Protect SA’s clean green quality food and wine reputation!

November 23, 2015

The SA government is asking for input on how to grow SA’s reputation for quality food and wine.

Let them know that two good ways are to keep the ban on a nuclear waste dump, extend the moratorium on GM crops permanently and ban GM trial crops.

Call or make an online comment – details below.

Tell us how you think we can grow South Australia’s reputation as the nation’s food and wine state.

The third GOVchat provides you with an opportunity to let us know what your ideas are on enhancing South Australia’s reputation as the nation’s food and wine state.

This GOVchat provides you with direct access to these decision makers:

  • Hon. Leon Bignell, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries
  • Hon. Geoff Brock, Minister for Regional Development
  • Chief Executives
  • Executive Directors
  • Our Premium Food and Wine Ambassadors including Paul Henry, Simon Bryant, Rosa Matto, Gareth Lewis and Mark Laucke.

Seeking your ideas

On 25 November 2015, between 5:30pm and 7:30pm we want to hear from you! 

Call 1800 216 506 to share your ideas – call up at a time that suits you within the two hour window.

If you can’t call us on the night, you can add your ideas to the online discussion.

Food, Nuclear, Old_Notes

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NATIONAL NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP IN SA: TROJAN HORSE FOR AN INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP?

November 21, 2015

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 13th November 2015

NATIONAL NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP IN SA:

TROJAN HORSE FOR AN INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP?

The Federal Government has released the shortlist of six sites for the location of a national radioactive waste dump.  Three of these sites are in South Australia.

Friends of the Earth Adelaide is cautious about the Federal Governments genuine commitment to a voluntary site nomination and selection process.

“The test will be how the government handles community opposition, how inclusive and transparent the site selection process will be, and how it will handle the issue of existing South Australian legislation banning the establishment of a nuclear waste dump,” said Nectaria Calan of Friends of the Earth Adelaide.

The National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012, the Act governing the site selection process, over-rides existing state legislation prohibiting the establishment of a nuclear waste dump.

“Will the Federal Government impose a nuclear waste dump on states that have legislated against it, or communities that do not want it?” asked Ms Calan.

“The location of a waste dump cannot simply be decided through individual nominations,” said Ms Calan.  “It affects the wider community, particularly those in close proximity to the site.  Radioactive contamination knows no property boundaries.  The principle of voluntarism extends beyond the individual where an action has wider ramifications,” continued Ms Calan.

“There is yet to be an independent inquiry into all our radioactive waste management options, so the nominations process is premature,” said Ms Calan.

Additionally, here in South Australia the Royal Commission into the Nuclear Fuel Cycle is considering the feasibility of an international nuclear waste dump.

“Will a national nuclear waste repository in SA be the trojan horse for an international high level nuclear waste dump down the track?” asked Ms Calan.

“Rather than considering existing nuclear waste in Australia as an intractable problem, the SA government and some proponents of the nuclear industry seem to consider radioactive waste a business opportunity and want to import it, astounding given that so far globally there has been no success in establishing even one facility for the long term storage of high level waste.”

“ The one deep underground repository for intermediate level waste that does exist, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, saw an incident in February last year where a waste barrel exploded, leading to an aboveground release of airborne radiation, after only 15 years in operation,” said Ms Calan. “According to the US Department of Energy, twenty-two workers tested positive to low-level radiation exposure.”

Friends of the Earth Adelaide has serious concerns regarding the regulatory framework that may be applied to a nuclear waste dump in South Australia, whether national or international.

“BHP Billiton, operator of the Olympic dam mine, is exempt from key regulating legislation in SA, including the Freedom of Information Act, and parts of the Radiation Protection and Control Act and the Environmental Protection Act. With such a precedent here in SA for the regulation of the nuclear industry, where is the guarantee that other nuclear projects such as a nuclear waste dump would not also be exempt from laws regulating radiation, environmental protection, and transparency?” asked Ms. Calan.

For comment contact:

Nectaria Calan

Friends of the Earth Adelaide

Clean Futures, FoE, Media releases, Nuclear

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Our Apologies

November 12, 2015

We’ve been having a few problems with hackers attacking our website; you may even have received a duplicate Adelaide FoE Notes last month.

Hopefully, the site will be back to normal shortly.

 

 

FoE, Old_Notes

President rejects Keystone XL pipeline

November 12, 2015

Posted Nov. 6, 2015 / Posted by: Kate Colwell

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After seven years of intense public campaigning on the Keystone XL, a pipeline that would have bisected the United States carrying the world’s dirtiest oil, President Obama has denied Canadian oil company TransCanada a presidential permit for construction. The president cited the pipeline’s projected contribution to climate change in deeming it not in the national interest.

Friends of the Earth President Erich Pica issued the following statement:

This is an extraordinary moment for grassroots activism and the fight against fossil fuels. For seven years, people from around the United States campaigned together to transform a previously routine decision to approve a pipeline into a leadership test on climate change. With this decision, President Obama has taken leadership in significantly slowing the expansion of the tar sands industry. We have not only succeeded in stopping the Keystone XL pipeline, we’ve awakened a grassroots climate movement. The battle to move beyond fossil fuels continues, and Friends of the Earth thanks President Obama for taking a strong step in the right direction.

Clean Futures, Climate, Mining, Old_Notes