Western Australia and NSW govts strike down solar power
Western Australia FiT chopped in half, PV-Tech By Emma Hughes – 19 May 2011, Less than a week after the shock closure of the feed-in tariff scheme in New South Wales, the Government of Western Australia has cut the subsidy rate for new residential applications submitted after June 30. The state will also be subject to a cap on installations, putting a halt to progress just one year after the scheme was introduced.
The feed-in tariff rate for new installations will now be cut in half, with applicants receiving AUD$0.20/kWh instead of the AUD$0.40/kWh rate that was introduced in July last year. All existing customers will continue to receive the higher tariff rate for the originally-proposed 10 years.
Alongside the tariff cuts Western Australia will also be hit with a 150MW cap, which when reached, will mark the end of the program, when no further applications will be received….Western Australia FiT chopped in half | PV-Tech
Australian MP calls for ban on Lynas dumping radioactive wastes in Malaysia
“I also call upon the Transport Minister (Troy Buswell) to halt planned shipments of rare earth with radioactive Thorium 232 to Malaysia,”
Aussie MP: Don’t dump toxic by-products in Kuantan, Free Malaysia Today, G Vinod | May 18, 2011 An Australian MP has joined the chorus of calls to halt planned shipment of radioactive waste to Malaysia.
Unconvincing argument from Australian company on radioactive wastes
Where is the chosen site for the disposal of the waste? What would make this site suitable for waste disposal? How will the waste be managed? What would be the storage capacity for the radioactive waste? And how many years of waste would it have room for?
To appease the voracious public outcry, it was announced that the International Atomic Energy Agency has appointed a nine-member team to help the Government probe whether the rare earth refinery carries any threat of radioactive contamination.
Less rhetoric, more clarity please (about Lynas dumping radioactive wastes in Malaysia) The Star online by ANITA GABRIEL, 14 May, A victim of a campaign of misinformation.” That’s how Australia’s Lynas Corp executive chairman Nick Curtis characterised his company’s controversial RM1.3bil rare earths refinery being built in Malaysia in a recent interview with an Australian news network.
He’s correct in part. Seriously wrong on all else. Continue reading
Wind Energy Set to Boom inWestern Australia
The proposals are the latest in a number of wind-energy projects on the ground or in the pipeline
New bid to harvest Wheatbelt wind – The West Australian, 17 May 11, .In dusty back paddocks and weathered coastal landscapes across WA, a transformation is taking place.A wind-farm investment drive is to become a multi-billion-dollar boom and nowhere is that boom likely to be bigger than in the small Wheatbelt town of Williams, about 150km south-east of Perth. Continue reading
Australia’s uranium marketing frenzy continues
Australia pushes nuclear exports, Al Jazeera, 6 May 2011
Nuclear power ‘not so bad’, says Woodside chief, Sydney Morning Herald, 7 may 2011 THE outgoing chief executive of the energy giant Woodside, Don Voelte, has backed the call by the chairman of Rio Tinto for Australia to embrace nuclear power.
They have not publicly lodged further submissions to the State Energy Initiative directions paper, due today. – WA’s chief industry groups lobby for a nuclear future, – WA Today, Courtney TrenwithMay 6, 2011 – Western Australia’s two chief business lobby groups support calls for nuclear energy in the state…. Continue reading
IAEA to help Australian company to leave radioactive wastes in Malaysia?
growing public pressure to scrap the plant as environmental activists say it could make Malaysia a dumping ground for radioactive by-products
IAEA panel to advise Malaysia on rare earths plant. Reuters May 3, 2011 VIENNA – The U.N. nuclear agency will organise an expert panel to advise the government of Malaysia on the potential radiation risks of a rare earths facility planned by Australian miner Lynas , the agency said on Tuesday. Continue reading
Noongar Aboriginal people confront Warren Mundine on uranium mining
Noongar people berate Mundine over uranium, National Indigenous Times, 3 May 11, Noongar anti-nuclear activist, Marianne McKay interrupted a speech by Warren Mundine at the Australian Uranium Summit in Perth to tell him he had “no shame” if he wanted to promote and support uranium mining. Continue reading
Western Australia’s gas project – a precedent for nuclear waste importing?
Australians seem to be preoccupied with their domestic lives, looking outwards now and then for football, rugby league, royal weddings, blessed popes..
It is a worry that in the bigger picture for this country, hugely important decisions are just not on our radar. An example is the Liquified Natural Gas industry. The maneuverings and manipulations in this might well be the precursor to maneuverings to bring about a nuclear waste import industry.
The background of the LNG development is one of a rushed process, lacking rigourous scientific and environmental study.
The main political players – W.A. Premier and Federal Resource Minister Martin Ferguson both show that their political ambitions and subservience to big corporations are their main consideration. Martin Ferguson’s conflict of interest is apparent.
The LNG project threatens the environment, and the substantial tourism and fishing industries, including existing Aboriginal enterprises.
The deliberate tying of of the location of the gas hub to the proposed ‘Indigenous benefits package’ for Kimberley Indigenous communities makes a mockery of the principle of “informed consent” for Aboriginal people – Christina Macpherson
Indecent haste about poorly conceived LNG project
…… A 2010 tourism study conducted by the Curtin University Sustainable Tourism Centre found that:
• Plans for an LNG industrial site near Broome pose a serious threat to the Kimberley’s unique and globally-recognised tourism ‘brand’;……
• Tourism is more valuable to the regional economy than resource projects which return less to the local economy, employ fewer local people and have relatively short lifespans;
Kimberley gas hub Strategic Assessment citizens guide “…….Having slammed the previous Labor government for its handling of the Browse LNG siting issue and the decision by Inpex to process its Browse gas (from the ‘Ichthys’ field) in Darwin, WA Premier Barnett is desperate to have a Kimberley LNG project underway before the next State election (due March 2013). Continue reading
Western Australia’s gas hub discussed by Aboriginal group
Rural Report for Northern WA: May 2nd 2011, ABC Rural By Matt Brann, Kununurra, Kimberley traditional owners prepare for final vote on gas hub Continue reading
Australian company Lynas wants Malaysia to take its radioactive wastes
Alarm bells were raised when a report in April questioned how Lynas was going to dispose the waste material from the plant ……
there are questions as to why Lynas did not build the plant in Australia instead if it did not pose any danger to the environment and the people?
Baffling Perak can think of 2nd rare earth project when Japan radiation still fresh, The Star (Malaysia) – By B.K. Sidhu 29 April 11, IT is baffling that Perak can even think of accommodating a second rare earth project when the horrors of radiation in Japan are still fresh on the people’s minds and there was a major disaster involving a rare earth plant in the state just a decade ago. Continue reading
Western Australia could be a renewable energy powerhouse
With oil prices at $107 a barrel, Professor Wills said Australia was the Middle East of renewable energy.
“We’ve got the best renewable energy resources for the planet,” he said….
Professor Wills said other nations had to build in the ocean to get the same sort of wind resources Australia could get on land.
It should be obvious solar-thermal renewable energy should be used in a country with abundant sunshine.
Renewable energy can be winner for WA, Farm Weekly, JEAN EKEROTH, 25 Apr, 2011 RENEWABLE energy provides opportunities to restructure and refurbish rural and regional towns, according to Sustainable Energy Association chief executive Ray Wills.
Uranium mining is not like other mining
WANFA believes that the costs of uranium mining far outweigh any short term cash payment. We can’t close the gap by increasing the number of radioactive holes in the ground. Aboriginal people should not have to sacrifice the country of future generations, for basic health, education and infrastructure. There are far more jobs and opportunities in a conservation and culture economy, and in caring for country.
“We Can’t Close the Gap by Digging a Deeper Hole” WA Nuclear Free Alliance Conference Statement: The Western Australia Nuclear Free Alliance (WANFA), made up of Aboriginal Traditional Land Owners from the Pilbara, the Kimberley, the Goldfields, the Great Victoria Desert, the Central Desert, the Gascoyne, Perth and the South West and their allies, met from 2-4 April 2011 on Noongar lands near Perth.
Since the beginning of time, Aboriginal people have been the proud custodians of our land Australia. Still today, with new technology, new ways and new friends, Aboriginal people continue looking after country. In Western Australia looking after country means preventing uranium mining. Continue reading
Australian mining companies’ power to manipulate Aboriginals
I believe we are failing indigenous Australians,” he said.
“What is a multi-billionaire company doing negotiating directly with these people? We’re talking about people who are in general, poor and marginalised and often neglected by the state.
“They’re being offered these employment opportunities and income by a corporate giant and they are not in a position, in my view, to make a fully-informed decision.
Aborigines thrown to the mining wolves: expert, WA Today, Lucy Rickard, 18 April 11, The state government has abandoned Aboriginal people, leaving them to unfairly negotiate multi-million dollar deals with mining corporations and their armies of lawyers, according to an economics policy expert. Continue reading
Big drop in value of uranium companies
Uranium Producers in Takeover Play as Assets Exceed Share Price:U3O8, April 14, 2011 — Uranium companies from Toro Energy Ltd. (TOE) to Mega Uranium Ltd. (MGA) are so depreciated they’re trading at less than their assets would be worth in a fire sale. …..Toro, which is seeking to develop the Wiluna deposit in Western Australia, fell to 0.88 times the value of its assets minus liabilities from 1.09 times during the same span, the data show….
Toro is awaiting regulatory approval for its $278 million Wiluna uranium mine.
‘Big Drop’ “We’ve had a big drop because we’re in the development doldrums and people know we’ll need to raise money for Wiluna’s development in 2012,” Chief Executive Officer Greg Hall said in an interview.
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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