Archive for the ‘opposition to u-mining’ Category

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Strong citizen opposition to uranium mining in Virginia

January 29, 2012

Virginia Conservation Network works on a broad range of environmental issues all across the state, but never have I seen such an issue galvanize people like the prospect of uranium mining,” said director Nathan Lott. ”Black and white, urban and rural, Republican and Democrat - Virginians agree that mining is just too risky.”

Citizens expressed deep concerns about the potential contamination of water sources in the Roanoke River watershed

Citizens pack General Assembly offices to voice opposition to uranium mining,Star Tribune,  January 23, 2012   RICHMOND – Citizens from across the state converged in the Capitol Monday to call on their elected representatives in the General Assembly to keep Virginia’s 30-year ban on uranium mining.

Following significant warnings from the National Academy of Sciences, the ban will now remain in place for 2012. Citizens are seeking to make that victory permanent.

To highlight their message, they offered legislators “yellowcake” cupcakes with the message: “These yellow cakes are not harmful – but making uranium yellowcake and leaving behind radioactive waste in Virginia is. Protect our health, our
heritage and our future. Keep the Ban on Uranium Mining in Virginia.” Also, the Keep the Ban Coalition announced that over the last year, more than 10,000 citizens have signed an online petition or sent emails to Virginia legislators urging them to keep the ban, and 102 organizations and government entities – from the cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Roanoke to the state chapter of the NAACP and Halifax County Chamber of Commerce – have either passed a resolution or taken other action expressing deep concerns about impacts that would result from lifting the ban.
“Virginia Conservation Network works on a broad range of environmental issues all across the state, but never have I seen such an issue galvanize people like the prospect of uranium mining,” said director
Nathan Lott. ”Black and white, urban and rural, Republican and Democrat - Virginians agree that mining is just too risky.”
Citizens expressed deep concerns about the potential contamination of water sources in the Roanoke River watershed (more…)

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Business and professional leaders group to oppose uranium mining in Virgina

January 2, 2012

the group is different from environmental groups in that it comprises business, medical and health professionals who are concerned about potential health impacts from uranium mining.

Coalition forms to address uranium concerns By: TARA BOZICK | GoDanRiver.com December 29, 2011 Halifax County area business owners and other professionals formed The Virginia Coalition on Tuesday in an effort to keep the moratorium on uranium mining in Virginia.

Many felt the socioeconomic reports and National Academy of Sciences study on uranium mining released this month didn’t allay concerns about potential health risks. The General Assembly could take up the issue of whether to allow uranium mining next session, although opponents and local lawmakers would like to wait until 2013. (more…)

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Call for end to uranium prospecting in Northern Quebec

January 2, 2012

Northern Quebec Communities Demand End of Uranium Prospecting by
Uracan, MarketWatch, Dec. 18, 2011    “…..All eight municipalities in Minganie, a
region of Northern Quebec, have already voted in favour of a resolution against uranium prospecting on their territory. On November 23rd, the Regional County Municipality of Minganie also adopted a resolution outlawing all uranium-related activities within an area of
50 kilometers north of the coastline. Clearly, there is no social support for uranium mining in Minganie.
Uracan’s drilling sites are located in the area covered by the resolution. This is why we ask that Minister Gignac act immediately and tell Uracan to pack its bags and leave. We will not tolerate more drilling. We demand that the company cease all its activities and move its installations, equipment and machineries elsewhere. If it fails to do so, actions will be taken. (more…)

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Scientists, tribes, local governments, appeal to save Grand Canyon from uranium mining

January 2, 2012

Pollution from past uranium mining already plagues the Grand Canyon and surrounding region. Proposals for new mining have prompted protests, litigation and proposed legislation. Scientists, tribal and local governments and businesses have voiced opposition. Additional mining threatens to industrialize iconic and regionally sacred wildlands, destroy wildlife habitat and permanently pollute or deplete aquifers feeding Grand Canyon’s biologically rich springs and creeks.

Appeal Challenges Uranium Mine Threatening Grand Canyon, 1 Dec 11, GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz—Conservation groups and American Indian tribes today filed an appeal  in the 9th Circuit Court challenging a lower court ruling that allowed a uranium mine near Grand Canyon National Park to re-open without updating decades-old environmental reviews. The Arizona 1 uranium mine is located near Kanab Creek immediately north of Grand Canyon National Park.

In 2010, conservation groups and tribes sued the Bureau of Land Management for failing to modernize 23-year-old mining plans and environmental reviews prior to allowing Denison Mines to resume uranium mining after the mine was shuttered in 1992. A federal judge in Phoenix this fall sided with the Bureau and the uranium industry saying no new plans or reviews were needed, prompting today’s appeal. (more…)

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protest against uranium transport through Alice Springs

November 28, 2011

Protesters air uranium transport fears, ABC News, 17 Nov 11 The Northern Territory Government has tried to shut down a protest in Alice Springs. People were meeting to protest about the increased uranium that will pass through the town if the South Australian Olympic Dam is expanded.

The protest comes as dam developers BHP Billiton holds its annual general meeting in Melbourne today. Protester Lauren Mellor says she feels people do not know about the extra uranium that will be travelling through the town.

“We’re protesting here today for the specific reason of the transport risks to people who are along this rail line that the radioactive ore will be carried on up to Darwin,” she said.”So here in Alice Springs we’re at the intersection where this radioactive ore, two trains a day will be coming through our town and putting the lives of people here at risk and also the environment in Alice Springs.” http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-11-17/protesters-air-uranium-transport-fears/3677478

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Growing and determined opposition to Wiluna uranum mining project

November 4, 2011

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.”

Posted in opposition to u-mining, Toro Energy | 2 Comments »

SUBMISSION TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE Re: Roxby Downs (Indenture Ratification) (Amendment of Indenture) Amendment Bill 2011

November 4, 2011

SUBMISSION TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE. NECTARIA CALAN, Friends of the Earth Adelaidc  /- Conservation Council of SA
Level 1, 157 Franklin Street, Adelaide SA 5000 Contact: blackwallaby@gmail.com, 26 October 2011

Re: Roxby Downs (Indenture Ratification) (Amendment of Indenture) Amendment Bill 2011

I ask the Committee to revisit the issue of consultation, in regards to the approval of the Olympic Dam
expansion as set out in Clause 11(3) which ratifies and approves the amendments to the Indenture.

There has not been a genuine process of consultation with either the Kokatha or Arabunna peoples, Native
Title claimants or otherwise, or the wider Australian public, both in regards to the establishment of the
Olympic Dam mine by Western Mining Corporation and the process leading to the recent approval of the
Olympic Dam expansion. (more…)

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Marathon anti uranium march reaches Perth

November 4, 2011

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 hearthe 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/

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Keep moratorium on uranium mining, say 70 Virginia organisations

November 4, 2011

“They want good quality jobs and they see a uranium mine as a deterrent to economic development,”

The Sierra Club said the NAACP is among 70 organizations and localities that want the ban to remain in place.

NAACP: Keep Va. ban on uranium mining, Canadian Business, By Steve Szkotak  October 31, 2011 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The state chapter of the NAACP wants Virginia to keep intact a 30-year ban on uranium mining, stating that opening one of the world’s largest known deposits of the radioactive ore is not worth the environmental risk. (more…)

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Expanded uranium mine at Roxby Downs opposed by Aborigines and conservationists

October 16, 2011

Conservation and Aboriginal groups upset about BHP mine expansion, ABC Rural News, By Kendall Jackson, 11/10/2011  One of the world’s most significant mine expansions is another step closer to construction in South Australia, but there’s still plenty of opposition to it………..the environmental approval has locals fearing the expansion, especially the construction of a desalination plant in upper Spencer Gulf.

Whyalla diver Tony Bramley fears any change in salinity levels in the gulf could be fatal to the giant Australian cuttlefish, which aggregate in the area to breed each year.

“We just don’t know too much about what happens underwater,” he said.
“Even though this area is more studied than anywhere else in the state, we’ve got to the point now where we realise just how much we don’t know.”

A spokesman for the Arabunna people says the environmental approval is a sad day for Aboriginal people in the region.

Aboriginal elder Kevin Buzzacott says the site holds historical significance and the Aboriginal community has been left out of the consultation process.
“We don’t want that big great gaping hole in the desert, we just don’t want it,” he said.

“We never wanted Olympic Dam in the first place because it’s a sacred site and we’re trying to protect our areas.”
The Conservation Council in South Australia is concerned the company hasn’t done enough to reduce its carbon footprint, with the expansion of the Olympic Dam mine.

The council says the project will increase the state’s energy demand by about 40 per cent.
Julia Winefield, from the council, says BHP Billiton has only committed to less than 7 per cent of the expanded mine using renewable energy.

“We think for a company that has recorded $23 billion worth of profits in the last financial year they can probably afford to do a bit better than that,” she said. “We think they have a moral and social responsibility to do a lot better than that.”

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