Western Australia’s Labor Party would stop uranium projects
Ripper draws battle lines over uranium, The West, 5 Dec 11 Eric Ripper has put uranium miners on notice, vowing that a returned Labor State government would stop their WA projects from going ahead, however advanced.
Sparking warnings from Premier Colin Barnett that the State would be exposed to compensation claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars, the Opposition Leader said any government he led would withhold final approval for the mines.
Mr Ripper’s comments came after the ALP national conference backed Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s push to allow uranium exports to India, 206 votes to 185.
“No Labor minister or public servant responsible to a Labor minister will issue any approval to facilitate a uranium mining project under a WA Labor government,” Mr Ripper said yesterday.
“It does not matter how advanced the projects are – I’m putting the industry on notice, you won’t have your final approvals by the time of the next election and they will not be granted if WA Labor is elected.”…..
no uranium project would be completed or in receipt of final approval by the time of the next election in March 2013…..
Toro Energy looking for funds for Wiluna uranium project, but cautious about its future
TORO Energy will consider all project funding options as it moves towards developing Western Australia’s first uranium mine.. Adelaide Now, Christopher Russell December 01, 2011
Mr Hall told the company’s annual general meeting in Adelaide yesterday Toro estimated it will cost about $280 million to build the mine at Wiluna in south-central WA…..
Toro was looking for options to fund Wiluna, which would produce about 820 tonnes a year of uranium….. “In the current climate, the most likely method will be a joint venture partner who takes part-ownership in return for both funding and offtake of uranium….
Chairman Erica Smyth said the company was proceeding very cautiously……”We’re looking at all the options to finance this.” Both Dr Smyth and Mr Hall said the industry had been dealt a severe blow by the Fukushima disaster…. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/toro-seeks-partners-for-280m-wa-mine/story-e6frede3-1226210632139
Geothermal power for Australia should not be ignored
A Clean Resource Too Large to be Ignored – Geothermal Power Gains Steam Triple Pundit By Andrew Burger | November 28th, “……..recent studies showing that the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia – Western Australia in particular – have geothermal resources that dwarf their energy needs, and despite the fact that it’s a proven, time-tested, economic source of clean, reliable baseload power….
Strong call against Australian company Lynas’ rare earths radioactive wastes in Malaysia
Lynas, ….. expects to bring in RM8 billion a year from 2013 that too tax-free, based on current prices.”……
Petition signed by 52000 residents protesting the building of the plant
By Aliran, on 12 November 2011, M N D’Cruz raises the alarm over the Lynas rare earth refinery near Kuantan and says it is the duty of every Pahang resident to oppose the plant……
The biggest question is ‘Why do we want this plant in Gebeng or for that matter anywhere in Malaysia’? Continue reading
Submission by Australian rare earths company Lynas rejected by Malaysia on safety concerns
Miti on Lynas plant: Safety is top priority, Free Malaysia Today Stephanie Sta Maria, | November 8, 2011, Lynas will not be allowed to operate its plant until it meets IAEA conditions. KUALA LUMPUR: The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) today clarified its stand on the controversial rare earth plant in Gebeng, saying the government would not allow Lynas Corporation Ltd to operate if it flouted the rules.
Miti secretary general Rebecca Sta Maria said safety was the ministry’s top priority.
Last week the government revealed that it had rejected Lynas’ submissions on safety requirements for the RM1.5 billion rare earth refinery. This followed reports by the Australian Associated Press that Lynas was expected to commence operations late this year and begin commercially supplying radiation-risk rare earth by next year. Continue reading
Small scale solar energy farms the obvious choice for rural Western Australia
Sun to rise on solar farms, ABC Rural News, By Jo Prendergast , 08/11/2011 The increasing cost-effectiveness of solar energy could see more solar power plants established in regional Australia. The nation’s first utility-scale solar farm is under construction near Geraldton in Western Australia.
Rob Bartrop, from developer First Solar, says decreasing set-up costs mean solar has become competitive with other renewable forms of energy. “A lot of smaller communities throughout Western Australia and indeed Australia rely on diesel generation, which aside from being a very high emitter of greenhouse gases is roughly twice as expensive as solar electricity today,” he said.
“So we see that small scale solar farm market as really the low hanging fruit and the obvious choice.” http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201111/s3359039.htm
Secretive and inadequate plan for Toro Energy’s uranium mining project at Wiluna, Western Australia
Toro Energy acknowledges that it has not fully verified the accuracy or completeness of its own application, and does not accept responsibility or liability for its application.….A mining agreement with Traditional Owners has not yet been negotiated…Uranium mining and tailings disposal in this region would occur below the water-table and be connected to aquatic ecosystems. There is a risk of contaminating the aquatic ecosystems….The mine rehabilitation plans are incomplete and Toro Energy’s preliminary costing for rehabilitation is being kept secret.
Submission to the Environmental Protection Authority of Western Australia on behalf of the Conservation Council of WA, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Wilderness Society and the Anti Nuclear Alliance of WA. This submission was prepared with the help and advice from Dr Jim Green, Dr Gavin Mudd and Dr Nic Dunlop.
re: Toro Energy Ltd Wiluna uranium project Environmental Review and Management Programme (ERMP) Wiluna ERMP Submission_Final.doc
Australian uranium mines have a history of leaks, safety breaches and failed rehabilitation. Accordingly a 2004 report by a Senate References and Legislation Committee found “a pattern of under-performance and non-compliance” in the uranium mining industry and identified many gaps in knowledge. To date, not a single uranium mine in Australia has been rehabilitated to the point that radiological conditions are stable and ongoing monitoring is no longer required.
The history of the wider mining sector in WA has also been problematic as detailed in a recent Auditor General’s report . Continue reading
Toro Energy has no credible plan for radioactive waste in its Western Australian Wiluna project
Greens says uranium mine plan flawed ABC News, 1 Nov 11 WA Greens Senator Scott Ludlum says Toro Energy’s proposal to the Environmental Protection Authority for its planned Wiluna uranium mine is full of gaping holes. In his public submission as part of the EPA approval process Mr Ludlum says there are a series of unanswered questions regarding the company’s proposed mine in the northern Goldfields.
Toro Energy is seeking environmental approval for what could become WA’s first uranium mine. Scott Ludlum says there are serious flaws in the company’s plans.
“The company is proposing to leave behind in the landscape tens of millions of tonnes of very finely powered carcinogenic radioactive waste and they are asking the tax payer to take on that liability ten years after the mine closes.” “To do that they need to put up a credible proposal for how that material is going to be isolated from people and the environment for tens of thousands of years and they haven’t even made an attempt to do that.” Toro Energy has declined to comment. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/11/01/3353209.htm
International and Australian walkers join Aboriginal struggle against uranium mining
Australia: Anti-uranium mine marchers reach Perth Summit County Citizens Voice November 1, 2011 by Bob Berwyn, Groups show solidarity with indigenous people, call for halt to mining, By Summit Voice SUMMIT COUNTY — After nine weeks walking through rain, wind and dust across a big chunk of Australia, 50 protest marchers arrived in Perth to call for an end to uranium mining in Australia.
“Footprints for Peace have organized international walks against uranium mining for seven years. On each walk we hear
the same stories about the broken promises from the nuclear industry. said march coordinator Marcus Atkinson. “This industry … divides communities and leaves people uncertain and afraid about the future.”
The group has been walking in solidarity with the Traditional Custodians of theWiluna and Yeelirrie areas where uranium mines have been proposed; many are opposed to the mines but have no legal recourse.
Bilbo Taylor, spokesperson for Walk Away from Uranium Mining, said, “Although we are walking into the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, this is not about the Queen or any other heads of government, this is about common people from around the world who have walked together with the indigenous peoples of this land in respect for their sovereign rights, and with a simple message ‘Irati Wanti – uranium, leave it in the ground “
Jocelyn Peyret, from the Resau Sortir du Nucleaire– an anti-nuclear federation of 915 organisation and 54,109 individual members, has been with the walk since the beginning. He has witnessed the way the nuclear industry works both in France and Australia.
“We support the indigenous people in their fight because it’s the same in France,” Peyret said. “They arrive with a lot of money and promises of jobs, but when they’re done, they just leave problems. It’s the same fight. The nuclear industry take’s your land and your future”
“For an indigenous person of North America, it simply means no more exploitation and colonization,” said
Ammon Russell, an indigenous person from the Dine/Navajo reservation in Arizona. “Australians can begin by simply respecting what the original caretakers of this land maintained in culture, language and belief systems.” http://summitcountyvoice.com/2011/11/01/australia-anti-uranium-mine-marchers-reach-perth/
Redlight for Yellowcake: National spotlight on WA uranium plan
31 Oct 11 Environment groups from around Australia have joined West Australian trade unions, environment groups and civil society organisations to call for no uranium mining in WA. The groups have submitted a formal submission to the WA Environmental Protection Agency detailing their concerns over plans by Toro Energy for uranium mining near Wiluna in WA’s central desert.
Leading national and international groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, the Wilderness Society, the Australian Conservation Foundation and a number of States and Territory peak environment groups have urged the EPA not to approve the controversial Wiluna uranium mine and to instead support an independent public inquiry into plans for uranium mining in WA.
Public comment on the application for the Wiluna project, planned to be WA’s first uranium mine, closes today. Around two thousand submissions opposing uranium mining have been sent to the EPA. “There is growing national concern about the Barnett governments move to fast track uranium projects in WA,” said Conservation Council of Western Australia nuclear free campaigner Mia Pepper. “Many of the groups that support our call have a close experience of the costs and consequences of the nuclear industry and there is growing attention and resistance to this toxic industry in the West”.
The joint groups have identified fundamental deficiencies in the Toro Energy application including in such key areas as water, transport, cumulative pollution impact, Aboriginal heritage and radiation protection. These deficiencies are so significant that they preclude any credible approval of the Wiluna project.
“Many West Australians are opposed or have deep concerns about this planned industry, particularly in the shadow of Fukushima and the EPA should not sign off on this flawed project on the basis of this deficient application,” said Mia Pepper.“Radioactive waste lasts longer than a mining company and a lot longer than a Premier’s assurance. West Australian’s deserve no less than an independent public inquiry into plans for this contested industry.”
CHOGM: police target peaceful protestors (Are they hoping for violent ones?)
Barred CHOGM protestor ‘not a threat’, STEVE PENNELLS and JANE HAMMOND, The West Australian, October 25, 2011 The blitz started early – around 7am – when 56-year-old physically-impaired activist Seamus Doherty answered his front door to find four policeman holding a map of the CBD with much of it blacked out.
These were the places he couldn’t go, the police told him. If he walked into any of those areas during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting he faced 12 months in jail…..
Mr Gransch, a member of Forest Rescue, said he had no idea why he was targeted. “I don’t really understand why they have given this to me. Everything I do and everything we do in the Forest Rescue is non-violent,” he said.
At least 12 people have so far been identified as being on the excluded persons list, a police hit list which identifies them as potential threats and bans them for 14 days from much of the Perth CBD, including the foreshore and the river until five days after CHOGM has ended.
All said yesterday they had no idea why they were being seen as a threat and had no records – or intention – of violence.
“These people are activists who care about the environment and want to see a better world. Why should their democratic rights to walk around the city for days after CHOGM is over be impeded,” CHOGM Action Network spokesman Alex Bainbridge said. “From the people I know of, there is no record of violence or anything that would give cause for this”….http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/10834048/barred-chogm-protestor-not-a-threat/
As anti uranium protestors walk towards Perth, Western Australian police get extraordinary powers against protesors
Aussie police block “known protesters” from CHOGM venues, The Star Malaysia 26 Oct 11 PERTH: Australian police have served special notices to about 50 “known protesters” ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting here. The individuals are deemed “security risk” and prevented from entering major parts of the city until Nov 4.
Australian media reported that Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan was given extraordinary powers to create the list under a special Act of State Parliament passed specifically for CHOGM. CHOGM security areas include the University of Western Australia, Burswood, Kings Park, parts of St George’s Terrace, Adelaide Terrace and the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Western Australian reported…..
The CHOGM Action Network, a coalition of activist groups, is planning a march to the CHOGM venue at Perth’s convention centre on the first day of the summit, and has told police it is expecting 1,000 marchers to attend.
Spokesman Alex Bainbridge said the protest theme was “justice and climate action, not racism and war” and protesters hoped to get as close as possible to Commonwealth leaders to get their messages across.Aboriginal rights, freeing detained asylum seekers, ending the war in Afghanistan and promoting renewable energy would be highlighted during a number of protest events, he said…. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/10/25/nation/20111025152648&sec=nation
Western Australian govt will be cracking down on anti nuclear and other peaceful protestors
Barnett’s jail threat to human rights activist, SMH Courtney Trenwith, October 24, 2011 – A Perth protester says he has been officially threatened with jail if he enters a CBD exclusion zone during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting week. Seamus Doherty said WA Police notified him this morning that he was named on an excluded persons’ list and faced up to a year in jail if he entered designated security areas…..
“Naturally we’re worried about what we’ve seen in Sydney and Melbourne. No one can look at the footage of what the police actions were and say it was reasonably or justified actions by police.
“We’ve always said that our protest is a peaceful protest. All we’re planning to do is exercise our democratic right to assemble.”….”It is outrageous that non-violent, human-rights activists should suffer this kind of treatment by WA authorities.”..Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/barnetts-jail-threat-to-human-rights-activist-20111024-1mfpc.html#ixzz1bpHdO3Q1
CHOGM powers to haul in kids has watchdog snarling, THE AUSTRALIAN, BY:DEBBIE GUEST , October 20, 2011 THE inspector of Western Australia’s powerful corruption watchdog is worried about extraordinary police powers granted for next week’s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
The new laws — which take effect in Perth from today until November 5 — will allow police to haul children as young as 16 before a Corruption and Crime Commission examination…. http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/chogm-powers-to-haul-in-kids-has-watchdog-snarling/story-e6frgczx-1226171
Interstate police officers arrive in Perth for CHOGM, ABC News Newcastle 19 Oct 11, “……Two planes carrying officers from South Australia and New South Wales arrived at Perth airport this afternoon. Those officers were the first of more than 700 extra police from across Australia and New Zealand who will arrive in the next few days for CHOGM…. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-19/chogm-police-arrive-in-perth/3579850/?site=newcastle
Civil liberties out the door as Australia prepares for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting
CHOGM protest organisers claim homes raided, phones confiscated, WA Today Courtney Trenwith October 14, 2011 WA Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan said police would use all the powers
at their disposal in the lead up to CHOGM after three protest organisers claimed their Perth homes were unfairly raided and accused police of heavy-handed tactics including surveillance and harassment……
One of the protestors, Colleen Bulger, claimed while her house was being ‘raided’ police suggested they had been conducting surveillance on her. “They kept asking about CHOGM and were very interested in leaflets we had around the house,” Ms Bulger said.
“When they arrested me they kept saying ‘we know more than you think’, and suggesting that I had been under surveillance. “It’s absolutely harassment and an attempt to intimidate us into stopping lawful activities.”
The group said their phones were confiscated in what they claimed was a move by police to download information in “an unnecessary breach of privacy”. Seamus Doherty said his car was confiscated after he was released without charge.
Mr Doherty, who is disabled, said he told the police that his car and phone were his lifelines to work and family and without them he risked losing his job and was stressed. The third member of the group, who did not want to be named, was not at home during the alleged raid but claimed he was followed by police to university where he was arrested on Thursday morning.
“They implied that the suspected offence wasn’t what concerned them, and that it was the protest that they were interested in,” he said. Pearl Lim, from civil rights action group Search For Your Rights, which is not associated with the CHOGM network, said the police action was heavy-handed.
“How can we claim to promote civil democracy across the Commonwealth when peaceful activists are intimidated by police in our own state?” she said. : http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/chogm-protest-organisers-claim-homes-raided-phones-confiscated-20111014-1log2.html#ixzz1bTWeIxeK
Western Australia’s police already targeting protest groups before CHOGM
Facebook intelligence used to target CHOGM protesters, WA Today, Aja Styles October 20, 2011 Police have been using social media to gather intelligence and monitor the movements of protest groups in a bid to quell troublemakers during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Yesterday the first of the 700 interstate and overseas police began to filter into Perth for the international event, with a specialist team from New Zealand due in the coming days……. protest actions, such as the Anti-Corporate Greed and Anti-Wall Street movements, have been widely monitored through Facebook and Twitter. Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/facebook-intelligence-used-to-target-chogm-protesters-20111019-1m879.html#ixzz1bTUtrdz0
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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