$4.5 Billion for ‘clean energy’

The Rudd Government has revealed plans to invest $4.5 billion to support clean energy, made up of $2.4 billion for new coal technologies, $1.6 billion in solar technologies, and $465 million to establish a new organisation called ‘Renewables Australia’.
The $1.6 billion anted-up for solar represents a ten-fold increase in government funding. This new ‘Solar Flagship Program’ plans to have four new solar plants feeding the national grid, with a total capacity of 1000 MW (equal to one of Australia’s 30 giant coal-fired plants). In a joint media release with Martin Ferguson and Climate Change Minister Wong, Environment Minister Peter Garrett claimed that this ‘ambitious’ target will be three times the size of any solar project currently operating anywhere in the world. But the full capacity will not be on-line until 2017, by which time the world’s solar leaders (USA and Spain notably) are expected to have installed as much as 20 000 MW of solar plant. In fact in the same week that the government announced it’s plans, the Californian giant BrightSource Energy signed contracts to complete 14 plants generating a total of 2600 MW over the next four years while Spain plans to have another 730 MW on line by 2010, according to an article on RenewableEnergyWorld.com.
Mark Diesendorf from the University of NSW told ABC Radio National on May 13: “The kind of resources that are being directed to renewable energy here are the resources that you give if you only want to keep doing one-off demonstration projects. What renewable energy needs now is the incentives to expand the market on an on-going basis to build commercial solar power stations and large scale commercial wind farms.”
Minister Garrett claims “The Government’s commitment to establish the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute will ensure that Australia continues to be a world leader in the development of low emissions coal technology.” But many people think the government is putting it’s money into unproven technologies rather than into renewables, in a desperate attempt to green-wash Australia’s position as the world’s biggest coal exporter.

Coal exploration off coast

Alarm bells have been ringing in the conservation movement since late last year when East Coast Minerals (ECM) applied for licenses to explore 6000 square kilometres of ocean for coal reserves close to the NSW coast between Wollongong and Newcastle. The company is waiting for federal government approval with a decision expected later this year.
ECM proposes to use the underground coal gasification (UCG) process, an untested “green” technology based on controlled burning of coal in the underground seam. Air is forced down a pipe into the coal bed where it combines with ignited coal to produce syngas which is returned to the surface via a second pipe. Syngas – 12 per cent hydrogen, 30 per cent carbon monoxide and 50 per cent nitrogen – will then be used to create diesel fuel, according to ECM managing director Richard Sealey. He said NSW Government estimates indicate there are about 28 billion tonnes of coal in the exploration zone.
Anti-whaling organisation Sea Shepherd member Vanessa Pearce said work prior to extraction of Syngas creates problems for whales and dolphins because of the use of seismic and sonic exploration techniques. “There have been cases of whale beachings associated with offshore explorations for oil and gas,” she said. “The continental shelf off Australia’s east coast is a major migratory route for humpback whales, the mainstay of the valuable and growing whale watching industry.” Pearce said the drilling rigs would be clearly visible from the coast, and major industrial sites with potential for pollution, traffic and safety issues would have to be built at every point where the pipelines meet the shore. “Most of the adjacent coastal area is either developed or national park so it’s hard to know where the output from the offshore rigs will come ashore,” she said.
The Green’s recent submission to the NSW Department of Primary Industries argues that at a time of peak oil and climate change, NSW should be looking to renewable sources of energy rather than continuing its dependence on coal. And according to website ‘theoildrum.com’, exploration of coal reserves is becoming frantic as available oil diminishes. At the same time, heavily polluting conventional coal-fired electricity plants are becoming unfeasible worldwide as environmental regulations tighten.
The Economist magazine reported that new ‘clean air’ rules in the USA have led to cancellation of dozens of coal-fired plants – in Nevada a $5 billion 1500 MW plant was scrapped and the company is now investing in solar and wind generation. But more than 500 new coal-fired plants are planned to go online in China by 2012.

Footage returned to whaling activists

The Australian Federal Police has given back 70 hours of Animal Planet video footage confiscated when the Sea Shepherd’s Steve Irwin docked in Hobart in February.
The police action had been in response to Japan’s complaints to the Australian Government that the Steve Irwin was guilty of piracy on the high seas for blocking the actions of the whaling fleet.
A Sea Shepherd Australia spokesman said the videos had been returned and Animal Planet will be showing Whale Wars II in late May.
“There are no warrants or restraints on the ship or any of the crew,” he said. “No details are available on what the AFP is doing right now, but Captain Paul Watson is prepared to return to Australia to face any charges that may yet be laid. He is currently in North America trying to stop the annual slaughter of fur seals in the Canadian Arctic.”
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society noted on its website that Japan had resumed whale meat imports: “Norway and Iceland are unlawfully shipping Fin and Minke whale meat to Japan, and Japan is making illegal purchases of this meat. In response to this, other nations are saying nothing or sending mild letters of protest. Enforcement is non-existent. This is the first time since 1988 that whale meat has been traded.”
Japanese officials authorised the import of 5.6 tonnes of Minke whale from Norway, but tests showed the meat contained high levels of mercury. Officials said only cooked whale meat could be sold.
Meanwhile, Environment Minister Peter Garrett told the newly-formed Southern Ocean Non-Lethal Research Partnership (SORP) in Sydney last week it was necessary to develop a scientific approach “that doesn’t involve killing whales”.
SORP includes representatives from the International Whaling Commission, Argentina, Chile, France, Germany, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States.
Dr Natalie Kelly from the CSIRO presented the meeting with new data on Minke whale distribution in the Southern Ocean, after the first-ever Australian aerial whale survey in December.
“New equipment installed in our aircraft helps detect whales hidden by the ice, opening the way for a really comprehensive count of Minke whales in Antarctic waters,” she said.
Dr Nick Gales of the Australian Marine Mammal Centre said ship-based surveys in the Southern Ocean had found a decline in Minke whale populations over the past two decades. He said the Japanese whale hunt in the Southern Ocean mainly targeted Minke whales.

Sequestration

The Cold Equations

click here for site

It’s All Right Ma, I’m Only Dyin’

Steve Irwin raid: AFP acts as tool of the Japanese Government

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided the Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin, when it docked in Hobart on the 21st February.
The ship was met by a party of AFP officers who boarded the ship with a search warrant. Steve Irwin Captain Paul Watson said that among the material seized was hundreds of hours of video for the Animal Planet series Whale Wars, which he said captured some of the most dramatic whale-killing scenes ever seen.
The AFP warrant authorized the seizing of all edited and raw video footage, all edited and raw audio recordings, all still photographs, producer’s notes, interview transcripts, production meeting minutes, post production meeting minutes as well as the ship’s log books, global positioning system records, automatic radar plotting aid, purchase records, receipts, financial transaction records, voyage information and navigational plotted charts.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said the Australian Federal Police received a referral from the Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry on February 17. Japanese authorities complained to the Australian Embassy in Tokyo as well as through the Japanese Embassy in Canberra. The official complaint stemmed from the director-general of the Japanese fishing agency. He declined to show the AFP search warrant on grounds that the investigation was continuing, but he confirmed allegations were made by the Japanese that the Steve Irwin crew may have endangered safe navigation of theNisshin Maru No 3 by deploying a propeller entanglement system between February 2 and 5. Mr Watson allegedly endangered safe navigation of the same Japanese vessel by forcing a deliberate collision.
Police confiscated the ship’s logbook and video footage The crew had cooperated fully and the material taken from the vessel was now being reviewed, Mr Keelty said.
The Captain of the Steve Irwin, Paul Watson stated “Japan does not wish to see the airing of the second season of Whale Wars and is putting as much diplomatic pressure on Australia as they possibly can to prevent further exposure of their illegal whaling operations in the Southern Ocean.”
“I wish that the Australian government would apply the same “diplomatic” pressure on Japan to end their illegal whaling operations. “The Rudd government was elected on a promise to take the Japanese whaling industry to court for their illegal whaling activities. Now they seem to be more interested in taking Sea Shepherd to court for our efforts to intervene against illegal whaling operations.”
Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has demanded the federal government explain why the AFP undertook the raid. “On the face of it, this is outrageous behaviour by the Australian government to secure favour from the Japanese authorities,” Senator Brown said. “And if it wasn’t, what on earth is the Australian Federal Police up to?. It is an extraordinary raid that defies the imagination.” Senator Brown said he could think of no other explanation for why the ship was raided other than to take footage from the Animal Planet team who were on the boat.
“If this action was taken at the behest of the Japanese authorities it will outrage many Australians. The Australian Federal Police can expect detailed questioning from the Greens at Senate Estimates this coming week.”
The federal attorney-general would need to approve any prosecution arising from a raid on the Steve Irwin in Hobart, a Senate committee has been told. “We haven’t reached the stage of seeking … consent,” Bill Campbell, a senior departmental official told a Senate committee hearing on Monday.
The incident followed violent clashes between the Steve Irwin and Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean since November. Any prosecution would open an international can of worms, the hearing was told. The whaling vessels were Japanese-flagged while the Steve Irwin was flagged in the Netherlands with an international crew. Mr Watson was a Canadian and the alleged offences occurred in international waters. Australia is a signatory to the international convention on safe navigation at sea. “Each state party to the convention is obliged to take jurisdiction over offences where a possible offender is present in its territory,” according to an Australian Government official.
Watson called off his pursuit of the whalers earlier this month, saying the escalating conflict was becoming too dangerous and could result in death. Japan kills whales using a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling that allows “lethal research” on the mammals, and makes no secret of the fact that the animals’ meat is then served as food.
“I wish that the Australian government would apply the same “diplomatic” pressure on Japan to end their illegal whaling operations,” he said “The Rudd government was elected on a promise to take the Japanese whaling industry to court for their illegal whaling activities. Now they seem to be more interested in taking Sea Shepherd to court for our efforts to intervene against illegal whaling operations.”
He said the recent Animal Planet series Whale Wars was very embarrassing to the Japanese government and the Japanese whaling industry in 2008. Japan does not wish to see the airing of the second season of Whale Wars and is putting as much diplomatic pressure on Australia as they possibly can to prevent further exposure of their illegal whaling operations in the Southern Ocean. “It does indeed look like the Australia Government has given in to pressure from Japan with regards the embarrassment that the first series of Whale Wars caused.”
Captain Paul Watson said he would welcome a trial if it came to that. “We have to start somewhere so it may as well be by taking me to court. Let us get the evidence on the table and although a trial against Sea Shepherd and myself may not allow the introduction of evidence about Japan’s illegal whaling operations, it at least will give us the forum to present our evidence. Let’s see the Australian government bring the Japanese whale killers to Australia to bear witness against Sea Shepherd and Animal Planet and let’s see them appear as witnesses for the government of Australia that professes to be against whaling.”
“It’s a very one-sided affair,” continued Captain Watson. “The Japanese ships have not been boarded by the Australian Federal Police; they have not had their video and navigational data confiscated. They have not been questioned nor will they be, yet they violently attacked my ship and crew in the Southern Ocean. Does the law only go to bat for those who destroy nature’s creation? Are we about to see the ultimate kangaroo court where Sea Shepherd will be legally crucified because the Australian government has not lived up to their promise of taking the whale killers to court? The truth is that we would not have to be in the Southern Ocean defending the whales if the governments of the world would simply enforce the international conservation treaties they once so proudly signed into law. Without enforcement there is no law – just ecological anarchy.”
Captain Watson said he had no complaints about the Australian Federal Police – “They were very professional and polite and they were doing their job in carrying out the orders of the government.”
At least the people of Tasmania are behind Sea Shepherd even if the Australian Government are toeing the Japanese line. If it’s a choice between the support of the government and the support of the people, Watson is happy that Sea Shepherd is enjoying the support of the people.
“From the Australian government we are getting criticism and police raids,” said Captain Watson. “But from the Australian people we are getting a wonderful welcome.”
Some 2,000 people visited and toured the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin on Saturday, February 21st at MacQuarie Dock in Hobart. “It’s good to be home and it’s gratifying to see and hear what people are saying to us and how they appreciate what we are doing,” said crew member Andrew Perry of Hobart.
Andrew was married by Captain Watson to Molly Kendall of Adelaide, South Australia during the Antarctic campaign. The Green Party of Australia sent a gift basket to the happy couple. Hobart bars were offering free drinks to Sea Shepherd crew and members of the public have delivered contributions of supplies and money to the Steve Irwin.
“There is no doubt that Australia is the greatest whale loving nation on Earth,” said Swedish 1st Officer Peter Hammarstedt. “This country rocks.”
The Steve Irwin will remain in Hobart for a month before moving to Melbourne. This week Captain Paul Watson will be speaking at the University of Tasmania, attending a photo exhibit about Tasmanian forests by Green Party leader Senator Bob Brown and will speak to forest activists on the front lines of the battle to save Tasmania’s old growth trees.
“These two issues, whales and trees are closely related more than people know,” said Captain Watson. “Twenty percent of Japan’s paper supply originates in Tasmania. It’s a trade-off. Australia wants to continue destroying old growth forests in Tasmania to sell to the Japanese therefore the government is willing to do the bidding of the Australian whaling industry. In return the Japanese want to kill endangered whales and are threatening trade retaliation against Australia. It seems to me that Japan needs Australia more than Australia needs Japan, but politicians tend to be afraid of anything that upsets the economic apple cart so the whales are being sacrificed so that the destruction of the forests can continue.”
When the Japanese see Australia’s Environment Minister Peter Garrett supporting the destruction of the forests, endorsing uranium mines, dredging Port Phillips bay and killing dolphins, slaughtering kangaroos and allowing shark finning, they can smile and say, ‘he’s one of us’.
“If Peter Garrett is willing to crucify me to appease the Japanese whaling industry then so be it,” said Captain Watson. “I’d rather be tossed into a cell for life than to betray my love for the diversity of life on this wonderful planet.”
Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson stated in November 2008 in reply to Garrett’s allegations of extremism:
“There is nothing more insincere than a politician just before an election. They will fire promises from the hip with a veneer of passion and resolve that is peeled quickly away after the votes are counted. Australian Environmental Minister Peter Garrett is a case in point. When Mr. Garrett was an activist musician with Midnight Oil he was a man to be proud of, a person to be deeply admired for his dedication to the cause of conservation. I once stood with him on the logging roads of the Clayquot Valley on Canada’s Vancouver Island to oppose clear-cutting. Midnight Oil performed a concert in 1993 in the middle of a logging road. Damn but we loved them and we loved Peter Garrett. He was the man!
In November 2007, I advised all of my Australian supporters and friends to vote for Labor because according to Mr. Garrett, a Rudd government would actually do something to protect whales from illegal Japanese whaling activities in the Southern Oceans Whale Sanctuary. Now so many them feel betrayed by Mr. Garrett after a year of anti-environmental stands ranging from being pro-dredging of Port Phillip Bay, to supporting logging and new pulp mills in Tasmania, to condemning kangaroos, to appeasing the Japanese whalers. How was I to know in November 2007 that Peter Garrett had been turned to the service of the darkside? He seemed like the knight-errant of modern Australian politics, a man of integrity and courage ready to fight for justice and the planet.
What we have now is the same old, same old. Just another reined in, subservient pawn in a political machine, who does what he is told and seeks to flatter and favour his political handlers instead of the people who elected him.”
The following statement was issued by Peter Garrett when he was Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Heritage on September 18 2007:
The Australian Government must stand up and stop Japanese whaling
A Rudd Labor Government would not stand in the way of Humane Society International’s (HSI) legal challenge in the Federal Court to request an injunction to stop the Japanese from killing whales within the Australian Whale Sanctuary.
Labor has a clear policy position that we will enforce Australian law banning the slaughter of whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary. Therefore, Labor would enforce any injunction the courts decides to grant against Japanese whalers. I wish to send a powerful and clear message to the Australian public that Labor believes in enforcing Australian law. This is the right and obvious thing to do. The Howard Government has made a mockery of our laws by refusing to enforce the Whale Sanctuary protections, and it’s just not good enough, frankly. There is an ocean of clear water between the Howard Government and Labor on the issue of whaling. Labor has the guts to stand up to the Japanese whalers – the Howard Government will do no such thing. Mr Turnbull is all talk and no action. All pretty pictures of whales in his election material and no results. We expect the Government will not show support for this hearing. You wouldn’t see such timidity from a Labor Government.
If elected, Rudd Labor will not stand in the way of enforcing Australian law banning the slaughter of whales in the Australian Whale Sanctuary.

Captain Watson noted: “It’s now hard to believe that this man Peter Garrett made this statement. When Senator Ian Campbell was Environment Minister he did much more than Mr. Garrett and he actually gave assistance to us in our efforts to protect the whales. All that has changed as the Rudd government and Peter Garrett use passive-aggressive tactics to hurt the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society financially and to force us to not utilise Australia as a base. This week Australia and Japan announced that they would be seeking a “diplomatic solution.” Translated this means more talk and little or no action.
It is very interesting to hear that Australia is referring to Sea Shepherd actions as illegal when there is no specification as to just what illegal action Sea Shepherd is allegedly doing. The situation is clear. Japanese whalers are targeting endangered whales in an established whale sanctuary in violation of a global commercial whaling moratorium and in contempt of an Australian Federal Court ruling prohibiting Japanese whaling in the Australian Antarctic Economic Exclusion zone. The Rudd Garrett government not only has failed to stand up for the whales, they have now decided to weaken and harass the only group in the world that is actually saving the lives of whales in the Southern Ocean.
A Japanese foreign ministry official confirmed that both countries were employing diplomacy in the row. He also affirmed that Foreign Minister Smith had sought to distance the Australian government from militant environmentalists who have vowed to stop the Japanese hunt by force. Smith “stressed that the Australian government is making a clear distinction from the illegal action taken by anti-whaling groups,” the official said.
Captain Watson continued “Recently a spokesman for Mr. Garrett told the media that Sea Shepherd was a group of extremists. But the question must be asked. What is extreme about upholding international conservation law against illegal whaling activities? What is extreme about doing so without causing physical injuries to the whalers? What is extreme about doing the job that the government of Australia should be doing but clearly does not wish to do? It is frustrating beyond measure to struggle to raise the funds to voyage to the Southern Ocean while Greenpeace collects tens of millions of dollars to supposedly do the same thing and then announces two weeks before the Japanese fleet is scheduled to depart that they will not be doing what they were collecting the money to do. It is frustrating to have supported a politician based on promises he has refused to deliver and to suffer the insult upon injury of having this same politician repay our support of him with hostility and harassment. At least Mr Garrett has had a lesson in real politic this last year. He has discovered that talk really is cheap and that his real masters are in Tokyo. He has discovered that the midnight oil he is now burning is whale oil and the lives of the whales are secondary to the business of business.

Busting the myth of carbon capture

Last November the Rudd Government announced a $100 million Global Institute grant to speed up the development of carbon capture and storage technology, bringing its spending commitment to $150 million on this project.
But while energy policymakers worldwide agree carbon dioxide emissions need to be reduced drastically to prevent catastrophic climate change, some experts question the effectiveness of carbon capture and storage (CCS) to help with this problem. They also question whether it will be safe.
Phil Freedman of the Australian Conservation Foundation is among those calling for Australia to cut emissions by at least 30 per cent from 1990 levels by 2020. Freedman said he was open-minded about CCS, but that it was up to the coal industry, not the taxpayer, to prove that it works and is safe.
Greens Senator Catherine Milne said that, like storage of nuclear waste, the process posed an unknown danger to future generations, with the possibility that carbon storage reservoirs could eventually leak.
“CO2 reservoirs will need to be monitored into the far future,” Senator Milne said.
CO2 is toxic. Concentrations of 5 per cent are harmful to animals and people, causing dizziness and heart disease: the air normally contains less than 0.004 per cent.
The biggest source of CO2 emissions in Australia are coal-fired power stations. Australia has 24 major power stations that supply 80 per cent of our electricity, and burn more than 250,000 tonnes of coal daily. Burning a tonne of coal creates 1.5 tonnes of CO2, so every day an enormous volume is ejected into the atmosphere – 20 million cubic metres of gas, which has to be compressed into 200 megalitres of liquid, or about the capacity of 100 Olympic pools. 365 days a year. So far, the techniques for separating CO2 from the exhaust gas have only been tested in very small-scale pilot projects.
After capture and compression, the CO2 would be transferred to a storage area. Shipping the waste by rail or sea will be expensive as liquid CO2 needs to be stored in heavy pressure vessels. In some places CO2 pipelines may be suitable, but they are a largly unproven technology and need massive investment of capital and manpower.
There are concerns that an accident while transporting the waste could have serious consequences. Also there are few suitable sequestration sites in NSW, which is by far the biggest electricity generating state.
At the storage site the waste is forced through piping to an underground depth of 1 kilometre where it is apparantly expected to stay for ever as a stable liquid.
And it won’t be cheap; according to Dr Peter Cook of CO2/CRC, a carbon storage start-up company financed by Rudd’s federal money, the extra cost of capturing CO2 from a power station may range between $30 and $45 per MWh (megawatt hour) generated. This could effectively double generation costs, which are now at $35 per MWh.
Dr Mark Diesendorf, of the Centre for Energy Research and Policy Analysis at the University of NSW, says solar and wind technologies are the solution.
He said we have an ideal environment for solar electricity generation, which is safe and low-impact technology. Research worldwide is focusing on increasing energy yields per square metre, and costs are expected to fall rapidly once production plants come online. “We should be investing in solar. It is a reliable, non-polluting energy source,” Dr Diesendorf said. “Despite an excellent pre-election policy statement on renewable energy, there has been no investment in renewable energy research and development by this government.” he explained.

CO2 geo-sequestration – is it realistic?

Here is a mental picture for you;

You know those trains that you see in Hunter valley when on the high road to Queensland – long trains of graded coal going to the giant power-stations that supply most of the electricity in NSW?

Flash forward a few years;

But what’s this coming the other way! even longer trains carrying compressed CO2 cylinders – because liquid CO2 has a lower density than coal, and burning 1 tonne of coal yields 1.5 tonne CO2, a 50% increase in weight.

CO2 is technically difficult to extract from the fast, super-hot flue gas in the cooling stack – CO2 represents only 15% of the total exhaust volume from the process, the rest being super-hot N2, superheated steam and some noxious products caused by the combustion.

Assuming this extraction becomes possible the sequestered CO2 has to be compressed and transferred to high pressure cylinders, loaded onto transport, and taken somewhere suitable. The CO2 then needs to be forced deep into the ground by high pressure pumps into theoretically impermeable strata where it will hopefully remain until it is geologically fixed or goes through the subduction meatgrinder. Both are very long processes.

Even if all this is achivable, suppose that the cost of disposal of all effluent streams becomes as much as or more than the cost of getting the coal out of the ground and getting it to the power station – there won’t be many normal businesses in the coal industry able to adjust to this or prevent the collapse of the industry and the huge increase in price of consumer and business energy as it’s costs are passed downstream.

So why was there $50 million in the fed budget to research ‘clean coal’? They could better spend the money on solar research and solar water heating and environmental building design.

My biggest concern with this fake ticket item is that it will stall any other research, as the Profs, Boffins and Mandarins are sucked off into the long Australian waste of time.

There have been signicant improvements in theoretically attainable yield from solar energy, with new, high yield technologies in the development stage overseas. Why arent we involved in this? Partly because the feds have wasted fifty million dollars to suck up to the coal industry, some people say.

And last time we looked at the ABS figures, we had Australia exporting a big percentage of the world’s traded coal in anthracite and other high-carbon grades, mostly used in smelting and other activities where C02 is effectively unrecoverable. Compare this with the domestic production of far smaller amounts of CO2 for generating local electricity.

Which activity by Australia will achieve the greatest cut in world greenhouse gas emission – reducing exports of coal, or geosequestration of local waste CO2?

Footnote From The Economist, July 24

In a report on July 4th that Mr Rudd commissioned, Ross Garnaut, an eminent economist, called for a tougher approach than the prime minister appears to be taking. Without a lower-carbon economy, Mr Garnaut said, the Great Barrier Reef and other Australian “heartlands” would change “beyond recognition”.

Yet Australia’s dependence on coal and other mineral exports makes the government wary. Thanks to demand from Asia, coal exports are expected to grow by one-third over the next five years. Critics accuse Australia of double standards: curbing emissions at home, yet exporting carbon fuel to less strict countries.

Eccles says “tough-love double standards”

Toxicity Study to Pop Nanobubble?

26 Jun 2008

The fact that worldwide production of items using nanotechnology has quadrupled in the past two years highlights the profitability of these new techniques.  Now read on….

(info courtesy of globalspec.com)

For years now, various groups have been making ominous noises about the health and environmental risks of nanotechnology. Will recent studies linking carbon nanotubes and buckyballs to cancer risks start a public backlash against nanotech?
The dialogue about the possible health risks of nanotechnology has been ongoing. Now, a new study indicates that long, narrow carbon nanotubes (CNTs) behave like asbestos fibers in mice, mimicking the inflammation effects. This means that the CNTs could potentially trigger mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer that can take 30 or more years to develop. Meanwhile, computer simulations show that buckyballs dissolve in cell membranes and pass through to reform on the other side, which may also hold health implications. Could these possible health risks change the way companies develops or use nanotechnology?

(see earlier Eccles posts on this subject – ed.)

Light Rail In Sydney – Update

While the state government proceeds inexorably to implement its “Metro” system (first train out of the station in 2017) councils in Sydney’s inner west are angry. Following the statement on May 28 by the Leichhardt Council in support of converting the disused freight line from Rozelle to Dulwich Hill to commuter transport, came a similar initiative on June 9 from Ashfield Council, introduced by Monica Wangmann, an independent councilor.

The proposed light rail would be an extension of the existing privately owned and operated Metro Line which runs from Central Station through Pyrmont to Lilyfield. The tracks continue from Lilyfield to the railway junction at Dulwich Hill.

Gavin Gatenby, a spokesman for the pressure group Ecotransit said it would be an inexpensive exercise to convert the line to accommodate light rail. The 10 kilometers of track would service a huge number of people who have less access to public transport than the guidelines allow. He also pointed out that the entire work of extending the service would cost considerably less than the money earmarked in the last budget for a feasibility study of the unpopular proposed M4 motorway extension through the inner west.

Another key player is the Greenways for Sydney group who were responsible for initiating the footpath and bicycle way from Cooks River to Marrickville. They would like to see a continuation of this through the rail corridor and into Rozelle and Balmain.

Ms Wangmann said this densely populated part of Sydney would benefit enormously from this initiative. It would reduce the impact of commuter traffic on suburban areas, provide a tourism boom to the inner west, and if the Greenways concept was also implemented, a safe and speedy bike track to the city. As well as the light rail and a cycleway the Greenway proposal includes incorporating existing parks and the creation of new parks along the route. The inner west has the lowest ratio of public space in the Sydney metropolitan area and any improvement in amenity would be of great benefit to all.

Transport Minister Watkins is on record as saying in late 2006 that he had not ruled out light rail as a solution for Sydney city’s transport problems, but that major questions remain over its suitability. This was in response to the publication in the SMH of a study the government commissioned in 2004, predicting traffic chaos in Sydney’s CBD unless the Government switches from buses to trams.

According to Gavin the current roads-based ideology is becoming obsolete because of the escalating cost of fuel and the urgent need to curtail CO2 production. Oil production worldwide has peaked and fuel costs will continue to rise quite rapidly. He noted that the last year has seen an increase in public transport commuter numbers in Sydney by 8 per cent which can be directly attributed to the 50 percent rise in fuel prices over the period, and that the Sydney bus and train services are above peak capacity now. He stated it is quite likely there will be massive social disruption with people not being able to afford to drive to work, and an underperforming public transport network unable to help them.

This issue has been raised several times with the state government by Leichhardt, Ashfield and Canada Bay Councils and the NSW Greens several times over the last decade, and each time it has been knocked back. This is because a lobby group called “Friends of Greater Sydney” (FROGS) which is composed of local councils, RTA officials, building and road contractors and various experts in transport planning; FROGS is advocating the use of the Dulwich Hill rail corridor as a route for a South Western motorway feeder, coming off the Western Distributor at Leichhardt.

At its meeting on May 28 the Leichhardt Council unanimously agreed to disassociate itself from the FROGS group and lobby the state government to consider the light rail and Greenways option for the rail corridor. Ashfield followed suit, and other inner west councils including Marrickville and Canterbury intend to address this issue in the coming weeks.

For more information go to the EcoTransit home page at www.ecotransit.org.au and the Greenways home page at www.greenway.org.au. From here you can to email the Premier, Morris Iemma and the Minister of Transport, John Watkins.

Barrick’s Ulcer

West Wyalong, 24 March. Mine Wall Catastrophe

A 100 m high underground wall containing more than 40000 tonnes of orebody collapsed in a spectacular explosion at the Barrick Mine at Lake Cowal, central NSW a week ago. The pit wall collapse caused no death or injury, so Barrick did not need to inform the public.

It was announced by a spokesman for the traditional owners, the Wiradjuri Nation, Neville Williams, who stated “ It is hard to bear the pain of the destruction of our sacred site. Barrick has ignored our demands to protect cultural objects and the ecological significance of the lake.” Concerns have been raised about the stability of the mine and the safety and welfare of the mine workers. This 5 sq km hole in the ground looks like an ulcer on the edge of the perennially dry bed of Lake Cowal.

The size of the mine and its encroachment into the lake can be seen clearly in Google Earth (36.64S ,174.40E). It began operations in 2006 after ten years of controversy, state government indecision and possible corruption, and staunch opposition from the Wiradjuri.

In 2004, Barrick Gold, supported by 20 police forcibly evicted the protest camp which had occupied land next to Lake Cowal for the previous 2 years. The raid was deliberately timed to take place when the camp was practically empty. Five people were arrested, and the camp was packed and dumped 3 km away. Williams said this raid revealed the level of police co-operation with the mining company. Every year the protests result in the harassment and arrests of participants, and reveal the sturdy relationship between the NSW police and Barrack Gold. Wiradjuri cultural items and places have been damaged or destroyed including thousands of stone artifacts, ancient ceremonial areas, marked trees, and traditional camp and tool-making sites. Barrick has reportedly collected more than 10,000 artifacts from the mine area, but has refused to release details.

The lake is also regarded as sacred for the Wiradjuri Nation because, as explained by Williams, a huge Aboriginal massacre occurred there in the late 1800s. “Martial law was enforced on my people, by mountain settlers, when killing Aboriginals wasn’t murder,” he said.

After the 2004 Corroborree and closing of the camp, Barrick began felling scarred trees. “Some of those trees marked the graves of our ancestors” said Williams. He also said the excavation at the open-cut gold mine was drilling into the spirits of the Wiradjuri ancestors. “If I smashed my way into a cathedral, tipped the alter over, pushed the priest out of the way and grabbed the bible and tore a heap of chapters out I would be arrested,” Williams pointed out. “The Government and the mining company have absolutely no regard for our culture or beliefs”

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_of_Indigenous_Australians:

1830s – 1840s Wiradjuri Wars: Clashes between European settlers and Wiradjuri were very violent, particularly around the Murrumbidgee. The loss of fishing grounds and significant sites and the killing of Aboriginal people was retaliated through attacks with spears on cattle and stockmen. In the 1850s there were still corroborees around Mudgee but there were fewer clashes. Known cermeony continued at the Murrumbidgee into the 1890s. European settlement had taken hold and the Aboriginal population was in temporary decline.

Posted by Eccles

Picture courtesy Google Earth

Attached: Blog Posted April 29th, 2004 by Anonymous submitted by raj contact: menken@uymail.com

April 28 – 10 a.m. Barrick Gold, supported by over 20 police with 8 vehicles forcibly evict the protest camp which has occupied land next to Lake Cowal in Central NSW for nearly 2 years now. Under 24 hour surveillance from security and police, the raid was deliberately timed to take place when no Aboriginal elders, environmental lawyers and a minimum number of protesters would be in camp. The 5 inhabitants were arrested and removed under an obscure section of a 103 year old law relating to fence lines. They will fight the charges in nearby West Wyalong on May 27th. Ongoing decelopment by Barrick, originally financed by Saudi arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, makes a mockery of Native Title claims brought by the Mooka and Kalara families, currently before Federal Court. So too, Barrick’s unabated removal and destruction of sacred artefacts. This latest step has made the level of police co-operation with the mining company even more transparent. ‘I feel that the police acted illegally,’ fumes Wiradjuri elder Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams, ‘it’s still Crown land. Whoever ordered the raid jumped the gun. This is ongoing genocide of my people. We are still being denied our religious freedom.’ It s hard to believe that eight years ago Premier Carr vowed to stop the Lake Cowal project. Construction now threatens over 170 species of waterbird and endangers migratory flocks from Europe, Japan and China that will surely mistake cyanide leach pits for natural water bodies, yet both his government and the State Opposition have slipped uncomplainingly into bed with the foreign-owned gold giant. Most disturbing is Barrick s plan to dig a 350 metre deep pit (equal to the height of Ayers Rock) extending into the lake using cyanide to extract gold. ‘The open pit mine using cyanide heat leach methods is an act of continuing genocide against the Wiradjuri people and living culture,’ said activist Janaya Anderson. Construction is expected to commence in earnest within the next month. From Friday April 9 to Monday April 12 “the sacred heartland of the Wiradjuri Nation” played host to a diverse group gathered from all over Eastern Australia, Asia, Europe, America, and the Middle East to appreciate the land’s unique beauty and discuss plans to save it. On Sunday April 11 a peace walk carried burning embers from the Sacred Fire to the gates of the Barrick compound. Buildings were smoked for peace and understanding, while protesters dancing to drum, didjeridoo and activist beats in a corroboree that called out for the land and its people to be respected. Within 10 minutes of walkers reaching the gates, six police vehicles arrived and ignored comments that they were the ones trespassing. After discussing methods for alerting the wider community to the damage caused by Barrick – the cyanide threat to Adelaide’s drinking water, the imminent total destruction of a unique wetlands ecosystem in a land of drought – the group set May 20 as the Lake Cowal National Day of Action. Despite a sustained media gag it s hoped that community protest will create wider awareness about the issue. Since the Corroborree, Barrick have begun felling scarred trees. ‘Some of these trees mark the graves of our ancestors,’ said one concerned activist for Aboriginal sovereignty. Monitoring activity until the Federal Court hands down its decision will be more difficult now that the camp has been forced 3 km down the road from where the Sacred Fire once burned. Protesters have vowed to protect Lake Cowal and will fight till the bitter end. ‘We can t trust the mining company or the police,’ says Wiradjuri Elder Neville ‘Chappy’ Williams. ‘But I m asserting my sovereign right to protect the land.’ Uncle ‘Chappy’ extends an invitation to anybody interested in joining the protest camp. For further information check www.rainforestinfo.org.au or call the camp on 0415 218 131.