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Nuclear “community consultations” around SA

July 25, 2016

The next step in the international nuclear waste dump campaign from the government is “community consultation” and they are visiting 100 sites around SA. People’s opinions will be used to gauge whether there is community consent or not, so its important to go along.

The places they are visiting are listed alphabetically at the link below.

Adelaide locations
29/7-31/7 Rundle Mall
14/9-17/9 Colonnades
1/8 State Library Static Display
5/8-7/8 Adelaide Showgrounds Science Alive
10/8-13/8 Marion (Westfield)
22/8 State Library
24/8 West Beach Harbor Town
1/9 Edwardstown Castle Plaza
2/9 Norwood Town Hall
5/9-9/9 Royal Adelaide Show
21/9-24/9 Smithfield Munno Para Shopping Centre
28/9 Port Adelaide Shopping Centre
30/9 Mawson Lakes Shopping Centre
6/10 Modbury Tea Tree Plaza
10/10 Central Districts Football Club
11/10 State Library

Country Locations

Please see the link for an alphabetical list of locations.

Clean Futures, Nuclear, Old_Notes

An evening with Professor Ross Garnaut – Battery Storage Technology

July 11, 2016

An evening with Professor Ross Garnaut
Monday 18 July 2016

In conjunction with the Resilient South Councils of Adelaide, ZEN Energy is proud to present Professor Ross Garnaut – The Paris Climate Summit and the Emerging Role of Battery Storage Technology.

Hosted at the Tonsley campus in the new Flinders University building from 7 to 9pm on Monday 18th July 2016, please join us as Professor Garnaut presents a ‘Post Paris’ debrief on what is required for the global transition to a low carbon economy. Ross will highlight which countries are performing well, what this means for Australia and the economic opportunities presented for South Australia.

What role can we play as individual home and business owners in Southern Adelaide? Richard Turner (Founder of ZEN Energy) and Anthony Garnaut will introduce the latest technologies for utilising solar energy both day and night in our homes. They will discuss how households and businesses can radically reduce their electricity costs by installing a solar power and battery storage system. The presentation will also cover financing, rebate, and tax benefit options. Deputy Mayor of Marion, Jason Veliskou, will speak on behalf of the Resilient South councils and their role in supporting community action on climate change.

Spaces for this incredible event are limited, so please ensure you RSVP here via the City of Marion website by Friday 15th of July 2016 to confirm your place.

More information on this event can also be downloaded here.

Clean Futures, Climate, Old_Notes, Renewables, Sustainability

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Help protect SA’s Limestone Coast from gas fracking

July 10, 2016

Please help protect the Limestone Coast from gas fracking by signing the petition letter to the Premier.

https://www.communityrun.org/petitions/protect-the-limestone-coast-from-invasive-mining-and-gasfields?source=facebook-share-button&time=1465768092

Dear Premier,

The South East of South Australia (Limestone Coast) is known for its world famous clean and green produce, including wine, beef, lamb, vegetables, fruit, and crops. Tourism plays an important role, with the UNESCO listed Naracoorte Caves Park, RAMSAR listed Bool Lagoon and Piccaninnie Ponds, the wine trails, beautiful coastal towns, the Blue Lake and other spectacular areas.

The South East makes up 2.2% of the state and contains over 40% of the state’s prime agricultural land. Over $1 billion in food, wine and fibre is produced annually. With significant exports, it is of paramount importance that our ‘clean and green’ image is not compromised by proposed unconventional/conventional gas and mineral mining, which threatens our groundwater, agricultural land productivity and tourism.

We live in the driest state in the driest inhabited continent in the world. The Government released a document “Conserving Nature 2012 – 2020”. ‘Drought conditions are likely to increase in frequency across many parts of South Australia, as a consequence of climate change, particularly in agricultural areas’… Our water is already under severe stress as prolonged dry periods persist in Southern Australia. Our industries and communities are reliant on underground water.

Fracking for shale and tight gas is an extremely water-intensive practice. It requires vast amounts of water and large amounts of chemicals in each fracking operation. Disposal of wastewater from shale and tight gas operations is a serious problem. Shale and tight gas operations can have severe consequences for human and animal health.

The South East’s thin layer of prime agricultural land sits over limestone, which is porous and brittle. The limestone is prone to subsidence and is exacerbated by mining, drilling and fracking. Decline in water levels (such as use for fracking and mining) increase the risk of seawater intrusion.

Drill holes penetrate aquifers and geological formations and are known to break down over time. Casings and cement is no match for geological processes, especially with additional corrosion caused by hydrogen sulfide and anaerobic bacteria. Drilling should never be done in faulted areas for which our region has many.

Healthy water and air is fundamental to our way of life and environment. It underpins our economy and is critical to our region’s future prosperity. Our ground water and food bowl are too precious to gamble with – the science simply does not provide the insurance required to support unconventional/conventional gas and mineral mining.

We, the undersigned, call for a permanent ban on any new unconventional/conventional gas & invasive mining operations in the South East of South Australia (Limestone Coast).

Why is this important?

Limestone Coast Protection Alliance wants to raise awareness amongst all Australians about the dangers and issues involved with mining, drilling and fracking in the South East of South Australia.

Clean Futures, Environmental Law, Mining, Old_Notes

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Apply for a chance to view the nuclear “Citizen’s Jury”

June 17, 2016

The Nuclear Royal Commission has moved on to the so-called “community consultation” phase where 50 people have been chosen out of RSVPs from 25,000 invitations. See the link below inviting people to apply for the chance to view one of its sessions:

http://yoursay.sa.gov.au/citizens_jury_interest_forms/new

From their website:

“Citizens’ Jury Viewing

Want to know what happens inside a Citizens’ Jury? Now is your chance. Register below to be an “Observer” for the nuclear Citizens’ Jury. There are a number of sessions in which 10 randomly selected South Australians will be able to sit in and watch proceedings, hear what the Jury hears and observe how democracy works in this important discussion.

While sessions will be broadcast publicly via media organisations and live streaming on the YourSAy website, at any time the jury reserves the right to deliberate privately and can ask for the jury room to be cleared.

Please note that photographers will be present to take photographs and capture film at this event. This material will be published in both printed and electronic (including Internet-based) media used by the South Australian Government to promote the consultation process on the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission report. In some cases, the media in which this material is published may be administered by a third party.

Step 1

Register your interest below. Please provide your name and telephone number and select a session that you would like to attend – please nominate a date and a morning or afternoon session. More than one box can be ticked.

Step 2

Registration for the first two days of the Citizens’ Jury (Saturday 25 June and Sunday 26 June) will close at 5pm Wednesday 22 June, 2016. Registrations for the last two days (Saturday 9 July and Sunday 10 July) will close at 5pm on Wednesday 6th July. All applicants’ names will be sorted into a random stratification process which will be facilitated independently by newDemocracy Foundation. To allocate seats, a random number draw will be conducted.

Step 3

Successfully drawn applicants for the first weekend of the Citizens’ Jury will be notified by telephone or email on Thursday 23 June. Successfully drawn applicants for the second weekend will be notified by telephone on Thursday 7 July.”

Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications

TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) trade election scorecard media release

June 17, 2016

Friends of the Earth Adelaide welcome the initiative shown by FOE Melbourne with their ranking of parties and candidates on trade related issues, especially the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Media release June 17, 2016

Parties and candidates rated on trade issues

Today the TPP Unions and Community Roundtable Coalition, of which Friends of the Earth is a founding member, has released a Federal Election 2016 TPP Scorecard ranking all currently elected parties’ and independents’ stance on the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).

In order to accurately score the parties and politicians on their commitment to disabling the TPP, the Roundtable asked two questions:

If elected, will you:
1: Vote against the enabling legislation for the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
2: Introduce or support legislation to ban ISDS in all trade agreements?

So far the TPP Union and Community Roundtable has received responses from the ALP, the Greens, the Nick Xenophon Team, Glenn Lazarus and Andrew Wilkie. As evidenced by their ticks on the scorecards, the Greens, Xenophon, Lazarus and Wilkie all responded with an unambiguous “Yes” to both questions.

However, the response from the ALP demonstrated an alarming vagueness, stating that Under Australia’s treaty-making arrangements the Parliament must examine trade agreements. The review of the TPP by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties (JSCOT) was not concluded at the time Mr Turnbull caused the dissolution of the Parliament. The TPP will be examined by JSCOT in the next Parliament whoever forms government – that’s how our treaty system works; and that A Shorten Labor Government will not agree to Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) provisions in new trade agreements. A Labor Government will seek to remove these provisions from existing trade agreements and work to ensure ISDS provisions do not prevent governments from pursuing legitimate public policy goals.

Friends of the Earth TPP and trade spokesperson Kat Moore said “time and again, the major parties have bluffed their way through questions regarding the TPP, committing to nothing, whilst meanwhile our sovereignty is being eroded, and our environment, health, jobs and basic freedoms put at risk. The ALP got us into this Trojan Horse deal; the LNP have pushed it further, with no regard for public opinion or wellbeing. Based on this record, we cannot trust either of these parties to put community interest ahead of corporations.”

Friends of the Earth TPP and trade spokesperson Samantha Castro said “The ALP has stated they are against the Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. This is their opportunity to demonstrate that they’re serious about this. We call on the ALP, as well as crossbenchers, to vote against TPP-enabling legislation, and to introduce, or support, legislation to ban ISDS in all trade agreements.”

The scorecard is available here.

Further comment

Kat Moore: 0422 258 159
Samantha Castro: 0439 569 289

Environmental Law, FoE, Media releases, Old_Notes, Publications

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