Uranium mining and moral obligation
This year, a number of Federal Ministers have encouraged a national debate about nuclear power generation. ALP Shadow Minister for Resources, Martin Ferguson has also been publicly pushing a pro-nuclear line, and wants the ALP to re-think its opposition to uranium mining.

Their argument is that climate change demands we consider all options for ‘clean energy’ production, and that Australia has a responsibility, indeed a moral obligation, to supply uranium to the global energy market. In exporting Australian uranium overseas we’ll be exercising "responsible citizenship in the global community", says Ferguson.

In response, scientists and environmentalists have publicised their own findings, which calculate just how much impact going nuclear would have on climate change.

For example, Dr Jim Green authored the report, ‘No Solution to Climate Change’ available at
www.acfonline.org.au/uploads/res_NukesReportfull.pdf

Read the main excerpts of the report here

Green finds that if nuclear power output were doubled by 2050, it would only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent. Nuclear power is used exclusively for electricity generation, which accounts for only a third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Uranium needs to be transported considerable distances - both to a reactor and away from it as waste - a process that contributes greenhouse gases. In fact, at every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle, greenhouse gasses are produced: mining, uranium enrichment, building and decommissioning of power plants, processing and storing of waste.

In the August-September edition of Arena Magazine, Alan Roberts detailed that as high-grade uranium deposits are depleted, the process of extracting uranium from lower grade ores becomes extremely energy intensive. Uranium, he reminds us, is another exhaustible resource.

And Frank Muller points out that the nuclear power option would lock us into a centralised, Government-regulated model of energy supply, which is dependent on massive capital investments, subsidised by taxpayers. By contrast, a renewable energy system is likely to be diverse and decentralised.

Australia won’t be switching to nuclear energy anytime soon; this debate is about softening public attitudes to uranium mining and the export of Australian uranium to growing energy markets in Asia.

Negotiations are underway for a lucrative export deal with China, with assurances that China, which is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will comply with stringent safeguards. However, as former senior Australian diplomat Richard Broinowski argues: "If China gets our uranium, they can divert their own stuff into weapons and use ours for power." Comments by Chinese Major General Zhu Chenghu in July did nothing to ease anxieties about the implications of exporting uranium to China. Zhu Chenghu said that Beijing could use nuclear weapons to destroy "hundreds" of American cities if the US intervened in a war over Taiwan.

China plans to build up to 30 new nuclear reactors in the next 15 years. Perhaps wondering how we were going to fill the order, Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane seized control of the Northern Territory’s uranium supplies in August, despite Clare Martin’s (ALP) landslide re-election as Chief Minister in June, with a ‘no new mines’ policy.

The territory currently has one operational uranium mine, Ranger (Energy Resources of Australia, majority owned by Rio Tinto) in Kakadu National Park. The Mirrar people, severely impacted upon by Ranger, have a right of veto on further development of the Jabiluka deposit, also in Kakadu.

Since Macfarlane declared the Territory "open for business", exploration and speculation companies have mushroomed, particularly in central Australia. There’s also talk of re-opening Rum Jungle, near Katherine.

Meanwhile in South Australia, BHP Billiton is moving on plans for a five billion dollar expansion of its newly acquired Olympic Dam/Roxby Downs mine, which they plan to turn into the world’s biggest uranium mine. The expansion proposal has BHP Billiton increasing its water extraction from the Great Artesian Basin five-fold. BHP Billiton wants an additional 120 million litres of GAB water daily - free of charge - in addition to the current daily extraction of 32 million litres, which is already threatening the region’s fragile mound springs.

The Federal Government and the Minerals Council of Australia is running an aggressive campaign to pressure WA Premier Geoff Gallop and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie to turn around their anti-nuclear policies. The good news is that the recent state ALP Conference in South Australia unanimously endorsed a motion, which read: "Labor continues to be opposed to the establishment of any new uranium mines and any expansion into the enrichment process." This is significant, considering South Australia hosts two of the nation’s three existing mines – Olympic Dam and Beverley (General Atomics).

It’s crucial that the ALP reaffirm its moral opposition to uranium mining.

Email your Federal ALP member reminding him or her that Australia has indeed a moral obligation to exercise "responsible citizenship in the global community" as Martin Ferguson says, and we can best realise this commitment by keeping uranium in the ground.

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ACTION ALERT
NSW Mining Act Amendments

Proposed amendments to the NSW Mining Act 1992, will greatly improve the regulation of mining activities in the state. The changes will significantly strengthen statutory requirements addressing environmental impacts, more in line with standards in other industries.

A number of new mines however are close to approval, including the large Wilpinjong open cut coal mine near Mudgee. These mines will avoid a tougher regulatory environment if amendments are not passed this year.

Ken Holland from the Department has told a meeting with the Central West Conservation Alliance that the amendments didn't have a high priority and would probably be left to Parliamentary sessions next year. He also indicated that industry was supportive so the expectation is, for a relatively smooth ride.

To ensure that new mines in NSW comply with the new amendments - write a letter requesting that the amendments to Mining Act 1992, be put to the Spring Session of Parliament, as a matter of urgency.
Premier Morris Iemma
Parliament House
Macquarie St
Sydney NSW 2000

Phone (02) 9228 5239
Fax (02) 9228 3934

To E-mail click here:
To: Premier Morris Iemma
Cc to:
Hon Bob Debus, Minister for Environment
Hon Ian McDonald, Minister for Primary Industries
Hon Frank Sartor, Minister for Planning

The NSW Environment Defenders Office has prepared a detailed submission on the amendments, for further information go to: www.edo.org.au/edonsw/site/pdf/mining050907.pdf

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Feeding the beast is no way to avoid chaos
This article first appeared in the Newcastle Herald and is written by Geoff Evans, MPI Board member.

BHP Billiton recently forecast the building of a new coal loader that will lock the Hunter Region further into coal dependency. This will happen at the cost of the Hunter's air, water, biodiversity and community well-being, as more and larger open-cut coal-mines are dug to feed the beast.

Hunter coal exports contribute significantly to harmful climate change. Scientists predict that disasters, like Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans and droughts in Australia, will be more frequent and even more serious, if climate change is not checked. Surely, this is not the road we ought to go down further.

An alternative is revealed by Macquarie Generation's proposal for a wind farm to be built in the Liverpool Ranges (The Herald, 30/8/05), enough to provide clean renewable power for 4000 households. When it comes to both clean energy and job creation, small is beautiful. Studies from Canada show that more new jobs are being created in manufacturing and installing renewable energy technology, and refitting houses, offices and factories for energy efficiency, than in fossil-fuel-based industries. The investment company Babcock and Brown is buying up wind and renewable companies, such as Pacific Hydro, part of $5 billion it is investing in wind energy around the world (AFR, 13/08/05).

Australia's first wind-blade factory opened in Victoria this month, producing blades not only for Australia, but also for export overseas. Such a facility, or one producing solar panels, could be built in the Hunter. The markets are out there. China has pledged to increase its renewable energy production from under 1 per cent to about 10 per cent by 2010, with investment of billions of dollars each year for the next decade.

The Federal Government touted its Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 as "a long-term greenhouse response". The current Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET) is 2 per cent. Increasing this to 10 per cent by 2010, combined with current renewable generation, would mean that renewable energy could meet 20 per cent of Australia's electricity generation by 2010. The Hunter could lead the way.

This would provide a base for an internationally competitive local renewable energy industry. The Howard Government was lobbied fiercely by the fossil-fuel industry, including those who have dug up huge slabs of the Hunter while halving coal jobs over the last decade, to freeze MRET at 2 per cent. The Government obliged, and continues to pump hundreds of millions of dollars each year researching spurious coal-burning technologies.

Macquarie Generation's wind-farm project is an important step in the right direction. It is a sign that with, long-term planning and socially responsible investment, a clean future for the Hunter and an end to climate chaos is possible.

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Art Exhibition – Mining on Sacred Ground
MPI is forming a working group to assist in coordinating an Indigenous Arts Project, providing a voice to Indigenous communities affected by mining of their sacred sites. An initial exhibition of artworks will be held at the Boomalli Aboriginal Co-operative in Leichhardt, Sydney for two weeks in April 2006. The exhibition will feature stories from the Wiradjuri and Yuwaalaraay nations in NSW.

Currently, Wiradjuri people are threatened by a proposed gold mine at their sacred site Lake Cowal (Condobolin) while the Yuwaalaraay people at Lightning Ridge are faced with the extension of opal mining to sacred burial grounds and dreaming tracks. Similar issues also face Indigenous communities in other states.

The project has involved the training of Indigenous artists and will include documentation of their stories in film, photography and the written word.

A proposed national touring exhibition of Indigenous artists from areas including Warburton, Pilbara (WA) and Yirrkala (NT) is in the first stages of planning. We are looking for people who have a strong interest or knowledge of these issues to volunteer. In particular, we are looking for people in states other than NSW to liaise with artists and communities, fundraise and secure exhibition venues.
Contact: Clare Walton
Mobile: 04222 02869 / Office: 9557 9019
arts@mpi.org.au

Mineral Policy Institute
Memberships and Donations:
Unlike the mining companies, whose behaviour we seek to change, we reply on donations and support from the public.
To make a tax-deductible one off donation
Go to: www.mpi.org.au/support

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