Indigenous owners call on the Labor government to scrap the nuclear waste dump plan
Bega District News, By Tim Dornin, June 1 2022 Traditional owners have called on the new federal Labor government to scrap plans for a nuclear waste dump in South Australia.
In December the Barngarla Determination Aboriginal Corporation launched legal action in the Federal Court to block the dump planned for Napandee, near Kimba.
It was seeking to overturn the Coalition government’s decision to develop the site by quashing the declaration of former resources minister Keith Pitt.
On Wednesday the corporation wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urging him to step in.
It said the previous government had tried to silence the traditional owners at every turn, denying their right to participate in a community ballot to gauge local support for the site.
The corporation said the coalition also refused access to the land to undertake a proper heritage survey and tried to remove its right to judicial review.
“Although we appreciate all that Labor have done in opposition, the Barngarla people unequivocally make it clear that we request that the new Labor minister revoke the declaration or consent to the orders quashing the declaration,” it wrote in its letter to the PM.
“We call for this to occur at the earliest opportunity possible.”
The Barngarla said if the facility was built it would forever be located on a site where the First People did not get the right to vote.
“For these reasons we think that the government and country that you now lead needs to withdraw the declaration or consent to it being quashed,” the group told Mr Albanese.
“We see no other way.
“These are clearly not your failings or the failings of your government. You inherited them like we did.”
The Barngarla’s action is due to resume in the Federal Court on June 15.
In November last year, the previous government announced it had acquired 211 hectares at Napandee with the proposed facility subject to heritage, design and technical studies……..https://www.begadistrictnews.com.au/story/7763627/labor-urged-to-scrap-nuclear-dump/
Book. Fact or Fission? The truth about Australia’s nuclear ambitions.
Scribe Publications has published a second, updated edition of former Australian Ambassador Prof. Richard Broinowski’s 2003 book Fact or Fission? The truth about Australia’s nuclear ambitions.
The book has just been published with two new chapters addressing the implications of the AUKUS announcement that Australia would purchase nuclear-powered submarines fuelled on highly-enriched uranium — see https://scribepublications.com.au/books-authors/books/fact-or-fission-9781922585745
Richard is planning to launch the updated Fact or Fission? at bookshops in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The Sydney launch will be at Gleebooks, Glebe Point Rd, on Tuesday 14 June at 6 pm for 6:30 pm — see https://www.gleebooks.com.au/event/richard-broinowski-fact-or-fission/. The other launches are still to be finalised. The launches offer the opportunity for discussion about Australia’s potential role in nuclear proliferation and Australia’s capture by the US military and the US armaments industry.
Richard Broinowski – Fact or Fission – Gleebooks.com.auThis book examines Australia’s chequered nuclear history – from assisting the United States develop the first atomic bomb in the 1940s, wanting its own nuclear weapons in the 1960s, and then, in sudden reversal, being at the active forefront of international non-proliferation activities in the 1970s and 1980s.www.gleebooks.com.au |
Tanya Plibersek – at last – an Environment Minister who does care about the environment.
No demotion for Plibersek: Deputy PM
Deputy Labor leader Richard Marles defended the move, saying the environment ministry could not be characterised as a demotion, with the area front and centre of Labor’s priorities.
“Golden age of renewables” hailed at official launch of Australia’s biggest wind project — RenewEconomy
Acciona hails the “golden age of renewables” at the official ceremony to mark construction of Australia’s biggest wind farm. The post “Golden age of renewables” hailed at official launch of Australia’s biggest wind project appeared first on RenewEconomy.
“Golden age of renewables” hailed at official launch of Australia’s biggest wind project — RenewEconomy
How going 100 pct renewables will shield one part of Australia from surging power prices — RenewEconomy
With the electricity market in crisis, one Australian jurisdiction could be shielded from higher prices thanks to buying 100 per cent renewables. The post How going 100 pct renewables will shield one part of Australia from surging power prices appeared first on RenewEconomy.
How going 100 pct renewables will shield one part of Australia from surging power prices — RenewEconomy
Australia need lots of storage, more transmission, and regulators who can factor in emissions — RenewEconomy
Australia’s regulators have been cut off at the knees, forced to ignore the biggest cost of electricity (GHG emissions) in infrastructure projects designed to reduce them. The post Australia need lots of storage, more transmission, and regulators who can factor in emissions appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Australia need lots of storage, more transmission, and regulators who can factor in emissions — RenewEconomy
Industry super fund snaps up 10 pct stake in Australia’s biggest offshore wind project — RenewEconomy
Industry super fund makes first investment in offshore wind with a 10% stake in Star of the South, Australia’s biggest and most advanced project. The post Industry super fund snaps up 10 pct stake in Australia’s biggest offshore wind project appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Industry super fund snaps up 10 pct stake in Australia’s biggest offshore wind project — RenewEconomy
June 1 Energy News — geoharvey
Science and Technology: ¶ “An Electric Train That Never Needs Charging? It’s Real!” • NBC News recently reported on an electric train never needs to be plugged in to keep running. The train goes on battery power to a mine at the top of a mountain, where it is loaded with ore. It goes down […]
June 1 Energy News — geoharvey
Who are the major climate and energy players in the new ministries? — RenewEconomy
The new Labor front-bench are a lot different from their Coalition predecessors. For a start, one of them drives a Tesla. Here’s a profile of the key players. The post Who are the major climate and energy players in the new ministries? appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Who are the major climate and energy players in the new ministries? — RenewEconomy
Wind and solar set new combined output record in Australia’s main grid — RenewEconomy
Output from wind and large scale solar farms hit a new record on Tuesday afternoon, bringing temporary relief to soaring wholesale prices. The post Wind and solar set new combined output record in Australia’s main grid appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Wind and solar set new combined output record in Australia’s main grid — RenewEconomy
Construction begins on new Victoria solar farm as Esco finds a buyer — RenewEconomy
Construction of a new solar farm in Victoria has begun after developer Esco Pacific finds a buyer for the asset. The post Construction begins on new Victoria solar farm as Esco finds a buyer appeared first on RenewEconomy.
Construction begins on new Victoria solar farm as Esco finds a buyer — RenewEconomy
The Next Crapshot Reactor Explosion Will Dwarf the Next Psychotic School Shooting
https://buzzflash.com/articles/harvey-wasserman-for-buzzflash-the-next-crapshot-reactor-explosion-will-dwarf-the-next-psychotic-school-shooting May 31, 2022, By Harvey Wasserman
The next explosion at an atomic reactor will dwarf the latest school shooting
There’s a clear GOP stamp on this week’s mass slaughter of our beautiful school children and their teachers—-AND on the next.
Likewise the next nuke irradiation of countless downwind humans already has its horde of unrepentant enablers
To put it in the plainest possible terms: those now advocating continued operation of our increasingly dangerous, decrepit atomic fleet are personally responsible for upcoming explosion(s) at the individual reactors they refuse to evaluate.
And we can be sure that the blame dodging we’re now seeing in Texas will pale before the crocodile tears that will come with the next avoidable apocalypse.
So let’s be clear:
X No private insurance company will fully insure any US atomic reactor. https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/nuclear-insurance.html
X Under federal law, your homeowner’s policy bars meaningful owner/operator liability for any melt-down’s fatal fallout.
X The limited federal liability fund for an apocalyptic reactor disaster represents a minuscule fraction of the likely damage.
X Just 45 miles from the San Andreas, California’s two Diablo reactors are surrounded by a dozen earthquake faults.
X Dr. Michael Peck, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Diablo site inspector, demanded it shut for seismic dangers.
X The NRC purged Dr. Peck and trashed his warnings.
X Seismic shocks have already damaged Ohio’s Perry reactor and Virginia’s North Anna.
X Critical concrete is crumbling at New Hampshire’s Seabrook and Ohio’s Davis-Besse.
X Critical components at the South Texas Nuclear Plant recently froze.
X Vital core metals at Diablo are dangerously embrittled, cracked and decayed.
X Diablo’s owner-operator, PG&E, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges involving the avoidable deaths of nearly 100 people.
X Perry and Davis-Besse’s owners are linked to a $61 million legislative bribe meant to buy a $1 billion bail-out.
Like laws allowing psychopaths to buy assault weapons, nuclear non-regulation makes major catastrophes virtually certain.
All reactors regularly emit radiation, carbon, heat.
All can be replaced by renewables that are cheaper, cleaner, safer, more job-producing, quicker to deploy, free of radioactive wastes.
Nearly 800,000 Americans now work in wind, solar, batteries and/or efficiency.
Some 70,000 Californians now work in solar and wind, more than all Americans who mine coal. Just 1500 work at Diablo.
As with those who defend gun sales to mass murderers, reactor promoters can’t personally cover the unconscionable risks they so glibly demand we all take.
Come the next melt-down, their Texas-style moments of “silence and prayer” will reek of predictable hypocrisy.
As assault weapons must be banned, so these reactors must be shut.
In both cases, the ultimate gamble is being imposed by irresponsible crapshooters who can never pick up the pieces, cry as they might when their snake eyes bite the rest of us.
Harvey Wasserman’s THE PEOPLE’S SPIRAL OF US HISTORY narrates the atomic delusion (www.solartopia.org). Most Mondays at 5pm ET he co-convenes the Green Grassroots Election Protection Zoom (www.electionprotection2024.org)
Small Nuclear Reactors Have an Outsized Radioactive Waste Problem
Mini Nuclear Reactors Have an Outsized Waste Problem, US scientists say waste streams as much as 30-times higher than conventional plants will make SMRs more costly, Bloomberg, Will Mathis and Jonathan Tirone, May 31, 2022
A new generation of smaller atomic reactors, designed to tout nuclear power’s role as a clean-energy alternative, may also come with an outsized waste problem that could send costs surging.
Small-modular reactors, known as SMRs, could produce as much as two to 30-times more waste than conventional atomic power plants in operation today, according to scientists including Allison Macfarlane, the former chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in research published Monday by the U.S. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. …….. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-30/small-modular-reactors-may-produce-far-more-nuclear-waste-study-says
DHS ‘concerned’ over Nazis returning to US after fighting in Ukraine. Why isn’t the media?
The GrayZone , ALEXANDER RUBINSTEIN·, MAY 31, 2022
US corporate media has provided glowing coverage to Paul Gray, a notorious American white nationalist fighting in Ukraine. A DHS document warns he’s not the only US fascist drawn to Kiev.
As the United States undergoes a national mourning process over a spate of mass shootings, American white nationalists with documented histories of violence are attaining combat experience with advanced US-made weapons in a foreign proxy war.
That’s according to the Department of Homeland Security, which has been gathering intelligence on Americans who have joined the ranks of the more than 20,000 foreign volunteers in Ukraine.
The FBI has indicted several American white nationalists associated with the Rise Above Movement after they trained with the neo-Nazi Azov Battaliion and its civilian wing, the National Corps, in Kiev. But that was almost four years ago. Today, federal law enforcement has no idea how many US neo-Nazis are participating in the war in Ukraine, or what they are doing there.
But one thing is for certain: the Biden administration is allowing the Ukrainian government to recruit Americans – including violent extremists – at its embassy in Washington DC and at consulates across the country. As this report will show, at least one notorious extremist fighting in Ukraine has received extensive promotion from mainstream media, while another who is currently wanted for violent crimes committed in the US was mysteriously able to evade FBI investigators looking into war crimes he previously committed in Eastern Ukraine.
According to a Customs and Border Patrol document released thanks to a May 2022 Freedom of Information Act request by a nonprofit called Property of the People, federal authorities are concerned about RMVE-WS’s, or “racially-motivated violent extremists – white supremacy” returning to the US armed with new tactics learned on the Ukrainian battlefield.
“Ukrainian nationalist groups including the Azov Movement are actively recruiting racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist white supremacists to join various neo-Nazi volunteer battalions in the war against Russia,” the document states. “RMVE-WS individuals in the United States and Europe announced intentions to join the conflict and are organizing entry to Ukraine via the Polish border.”
The document, which was drafted by Customs and Border Protections, the Office of Intelligence, and other Homeland Security sub-agencies, contains write-ups of interviews conducted by law enforcement with Americans en route to Ukraine to fight Russia………….
as this report will illustrate, the presence of hardcore American neo-Nazis in the ranks of the Ukrainian military is far from a deception cranked out by the Kremlin’s propaganda mills.
From fascist street brawler to volunteer fighter in US-backed unit
Among the most prominent American white nationalists currently serving in the ranks of the Ukrainian military is Paul Gray. The US military veteran has spent almost two months fighting among the Georgian National Legion, a Ukrainian military outfit that has been celebrated by US lawmakers and has committed multiple war crimes……………………..
He is the real deal: a former member of several bonafide fascist groups including the now-defunct Traditionalist Workers Party, American Vanguard, Atomwaffen Division, and Patriot Front.
……………
This January while in Ukraine, he joined the Georgian National Legion, an outfit led by a notorious warlord who has enjoyed friendly visits with high profile members of US Congress while boasting of authorizing gruesome war crimes in Ukraine.
In fact, Gray is among at least 30 Americans currently fighting with the Georgian National Legion. The unit is therefore at the heart of the ratline channeling US weapons and fascist foreign militants into the Ukrainian military, while Congress and American corporate media cheer it on.
Indeed, Fox News has featured Gray no less than six times, painting him as a heroic GI Joe sacrificing himself to defend democracy. Fox did not inform its viewers of Gray’s identity until his most recent appearance, obscuring his record of neo-Nazism from its viewers.
………………………………….. Gray has also been associated with the Traditionalist Workers Party, a lead organizer of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, as well as with Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi organization whose members have trained with Ukraine’s Azov Battalion, and which was designated as an illegal terrorist organization by the United Kingdom and Canada. …………………………………
During the first four of Gray’s appearances on Fox News, his name was not disclosed. However, two local media reports identified the Fox favorite by his full name during the same period. None of the reports mentioned his close association with neo-Nazis.
………………………. Gray now joins a growing list of Georgian Legion veterans with extremist backgrounds. The roster includes Joachim Furholm, a Norwegian fascist activist who was briefly imprisoned after attempting to rob a bank in his native country.
After signing up for the Georgian Legion, Furholm made several attempts to recruit American neo-Nazis into the ranks of the Azov Battallion, which had set up housing for him near Kiev as well as “training facilities for foreign volunteers he attempted to recruit.”
“It’s like a Petri dish for fascism. It’s the perfect conditions,” Furholm said of Ukraine in a podcast interview. Referring to Azov, he stated that “they do have serious intentions of helping the rest of Europe in retaking our rightful lands.”
………………………….. There is one Georgian Legion veteran whose violent exploits made him more notorious than even Furholm. He is an American military veteran named Craig Lang……………
Lang continued to cycle in and out of prison before gravitating to Ukraine, where he linked up with fellow Army veteran Alex Zwiefelhofere. Both men joined the ultra-nationalist Right Sector organization in 2015, while Lang reportedly recruited dozens of fighters from the West.
…………………………….. While on the front lines in 2017, Lang and sixth other Americans fell under investigation by the Department of Justice and the FBI, as they were believed to have “committed or participated in torture, cruel or inhuman treatment or murder of persons who did not take (or stopped taking) an active part in hostilities and (or) intentionally inflicted grievous bodily harm on them.”
Leaked documents from the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division of the Office of International Affairs claim Lang and the other suspects “allegedly took noncombatants as prisoners, beat them with their fists, kicked them, clobbered them with a sock filled with stones, and held them underwater.” Lang, who is said to be the “main instigator” of the torture, “may have even killed some of them before burying their bodies in unmarked graves.”
………………………………………………………………………………. Discovered by this reporter, Lang’s Twitter account offers a strong hint that he belongs to Right Sector, the former street gang now incorporated into the Ukrainian military. This was the same unit Lang belonged to when he allegedly tortured a woman to death.
While previously a hot topic, the shocking saga of Craig Lang conveniently disappeared from the media’s radar following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February. Politico’s May 24th report contained his first mainstream media mention in months, with his name buried deep in the article.
Paul Gray, for his part, continues to receive glowing media coverage despite the exposure of his ties to neo-Nazi organizations. Meanwhile, the thirty Americans allegedly fighting by his side remain unidentified.
As the Department of Homeland Security has privately acknowledged, extremists like Gray and his compatriots are likely to return to the home front before long, bringing along a wealth of combat tactics and new connections with an international network of fascist militants and war criminals. What happens then is anyone’s guess. https://thegrayzone.com/2022/05/31/american-neo-nazi-ukraine-hero-corporate-media/
As Elon Musk’s SpaceX Grows, So Do Complaints From Environmentalists, Indigenous Groups and Brownsville Residents
Elon Musk’s private space company has evolved into a sprawling industrial complex. But concerns are increasing about beach closures, noise and potential harm to threatened species.
Inside Climate News, By Aman Azhar, May 23, 2022
“They told us that SpaceX was testing a rocket engine and access to the beach was restricted for safety reasons,” Mancias said.
“I asked them to let us go to the beach,” he said, “and even quoted the American Indian Religious Freedom Act to get access because it was a sacred day for us.” The officers, however, still wouldn’t let them through.
Tired of blocked access to the only public beach in the area, the Comecrudo Tribe, along with two local environmental groups, have filed suit against the county, the Texas General Land Office, and its Commissioner George P. Bush over the road closures during SpaceX operations. Restricting access to a public beach violates the Texas Constitution, the coalition of plaintiffs said, in announcing the legal action……………. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/23052022/spacex-elon-musk-brownsville-boca-chica/
—
1 This month.
20 September –National Day of Action in Melbourne on the International Day of Peace
Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
.
Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity
Antinuclear 