Lynas Rare Earths company faces difficult regulations on radioactive waste disposal
Lynas must provide a detailed plan and location [ of long term radioactive waste facility] 10 months after the licence is issued or it will not be allowed to operate.”
the onus on Lynas to return the residue to Australia in the event that its plan to commercialise the residue fails.
However, Aziz refused to entertain probes on media reports that Australia will not be accepting any of the residue back into the country.
The Atomic Energy Licencing Board (AELB) releases public feedback on LAMP, Free Malaysia Today, Stephanie Sta Maria | February 16, 2012 DENGKIL: In a move to fulfil the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) recommendation of public engagement over the Lynas Corp’s controversial rare earth refinery in Kuantan, the Atomic Energy Licencing Board (AELB) has begun releasing snippets of feedback collected during the public viewing of Lynas’ application permit.
AELB and the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Mosti)approved Lynas’ application for a temporary operating licence (TOL) on Feb 1, just three days after the deadline for submission of public feedback.
Anti-Lynas groups slammed the decision as “hasty” and accused AELB and Mosti of completely disregarding public opinion…… Continue reading
Catholic Cardinal and priests join call to abolish nuclear weapons
700 prominent Australians call for nuclear abolition, National Catholic Reporter, Feb. 16, 2012, By Joshua J. McElwee More than 700 prominent Australians — including former prime ministers, defense ministers, and Catholic bishops and priests — have signed onto a statement calling on their country’s government to adopt a “nuclear-weapons-free” defense posture and to take steps to initiate a global treaty to abolish nuclear arsenals.
The statement, which was put together by Australians for a Nuclear Weapons Convention and announced Jan. 25, includes signatures from 713 Australians who have received the Order of Australia, an honor granted by Queen Elizabeth II to note achievement or “meritorious service” and similar to a knighthood in the United Kingdom.
Among the Catholics who have signed onto the statement is Cardinal Edward Clancy, who served as the archbishop of Sydney from 1983 to 2001. Jesuit Fr. Frank Brennan, former chairman of the country’s National Human Rights Consultation Committee, and Fr. Michael Tate, a former ambassador to the Holy See, have also signed. Continue reading
New South Wales Renewable Energy Guidelines aim to prevent small scale wind energy!
“The Guidelines place incredibly strenuous conditions on the development of wind farms that are
not faced by any other kind of development.
“They appear to have been produced to appease the small anti-wind farm lobby rather than achieving outcomes for the whole community,”
NSW wind farm guidelines shaft clean energy, Green Left, February 16, 2012 The draft planning guidelines for wind farms in NSW, which are now open for public comment, have been labelled inconsistent, too restrictive and politically motivated by environment group Friends of the Earth.
“These guidelines talk about NSW planning to help Australia meet its the 20% by 2020 Renewable Energy Target, but at the same time could pose severe restrictions on the options available to achieve that,” said Ben Courtice, renewable energy campaigner for Friends of the Earth.
“The Guidelines refer to a NSW Renewable Energy Action Plan to be released in 2012, but pre-empt any such planning by placing a severe restriction on wind farms. The guidelines admit that wind energy is the cheapest form of renewable energy.” Continue reading
Australian government appoints Chairperson of the new Clean Energy Regulator
Clean Energy Regulator Chair appointed, EcoGeneration, 17 February 2012 The Federal Government has appointed Chloe Munro as the Chair and Chief Executive Officer of the new Clean Energy Regulator.
Ms Munro is currently the Chair of the National Water Commission. She has worked at a senior level for both federal and state governments in Australia and overseas, as well as in the private sector.
The Clean Energy Regulator, implemented as part of the Clean Energy Regulator Act 2011, will implement and administer the carbon price mechanism, the National Greenhouse Energy Reporting Scheme, the Renewable Energy Target, the Australian National Registry of Emissions Units, and the Carbon Farming Initiative. As well as the Chair, the Regulator will include up to four expert members who are yet to be announced. http://ecogeneration.com.au/news/clean_energy_regulator_chair_appointed/066272/
Aboriginal drive for a national unity government
Aboriginal meetings across Australia to build national unity government, Goodooga, northwest NSW, 17 February 2012 – A prominent Aboriginal activist has announced a plan to visit Aboriginal people all over the country with the aim of forming a national unity government to be known as the ‘Sovereign Union’.
Michael Anderson, the last survivor of the four young men who set up the Aboriginal Embassy in Canberra in 1972, says it’s one of the outcomes of its 40th anniversary corroboree from 26 to 28 January. “We will commence formal talks when I meet with delegates of 45 Aboriginal nations from across the Murray Darling Basin at the end of this month in Canberra,” he writes in a media release.
“I will then travel to Western Australia to meet with representatives of the Nyoongar Nation and others who are in the process of organizing their delegates in Perth.”
Anderson says as other meetings are being organized all over the country the National Unity Government is raising funds for the operation. “I will be able to have governance meetings with Aboriginal people wherever and whenever they seek to join and become part of this National Unity Government,” he writes.
Anderson, a trained lawyer, says he will also seek talks with non-Aboriginal people “to explain what this new National Unity Government is all about”…. Contact: Michael Anderson 0427 292 492 02 68296355 ghillar29@gmail.com
Australian Professor Bob Carter opposed carbon tax, was paid by polluting industry front group
Scientist accepts ‘cash for climate’, The Age, Ben Cubby February 16, 2012 A PROMINENT Australian scientist has rejected as offensive any suggestion he is doing the bidding of a US climate-sceptic think tank that is paying him a monthly fee. Confidential documents leaked from inside The Heartland Institute, a wealthy think tank based in Chicago and Washington, detail strategy and funding for an array of activities designed to spread doubt about climate change science, paid for by companies that have a financial interest in continuing to release greenhouse gases without government interference. The think tank has now issued a statement saying the strategy and budget documents had been stolen, and claiming one of them was faked……
Among the documents that Heartland does not claim to be faked, is a budget showing payments to selected scientists.
One of the recipients of funding is Professor Bob Carter of James Cook University, a geologist and marine researcher who spoke at the “convoys of no confidence” protests against the carbon price last year alongside the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, and writes columns for News Ltd newspapers.
The documents show Professor Carter receives a “monthly payment” of $US1667 ($1550) as part of a program to pay “high-profile individuals who regularly and publicly counter the alarmist [anthropogenic global warming] message”.
Professor Carter did not deny he was being paid by The Heartland Institute, but would not confirm the amount, or if the think tank expected anything in return for its money……
Altogether, more than $US20 million had been spent funding and co-ordinating the activities of climate sceptics and bloggers since 2007, the documents suggest.
Other cash recipients include Anthony Watts, the leading US climate sceptic blogger, who is to receive $US90,000 for his work this year. Programs slated for funding include new curriculum modules that teach science from a climate-sceptic perspective, to be sent to US schools……
This year, the document says Heartland would “approach dozens of companies and trade associations that are actively seeking allies in this battle.”
The organisation’s funding comes from 1800 donors, including many manufacturing and resources businesses, and also drug companies….
The documents were first published on a Canadian website, DeSmogBlog, which monitors the public relations efforts by some industry groups to discredit climate change science.
“An important message here is for the media to learn how to recognise this co-ordinated attack on science and to see through the PR pollution that Heartland and its network creates to cast doubt on climate change,” said the website’s executive director, Brendan DeMelle….. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/scientist-accepts-cash-for-climate-20120215-1t7ho.html#ixzz1mbkNwIA9
The crooked campaigns of Fred Singer and Co to hoodwink the public on Climate Chnage
THE PLANET VS EAST BUMCRACK*: THE CORRUPT SCIENCE OF DR FRED SINGER Independent Australia: By Sandi Keane, 28 May 2011 http://www.independentaustralia.net/2011/environment/crackers-3-fred-singer-and-the-non-conserving-neo-conservatives/ “…….In Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway’s thorough inquisition into this public deception, Merchants of Doubt, Dr Fred Singer, Singer is confirmed as one of a small cadre of scientists who were, and still are, responsible for hoodwinking the public, time and time again. With strong industry and conservative political connections, they ran an effective campaign to mislead the public over a period of four decades. ….
Lowy Institute debased public debate on uranium sales to India
The Lowy Institute takes money from Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, the two companies that stand to profit most from the Labor government’s policy change. I’ve never once seen that funding disclosed in relevant Lowy Institute publications. …
The think tank that didn’t, Online opinion, By Jim Green – , 16 February 2012 “………The opening up of nuclear trade with India − which began with the 2008 US-India agreement − is problematic on several levels. For starters, Medcalf wants us to believe that we can play a more effective role in promoting non-proliferation and disarmament in India by first permitting uranium sales. The US, Australia and some other suppliers have conspicuously failed to use their bargaining chip (the opening up of nuclear trade) to leverage outcomes such as Indian ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. According to Medcalf’s ‘logic’, we’ll be in a better bargaining position after we’ve given up our bargaining chip (for nothing) than before.”..
…[The Lowy Institute] did seriously debase the [nuclear] debate…….Let’s get to the main problem: Medcalf dimisses weapons proliferation-based objections to nuclear trade with India as “false” and “fallacious”. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Nuclear trade with India also alters the proliferation equation for other countries. Ron Walker, a former Australian diplomat and former Chair of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said: “Yes, India is a democracy and yes we want to be in their good books, but that is no reason to drop our principles and our interests. To make an exception for them would be crass cronyism. If you make exceptions to your rules for your mates, you weaken your ability to apply them to everyone else. How could we be harder on Japan and South Korea if they acquired nuclear weapons? Could we say Israel is less of a mate than India?”…… Continue reading
Look out, New South Wales, the uranium economic downward plunge beckons!
Look out – New South Wales residents! You thought coal seam gas exploration was a threat? And it probably is.
But now, your government, in its unwisdom, is going to allow uranium exploration.
The yellow area shows the area of uranium mineralisation in New South Wales.
Very handy, I suppose, to where some of Ziggy Switkowski’s 50 nuclear reactors will supposedly be positioned.
South Australia is going to go down the economic drain, for its drive for all things nuclear. Meanwhile, what with Paladin Uranium looking like going broke, and the nuclear industry winding down, – Does New South Wales want to join this plunge? – Christina Macpherson
GOVERNMENT TAKES STEP TOWARDS URANIUM MINING Lee Jeloscek, 7 News Sydney February 14, A map drawn up by the government and reported on by 7News shows a large swath of land from north western town of Bourke stretching down past Canberra to the Victorian border could be explored for the resource. http://au.news.yahoo.com/nsw/latest/a/-/newshome/12905605/government-takes-step-towards-uranium-mining/
Australian uranium mining company makes dramatic loss, and share price fall
Paladin’s annus horribilis worsens, The Age, Peter Ker February 15, 2012 URANIUM miner Paladin Energy has managed to underwhelm the market yet again, despite the worst aspects of yesterday’s $US120.2 million loss being known for several months.
Investors wiped more than 5 per cent off the value of the stock … The loss was largely due to a $US133 million write-down on the value of Paladin’s Kayelekera mine in Malawi. Paladin revealed the write-down to the market late last year. …
the market was not impressed. Analysts at Goldman Sachs said the result was worse than expected, and by the close of trading 10¢ had been shaved off Paladin’s share price, taking it to $1.70 – dramatically lower than the $5.40 it was fetching less than a year
ago.
Some of the negativity appeared to be linked to ballooning expenses, despite chief executive John Borshoff cutting his own pay by 25 per cent and reducing exploration in an effort to rein in costs.
From $US31 a pound in the first half of 2010, Paladin’s costs rose to $US34 a pound in the six months to December 31, and costs at the Kayelekera mine were as high as $US46 a pound in the final quarter of last year. http://www.theage.com.au/business/paladins-annus-horribilis-worsens-20120214-1t45b.html#ixzz1mVWU3qJN
NSW people don’t want the uranium industry
Opposition lashes O’Farrell’s plan to overturn NSW ban on uranium exploration, THE AUSTRALIAN, AAP, February 15, 2012 THE NSW opposition has criticised a plan to overturn the state’s decades-old ban on uranium exploration….. Opposition Leader John Robertson said voters don’t support the industry. “The people of NSW didn’t vote for it and they don’t want it,” he said in a statement. “Only months ago the Premier categorically ruled out uranium mining and exploration in NSW – now it is on for young and old.”
Greenpeace campaigner Julien Vincent called the expected announcement an “insult”….. “Next month we are marking the first anniversary of nuclear disaster in Fukushima, which is one of the best reasons for not going nuclear,” he added.
Australian Greens nuclear affairs spokesperson Senator Scott Ludlam added: “Australian uranium was used in every reactor at Fukushima. “Why would the O’Farrell government want New South Wales to be complicit in the next disaster?”
Uranium mining is banned in Queensland but allowed in Western Australia and South Australia.
… Just days before that vote Australian Workers’ Union secretary Paul Howes called on states that don’t allow uranium mining to overturn their bans. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opposition-lashes-ofarrells-plan-to-overturn-nsw-ban-on-uranium-exploration/story-fn59niix-122
Australian research: solar heat + power, plus energy efficiency
Australian Made Solar Roofing Panels Provide Heat And Power by Energy Matters, 14 Feb 2012, In an effort to bring Australia in line with an international zero-emissions building code, researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are working on a system to better harness the power of solar energy to generate electricity and heating for homes.
A prototype rooftop solar power system developed by UNSW’s School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Engineering (SPREE) that combines photovoltaics with thermal technology has demonstrated the ability to produce warm air throughout winter.
Unlike conventional PV systems with solar cells mounted on top of the roof of a house, the UNSW technology is designed to be integrated into roofing panels, allowing excess heat generated by the panels – which would otherwise be wasted – to warm the home.
The research is part of a series of ‘carbon-positive’ products that will be tested and further developed by the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Low-Carbon Living at UNSW later this year; aimed at bringing Australia in line with Europe and the UK, which plan to introduce a zero-carbon building code in 2016. Professor Deo Prasad, head of the CRC, says when it comes to lowering Australia’s carbon footprint, the biggest savings can be made in energy efficient buildings.
“The built environment is responsible for 40 per cent of energy use and Australia’s homes account for 16.5 per cent of our emissions in electricity use alone, without accounting for energy embodied during the production and disposal of building materials.”….. http://www.energymatters.com.au/index.php?main_page=news_article&article_id=3049
Muckaty is not needed for radioactive waste, and the traditional owners will fight on
Medical professionals have called for federal politicians to stop using nuclear medicine as justification for the Muckaty proposal.
Both the NT and Commonwealth governments have systematically stripped back resources for small remote Indigenous communities, placing increased pressure on them to accept long-term and high impact projects like the waste dump.
there is a simple solution: leave the waste where it is produced at the Lucas Heights nuclear research centre .. As Dr Ron Cameron from ANSTO said: “ANSTO is capable of handling and storing wastes for long periods of time. There is no difficulty with that.” Similar views have been expressed by the Commonwealth nuclear regulator, ARPANSA, by the Australian Nuclear Association and even by Martin Ferguson’s own department.
Ferguson’s Dumping Ground Fights Back New Matilda , 13 Feb 12, The Gillard Government is pushing ahead with plans to host a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty in the NT, despite local opposition. Traditional Owners have vowed to fight on, writes Natalie Wasley…. The legislation names Muckaty, 120 kilometres north of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, as the only site to remain under active consideration for a national nuclear waste dump.
The proposal is highly contested by the NT Government and is also being challenged in the Federal Court by Traditional Owners. Despite this, the Bill is currently being debated in the Senate — and will likely pass.
Ferguson’s law is a crude cut and paste of the Howard government’s Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act that it purports to replace. It limits the application of federal environmental protection legislation and it curtails appeal rights. The draft legislation overrides the Aboriginal Heritage Protection Act and it sidesteps the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. It allows for the imposition of a dump on Aboriginal land with no consultation with or consent from Traditional Owners. In fact, the Minister can now override any state or territory law that gets in the way of the dump plan. Continue reading
“tea money” – Australian mining companies’ bribery in Africa and Asia
The US Securities Exchange Commission is investigating BHP Billiton for possible violation of anti-
bribery laws. The company has been under scrutiny after it was revealed it paid $1 million to the Cambodian government to secure a mining project in 2006. A senior Cambodian minister later described the payment, which has been unable to be traced, as ”tea money”…..
Firms tell of possible bribes, The Age, Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie, February 14, 2012, SEVERAL large Australian public companies have provided federal police with information implicating themselves in possible foreign bribery offences.
The Age understands companies involved in mining, exploration and other sectors in Africa and Asia have discovered possible evidence of overseas bribery during recent internal audits…. Documents released by the federal Attorney-General’s Department to The Age under Freedom of Information laws show that in May last year Australia had four active foreign bribery investigations. Continue reading
Mining corporations’ control of Australian media to increase, as Gina Rinehart joins
Other mining billionaires may also join Rinehart’s bid to shape Australia’s media in her own image…….. the corporate rich’s control of the media is hardly limited to Rinehart. It is the rule, not the exception….. Australia already has the most monopolised media in Western world.
Rinehart grabs for media control, Green Left, February 11, 2012 ,By Paul Benedek She’s proposed nuclear explosions for open-cut mining, funded tours by climate deniers and called for bringing in cheap migrant labour to work her mines.
Now Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, has bought the largest individual stake in Fairfax Media, which runs the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review, plus various radio stations and regional papers.
In 2010, Rinehart bought herself a seat on the Channel 10 board when she paid $166 million for a 10% stake in the television station.
Her expansion from mining baron to media mogul is most likely not a financial decision. Rinehart is spending less than 1% of her wealth on Fairfax, and media is far less profitable than mining. 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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