Ecology be damned -we won’t know what’s hit us after January 20th
Sorry I’m such a pessimist. Don’t pay too much attention to my stuff – I am hoping that I’m wrong, anyway !
BUT – I have previously written about the speed with which Donald Trump could turn the USA into an absolute dictatorship. I compared this process to the process by which Adolf Hitler took just seven and a half weeks, using legal means, to change his parliamentary position from a relatively powerless role to one of complete control. Opponents didn’t know what hit them: it was so fast.
The other insidious thing about Hitler’s early regime was that, in the first years, the workers had never had it so good. Hitler was never voted in as leader, but became popular once in. Trump has some popularity already – and perhaps will get more of it?
Meanwhile – Dharna Noor scrutinised the agenda for Project 25 – and it is scary stuff.
Project 2025, was convened by the notorious rightwing, climate-denying thinktank the Heritage Foundation, which has ties to fossil fuel billionaire Charles Koch. Called the Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, it is meant to guide the first 180 days of presidency for an incoming Republican president.
Earth Justice sets it out in detail:
Project 2025 is 900 pages, and 150 of them are about how to destroy the environment. This deregulatory agenda, written by former Trump government officials and Heritage Foundation staff, would strip away our rights to clean air, clean water, and a healthy planet.
Earth Justice takes a legal approach: – We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer. When we go to court, we get results. We go to court to defend the planet and its people.
What a terrific organisation! And they have had many victories in the past.
Never needed more than today – Earth Justice has over 200 attorneys lined up with strategies to counter Donald Trump’s administration with it plans to shred environmental protections.
BUT – is Donald Trump a jump ahead of them?
What Donald Trump is – is a wrecker! He apparently has a sort of artistic instinct directed towards wrecking humanity’s collective institutions – and first among the institutions to be wrecked – is the Law. He’s already managed to manipulate himself into the kingly position of being above the law – “immunity from prosecution”
Unfortunately, Trump has many greedy and ambitious sycophants, all too willing to carry out the manipulations needed to destroy human rights and environmental protections. Today I note one important example – Project 2025 calls for massive changes to Hanford nuclear cleanup – to weaken the rules on nuclear radiation.
Earth Justice, and we who care about the planet, are out there in our millions. I do hope that somehow we can organise, and prevent the planetary destruction that the new American government intends to carry out.
Australian nuclear news headlines 25 November to 2 December.
Headlines as they come in:
- Australia’s top environment groups – Submission to Government Inquiry into Nuclear Power .Generation in Australia
- The Green List: Peter Garrett on the ‘high-risk’, ‘cruel joke’ of nuclear energy
- Frisson vs fission in nuke fantasy vs facts
- Greens welcome Victorian government ending agreement with weapons company Elbit.
- Emergency leaders say nuclear reactors pose unnecessary risk.
- Canada’s nuclear waste organisation joins forces with the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency
Emergency leaders say nuclear reactors pose unnecessary risk
November 27, 2024, by: The AIM Network, Emergency Leaders for Climate Action. https://theaimn.com/emergency-leaders-say-nuclear-reactors-pose-unnecessary-risk/
NUCLEAR REACTORS WOULD introduce significant and unnecessary risk to Australian communities and emergency responders, including firefighters already stretched by escalating climate fuelled disasters, warns Emergency Leaders for Climate Action (ELCA) in a submission to the parliamentary inquiry into nuclear power generation in Australia.
Greg Mullins, speaking on behalf of 38 former fire and emergency service chiefs from across Australia said: “Our firefighters are on the frontlines of escalating climate fuelled disasters, like bushfires and floods, fuelled by climate pollution. They’re not trained or equipped to deal with nuclear emergencies that could arise from nuclear reactors or the transportation and storage of radioactive waste.”
The ELCA submission highlights that nuclear reactor emergency planning and management has not been addressed by proponents of nuclear energy and emphasises that Australian emergency services lack the experience and resources to handle potential nuclear emergencies.
“Australian emergency services would have to be built up from scratch to respond to nuclear disasters, with no costings or plans in place to achieve this. There are no fully staffed urban fire service stations near the proposed sites for nuclear reactors, and it’s neither feasible nor reasonable to expect volunteer bushfire fighters to handle such high-risk emergencies,” said Mr Mullins
“I oversaw the deployment of Australian firefighters to assist in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that led to the Fukushima disaster, where the chaos and devastation caused by nuclear failures was stark. First responders, many of them civilian firefighters, were thrown into situations they weren’t trained for. That’s not a risk we should take in Australia, no matter how remote.
“There are no safety or environmental frameworks in place to manage the risks of nuclear reactors or to safely transport and store radioactive waste in Australia.
“Placing nuclear reactors in disaster-prone areas like Latrobe, Lithgow, Singleton, and South Burnett would add to the burden emergency services already face responding to worsening bushfires, floods, and storms.
Beyond the safety risks, former Commissioner Mullins called the proposal a “dangerous distraction” from the energy solutions Australia urgently needs right now. “Every coal-fired power station will shut down before a single watt of nuclear power can enter our system. Nuclear reactors simply cannot be built quickly to address the urgent task of slashing pollution and reducing climate disaster risks right now.
“Our communities and emergency services are bearing the brunt of worsening disasters driven by burning coal, oil and gas. We don’t have the luxury of waiting decades for new power stations, we must slash climate pollution now to protect Australians. Australia can’t afford to risk our energy security, economy and safety on a nuclear fantasy when renewables can cut pollution today and help ensure a safer future for our kids.”
About Emergency Leaders for Climate Action: We are 38 former senior Australian fire and emergency service leaders who have observed how climate change is driving increasingly catastrophic extreme weather events that are putting lives, properties and livelihoods at greater risk and overwhelming our emergency services.
Canada’s nuclear waste organisation joins forces with the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency
World Nuclear News, November 25, 2024
Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization said it recently signed a
new co-operation agreement with the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency
at a ceremony in the Australian Parliament in Canberra. The NWMO and
ARWA will collaborate on a range of issues related to the safe
management of radioactive waste, including the important topic of
reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
The NWMO said it was honored to
learn from the experiences of Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait
Islanders during the visit and it “looks forward to a relationship of
partnership and knowledge-sharing”.
1 This month
of the week – Disrupting War & Militarism in Oceania. Active solidarity. Radical practice.
Antinuclear 