Contradictory statements on the return of Lynas radioactive wastes to Australia
Lynas had denied reports that the Western Australian government had refused to accept the radioactive waste from the miner’s RM2.5 billion rare earth plant in Malaysia.
“If the (Australian) government accepts waste, why not they (Lynas) stay in own country?” Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack asked. Wong said Lynas Corp was “clearly taking advantage” of Malaysia’s
“loose environmental laws” and “non-functioning administration”.
Australia: No request from Lynas to accept waste http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/australia-no-request-from-lynas-to-accept-waste By Lisa J. Ariffin March KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Canberra
has yet to receive any request from Lynas Corp to accept radioactive waste from the Australian miner’s controversial rare earth plant in Gebeng, Kuantan that will be ready this June.
“Australia has not received any request to import residues from the plant,” an Australian High Commission spokesman told The Malaysian Insider when contacted today. Continue reading
Federal Court challenge to Olympic Dam approval
Environmental Defenders Office (SA) Inc, 22 March 12, Mr Kevin Buzzacott has filed an application in the Federal Court challenging the Commonwealth Environment Minister’s approval of the Olympic Dam expansion. He is represented by the Environmental Defender’s Office (SA) Inc (EDO) in those proceedings.
Mr Buzzacott (known as Uncle Kevin) is an Aboriginal Elder of the Arabunna Nation in Northern South Australia, who is concerned about the impacts of the mine on the environment. The EDO is a community legal centre that specialises in public interest environmental law. Continue reading
Wind energy a winner for South Australia
Wind Power costs a lot less than the savings it makes – it’s like a preventative measure; an insurance that you buy against high electricity prices. In the case of South Australia, they did just that and it paid off.
Wind Works. It’s giving South Australia climate security through decarbonising its economy, energy security through reduced imports of expensive volatile fossil fuels. And it works so well that South Australia can now go further and target 50 per cent of the state to run on wind power and put much more solar on rooftops while planning to integrate this with
Baseload Solar Thermal plants installed in locations like Port Augusta.
South Australia’s big win with wind, REneweconomy, By Matthew Wright 21 March 2012 Wind Power in South Australia has been a howling success; it now provides more electricity in the state than coal and in just a decade the wind industry has developed into one of the world’s leaders – and all to the benefit of South Australians. Continue reading
Voters in Mt Isa electorate have no choice on the uranium issue
Fiona Lake , commenting on Queensland election policies With leaking tailings dams already in her electorate, it is astonishing that Betty Kiernan is in favour of a uranium mine on her doorstep.
And so much for a democracy providing us with a real choice, with the 3 main contenders all in favour of uranium mining.
I’ll be voting for whoever publicly guarantees that they will not be considering uranium mining in their term of government and I bet I’m not the only one. Voters need firm policies and they need them right now, not each way
bet ‘we might consider it’, statements.
Parties say uranium mining could happen in Queensland ABC rural news By Paul Sutherland , 21/03/2012 The LNP and ALP candidates in Queensland’s Mount Isa electorate both say their parties’ opposition to uranium mining in the state could change….
Labor member Betty Kiernan says while her party opposes mining the mineral, there’s no reason why the policy won’t be overturned….
Rob Katter, the Katter’s Party candidate for the electorate, made his position clear – if that party wins in Saturday’s election, uranium mining would be legalised…. http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201203/s3460350.htm
Decision to sell uranium to India could backfire badly on the Gillard government
If their err in judgement places Australia on the wrong side of nuclear proliferation or nuclear safety history, Gillard and the Labor Right would face political kryptonite capable of removing them from power and tarnishing their records forever……
Despite Gillard’s Victory, Australian Uranium Exports to India Debate Far from Over, HUFFINGTON POST, Wddie Walsh, 21 March 12, – “…… a number of important foreign policy issues will continue to divide Labor as Gillard looks to consolidate her power. One of the most serious is her position on Australian uranium exports to India. This
poses a chronic risk for both Gillard and the Labor Right – just as it does for the United States… Continue reading
3000 jobs and cheaper electricity for South Australia with wind power
They are reportedly unpopular but a CSIRO report in January found there was stronger community support for wind farms across Australia than suggested by media coverage.
It found rural residents often backed the developments but did not seek media attention or political engagement to express their views.
SA wants to lead with renewable energy, Business Spectator, 22 March 12, South Australia’s Labor government wants to be a leader in renewable energy and wants more wind farms to do it. SA has more than half of Australia’s wind farms and they provided 26 per cent of the state’s electricity last year, up from 18 per cent in 2010, and less than one per cent just five years ago…… Continue reading
Greens to alert the Senate on the anti nuclear protest crisis in India
Senator Scott Ludlam will put a motion to the Senate – noting India’s repressive frackdown on anti nuclear protestors, and the growing anti nuclear movement in India, – and also the illegality of Australia selling uranium to India (non signatory to the NPT.)
The motion will call on the Australian government to protest the Indian government’s actions against peaceful protestors in Koodankulam, and warn on nuclear safety procedures, and on the need for independent nuclear regulation. It will call on the Australain government not to allow sales of uranium outside the Nuclear non Proliferation Treaty Continue reading
Australia’s rhetoric on nuclear weapons – hollow when we sell uranium to India
“India is not a party to the NPT and there is clear legal advice that selling uranium to India would be in conflict with our obligations under the South Pacific Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty.
The Australian Conservation Foundation has welcomed today’s bipartisan motion on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and called for real action to match the rhetoric. “The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have taken an important step in acknowledging the grave threat posed by nuclear weapons and the importance of nuclear disarmament and abolition,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner Dave Sweeney. Continue reading
Curiouser and curiouser – Greenpeace accused of being a tool of America’s CIA!
VIDEO Palmer says green groups funded by CIA ABC Radio PM By Matt Wordsworth and staff March 20, 2012 Mining magnate Clive Palmer has accused the United States government of funding environmental group Greenpeace via the CIA to undermine Australia’s coal mining sector. Continue reading
Vital importance of renewable energy to rural Victoria’s future
Renewable energy ‘vital’ to region, The Warrnambool Standard, 21 Mar, 2012 MP Lily A’mbrosio yesterday continued the Opposition’s attack on state government wind farm polices when she visited Warrnambool to gauge the importance of renewable energy projects for the region. She also drove through Hawkesdale for a view of the Macarthur wind farm towers’ construction.
Ms A’mbrosio, the Opposition’s spokeswoman on energy, said government policy could strangle potential jobs growth and force companies to build their projects interstate. “You’ll see a faltering of jobs particularly in regional Victoria,”
she told The Standard. “Energy and Resources Minister O’Brien has been deathly silent in the debate. “I call on him to visit the Great South Coast to see for himself how important for the local economy renewable industry is. “He needs to account for the government’s failure to back renewable energy.”
Ms A’mbrosio said she was “enthralled” by her briefing from city council chief executive Bruce Anson and mayor Cr Jacinta Ermacora about the economic and jobs potential for the region from the renewable energy industry.
Ms A’mbrosio said she would also visit other shires in the next couple of months including Moyne, which has the region’s largest collection of wind farm projects….. http://www.standard.net.au/news/local/news/general/renewable-energy-vital-to-region/2495044.aspx
Victoria’s Liberal government pushing ahead with brown coal
Victoria announces plans to cash in on brown coal reserves 
ABC Radio National P.M. March 20, 2012 MARK COLVIN: A carbon tax was supposed to spell the death of brown coal but the Victorian Government has announced plans to export more of the energy source.
It’s announced plans to cash in on the billions of tonnes of brown coal in the La Trobe Valley. The Energy Minister, Michael O’Brien, says a number of companies overseas are developing low emissions technology for brown coal power
generation.
But one environmental mining engineer says it’s a fanciful suggestion and there’s no evidence of clean, brown coal anywhere in the world…. http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3459690.htm
Protest in Darwin – the beginning, not the end, of the fight against Muckaty nuclear waste dump
Even if the Federal Court dismisses the action from the traditional owners, the fight to stop the waste dump going ahead will not end
Darwin protest against Muckaty waste dump http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8438426/darwin-protest-against-muckaty-waste-dump 9 News Mar 20 2012 Federal government plans to build a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory amount to “radioactive racism” and ignore the wishes of indigenous people, a protest has been told. Continue reading
BHP, Rio Xstrata – no pain from Australia’s Mineral resources Rent Tax (and uranium is exempt)
Resources tax: what you may not know … SMH, Ian Verrender, March 20, 2012 Despite all the hullabaloo, all the hand-wringing and the wailing from various sections of the mining industry, the passage of the Mineral Resources Rent Tax overnight confirms Australia as one of the world’s most benign destinations for miners.
That’s right. When it comes to taxing resource companies, Australia is a soft touch, a virtual tax haven. Not that you will read that anywhere else. More than likely you will continue to be beaten about the head with dire predictions of
impending doom and threats of mass defections from our big mining houses……
almost every country with a resource base, rich and poor, has begun tightening the screws after witnessing in the past decade one of the greatest wealth transfers in history – away from the citizens who owned the minerals and towards the companies exploiting those resources.
It is a global trend that will make it increasingly tougher for the big resource houses to maintain their earnings growth, Continue reading
Australia: government and industry complicit in Fukushima nuclear catastrophe
Australia could have played a role in breaking the vicious cycle of mismanagement in Japan’s nuclear industry by making uranium exports conditional on improved management of nuclear plants and tighter regulation.
[The Australian uranium industry] has brought shame to all Australians by turning a blind eye to serious problems in customer countries and responding with mock indignation when anyone calls its bluff….
Australia’s role in the Fukushima disaster, March 17, 2012, Green Left, By Jim Green“…..Australia’s role There is no dispute that Australian uranium was used in the Fukushima reactors. The mining companies won’t acknowledge that fact — instead they hide behind bogus claims of “commercial confidentiality” and “security”.
But the truth is out. The Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office acknowledged in October that: “We can confirm that Australian obligated nuclear material was at the Fukushima Daiichi site and in each of the reactors — maybe five out of six, or it could have been all of them.” It is likely that TEPCO was supplied with uranium from BHP Billiton’s
Olympic Dam mine, ERA’s Ranger mine, and Heathgate’s Beverley mine. Continue reading
Australian government’s Energy White Paper deceitful on renewable energy data
The The Energy White Paper also backs nuclear power. Energy minister Martin Ferguson said as he launched the paper : “If we get to the end of this debate some years in the future, and we haven’t made the necessary breakthrough on clean energy at a low-cost outcome, then nuclear is there for Australia to buy off the shelf after a debate.”
Even more hypothetical is so-called “clean coal” (carbon capture) technology — but the paper relies on it for its future “clean energy” mix.
Activists blacklist energy white paper, Green Left , March 17, 2012, By Ben Courtice . Climate activists like Newcastle group Rising Tide have labelled December’s draft Energy White Paper (EWP), which charts the federal government’s plan for Australia’s future energy mix, a “black” paper. The group says the paper “plans to further expand fossil fuel extraction (both domestically and for exports) at the expense of renewable [energy]”.
The future for fossil fuels in the paper includes more than tripling coal exports. Australia is already the world’s largest coal exporter. The EWP refers to the “entirely new coal precinct opening up in Queensland’s Galilee Basin”…. Continue reading
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Help Aunty Sue Protect Her Land and Sacred Sites From Destructive Rocket Testing.
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PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
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