Tag Archive: BHP Billiton; Olympic Dam

The Lizard Bites Back protest festival info night Tue 21 June

robyn June 15, 2016

The Lizard Bites Back protest festival info night
Adelaide Bike Kitchen
22 Gibson St Bowden
Tuesday 21 June
6-8pm

The lizard bites back protest festival will take place at the gates of the Olympic Dam uranium mine from the 1st – 3rd of July this year.

Join us at the Adelaide Bike Kitchen on Tuesday 21st for an informal discussion about the event, including what to expect, why we are going, logistics, legals and anything else people want to discuss. Feel free to forward any questions to us before the info session.

This will also be a great opportunity to organise car poolingface to face, so if you are looking for passengers, or you need a lift, come along and we can connect drivers with passengers.

The lizard bites back follows on from the lizard’s revenge in July 2012, which saw approximately 500 people converge near the gates of the mine for five days of workshops, actions and music.

With SA currently facing two nuclear waste dump proposals, and BHP Billiton projected to start a heap leach trial by the end of the year as part of an alternative expansion plan, this is an important time to mobilise and send the message that there is strong community opposition to any expansion of the nuclear fuel cycle in SA.

In July we will re-focus on the source of the problem, highlighting an absurd global situation where we keep mining a mineral we have no idea how to dispose of safely, whilst proposals are again being made to force nuclear waste dumps on communities that do not want them.

The Lizard Bites Back will be held on Kokatha country.

Facebook event page

Mining, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications

*events*, anti-nuclear, BHP Billiton; Olympic Dam, community, Mining

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

robyn November 21, 2015

MEDIA RELEASE

Friday 13^th 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.”… Read more >>

Clean Futures, FoE, Media releases, Nuclear

anti-nuclear, BHP Billiton; Olympic Dam, clean futures collective, friends of the earth

FoE Adelaide Annual Report 2014/15

robyn August 13, 2015

Friends of the Earth Adelaide has two main collectives. The Fair Food Adelaide collective works on food sovereignty issues including March Against Monsanto, and the Clean Futures Collective focuses on Mining and Energy; and is pro-renewables, anti-nuclear and anti-fracking.

Fair Food Adelaide

This financial year Fair Food Adelaide focussed on events for Fair Food Week held each October where we held two events – a bicycle community garden tour, and a forum on food poverty co-hosted with Foodbank SA. After a local food Long Table lunch and an end of year picnic, we’ve had a quieter 2015 as two of our main organisers have had to step down due to new jobs. Our monthly Urban Orchard food swap is continuing, and instead of rallying on the anniversary of the first March Against Monsanto we wrote letters to SA’s Agriculture Minister to congratulate him on standing strong to continue SA’s GM moratorium and championing soil improvement rather than GMO crops. We also lobbied the federal Agriculture Minister and Health Minister asking them to ban the weedkiller Roundup (glyphosate) in light of the recent announcement by the World Health Organisation that it probably causes cancer. We have received replies from Barnaby Joyce saying the approval status of glyphosate is under review. We are also collecting signatures for a petition to Bunnings asking them to stop stocking the neonicotinoid pesticides that harm bees. We also work with the GM-Free Australia Alliance as one of its member groups. Member Kim Hill hosted workshop on The End of Agriculture at the Students of Sustainability conference in July.

We’ll continue to keep members up to date with information on our Facebook page, Facebook group, googlegroup and website.

See www.facebook.com/fairfoodadelaide and www.facebook.com/groups/MarchAgainstMonsantoAdelaide

Clean Futures, Climate, FoE, Mining, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Publications, Renewables, Reports, Sustainability, Weapons proliferation

anti-nuclear, BHP Billiton; Olympic Dam, clean futures collective, climate change, community, fair food adelaide, Food, food sovereignty, friends of the earth, Mining, Sustainability

Media Release: Nuclear is the wrong direction for SA

robyn August 13, 2015

MEDIA RELEASE 13 August 2015

Three leading environmental organisations – Conservation SA, the Australian Conservation Foundation and Friends of the Earth, Australia – have submitted a detailed joint submission to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission which forensically details an extensive series of nuclear myths and false assumptions.

“South Australia’s future lies in renewable energy, not nuclear. It’s cheaper, safer and quicker to roll out,” said Conservation SA Chief Executive Craig Wilkins.

“This week’s axing of hundreds of jobs from Olympic Dam should raise huge questions about growth potential in the nuclear industry. With renewables, we can be in charge of our own destiny, not dependent on decisions made in corporate boardrooms on the other side of the world,” he said.

“Much of the nuclear promotion in SA is premised on the idea of a global nuclear ‘renaissance’, said lead submission author Dr Jim Green. “In fact, the nuclear renaissance is stone cold dead.

There are fewer reactors now than there were a decade ago. Nuclear fuel cycle markets for enrichment, conversion and fuel fabrication are oversupplied. And as the continuing job losses at Olympic Dam demonstrate, the uranium market is extremely weak and will remain so for years,” he said.

As well as highlighting the contested and constrained status of the current nuclear sector the 248 page report makes a compelling case that the industry’s future will be no brighter.

“So-called Generation 3 reactors projects such as the French EPR and Westinghouse AP1000 are in trouble, with multi-year delays and multi-billion dollar cost blowouts,” said Dr Green. “So-called Generation 4 reactors are decades away and, as a recent report by the French government concludes, safety claims made by Generation 4 advocates do not stand up to scrutiny.”

Many environment, public health and Aboriginal groups have expressed concern that the Royal Commission is being used by the nuclear industry as a Trojan Horse in an attempt to open national and international radioactive waste dumps in SA.… Read more >>

Clean Futures, FoE, Media releases, Mining, Nuclear, Old_Notes, Reports, Weapons proliferation

anti-nuclear, BHP Billiton; Olympic Dam, climate change, friends of the earth, Mining, Sustainability