Archive for October, 2011

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South Australia’s scrutiny of Roxby Downs Indenture Bill – just a window-dressing farce?

October 30, 2011

Weatherill happy to widen Olympic Dam mine bill scrutiny, ABC News October 28, 2011   South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill says he would be happy for groups opposed to the planned Olympic Dam mining expansion to put evidence to a special parliamentary committee.

It sat on Thursday to examine legislation which will enact the Olympic Dam indenture. The Greens say they managed to get the proceedings opened to the public, but said the committee was a farce because the three witnesses who appeared were all in favour of the mining expansion near outback Roxby Downs in South Australia.

Mr Weatherill said he would not be opposed to other groups having a say.”That’s a matter for the committee but I think we want to make this an open process as we can,” he said….

Greens leader Mark Parnell was upset the only parties invited before the parliamentary inquiry were proponents of the expansion; BHP Billiton, the Chamber of Mines and the Olympic Dam task force. He accused the SA Government and Opposition of colluding to make sure the committee only heard from those who favoured the mining project.

After the hearing, the Greens said BHP Billiton had been given an easy ride. Mr Parnell says it was a one-sided affair with little real scrutiny.

“The questions asked of BHP Billiton were about as soft as they get,” he said. ”This is a multi-billion-dollar project that will go for 100 years or more and a lot of the committee’s time was wasted talking about boggy roads and grey nomads.http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-27/conservationists-to-testify-over-olympic-mine/3604936

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Australia wise to refuse to sell uranium to India

October 30, 2011

28 Oct  PERTH: The Australian Conservation Foundation has called on the Labor Party to keep its policy not to export uranium to India while India refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

 “The Labor Party has a long-standing, prudent and sensible policy of not supplying uranium to countries that will not sign the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner Dave Sweeney.

“The non-proliferation treaty, while imperfect, remains a key international legal mechanism in restricting the spread of nuclear weapons technology. “Uranium is a dual-use fuel – it can be used in reactors and it can be used to power the world’s worst weapons.

“Australia, as a significant global uranium supplier, has a responsibility to acknowledge that India is a nuclear-armed state that obtained its weapons capacity in breach of international commitments. “Adding Australian uranium to the mix would not ease the long standing tensions between India and its nuclear-armed neighbours or improve the effectiveness of the global nuclear safeguards regime. “There is no compelling or convincing reason for Labor to change its policy.”

ACF opposes uranium sales to nuclear weapons states and has long campaigned for Australia to phase out uranium mining and exports, including to Russia, China and India.

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Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty called “rubbish” , as Kevin Rudd is urged to sell uranium to India

October 30, 2011

Rudd targeted in push to sell uranium to India, The Age, Michelle Grattan, October 28, 2011 PRESSURE is
mounting on Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd to join the strong push to change ALP policy to allow uranium sales to India. The uranium debate is shaping up as a major issue for the December ALP national conference, with Resources Minister Martin Ferguson urging a change of policy……

Last night, Australian Workers Union chief Paul Howes backed change, saying if there was a debate at the national conference, he would argue for sales to India… Mr Ferguson and Mr Rudd yesterday appeared together at a mining breakfast in Perth….

Mr Rudd is in a difficult position on the issue because of his strong support for the nuclear non-proliferation treaty…..

Mr Howes said … the non-proliferation treaty was a ”rubbish treaty’ ‘…….Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/rudd-targeted-in-push-to-sell-uranium-to-india-20111027-1mm30.html#ixzz1c79oexS4

 

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Sydney’s Western suburbs not willing to take Hunter’s Hill radioactive waste

October 30, 2011

Uranium plant waste unwelcome in western suburbs, SMH, Ben Cubby, October 26, 2011 THE state government will face tough local opposition if it intends to take contaminated waste from a radioactive site in Hunters Hill and bury it at Kemps Creek in the city’s west.

It conceded at a budget estimates hearing this week that Kemps Creek was the only viable option if 5800 tonnes of mildly radioactive dirt and rock were to be removed from the site of a former uranium-processing plant.

The waste cannot be taken overseas or interstate, but Penrith City Council remains firmly opposed to the plan, which was first floated under the previous state government. Documents produced last year showed waste was to be placed in sealed trucks and driven to Kemps Creek, and warned that protests against the operation were likely to take place in western Sydney……

Hunters Hill Council wants the site cleaned up and the earth removed but does not want to simply transfer the problem to another part of Sydney. The land, on Nelson Parade, was the site of a radium smelter between 1911 and 1916. About 500 tonnes of uranium ore were processed at the plant and radioactive tailings are still mixed in with soil.

At least six people who have lived on or next door to the site have died of cancer, but there is no proven link between elevated levels of radiation on the site and health problems.   http://www.smh.com.au/environment/uranium-plant-waste-unwelcome-in-western-suburbs-20111025-1mi4y.html#ixzz1bx7aVolq

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South Australia getting a poor financial deal out of BHP’s new big uranium mine

October 30, 2011

A case of Olympian incompetence by South Australia, THE AUSTRALIAN, BY:PAUL CLEARY ,October 21, 2011    THE royalty agreement negotiated by South Australia for BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam expansion has robbed the state’s citizens and all Australians of the opportunity to share in the profits of what will become the world’s biggest mine. (at left, Marius Kloppers CEO of BHP BIlliton, and Mike Rann, retiring Premier of South Australia.)

This deal is a monumental example of state government incompetence when it comes to acting as custodian of the nation’s mineral wealth. (more…)

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Refuting the spin of the Australian Uranium Association about radiation

October 30, 2011
Uranium and health: industry has to face the unpleasant facts, SENATOR SCOTT LUDLAM, AUSTRALIAN GREENS SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA, 22 Oct 11,  Mr. Michael Angwin of the Australian Uranium Association has objected to my statement to the ABC  that ‘Uranium mining has killed a lot of its workforce’, and has demanded I withdraw the comment.
I will do no such thing.
There is a well-established link between uranium mining and lung cancer.
Uranium miners are exposed to radon gas.  According to the WHO, radon is a carcinogen 2 and the second most common cause of cancer in the world, responsible for up to 14% of all lung cancer and 30% of lung cancers in non-smokers.  All radon studies of lung cancer show a linear relationship between dose and risk of cancer.
In 2009, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) reported that radon exposure was more risky than experts had thought, and cut the recommended dose threshold by half. 3
The Biological Effects of Ionising Radiation VI report (1999) 4 reviewed eleven studies covering a total of 60,000 underground uranium miners. The report found an increasing frequency of lung cancer, directly proportional to the cumulative amount of radon the miners had been exposed to.
As the industry knows, radiation exposure can take a decade or more to manifest as a cancer or other condition, which makes it impossible to put a time and a place on exposure. Despite this, many peer reviewed studies 5 of uranium mine workers shows increased cancer mortality as well as chromosomal aberrations.
The industry often underestimates worker exposure as it is presumed that miners always use personal protective equipment designed to reduce inhalation. The fact is, they often don’t.
The maximum additional radiation exposure permitted to the general public is 1 millisievert per year; for uranium miners it is 20 millisieverts. This increased exposure to radiation increases the risks and the occurrences of cancer.
Science predicts an increase of 1 in 10,000 incidence of cancer per 1 millisievert. The average uranium mine worker is in their late 20s and stays 3 to 5 years.  If they receive the average of 3-8 millisieverts per year and don’t wear their protective equipment at all times, that average increases steeply.
Today’s standards are better than the conditions that wiped out the miners of Bohemia or the Native Americans of the Four Corners region in the USA. But uranium mining has killed a lot of its workforce – globally, historically and currently, Mr. Angwin.
 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-21/20111021-uranium-miner-response/3592108?section=nt

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Australia’s National Register of radiation doses does not count Northern Territory uranium workers

October 30, 2011

NT URANIUM WORKERS STILL NOT ON NATIONAL REGISTER, GREENS SAY, Safe To Work, By Cole Latimer  20 October 2011  Uranium miners in the Northern Territory are still not on the National Radiation Dose Register, Greens senator Scott Ludlam says.  It comes five months after Ludlam originally brought the issue to bear in May, with Ludlam today again quizzing representatives from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency on this issue.

“In July 2010 the register began collecting data on the radiation doses to which workers had been exposed. There are now over 18,000 workers on the database – covering about five years – but there is no information at all on the radiation workers have been exposed to at the Ranger Mine in the Northern Territory. We revealed this in May, and urged the Territory and Federal authorities to address it. ARPANSA told us today that nothing has changed, and to raise the issue with the office of energy and resources minister Martin Ferguson,” Ludlam said in a recent statement.

“We will write to Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson to encourage urgent action to fix this problem.”  The national register was created as a central database to track radiation dose histories of miners….. Under this new development, information on radiation doses will be sent to a central register, where miners can then access their personal records.

“Excluding work in the Northern Territory is a huge crack in the system, and it was revealed five months ago and NT uranium mine workers are still off the radiation dose radar. The system will only have integrity if all radiation doses are included,” Ludlam says…..  http://www.safetowork.com.au/news/nt-uranium-workers-still-not-on-national-register

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Call for an inquiry into BHP Billiton’s Great Big New Open Cut Uranium mine

October 30, 2011

Greens call for inquiry into Olympic Dam expansion, SMH Peter KerOctober 18, 2011 APPROVAL for BHP Billiton’s massive Olympic Dam expansion may not proceed as quickly as the global miner would like, with minor parties in the South Australian parliament seeking to slow the process by attempting to force the company to front a parliamentary inquiry.

The indenture agreement struck by BHP and the SA Government for Olympic Dam will be introduced to the state’s parliament today or tomorrow, and must be approved by both chambers to have any legal power.

The Premier Mike Rann – who will retire on Friday – wants Parliament to approve the bill as soon as possible, and BHP has promised to start spending up to $US1.2 billion as soon as the bill secures passage through the Parliament.

But Mr Rann’s Labor Party does not control the upper house of Parliament, where a group of seven minor party MP’s have the balance of power. Two of those MPs represent the Greens Party, and Greens leader Mark Parnell said the agreement was so important to South Australia’s future it must be fully analysed by a select committee with powers to call and question BHP executives.

Mr Parnell said the delay should pose no problem given BHP does not expect to take a final investment decision until mid 2012. ”What is the point of the SA Parliament cutting corners and rushing this through when the company isn’t going to decide until the middle of next year anyway,” he said.

Mr Parnell wants to quiz BHP over why more processing of Olympic Dam’s copper, uranium and gold could not take place in Australia, as well as the environmental impacts. Despite the approvals process running over many years and through hundreds of pages of environmental impact statements, Mr Parnell said the public had never had a chance to publicly question BHP officials.

“It is time, as Parliament sets to sign off on the biggest deal in South Australia’s history, to finally get some straight answers on this enormous project,” he said.   : http://www.smh.com.au/business/greens-call-for-inquiry-into-olympic-dam-expansion-20111017-1ltda.html#ixzz1b9u265hy

 

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South Australia’s outgoing Premier two faced on uranium mining

October 30, 2011

Two faced Premier Mike Rann, previously elected as S.A. Labor Party’s spokesman AGAINST uranium mining, went on to be a fervent servant of BHP Billiton. Now he wants to have his “legacy” as having approved. the monster Olympic Dam open cut uranium mine.

BUT – that mightn’t work out.  Olympic Damn has a good chance of becoming an environmental and economic nightmare for South Australia.   So, just in case, Mr Rann is now piously giving himself the credit for saving Arkaroola Wildreness from uranium mining.  (Bad luck, Marathon Resources,  your Premier dumped you for BHP.) - Christina Macpherson

Arkaroola protection bill going to SA Parliament ABC News, October 17, 2011  Premier Mike Rann has visited Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary to promote this week’s introduction of legislation to permanently protect the area from mining.

The South Australian Premier sees Arkaroola’s protection as some of his last business before he steps out of the limelight…

His Government signed the Olympic Dam indenture with BHP Billiton last week, another key project Mr Rann leaves as his legacy….. New laws will ban all types of mining at Arkaroola and come four years after exploration waste was dumped at Mount Gee in the area by explorer Marathon Resources. Arkaroola also has been provisionally listed on the state heritage register and will be nominated for national and world heritage listing…

Marathon Resources had spent millions of dollars exploring at Arkaroola and its share price has fallen since the mining ban was flagged.It is negotiating with the SA Government for compensation.  http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-17/arkaroola-wilderness-legislation-mining-ban/3574300

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Will New South Wales government transfer uranium radioactive waste from rich suburb to poorer one?

October 30, 2011

Sydney’s uranium waste could still go west, Josephine Tovey, October 18, 2011   The Premier, Barry O’Farrell, will not rule out sending waste from a former uranium plant in Hunters Hill to western Sydney, despite the Coalition campaigning against the move when it was in opposition.

The Keneally government had signed a contract with SITA Environmental Solutions at Kemps Creek to dispose of the waste but withdrew from it last year after an outcry from the community.

Liberal candidate for Mulgoa Tanya Davies, who won the seat, had accused the former government of using her electorate as “dumping ground for Sydney”…. http://www.smh.com.au/environment/sydneys-uranium-waste-could-still-go-west-20111017-1ltfb.html

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