office, Sean Ryan, said the Environment Department should explain how it came to its decision to not require a full environmental assessment. “It is concerning when these significant environmental laws are not applied to an action that clearly will have a significant impact on water resources,” he said. Carmel Flint from the Lock the Gate Alliance said she was astounded by the situation. “We were really shocked to see that these documents had given some pretty clear advice to the department that there was a serious risk to water resources and that they ignored that and pushed thorough the Adani project without requiring an environmental impact assessment,” she said. “So it just raises real questions about what’s going on inside government. “We’ve got a department who has this key role of looking after water and agriculture basically raising this concern, saying they consider there would be a significant impact on water resources, and they’ve effectively been overruled. “That’s just not good enough.”………. Ms Flint is calling on Environment Minister Melissa Price to act. “We’re really calling for the Minister now to urgently step in and reverse the decision and require a proper environmental impact assessment and fully apply the water trigger,” she said. “We’d also really like to know how it was that this advice came to be ignored by the Department for Environment.”………https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-07/adani-water-project-bypassed-full-assessment-against-advice/10457670 |
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Victorian Labor dials up its renewable energy target to 50 per cent by 2030
By Benjamin Preiss, Adam Carey & Noel Towell, Canberra Times, 8 November
2018 Half of Victoria’s energy could come from renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydro power within 12 years, if the Andrews government is re-elected.
The Age can reveal that Labor will promise to raise Victoria’s renewable energy target from 40 per cent to 50 per cent by 2030 if it wins this month’s election.
The move would enhance Labor’s green credentials and cement the state’s transition away from coal as its primary power source.
Victoria has already legislated renewable energy targets of 25 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025, although the Coalition has promised to scrap the targets if it wins the November 24 election. ………https://www.canberratimes.com.au/politics/victoria/labor-dials-up-its-renewable-energy-target-to-50-per-cent-by-2030-20181107-p50emw.html
Rio Tinto offloads Northern Territory uranium resources to Canadian company
Rio Tinto offloads NT uranium asset to Laramide, Australian Mining Ewen Hosie
The Murphy uranium tenements, located near the Queensland-NT border, were responsible for the production of high-grade uranium in the 1950s but have not seen much exploration since the 1970s. The tenements are contiguous to Laramide’s Westmoreland project in northwest Queensland.
The acquisition comprises the EL 9319 and EL 9414 exploration licences and several other applications across 683 square kilometres.
Laramide has paid Rio the first of three $150,000 cash payments to Rio Tinto as laid out in the terms of the agreement announced in July this year…….https://www.australianmining.com.au/news/laramide-completes-acquisition-rio-tinto-uranium-tenements-nt/
Canada’s government to embrace small nuclear reactors that do not make economic sense.
Ottawa is pushing a new smaller, modular nuclear plant that could only pay off if mass produced. By M.V. RamanaM. V. Ramana is the Simons Chair in Disarmament, Global and Human Security at the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at UBC, and the author of The Power of Promise: Examining Nuclear Energy in India, Penguin Books, New Delhi (2012)
Mike Cannon-Brookes, Atlassian billionaire, calls on Government to reinstate carbon price
ABC News 7.30 By Nadia Daly 7 Nov 18, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has called for Australia to reinstate the controversial carbon price, as he pushes to influence government policy with his new green energy campaign.
Mr Cannon-Brookes said the “movement”, dubbed Fair Dinkum Power, would put forward policy suggestions around renewable energy ahead of the upcoming election, with the aim to move Australia to “200 per cent renewable energy”.
“I think it will clearly be the number one or number two issue in the election,” he told 7.30.
“Australia could be a renewable energy super power. “We could be exporting massive amounts of power, we could have huge numbers of jobs here in this space.
“We’ve just got to have vision and insight to go after that.”…….https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-07/mike-cannon-brookes-calls-government-to-reinstate-carbon-price/10474702
Huge solar farm planned for Murray Bridge
A jobs boom may soon be coming for Murray Bridge as developers aim to begin work on a $350 million solar farm next year — if it gets the go-ahead from the state’s peak planning body…. (subscribers only)
Greenland’s Melting Ice Sheets: The Beautiful but Harrowing Changes Seen from Above
The Weather Channel, By Drew MacFarlane, 7 Nov 18
This is what Tom Hegen, a photographer from Munich, Germany, takes to the skies to document.
Hegen buzzes some 3,000 feet above Greenland’s seemingly endless sheet of ice before having the pilot tip the plane on its side so he can snap a photo. If the light or angle isn’t to his liking, he asks to circle around to do it again………https://weather.com/science/environment/news/2018-11-06-greenland-melting-ice-sheet-photos-tom-hegen/
Victoria Labor boosts renewable energy target to 50% by 2030 — RenewEconomy
Victoria Labor promise to boost its target for renewables generation to 50 per cent by 2030 if re-elected. It will probably get there anyway. The post Victoria Labor boosts renewable energy target to 50% by 2030 appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Victoria Labor boosts renewable energy target to 50% by 2030 — RenewEconomy
AusNet canvasses hefty connection fees for rooftop solar in Victoria — RenewEconomy
Ausnet canvasses idea of charging connection fees of “several hundreds of dollars” to new solar households that refuse network limitations. The post AusNet canvasses hefty connection fees for rooftop solar in Victoria appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via AusNet canvasses hefty connection fees for rooftop solar in Victoria — RenewEconomy
November 7 Energy News — geoharvey
Science and Technology: ¶ “Scientists Reveal Strange Molecule that Can Store Sun’s Energy for 18 Years” • A Swedish research team believes it found a breakthrough for energy storage. A specialized solar thermal fluid can hold the sun’s energy for long periods of time and expel that energy on demand when activated by putting it […]
Taylor confirms race is on to get new coal or gas finalised before federal election — RenewEconomy
Energy minister Angus Taylor wants to get new investment in coal and gas locked away before the next election. The post Taylor confirms race is on to get new coal or gas finalised before federal election appeared first on RenewEconomy.
via Taylor confirms race is on to get new coal or gas finalised before federal election — RenewEconomy
