Cameco uranium plan faces rocky road
https://nuclearfree.wordpress.com/media/ , 11 May 16 Traditional Owners from the regions around the proposed Yeelirrie and Kintyre uranium operations in WA have today sent Cameco shareholders and stakeholders a clear message of opposition to any mining plans. The groups have released a joint statement to coincide with Cameco’s Annual General Meeting being held in Saskatoon, Canada.
Both communities have a long history of opposition to uranium mining plans at Yeelirrie and Kintyre, dating back to early uranium exploration in WA during the 1980’s. Both communities have also attracted the support of environment, social justice, union and health organisations and the state Labor and state and federal Greens parties in their fight against uranium mining.
“You can’t reverse what the old people have said before. We’re going to stop it” said Desmond Taylor, Karlamilyi Traditional Owner. “This is my spiritual birthplace, my dreaming place. Warturarra (the proposed Kintyre mine site) became my spiritual home; the bush food there became my totem. To mine there would take away my spirit and the totem, it will destroy the living things around it, that place would become empty.”
The joint statement is going to the Cameco Board, shareholders and major Canadian investors. It conveys the depth of the contest that company will face should it seek to advance uranium mining.
“Our country is special to us” said Kado Muir, a Yeelirrie Traditional Owner and Senate candidate for the National Party. “I’m not anti-mining I am speaking as a Traditional Owner communicating our view that Cameco and uranium mining are not welcome on our country. Uranium is different to other mining, because the risks remain for thousands of years. It is our responsibility to look after the land for future generations. We will continue to challenge the proposal to mine uranium at Yeelirrie.”
Members of the Parnngurr and Martu community will be walking from through the Karlamilyi National Park to the proposed uranium mine at Kintyre from the 4th – 12th of June in protest to Cameco and Mitsubishi’s uranium mine plans. See community interviews here.
The Walkatjurra Rangers and Yeelirrie Traditional Owners will also be walking in protest to the Yeelirrie uranium mine from the 7th of August – 7th September. This will be the sixth annual walk against uranium mining in the region. See community interviews here.
A solar world first for Perth: solar panels and battery storage on apartment buildings
Apartments set for solar world first https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/31335712/apartments-set-for-solar-world-first/ Daniel Mercer – The West Australian on April 13, 2016 Dozens of apartments will be able to use, store and trade power under a world-first trial of micro-grid technology to be unveiled in Perth’s south.
Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt will today announce the Commonwealth’s green energy fund ARENA has tipped $1 million into a micro-grid project in White Gum Valley.
The $3 million project will have solar panels and batteries installed across four separate apartment developments. It would be up to the strata companies managing the apartment buildings to on-sell the electricity to tenants, rather than State-owned power provider Synergy. The strata companies could sell the electricity cheaper than Synergy or at the same price, currently set at 25.7¢ for every unit of electricity sold. Homes owners and tenants would also be able to trade power to other apartments within the complex during the day and night.
Headed by Curtin University and backed by Western Power, LandCorp, the City of Fremantle and Balance Services Group, the project aims to establish a viable model for the uptake of solar panels on apartment buildings.
Demand for solar panels has exploded across Perth, with more than 170,000 homes installing the systems on their roofs. Apartments, which make up a third of Perth’s housing stock, have been much slower on the uptake.
Curtin University’s Jemma Green said that with battery systems rapidly becoming commercially viable, there was an unprecedented opportunity for apartments to get in on the act.
And she said the implications could be huge, with micro-grids such as White Gum Valley popping up everywhere and transforming the way electricity was generated, transported and sold.
“These kinds of innovations are not only making solar power a viable option for everyone, but potentially reflect the future of power utilities,” Ms Green said.
Perth-based Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC) denies role in murder of South African activist
Australian mining company denies role in murder of South African activist
Campaigners claim death of Sikhosiphi Rhadebe is an escalation of violence against opponents of a mine owned by Perth’s Mineral Commodities Limited, Guardian, Joshua Robertson, 25 Mar 16 An Australian-owned mining company has denied any link to the murder of an activist leading a campaign against its plans to mine titanium in South Africa.
Sikhosiphi “Bazooka” Rhadebe was gunned down at his home in Xolobeni on South Africa’s Wild Coast on Tuesday, in what fellow activists claimed was an escalation of violence and intimidation against local opponents of a mine owned by Perth-based Mineral Commodities Limited (MRC).
MRC, which has repeatedly denied inciting violence involving its supporters, said it was “in no way implicated in any form whatsoever in this incident”.
Mzamo Dlamini is a fellow activist who believes he is among the “prime targets” on the anti-mining Amadiba crisis committee following Rhadebe’s death.
Despite fearing for his life, Dlamini vowed to continue organising resistance to a project that campaigners said would force the relocation of an estimated 100 households and up to 1,000 people.
“The assassination affects us all,” he said. “There will be more Bazookas long after we have died.”
Six people associated with the mining venture were subject to court orders last May after a clash over land access, during which a TEM director fired a “warning shot” in the air.
Four people, including an alleged employee of another MRC mine at Tormin, are due to face court next month over alleged assault and intimidation, including with firearms, of mining opponents in Xolobeni in December. These allegations are yet to come before a court and there is no suggestion these or any other employees were involved in Rhadebe’s murder……..
Lawyer Henk Smith of the Legal Resources Centre, which has acted for landholders opposing MRC’s Tormin mine, said the killing of Rhadebe, a “principled democrat”, had likely ended the prospect of conciliation meetings between the miner and its opponents.
“I think the company has made a few statements condemning the violence but it comes after the event and the company has never taken any steps to encourage conciliation or mediation or consultation even a meeting,” Smith said.
“In fact the company shies away from meeting the community which as a result, there’ll be little chance of simply starting a process of meetings now.
“For the rest, they’ve got [to] swallow what the company offers.” http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/25/australian-mining-company-denies-role-in-of-south-african-activist
FAULTS EXPOSED WITH MULGA ROCK URANIUM PROPOSAL
http://www.ccwa.org.au/faults_exposed_with_mulga_rock_uranium_proposal
The confirmation raises serious environmental concerns over land clearing, water consumption, waste management and impacts on rare and endangered species.
The public comment period for the proposal closed today with over 1100 individual submissions calling on the EPA to reject the mine proposal.
Vimy Resources’ proposal for a uranium project at Mulga Rock is in the Yellow Sandplain Priority Ecological Community, 250km north east of Kalgoorlie and upstream from the Queen Victoria Springs A Class Nature Reserve.
“Vimy want to take 15 million litres of underground water every day for their uranium operation,” said CCWA nuclear free campaigner Mia Pepper. “This ancient water is sustaining life and supporting this fragile desert ecosystem. Vimy would be voraciously consuming this precious water resource in a bid to extract a product that is unsafe, unnecessary and uneconomic.”
“Vimy are seeking to fast-track approvals for this project before next year’s state election even though the uranium price has flat-lined in the wake of Fukushima”.
The environment groups detailed submission has also identified deficiencies in the plans for the long term containment and management of radioactive mine tailings, including the presence of under reported seismic fault-lines in the proposed tailing dams region. Continue reading
Facts on Western Australia uranium mining proposals
Fact File: http://www.ccwa.org.au/faults_exposed_with_mulga_rock_uranium_proposal
- Since the WA Government lifted the ban on uranium over seven years ago not one uranium proposal has attained final approval to begin mine construction.
- The recent SA Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission preliminary findings found that “significant barriers to the viability of new uranium mine developments in South Australia” including the “current low price of uranium and uncertainty about the timing of any price increases” – a finding with direct relevance for WA
- Australian uranium production has been in decline since 2009
- In 2014-2015 the Australian uranium industry employed just 987 people nationally
- The uranium spot price is currently $32.15
- Nuclear energy contributes just 4.4% of the global energy mix
- Renewable energy contributes 6% of the global energy mix with a growth rate of
12%
- There are 62 reactors under construction worldwide – of these 47 are experiencing construction and commissioning delays.
- Globally over 130 reactors have operated for over 30 years – nearing their lifespan. 54 of those reactors have operated beyond their designed life span of 40 years. These reactors are required to be decommissioned and the industry will struggle to maintain its shrinking market share.
- There is no state bi-partisan political support for uranium mining in WA
Western Australia’s largest solar installation at Perth shopping complex
WA’s largest solar installation generating one-third of Perth shopping centre’s power http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-03/solar-panel-installation-broadway-shopping-centre-wa-largest/7217984 By Kathryn Diss A shopping complex in Perth’s western suburbs is generating one third of its power from the sun after undertaking Western Australia’s largest solar panel installation on its roof.
The Broadway Fair complex has installed 948 solar panels with the capacity to generate 312 kilowatts of power. Broadway Fair general manager Paul Avon-Smith said the move would save the complex about $20,000 a month in power bills, which could be put towards funding capital works.
“We were looking for soft approach for the cost of doing capital works,” Mr Avon-Smith said. “It gives us an alternative to help cushion rent increases and price rises for our tenant base in a pretty tough market, but allows us to finance crucial capital works. “So that allowed us to do a roof replacement project, plus put the solar in, with there being no upward pressure on our rents for tenants.”
Infinite Energy installed the system at a cost of $600,000.
Managing director Aidan Jenkins said the huge fall in the cost of solar panels in recent years has meant the business model now stacked up for commercial-sized installations. “Solar currently represents the cheapest way to generate electricity, so we will start to see these type of systems become the norm over the next couple of years.”
Government grappling with ‘tsunami’ of solar installations
Large-scale solar installation poses a big challenge for the Government, which currently has too much available power in its network. The rapid uptake of rooftop solar panels has been a big contributor to the problem, displacing traditional sources of power like coal and gas.
Energy Minister Mike Nahan has been an outspoken supporter of solar power and said the state is going to experience a “tsunami” of these types of commercial installations in coming years.
“It just adds more generating capacity to an already oversupplied system, but it is something we have to cope with,” Mr Nahan said. “Over the next decade these are going to crowd out traditional, large-scale generation of coal and gas. “As we go down the track, these technologies on businesses and households illustrates that into the future we are going to have to reduce our production of traditional energy sources and that’s the challenge.”
Renewable energy micro-grid plannned for Kalbarri, Western Australia
Renewable energy micro-grid could help restore faith in Kalbarri power supply, ABC News, 3 Mar 16 By Bonnie Christian The WA Government has announced it will commit $300,000 to investigate a way to build an energy micro-grid powered by renewables for the coastal town of Kalbarri.
Kalbarri has experienced several extended power outages over the past two years, costing local businesses thousands of dollars in lost trade and tourism.
The outages had been blamed on a build up of dust and salt on the 140-kilometre-long feeder line that delivers power to the town from Geraldton………..
Rebuilding trust in power supply
Western Power chief executive Paul Italiano said if the new grid did go ahead it would be the largest of its kind in Australia.
“What we’re proposing to do here is evaluating the feasibility of building a micro-grid in Kalbarri that has a combination of solar, perhaps wind, and large scale battery storage that work together to create a level of self-sufficiency for the town,” he said.
“This particular trial — if we’re able to pull it off — will be the largest in Australia.
“There’ll be lessons from this that we can apply to the rest of Western Australia. But more importantly for the whole power industry nationally.”…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-02/kalbarri-looks-to-renewable-energy-micro-grid-for-power-solution/7215630
Australian Senate passes motion calling on Western Australia to drop Anti-Protest Law
Federal Senate Urges WA Parliament To Drop Anti-Protest Law, New Matilda, By Thom 
Mitchell on February 24, 2016 The Federal Senate has passed a motion calling on the West Australian government to abandon “divisive and unnecessary” anti-protest laws which have been strongly condemned by the United Nations.
The motion, introduced by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert and passed on the voices, adds to a long list of institutions and individuals who are concerned about what Colin Barnett’s government is proposing.
Last week three separate United Nations Special Rapporteurs issued a joint statement condemning the anti-protest laws, saying it would have the “chilling affect of silencing dissenters”.
“It would go against Australia’s international obligations under international human rights law, including the rights to freedom of opinion and expression as well as peaceful assembly and association,” the three Special Rapporteurs said.
Hundreds of people protested against the bill at the West Australian Parliament yesterday, and a coalition of more than 80 community organisations, legal centres, and unions have signed an open letter opposing the bill. The Federal Senate this afternoon noted “the important role public protest and free speech have played, and continue to play in a healthy democratic society”. However that role may be dramatically curtailed by the time West Australia’s Parliament adjourns tonight.
The bill is being progressed in the lower house of the state Parliament this afternoon, having moved through the upper house last week.
The legislation will inevitably pass, because the Barnett Government controls both houses, but it faced nearly a year of staunch opposition from Labor and the Greens.
The anti-protest law creates two new criminal offences. Under the first, it will become illegal to physically and intentionally prevent a lawful activity being carried out. And under the second, it will become illegal to possess with the intent of using, or to use a “thing” to prevent a lawful activity.
On top of this extremely broad drafting, there is concern that the onus of proof is reversed for both new offences. The President of the West Australian Law Society, Mathew Keogh has previously said that the bill “may erode fundamental aspects of our criminal justice system”.
“The legislation is so broad that it is almost impossible to say how they may be applied down the track,” he said……..
Senator Siewart takes a different view, arguing “were it not for peaceful protest, awful projects such as James Price Point would have gone ahead”.
“The anti-protest laws that Colin Barnett is pushing through State Parliament attacks free speech, public protest and a healthy democratic society,” Siewart said.
“I urge Colin Barnett to consider the calls of the Senate, as well as the United Nations, and abandon these divisive and unnecessary laws,” she said. https://newmatilda.com/2016/02/24/federal-senate-urges-abandonment-of-anti-protest-law-as-wa-parliament-prepares-to-pass-it/
Western Australian govt to press on with its changes to Aboriginal heritage legislation
WA government to proceed with controversial changes to Aboriginal heritage legislation, ABC News 19 Feb 16 By Jacob Kagi The West Australian Government intends to proceed with controversial changes to Aboriginal heritage legislation, despite progress on the bill stalling for so long that it dropped off the list Parliament was due to consider.
The Government first introduced legislation to Parliament to amend the Aboriginal Heritage Act in 2014, but there has been no substantial progress on the bill since then.
Because it had been so long since the bill had been debated, it dropped off the Legislative Assembly’s “notice paper”, which is the list of legislation and motions which Parliament is due to consider.
However, that was rectified on Thursday, with the Government passing a motion to restore the bill to the notice paper.
The proposed changes have proven controversial, with concerns that much of the decision-making power would rest of the head of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, and fears the legislation did not give enough of a role to Indigenous people…….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-02-19/wa-government-to-proceed-with-controversial-changes-to-aborigin/7182280
Civil liberties under threat in Western Australia. UN urges WA govt to withdraw anti protest Bill
UN urges WA Government not to bring in anti-protest laws, ABC News, By Briana Shepherd, 16 Feb 16 The United Nations has called on the West Australian Government to withdraw controversial new legislation that imposes harsh penalties on protesters.
The proposed laws were first introduced into Parliament in March 2015, and the Government insists it will only target radical protesters using devices like chains or thumb locks to block or stop lawful activities.
But the UN said it would “result in criminalising lawful protests and silencing environmentalists and human rights defenders”.
“If the bill passes, it would go against Australia’s international obligations under international human rights law, including the rights to freedom of opinion and expression as well as peaceful assembly and association,” the UN Human Rights Office said in a statement.
“The bill would criminalise a wide range of legitimate conduct by creating criminal offences for the acts of physically preventing a lawful activity and possessing an object for the purpose of preventing a lawful activity.
If the offence was committed in circumstances of aggravation, the penalty could be as high as imprisonment for two years and a fine of $24,000. Continue reading
Western Australia’s Environmental Defender’s Office slams biodiversity bill
WA enviro defender slams biodiversity bill https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30797749/wa-enviro-defender-slams-biodiversity-bill/ AAP February 11, 2016, The Environmental Defender’s Office has advised against passing the West Australian government’s biodiversity conservation bill in its current form, saying the touted benefits are illusory. Environment Minister Albert Jacob introduced the bill in November, describing changes to the Wildlife Conservation Act as “the Holy Grail” of legislation change for every government going back to the 1980s.
The EDO, however, has released a 36-page white paper that strongly disagrees with the touted benefits of the changes.
Principal solicitor Patrick Pearlman conceded the bill had some good features including repealing two obsolete laws and substantially increasing potential fines for violations, but takes “a giant step back in many other ways”.
He said the proposed removal of “even the threat of jail time” for harming highly threatened species was particularly disturbing.
Mr Pearlman said the proposed changes would give virtually unfettered discretion to either the state environment minister or the Department of Parks and Wildlife’s chief executive in decision-making, leaving the scientific community and the public out in the cold when it came to identifying vulnerable species, critical habitat or key threats.
The bill would give offenders defences that would likely undermine enforcement efforts, and broadly exempt government and industry from the new law’s reach, he said.
“Even worse, the bill appears to promote short-term declines to foster development and permits the minister to allow species to be taken to the point of extinction,” he said.
Last year, the state government cut the EDO’s funding completely.
Popularity of Western Australia’s rooftop solar makes privatisation of electricity assets unlikley
WA’s rooftop solar so popular power privatisation not an option, says expert, Guardian, Calla Wahlquist, 6 Jan 16 Prof Philip Jennings, a renewable energy expert, says investors would be unlikely to be interested in unprofitable power networks Western Australia would not be able to privatise its electricity assets “even if they gave it to them for nothing” because the popularity of rooftop solar panels has made state-owned power stations unprofitable, a renewable energy expert has said. Continue reading
Rooftop solar power in Western Australia produces more electricity than the State’s biggest power turbine
Rooftop solar producing more energy than WA’s biggest turbine, ABC Radio AM 5 Jan 16 By Anthony Stewart Rooftop solar panels in the South-West Interconnected System (SWIS) in Western Australia are now producing as much energy as the state’s largest power turbine, according to research from Curtin University.
SWIS stretches from Kalbarri north of Perth to Ravensthorpe in the state’s south, taking in the Perth metropolitan area. Curtin University sustainability professor Peter Newman said 20 per cent of homes across the grid have rooftop solar panels installed.
“We are in the extraordinary position of saying that Perth [SWIS] now has rooftop solar as the largest supplier of electricity, it’s the biggest power station in WA,” he said.
“It’s nearly 500 megawatts and it’s growing rapidly, by 2020 we could have half of Perth’s [SWIS] households with rooftop solar.”……
Professor Newman said the state’s electricity utilities needed to rapidly adapt to the growth in solar.
“They didn’t predict it, they have all these contracts for coal and gas that go 20 or 30 years and they have even got an old power station out of mothballs, fixed it up, but never turned it on,” he said.
“Despite the boom times we actually reduced our power consumption during this period because people are just not needing it if you’ve got the PV’s [photovoltaic] on the roof.”
Energy utility Synergy has been contacted for comment.
Batteries to drive solar boom….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-04/rooftop-solar-panels-bigger-than-biggest-turbine-wa/7066240
Wester Australia finally bans solarium tanning beds
Total eclipse for tanning beds, The West Australian, Cathy O’Leary December 31, 2015, Hundreds of young WA women are likely to avoid disfiguring and potentially deadly skin cancers because of a ban on tanning beds that starts tomorrow.
Regulations to ban commercial sun beds make WA the last State to outlaw the machines.
Cancer Council WA director of education and research Terry Slevin said the ban came 12 months after laws took effect in the rest of the country.
He said that before regulations started in Australia it was estimated that sun beds caused almost 3000 skin cancers a year, including 281 melanomas, and were responsible for 43 melanoma-related deaths.
A recent study predicted one in six melanomas in Australians aged 18 to 29 could be prevented if solarium operators were shut down.
Mr Slevin said the machines were mostly used by people under the age of 24, often young women.
They exposed skin to ultra-violet radiation five to six times more intense than the midday summer sun……https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30464028/total-eclipse-for-tanning-beds/
Shire of Leonora, Western Australia, enthusiastic for nuclear waste dump
WA shire wants nuclear waste facility despite Federal Government knockback, ABC News 17 Dec 15 By Rhiannon Shine A shire in Western Australia’s Goldfields is determined to host a radioactive waste facility, despite being knocked back by the Federal Government last month.
The shire of Leonora was disappointed it did not make the Government’s shortlist for a proposed low-level radioactive waste facility.
The town, about 260 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie, east of Perth, was one of two local governments from the Goldfields region to express interest in hosting the facility.
But this week the council voted to engage a geological consultant to search for suitable nuclear waste sites in the area.
Chief executive Jim Epis said it was a long-term investment.
“I’m talking about maybe five, 10, or even 20 years away,” Mr Epis said.
“We are going to have quite a few uranium mines around our neck of the woods and we think it’s fair that someone in the area should be responsible for taking the waste back.
“We’re going to head off now and look into the future, and see if we can identify these sites where we can take nuclear waste from anywhere in Australia.”
Councillors voted unanimously to spend about $13,000 on the services of Al Maynard and Associates geological consultants.
Mr Epis said the geologists would likely focus on areas in the northern part of the shire.
“A lot of that land up there is in granite, which is ideal for nuclear waste deposits,” he said.
Council braces for opposition from locals
Mr Epis said he expected the decision would be met with some opposition.
“Over the last 10 years the Leonora community has had plenty of opportunity to discuss nuclear mining with a number of different companies,” he said.
“There [are] those out there that are totally against the idea.
“It just creates healthy debate.”……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-12-17/wa-town-determined-to-secure-radioactive-waste-despite-knockback/7037398
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