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Aboriginal tribe defy BHP Billiton

The Kokatha have issued the following STATEMENT re: BHP & Native Title ;Kokatha have denied their signatures to BHP Billiton for both an open cut and an expansion.Kokatha denounced Native Title who are not appointed to speak for Kokatha or their lands. Native Title are not recognised by the Kokatha.

Native Title have been notified of the above in writing and have continued to conspire with mining companies and collect  “people” claiming to be related to Kokatha.  A meeting was staged on the 14th December 2008 with participants allegedly willing to accept payment in exchange for some signatures on Kokatha land, for BHP Billiton. 

Individuals who attempt to sign on Kokatha lands are not Kokatha. Any Native Title negotiations with any Kokatha person, past or present are undoubtedly coerced as noone understands Native Title…………………………………

Maralinga, was our lesson and is a prime example of reckless and long term environmental damage sustained to aboriginal lands and people, including your own white communities, Native Title have no authority to attempt alteration of our history, geneology or land areas. Native Title may not touch our business. You have betrayed our trust.

The horror that followed Maralinga has not been forgotten by the Kokatha and we remain united.”

Ms Dingaman warns communities using underground water for drinking to insist on RADON testing now, before it is too late.

“We continue to suffer radiation poisoning and do not wish to see other innocent people subjected to this slow genocide and terminal illnesses”. 

Ms. Dingaman says she doesn’t believe there is any more respect for white people than there is for the aborigines.  This water is contaminated and everyone has a right to legitimate testing”.

“What do these people expect after Maralinga and now three uranium mines operating near them”, Ms Dingaman said, Radon testing must be done.

“You ignore this poison being leached into the waterways because it’s invisible. You need to demand tests independently or you and your children will become sick as we did.”

“Your governments thirst for nuclear and power has stolen this country’s water.  They are out of control and you must speak up and demand that this madness stops.”

Isabelle Dingaman (Executive Member) on behalf of Kokatha

KOKATHA REFUSE BHP EXPANSION AND DENOUNCE NATIVE TITLE “MINING CO. AGENTS” «

January 19, 2009 Posted by | indigenous issues | Leave a comment

The cost of nuclear security – Los Angeles Times

The cost of nuclear security Los Angeles Times 18 Jan 09 It may come as a surprise that the U.S. spends much more on its arsenal than it does on minimizing risk or planning for the consequences of an attack.By Stephen I. Schwartz and Deepti ChoubeyJanuary 12, 2009Seven years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, at a time when government officials and outside experts are expressing growing concern about the prospect of a nuclear 9/11, few members of Congress know how much the United States spends on nuclear security or where the money goes…………………the first public examination of open-source data, shows that the U.S. spent at least$52.4 billion on nuclear weapons and programs in fiscal 2008. This budget, which spans many agencies, not just the Defense Department, does not count related costs for air defense, anti-submarine warfare, classified programs or most nuclear weapons-related intelligence programs.

The 2008 nuclear security budget exceeds all anticipated spending on international diplomacy and foreign assistance ($39.5 billion) and natural resources and the environment ($33 billion). It is nearly double the budget for general science, space and technology ($27.4 billion), and it is almost 14 times what the Energy Department allocated for all energy-related research and development.
Although the size of the overall budget is troubling, another concern is that we spend so little on initiatives to minimize the risk of nuclear and radiological attacks. More than 17 years after the end of the Cold War, it may come as a surprise to most Americans that the U.S. still spends relatively large annual sums upgrading and maintaining its nuclear arsenal ($29 billion), developing ballistic missile defenses ($9.2 billion) and addressing the deferred environmental and health costs associated with more than 50 years of unconstrained bomb building and testing ($8.3 billion).

More alarmingly, the government spends relatively little money locking down or eliminating nuclear threats at their source, before they can reach U.S. shores ($5.2 billion), or preparing for the consequences of a nuclear or radiological attack on U.S. soil ($700 million).

The cost of nuclear security – Los Angeles Times

January 19, 2009 Posted by | politics | Leave a comment

Green Left – AUSTRALIA: Peace walk for Aboriginal rights

Peace walk for Aboriginal rights Green Left Peter Robson17 January 2009 Aboriginal activists launched a “peace walk” on January 9 from Sydney to the steps of Parliament House in Canberra in protest against the continuation of the NT intervention and the mining of nuclear materials on Aboriginal land — policies that they label “Rudd’s betrayal of Aboriginal people”.“Sovereign Aboriginal people have a right to self determination, to be empowered to make decisions affecting their country and communities. Rudd is continuing Howard’s paternalism,” said Uncle Dootch Kennedy, from the Sandon Point Aboriginal Tent Embassy according to Sydney Indymedia on January 9.“We demand the UN Declaration on Rights for Indigenous Peoples be adopted and implemented as a binding blueprint for Indigenous policy development”, he said. The Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor stands on Kennedy’s ancestral lands……………………………..They are also condemning Australia’s role in the nuclear-fuel cycle and the failure of the Rudd Labor government to endorse the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights — a promise that the ALP had made in the lead-up to the last federal election………………….. For more information about the Aboriginal Peace Walk call Darren 0412 826 043 or Inge 0418 345 686.

Green Left – AUSTRALIA: Peace walk for Aboriginal rights

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January 19, 2009 Posted by | ENERGY | Leave a comment

As Europe fiddles, US may take lead on climate change – On Line Opinion – 19/1/2009

As Europe fiddles, US may take lead on climate change

ON LONE Opinion By Fred Pearce – 19 January 2009Is global climate leadership about to pass from Europe to the United States? It seems so. And Barack Obama’s plans to rejoin international climate negotiations, green American energy policy, and build an electricity super-grid to bring renewable energy out of the West could be a planet-saver.Europe’s leadership on fighting climate change seemed unassailable until just a few months ago. It had grabbed that position more than a decade ago, when Germany’s then environment minister, a former East German chemist named Angela Merkel, negotiated the groundwork for the Kyoto Protocol in Berlin in 1995. Two years later, Europe basically pushed Bill Clinton to send Al Gore to Kyoto to sign up to the first emissions targets – which were never ratified by the US Senate and subsequently repudiated by George W Bush………………………………striking are the green energy entrepreneurs tooling up in California. “If Barack Obama wins,” David Mills, the bicycling-mad boss of solar energy pioneers Ausra in Palo Alto, told me, “then it’s going to be boom time here”. He was cheering even louder with the news of Chu’s appointment.

Mills and Ausra are in the vanguard of what many believe will become the critical renewable technology for America – solar thermal energy. Unlike photovoltaics, which convert solar heat directly into electricity, solar thermal concentrates solar energy using mirrors to heat water, which is then used to drive conventional steam turbines. One of the advantages of solar thermal is that it allows the energy to be stored for when it is needed, in the form of hot water.

Mills, a Canadian, developed his system in Australia. But a couple of years ago, frustrated by government indifference there, he shipped out Solargenix to California……………………………

This is not just about the United States. The technology that drives America usually ends up driving the world. If Obama goes for a smart super-grid, you can almost guarantee that Merkel and her fellow Europeans will suddenly get more enthusiastic about a super-grid scheme quietly being promoted there to hook up to solar energy from the Sahara desert. A grander version would also tap geothermal energy from Iceland, hydropower from Scandinavia, and wind power from the North Sea.

And China? Whisper it quietly, but China is already the world’s largest manufacturer of wind turbines. Any industrialist sitting in China and watching the U.S. government open its wallet to rebuild the country’s energy infrastructure will be thinking contracts, contracts, contracts. China will want to manufacture the wind turbines and solar panels and superconducting cables.

As Europe fiddles, US may take lead on climate change – On Line Opinion – 19/1/2009

January 19, 2009 Posted by | environment | Leave a comment