Environment groups welcome EPA recommendation to reject Yeelirrie uranium proposal
The Conservation Council of WA and the Australian Conservation Foundation have welcomed the WA EPA’s recommendation not to approve the proposed Yeelirrie uranium mine.
The decision was based on the unacceptable risks the plan posed to subterranean fauna and also addresses wider environmental and community concerns.
“This is an important decision that prioritises the survival of a number of different species and the health and wellbeing of the local community,” said CCWA nuclear free campaigner Mia Pepper.
“CCWA’s submission to the EPA identified the likely extinction of several species of underground fauna, known as stygofauna and troglofauna if the proposal were approved and it is pleasing to see the EPA has considered that evidence.
“The EPA recommendation has been met with great relief among pastoralists, Aboriginal communities and environment groups who continue to campaign against uranium mining in WA. “The former proponent of the Yeelirrie uranium mine, BHP Billiton, conducted extensive and systematic surveys of subterranean fauna.
“This is an important decision that highlights the importance of extensive surveying for subterranean fauna and acting to prevent extinctions.”
National environment groups have joined their state counterparts in welcoming the EPA’s call.“We congratulate the EPA for making this important, clear and strongly evidence based recommendation,” said the Australian Conservation Foundation’s Dave Sweeney.
“ACF expects and looks forward to the Environment Minister upholding the EPA’s recommendation.”
Quite secretively organised, the plan for a federal nuclear waste dump at Hawker, Flinders Ranges, South Australia
https://www.facebook.com/groups/941313402573199/ This secrecy is outrageous. It would not happen in America. The whole bs about “medical wastes” is one big cover-up for the transport of a tiny amount of intermediate to high level nuclear wastes returning from France. The plan is to continue to take in such returning nuclear wastes, so that Lucas Hieights’ reactor can continue to produce them. After that, how convenient for the global nuclear lobby, if South Australia is already taking in ‘Australian’ high level wastes. What a lovely precedent for the global nuclear waste import plan.
Australia’s Secret Shipment of Radioactive Nuclear Waste Arrives !
This will be the tick the box and no-one is concerned b.s.
Gavin Smith Joy Engelman It is a national project and we should all be given a fair go . It is not in the Council Region but Outback Lands . My blood is near boiling point about this.
Goodbye and good riddance to nuclear stooge Senator Sean Edwards
Outgoing senator Edwards lost his seat after winning the fifth spot on the Liberal ticket.
“I’ve lobbied heavily for South Australia’s expanded involvement in the nuclear fuel cycle, producing a substantial submission to the SA Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission in the process, and it now appears the state will do just that. This will deliver hundreds of billions of dollars in sovereign wealth to South Australia.”– http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/bob-day-wins-12th-senate-spot-for-south-australia-labor-and-liberal-senators-out/news-story/ab561f14c51aebce726b9852fb7b52b6
New Minister for Resources, Matt Canavan , a climate change denier
One of their [climate denialists] cheerleaders is Frydenberg’s successor in the resources portfolio, Queensland senator Matt Canavan.
Canavan has form as a climate science doubter. A fortnight ago he told Sky News that the impact of carbon emissions had been “overhyped” by “certain interest groups” — in line with an earlier newspaper article in which he advocated funding “scientists who take a different view”.
, PETER BOYER, Mercury“I absolutely accept that man is contributing to climate change,” he declared. But that is not really how it is. Saying we are contributing to climate change is like saying the sun contributes to a warm day, or Hawthorn contributed to winning last year’s AFL premiership.
In the cautious words of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there’s a 95 to 100 per cent chance that human activities have been the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20th century. We have not just contributed to climate change — we have caused it.
In the same Lateline interview, Frydenberg said Australia’s 2030 target — emissions 26 to 28 per cent lower than in 2005 — was “very ambitious” and among the highest in the world on a per-capita basis.
We have already heard the same from Abbott, Hunt and Turnbull.
All have failed to acknowledge our unhappy record of long being the G20’s highest per-capita emitter, skated over much tougher European targets, and ignored completely the all-important target of zero emissions.
He is playing to the many holdouts in the Coalition who still do not accept the real and present danger of climate change and the rising urgency to address it. Continue reading
Garma festival: Indigenous leaders call for land ownership settlement, slam land rights ‘failures’
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-31/garma-festival:-indigenous-leaders-call-for-land/7675658
Indigenous leaders at the Garma festival in northeast Arnhem Land have called for land ownership settlement, slamming the ‘failures’ of the Land Rights Act and Native Title Act that have allowed mining companies access to indigenous land.
Combination of solar and wind, with smart analytics and “big data” could cause electricity costs to plummet
Could big data soon make renewable energy storage free?, Independent Australia 2 August 2016, A new report explores the democratising of renewable energies through the advancement of “big data”.RenewEconomy‘s Giles Parkinson reports.
GLOBAL investment bank Citi is predicting that the combination of near zero-variable cost energy sources such as solar and wind, along with smart analytics and “big data”, may deliver what the nuclear industry promised nearly half a century ago — free energy……
Citi is not the only research institution making such forecasts but it is in sharp contrast to the general public discussion in Australia, which is dominated by those who insist that the old centralised energy system – slow, inefficient and expensive – will not and cannot be replaced by new technologies.
South Australia is now the focus of that debate, and the push-back against wind and solar by conservatives and, of course, vested interests, seeking to protect their sunk assets is striking.
But Australia is already well down the path to this transformation, given its high level of rooftop solar and the fact that it is considered to be the world-leading market for household battery storage and smart software. Continue reading
Melbourne’s first Tesla-town to be built in mega Alphington development
The Age, Simon Johanson, 2 Aug 16, The first stage of the massive 2500-dwelling, mixed-use commercial redevelopment of the former Amcor paper mill site in Fairfield will be built with 60 homes fitted with Tesla battery packs, inverters and solar panels. The full-line energy installation will not be an optional extra for home buyers but a standard inclusion in all three- to five-bedroom homes, Glenvill development director Travers Nuttall said…….http://www.theage.com.au/business/property/melbournes-first-teslatown-to-be-built-in-mega-alphington-development-20160729-gqgr0w.html
South Australians unlikely to support nuclear dump plan, as global anti nuclear sentiment grows
Valdis Dunis Nuclear Fuel Cycle Watch South Australia https://www.facebook.com/groups/1021186047913052/ 1 August 16
Given polling for just nuclear reactors is so negative now worldwide, the chances of the majority in SA bucking the trend and supporting something nuclear is low I suggest, especially for something more negatively perceived than just a reactor – the world’s biggest high-level nuclear waste dump.“”Eight of these countries were also polled in 2005 by GlobeScan about their views, and the results suggest that there has been a sharp increase in opposition to nuclear power in five of them.
The proportion opposing the building of new nuclear power stations has grown to near-unanimity in Germany (from 73% to 90%), but also increased significantly in Mexico (51% to 82%), Japan (76% to 84%), France (66% to 83%), and Russia (from 61% to 80%)
In contrast, while still a minority view, support for building new nuclear plants has grown in the UK (from 33% to 37%), is stable in the USA (40% to 39%), and is also high in China (42%) and Pakistan (39%). These countries thus emerge as the most pro-nuclear of the countries surveyed with current nuclear plants, by some distance. Among the countries polled that do not have active nuclear plants, support for building them is highest in Nigeria (41%), Ghana (33%), and Egypt (31%).
The poll also indicates that the belief that conservation and renewable energy can fill the gap left, if there is a move away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy, is now the consensus view. Respondents were asked to say whether they thought that their country “could almost entirely replace coal and nuclear energy within 20 years by becoming highly energy-efficient and focusing on generating energy from the sun and wind,” and more than seven in ten (71%) agree that it could.”
http://www.globescan.com/…/127-opposition-to-nuclear…
Australia’s potentially powerful political constituency – solar power home-owners
Regardless of what the industry’s lobbyists and media barrackers say, renewables are cutting the cost of power and making it more reliable….
The next big threat to the old business model, however, is storage
According to figures compiled by the environment group Solar Citizens before the recent election, just 2352 of the 90,000-odd voters in Frydenberg’s affluent inner Melbourne electorate of Kooyong had solar panels on their roofs.
That placed Kooyong 132nd of 150 federal electorates for rooftop solar. Kooyong is typical of what Solar Citizens found in their study of rooftop solar. More affluent electorates tend to have lower take-up rates……
out in the ’burbs, and in the rural and regional areas, rooftop solar is big. The seat of Dawson, for example, based on Mackay in North Queensland, has more than 10 times as many houses with rooftop solar as Frydenberg’s electorate. Yet voters there just returned George Christensen, a climate change denier who sits on the extreme right wing of the Nationals. Ipswich, home town of Pauline Hanson, has even more solar panels up.
Dickson in Brisbane, held by another arch-conservative, Peter Dutton, has more than 35,000 solar roofs, and the eighth-highest penetration of solar in the country. And the number one electorate for rooftop solar is the huge rural South Australian seat of Grey. There, according to Solar Citizens, some 41,000 constituents have invested $140 million to install more than 80,000 kilowatts of solar, resulting in an annual abatement of 54,000 tonnes of the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. The seat is held by Rowan Ramsey for the Liberals, although he was given a nasty scare from the Nick Xenophon Team at the election. Continue reading
South Australia’s dysfunctional National Electricity Market (NEM)
Dennis Matthews, 1 August 16 Once again, South Australia’s electricity supply is in trouble. The transition to solar and wind electricity has not been well managed, but this has as much to do with the National Electricity Market (NEM) and privatisation as it has to do with the technology.
The basic issue is one of supply and demand. Previously there was a surge in demand during heat waves, recently we had a plunge in supply. The summer surge in demand was met by gas-fired peaking power stations. A privatised electricity industry operating in an electricity market meant that these suppliers were in a monopoly position; they could and did command exorbitant wholesale prices, typically 100 times the average. Because of the NEM rules, these prices then automatically flowed on to all suppliers in the NEM.
The recent winter plunge in supply was met, under political pressure, by gas-fired power stations. Once again, the suppliers were in a monopoly position and commanded exorbitant wholesale prices.
South Australia is being held to ransom by socially irresponsible companies operating in a dysfunctional market.
Cutback in solar payments: smart meters might help
From solar boom to bill shock: Australians face loss of rooftop payments
About 275,000 people across the country will have their solar energy payments reduced by up to 80% over the next six months, Guardian, Michael Slezak 31 July 16 “……. more than 275,000 people across Australia who will see the subsidised payments they receive for their solar energy disappear over the next six months, replaced with rates up to 80% lower.
The solar boom in Australia, which has led to 1.5m households generating their own electricity from the sun, was accelerated by subsidised payments for people who sell solar-generated electricity back to the grid.
In some cases, like Shaw’s, solar customers were able to receive more than twice the money for the electricity they put in the grid, compared with what they paid for electricity they took out of it.
But for a lot of homes and businesses, those schemes are coming to an end over the next six months and, if they’re not prepared, they will be heading towards some serious bill shock.
Customers in New South Wales, who got the most generous rate, will be in for the biggest hit and will need to do the most to adapt to the changes…….
While about 150,000 homes and business will be kicked off these schemes in NSW on 1 January 2017, the party is ending for about 130,000 customers inVictoria and South Australia too.
(Others are on schemes that will continue for years to come. So if people are confused about their own feed-in tariffs, they should ask their retailer what’s happening with them.)…….
Smart meters
The issue of what kind of meter to get is a minefield right now, with different issues affecting consumers depending on where they are, and options are changing rapidly.
One thing that can help anyone make the most of their solar electricity is a smart meter, says Claire O’Rourke, national director of Solar Citizens, a group that lobbies on behalf of solar customers.
A smart meter can be read remotely, and can tell when the most power is being drawn, helping maximise the benefits. They can also open up services such as time-of-use tariffs, providing savings for people who avoid using energy during periods of high demand.
“You’re probably better off with a smart meter but they do have an increased cost,” says O’Rourke.
Some retailers are offering discounts for smart meters in return for fixed-term contracts. “It is really in the interest of consumers to shop around,” she says.
For many people right now a smart meter could be overkill. The smart meter will either be paid upfront, or in the case of free meters offered by retailers, will be paid for through increased tariffs, says Moyse. Whether the meter will allow consumers to recoup that cost is unclear.
For people outside NSW, the lowest-cost option is to keep their current meter, at least until it’s clear a smart meter is worth it. Outside NSW, the current meter will work fine on the new deals.
Unfortunately, for most people on the NSW solar bonus scheme, their meters will need to be replaced……..
the loss of generous feed-in tariffs is driving interest in battery storage, says Chris Cooper, chief executive of Suncrowd, a company using group purchasing power to get cheaper prices for batteries.
“It’s a bit of a trigger point for people to look at new technology,” Cooper says. So far Suncrowd has run its first round in Newcastle, and had about 200 homes join together and buy batteries at discount rates.
He says lots of the customers who have been approaching Suncrowd have been people coming off the NSW solar bonus scheme. Having a battery added to an existing solar system can significantly increase “solar self-sufficiency”, Cooper says, a measure of how much the customer relies on solar rather than electricity from the grid. “With an appropriately sized battery you can boost it from 20% to about 60 or 70% self-sufficiency,” he says. Cooper says Suncrowd is building an online tool to help people calculate their solar self-sufficiency and have been showing it to people at events they’ve been holding. “People are really motivated by seeing the numbers go up,” he says…….https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/31/australia-residents-solar-rooftop-lose-payments
Nick Xenophon – only a referendum is adequate to resolve South Australia’s nuclear waste decision
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says a final decision on a nuclear waste dump is still years away. SBS World News, AAP 29 JUL 2016
The state government on Friday launched a three-month community consultation program on the recommendations rising from a Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle…….Mr Weatherill says whatever the outcome of that process, a final decision on the dump is still some way off, and will be proceeded by a series of “gated decisions” to move ahead cautiously…….
But South Australian independent Senator Nick Xenophon said only a referendum of all South Australian voters would be adequate for such a momentous decision.
“Because once we have a nuclear dump, that’s it. We will be known as the nuclear dump capital of the world,” he said.
South Australian Greens MP Mark Parnell also criticised the consultation process which he said had ignored the history of failures, cost overruns and risks associated with waste storage.
“The government says it wants South Australians to have the facts, but it has chosen just some of the facts to present,” he said. http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/07/29/sa-dump-decision-years-away-says-premier
WALKATJURRA WALKABOUT continue the fight to stop uranium mining
Walkatjurra Walkabout – Walking for Country https://walkingforcountry.com/walkatjurra-walkabout/walkatjurra-walkabout-about-us-2/
will be lead by the
Walkatjurra Rangers https://walkatjurra.com/rangers/
in partnership with
Footprints for Peace https://www.facebook.com/FootPrintsforPeace
Western Australian Nuclear Free Alliance (WANFA) https://nuclearfree.wordpress.com/
the Anti Nuclear Alliance of Western Australia (ANAWA) http://www.anawa.org.au/ and
the Conservation Council of Western Australia (CCWA) http://www.ccwa.org.au/
Wiluna to Leonora from August 7th – September 7th 2016
https://walkingforcountry.com/walkatjurra-walkabout/
‘WALKATJURRA WALKABOUT is a celebration of Wangkatja country, a testament to the
strength of the community who have fought to stop uranium mining at Yeelirrie for over forty years, and a chance to come together to continue share our commitment to a sustainable future without nuclear.
It is a chance to reconnect with the land, and to revive the tradition of walking for country.’
‘We invite all people, from all places, to come together to walk with us, to send a clear message
that we want the environment here, and our sacred places left alone.’ Kado Muir, Traditional Owner, Yeelirrie
Three jeers to Today Tonight Adelaide reporter, Hendrik Gout
100% Renewables for SA Three jeers to Today Tonight Adelaide reporter, Hendrik Gout, turning the people he interviewed – fans of solar power in to seeming solar dislikers. Never let the truth get in the way of good fear-mongering story?
Could Mr Gout’s former job have something to do with it?
On Monday, the Adelaide branch of the Seven Network’s daily current affairs program, Today Tonight, ran with a similar anti-renewables slant, as it has done before. And, like much of the Murdoch media’s reporting, its chock full of errors.
The program opened by recalling South Australia’s November 2015 black-outs – a predictable starting point for a renewables witch hunt, considering that was the reaction of the mainstream media back when the outages occurred.
According to Today Tonight Adelaide reporter, Hendrik Gout, “the November night the lights went out” happened because of the “state’s reliance on ‘unreliant’ energy”.
Never mind that this is simply not true. As we reported at the time, “there was only one technology that abandoned its post on Sunday evening, and that was the massive transmission line linking Victoria and South Australia.”
And, as the Australian Energy Market Operator later concluded in a report, the black-out caused by a switch failure lasted much longer than needed because a gas-fired generator failed to follow instructions, causing the system to trip again. The blackout had nothing to do with renewables at all.
That claim should not be a surprise coming from Gout, who was a former senior staffer for South Australia Liberal David Ridgway, the party’s leader in the upper house.
The Coalition in South Australia is notoriously anti-wind, feeding rubbish data to The Australian last week that had to be retracted. Ridgway is also the instigator of an ongoing upper house inquiry into wind energy.
Gout’s program went on to interview two different South Australian business operators: one a farmer/irrigator in the Riverland region who complained – not without reason – that the state’s high power prices had made his business less competitive; and one a micro-brewer on the Murray, who similarly seemed to suggest that power supply difficulties had restricted the growth of the business.
But something didn’t quite gel with these interviews, so we decided to talk to the people ourselves……….
When we asked Beavis why the 30kW PV system wasn’t mentioned in the Today Tonight report, he told us in an emailed statement: “Our solar project was one of the main points I was aiming to get across. But from viewing the piece, it seemed to get lost in the edit.”
Beavis also told us that the solar system offsets 100 per cent of the brewery and houseboats’ power consumption……..http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/today-tonights-misleading-report-renewables-south-australia-85014
Effect of global warming on Antarctic could be amplifying climate change
Earth’s ability to absorb CO2 reduced by global warming, Antarctic study finds http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-29/global-warming-reduces-earth-co2-absorption-arctic-study/7673032 By Stephanie Smail Global warming reduces the amount of carbon dioxide the earth can absorb, which could amplify climate change, landmark research in Antarctica has revealed.
CSIRO researchers extracted ice bubbles in pre-industrial polar ice to measure the planet’s sensitivity to changes in temperature.
They found that for every degree Celsius of global temperature rise, the equivalent of 20 parts per million less CO2 is stored by the land biosphere.
CSIRO principle research scientist Dr David Etheridge said the research confirmed the relationship for the first time and revealed how it impacted the cycles of carbon between land, ocean, and the atmosphere.
“That’s useful to know. It’s a bit concerning because it’s going to amplify the climate change, but it’s good news in a way because it can be used in modelling.”
The research team used ice core samples from the Australian Antarctic Program’s unique Law Dome site, together with ice cores from the British Antarctic Survey.
The study focused on CO2 changes preserved in ice before, during, and after a naturally-cool period known as the Little Ice Age (1500 to 1750 AD).
“It gives global planners something to work with, to help estimate what CO2 emissions are allowable to limit global warming to one and a half or two degrees Celsius,” Dr Etheridge said.
The finding is a result of a collaboration between CSIRO, the Seconda Universita di Napoli, University of Melbourne, British Antarctic Survey, University of East Anglia, Australian Antarctic Division, University of Tasmania, and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
1 This month.
Australians deserve the truth
about
AUKUS – https://aukuspublicinquiry.com/
PETITION – To: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Australian Labor Government
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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