"BHP Billiton has put a proposal to the Governments that would see the company extract an additional 120 million litres of publicly-owned artesian water per day, every day, for the next 70 years.

Already the biggest industrial user of underground water in the southern hemisphere, the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine at Roxby Downs takes 33 million litres a day from the Great Artesian Basin.
The additional take would see the company extracting more than 150 million litres a day - around a third of the artesian water that flows into South Australia.Concerns about environmental impact

ACF is deeply concerned that drawing this much water would damage the Great Artesian Basin, cause a significant reduction in groundwater pressure and cut off the natural flows to the unique and fragile mound springs.

The water extraction is part of BHP Billion's proposed expansion of the Olympic Dam mine.
The company, which announced a record annual profit of $8.5 billion in August, plans to double copper production, quadruple uranium output and convert the mine from a network of underground tunnels to a massive open pit, a kilometre deep and three kilometres wide.
The crater would be visible from space........................

...........................If these biological wellsprings are damaged by over-extraction of water, it will wipe out the mound springs' unique flora and fauna and adversely affect birds and animals across the Great Artesian Basin that gravitate to the springs when the going gets tough.
With climate change expected to make droughts more frequent and intense, healthy springs will be more important than ever in coming years......................BHP Billiton should not be allowed to grab this important public water resource and use it to build company profits.

Roxby Downs(left) & Beverley (rightt) uranium mines, South Australia

Claim Beverley report ignores groundwater ABC News Apr 24, 2008 - "An environmental engineer says a report on the extension of the Beverley uranium mine does not address the potential risks to groundwater. Mining company Heathgate Resources wants to extend the lease area of its mine in South Australia's north-east and issued the report in response to public submissions about the mine plan, as part of the approval process.

Dr Gavin Mudd from Monash University says the report inadequately deals with the public submissions.

................'.......we need to be taking an attitude that we protect our groundwater resources.
'The nature of the acid leaching process is they inject the acid, it removes a lot of the uranium obviously but also in that same process it also mobilises a lot of the other metals and so on, so it leaves the groundwater quality a lot worse than what it was prior to mining'.................................................."

A proposed new uranium mine in Alice Springs has a fight on its hands New Matilda By Jennifer Mills 23 April 08 - "Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett and Northern Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson launched Alice Springs as a solar city on 10 March, a $37 million project with $12.3 million in Federal funding.
But the region could soon become renowned for its uranium mines, with 18 land reserves opened to exploration for minerals in the NT in 2006. Two of the largest deposits, Angela and Pamela, situated only 25 kilometres from Alice Springs, are already the subject of controversy. The stakes are high for environmentalists, politicians and mining companies alike......................In Alice last week Cameco/Paladin held meetings with the Arid Lands Environment Centre and Central Land Council (CLC) an initial attempt to get consent from traditional owners (TOs) and environmentalists. .

Local activist, Mitch, attended this meeting. "Ninety per cent of people at that meeting were dead set against the mining and the exploration," she said, with TOs identifying concerns about contamination of water, wind and soil, and the impact on local plants and animals. "They were concerned for themselves but also worried about the wider community as well," says Mitch. When questioned, the company stated they would not be employing any Aboriginal people in the exploration proces

The ALP has made assurances that an independent inquiry will be held before any mining of Angela and Pamela goes ahead.But the timing of such an inquiry would probably coincide with a required EPA - the NT finally established an Environment Protection Authority on 5 March this year, and there are concerns that a parallel process may not have the weight of an inquiry held before drilling takes place.

............................Even without identifying toxicity risks the enormous amount of water used by mining could have detrimental effects on water availability in Australia's most arid region

'The Angela and Pamela uranium deposits are within Alice Springs' water catchment boundaries,'said Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Adele Pedder. 'Mining and milling uranium consumes huge amounts of water. To mine in this area could cause significant water quality and quantity problems for Alice Springs residents.'

The area has also been marked as of biodiversity and conservation significance by the Draft Northern Territory Parks and Conservation Masterplan..................

Initial opinions appear to be divided, if not openly hostile. With very little information available as yet - Cameco wasn't returning my calls this week - the company has an enormous public relations battle ahead if it wishes to convince locals that the mine is in their interests. The Arid Lands Environment Centre has scheduled a public meeting in Alice Springs on 7 May ahead of the deadline for public submissions on 25 May........................................".

Home owners plan to sue after tests find radiation hot spots THE AUSTRALIAN Ben Cubby Environment Reporter
April 19, 2008 - "THE radioactive waste dump under a Hunters Hill street is not safe, despite assurances last week from NSW Health, with the department's tests showing gamma ray radiation above safe levels.

The owners of a house next door to Government-owned plots on Nelson Parade are planning legal action, after the February 20 survey by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation found gamma ray hot spots under their bedroom and garden……………………

………….The Vassiliou family is not satisfied. 'Our clients are incredulous that the very agency that is meant to protect public health has failed to take appropriate action to warn potential purchasers of land that the site, most of which it owns, was formerly used as a radioactive waste dump and is contaminated,' Mr Brunton said.

The state Liberal MP Michael Richardson, who wants the site to be independently investigated and all former and past residents to be offered free health tests, pointed to documents obtained under freedom-of-information laws, in which department officials expressed dismay at obstruction. In one, the department's chief financial officer wrote that the matter went to 'basic fundamentals of our role in public health' and documents should have been made available................................"

Territory ALP conference's uranium and radioactive waste commitments 'a good first step'. 8 April 08 The Australian Conservation Foundation and the Arid Lands Environment Centre have welcomed NT Labor's commitment not to proceed with exploration and mining of a controversial uranium deposit near Alice Springs unless all outstanding health, environmental, cultural and water consumption concerns are dealt with.At its weekend conference Territory Labor committed to an independent inquiry into the proposed exploration of the Angela and Pamela uranium deposits.

"If the inquiry is not completely satisfied about all health, environmental, cultural and water consumption issues, the development will not go ahead," said ACF nuclear free campaigner Adele Pedder.

"Last year the ALP federal conference narrowly passed a motion overturning the no new uranium mines policy but ALP members in the NT have proved the uranium debate is far from over by convincingly passing this motion," she said.

Dr David Suzuki: Global economic growth is 'suicidal' ClimateChangeCoorp.com David Suzuki 1 April 08Canadian environmentalist Dr Suzuki explains why separating economics from ecology is bad news for humans …………………………………We have spread our toxic debris in the air, water and soil so that every one of us now carries dozens of toxic compounds in our bodies. A few months ago in Canada three members of parliament volunteered to be tested for a battery of over eighty toxic substances. They were shocked to find that all three of them carried dozens of these in their bodies. Our use of the air as a dumping ground for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has altered the chemistry of the atmosphere which in turn is now acidifying the oceans as carbon dioxide dissolves as carbonic acid. ……………

…………Australians elected four consecutive Conservative governments that denied the reality of human-induced climate change and refused to ratify Kyoto even though the country suffered severe drought for years. Australia is an island continent with most of its population living along the edges where sea level rise will have its greatest impact……………

………………The environmental crisis is a crisis of human beings and we are treating ourselves as a repository for all of the pollution that we send out through our chimneys and tail pipes. ……………….We have to set a new bottom line, a bottom line dictated by the reality that we are biological creatures, completely dependent for our survival and well being on clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy and biodiversity.

New call for Arkaroola mining ban ABC News Apr 2, 2008 - "There is another call for a ban on mining exploration in the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary in South Australia's Flinders Ranges.

Marathon Resources says it is pushing ahead with plans for a uranium mine in the sanctuary, based on positive drilling results.

Liberal Opposition MP Iain Evans says that is another reason to protect an area he says is too special to disturb.

'The community do want areas put aside that are going to be there for the public to enjoy long term and I put Arkaroola in that category' he said.
'I think the high country of Arkaroola, the Mount Gee area, Mount Paynter area need to be protected'........................................."

SA's expansion of Olympic Dam Public Opinion Gary Sauer-Thompson March 31, 2008 - "................

.Digging up the rocks will be undertaken by BHP Billiton over the next decade. This expansion of Olympic Dam will require a desalination plant on the coast of the Upper Spencer Gulf to provide the extra 120Ml/day of additional water. The water will then be pumped 320 km north to Olympic Dam, which is 600km north of Adelaide.

That expansion will need to be powered by electricity. South Australia has been an importer of electricity for several years and its power distribution network was stretched to capacity to meed the demand during the heatwave. Yet BHP Billiton will need nearly half of South Australia's current electricity supply to power its copper and uranium mining at Olympic Dam.

It will require 690 megawatts to run the operation with 60 megawatts needed to run the desalination plant. BHP Billiton currently uses 120 megawatts.
So where is that extra 570 megawatts of power going to come from?

The Rann Government, which routinely lectures the rest of the nation on climate change and the need to increasingly source energy from renewable energy has not imposed any mandatory requirements on BHP Billiton to source renewable energy. .........................

Does that leave coal-fired power stations supplying the vast amount of base-load power Olympic Dam requires?
Does that mean SA becomes a greenhouse pariah as BHP Billiton turns to coal-fired power stations at a time when Ross Garnaut's report argues that power generators not be compensated in a carbon trading scheme? ...."

Grounds for hope Weekly Times 26mar08 - "AUSTRALIA's management of groundwater, the "poor cousin" of Australian water resources, is set for a major revamp.
The Federal Government has invested $82 million to improve groundwater knowledge and management, including $30 million for a new Centre for Groundwater Research and Training.
The centre will train scientists in advanced hydrogeological technologies, improve knowledge of groundwater and policy.

The nuclear industry continues to pose great threats to our fragile ecology. The nuclear industry both uses huge amounts of water, and pollutes water by heat pollution and radioactive pollution.

The threats to Australia's fresh water are therefore twofold - massive use of fresh water in mining operations, and by nuclear reactors, if established, and radioactive pollution.

Coastal waters would be greatly threatened, too, if nuclear power plants were developed, as discharged hot water would kill the local ecology.

Radiation is unlike any other form of pollution. You can't see it, hear it, smell it or taste it - but once it gets into the air, the land, and above all, the waterways, it is there for a very long time. Australia is always a "water-short" country. Curently, Australia is experiencing an unprecedented drought, long and severe.

Yet in the short term, profit driven thinking of corporations and the federal government and the Labor opposition, Australia is about to embark on a new wave of uranium mining, nuclear waste disposal, and possibly, nuclear power plants. - Christina Macpherson

Uranium stirs up fears Northern Territory News NICK CALACOURAS 26 Mar08 - "A confidential ALP document obtained by the Northern Territory News revealed Alice Springs Labor party members opposed the Territory Government's proposal to permit mining at the Angela and Pamela uranium deposits.
The document says an open-cut mine close to Alice Springs in an area prone to dust storms would be dangerous.......

.....'After millions have been spent in exploration and proving the deposit, the Government will find it difficult to say no on health and environment grounds.'

Party members are expected to debate a motion urging their own party's government to hold an inquiry into the health, environment, cultural and water supply concerns during next month's Territory ALP conference.........................................".

PIRSA confirms more alleged Arkaroola breaches ABC News 10 March 08 - "South Australia's Department of Primary Industries (PIRSA) has confirmed the sites of two more alleged environmental breaches by a uranium exploration company in the state's far north.

Investigators from PIRSA visited the sites near the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary last week, as part of ongoing investigations into the incorrect disposal of radioactive waste.

Uranium exploration company Marathon Resources was suspended from all drilling activity at its Mount Gee prospect earlier this year, when PIRSA found a burial site on the prospect's eastern side.
On Friday, investigators returned to Adelaide after visiting two more sites at Hodgkinson and Mount Gee West...............".

Records raise fears over smelter site's toxic legacy Sydney Morning Herald Ben Cubby February 26, 2008 - "THE site of a former uranium smelter in Hunters Hill could be more radioactive than first thought, test records found in the national archive show, while up to 500 tonnes of radioactive waste remains in the harbour next to the toxic area.

Readings taken on a vacant residential block in Nelson Parade in 1965, next door to the two blocks bought by the NSW Government in 1977, show that people exposed to the hot spot would have received the annual allowable dose of radiation in 11 hours - the equivalent of an X-ray every 40 minutes.................'Anyone digging into that spot would have been exposed to a significant amount of radiation, and a long-time resident claims workmen on the site were 'taken ill'' said the Liberal MP Michael Richardson, who is calling for a public inquiry into contamination of the site.

Tonnes of radioactive dirt, rock and uranium tailings were dumped into the harbour on the waterfront site, where a wharf existed in the early 20th century. A report by the NSW Department of Public Health, published on December 21, 1965, noted higher levels of gamma radiation in a neighbouring block than in the two blocks bought by the Government in 1977.

It means residents of suburban Sydney were potentially exposed to higher radiation than people affected by the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in the United States in 1979, Mr Richardson said.
'The radioactive material on [block] No. 11 was capable of giving anyone exposed to it for eight hours a day a dose 265 times higher than this over the course of a year,' he said..................................."

.

Arkaroola contamination still not moved ABC News 25 Feb 08 - "Details are still being worked out of how radioactive waste will be properly disposed of from a uranium exploration site at Arkaroola in the Flinders Ranges.Marathon Resources had its drilling licence suspended recently because of the incorrect disposal of waste at its Mount Gee prospect within the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary lease site.

A spokesman for South Australian Mineral Resources Minister Paul Holloway says the radioactive properties of the waste make it hard to find a suitable disposal site..................................."

map of South Australiashowing location of the huge Olympic Dam uranium mine, at left, and at right, the Beverley uranium mine

The beautiful Flinders Ranges are just to the South of Beverly

ACF warns of radioactive waste discharge Green Left Pip Hinman 22 February 2008 " "The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is urging Premier Mike Rann's South Australian government not to agree to a proposal from General Atomics (GA) to increase the size of the Beverly uranium mine from 16 km² to more than 100 km², warning of potential radioactive pollution.

David Noonan, ACF spokesperson, said on February 15 that the project could potentially allow hundreds of millions of litres of radioactive waste to be discharged into the Flinders Ranges' groundwater system. He said that GA discharged some 90 million litres of radioactive, chemical and acidic liquid mine waste to groundwater at Beverley in 2007.

Heathgate Resources, owned by GA, succeeded in imposing the Beverley uranium mine on the Adnyamathanha people in north-east South Australia in the late 1990s. "This audacious proposal by GAwould allow the company to use its controversial acid leach uranium mining technique and dump the liquid radioactive waste straight into the groundwater of the Flinders Ranges", Noonan said.

Noonan said the draft 'public environment repor'", written by GA, states that, 'There are no environmental values to the Beverley aquifer'........

......ACF wants the Rann government to 'reject this outrageous uranium land grab' pointing to recent precedent when it rejected a proposal from Marathon Resources to explore for uranium at the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary near Mt Gee because the company had been found burying exploration samples, drilling material and other waste.

...............'General Atomics must not be allowed to use our collective groundwa ter as a sacrifice zone for dumping its radioactive liquid mine waste' , Noonan concluded...."

The nuclear industry uses massive amounts of water - and pollutes precious groundwater - CM

A World of Water Woes Droughts and rising populations are stressing supplies of the precious liquid. Could we be nearing the next major natural resource crisis? BUSINESS WEEK by David Wyss From Standard & Poor's RatingsDirect February 20, 2008 - "Drought conditions in several parts of the world have increased the attention paid to water resources recently....

........Australia, a country where water has always been very limited, has been suffering from a severe dry period.........

......Countries like Australia, which already has a severe deficiency and has been depleting the aquifers at an alarming rate, will have significant additional strain on water resources.....".

Uranium land grab for acid leaching and groundwater dumping must be stopped 15 Feb 2008 - A proposal currently before the SA Government would see a six-fold increase in the size of the Beverley uranium mine and allow hundreds of millions of litres of radioactive waste to be discharged into the Flinders Ranges’ groundwater system, the Australian Conservation Foundation warned today..................

...“This audacious proposal by General Atomics would allow the company to use its controversial acid leach uranium mining technique and dump the liquid radioactive waste straight into the groundwater of the Flinders Ranges,” said ACF nuclear free campaigner David Noonan.

.Last year General Atomics discharged some 90 million litres of radioactive, chemical and acidic liquid mine waste to groundwater at Beverley..............“General Atomics must not be allowed to use our collective groundwater as a sacrifice zone for dumping its radioactive liquid mine waste,” Mr Noonan said.

Olympic Dam expansion: a risk too great Green Left Weekly Ty Pedersen, Adelaide 26 January 2008

"An expansion due to take place this year would expand the mine to a 3km wide and 1.5km deep hole in the ground. BHP Billiton is yet to submit its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project. However, given the Rann Labor government's enthusiasm for turning the state into the 'Saudi Arabia' of uranium production, many see the expansion as a done deal.

The process used to extract uranium at Olympic Dam is extremely environmentally damaging. .................................The waste, or tailings, consists of radioactive thorium, polonium, radium, bismuth and lead, retains around 80% of its radiation and has a half life of thousands of years. Around 35% of the uranium also remains in these tailings, posing a terrible risk. The tailings are put into a pit in the ground on top of a plastic liner to prevent leakage. The waste is then covered with a layer of earth and then water. According to documentary film maker David Bradbury in his film A Hard Rain, the liners used in these tailings dams will last around 30 years. BHP Billiton admitted to losing 3 billion litres of this radioactive water into the ground in 1994

Olympic Dam also releases deadly radon gas from the uranium. Even the smallest doses of radon gas can cause cancer and birth defects. It is seven times heavier than air so it remains close to the ground and is odourless and tasteless. A Hard Rain explains that the radon gas has a half life of 3.8 days, which would be enough time to be blown to the nearby service town of Roxby Downs, the 550km to Adelaide or even as far as Melbourne and Sydney. .

............There is increasing concern that the company is minimising access to information about the health risks of working in the mine and living nearby. When Bradbury organised a screening of A Hard Rain in Roxby Downs, BHP officials discouraged workers from attending, implying that jobs and promotions would be compromised.

Radiation measuring badges of workers at Olympic Dam have returned readings as high as 10 and 11 millisieverts per year. One millisievert per year is generally considered acceptable for public safety. However, research by German scientists Kai Rothkamm and Markus Lobrich has shown that the double strand of DNA can break at radiation exposure levels as low as one millisievert, causing birth defects and cancer.................

Ruth Ratcliffe, a member of the Peace and Anti-Nuclear Action Coalition (PANAC),: - 'South Australia faces serious water supply problems. We can't be using the world's most valuable commodity for the mining of something that doesn't have any benefits at all. Nuclear power is not clean, it's not safe and it's not cheap. The power needed is immense and shouldn't be used for this process at all, renewable or not.'

Another PANAC activist, Leslie Richmond, added: 'It is possible to stop the expansion, we just have to look at Jabiluka. A broadly based community campaign could stop the expansion of uranium mining in South Australia'......................."

(Here's hoping there won't be any dust storms in that area, over the next 7 years and beyond that - CM.)

Uranium mine gets nod amid pollution fears THE AUSTRALIAN John Wiseman | January 12, 2008 "AUSTRALIA'S fourth uranium mine will begin production in the South Australian outback this year after receiving the go-ahead from the Rann Government yesterday........

........The $50 million Honeymoon project 400km northeast of Adelaide will have a lifespan of just six to seven years and return revenue of about $40million a year. ..........

............environmental groups claimed it would leave a trail of radioactive groundwater behind and slammed Premier Mike Rann for breaching election commitments by approving the mine..........................

..........the Australian Conservation Foundation's David Noonan claimed the Government was allowing the miner to deliberately pollute the ground water.
'They only extract the uranium. They leave the rest and that radioactive liquid solution will be discharged to groundwater at Honeymoon.'

He said the Government had breached an election vow that there would be no new mines..........................".

.

The water consumption of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency and conservation measures is negligible compared to nuclear or coal........

..Tim Flannery, the 2007 Australian of the Year, notes that hastening the uptake of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal 'hot rocks' will help ease the water crisis as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions

...........Australia can ill-afford to replace one thirsty industry, coal, with an even thirstier one, nuclear power.

New Australia Mining Boom Taking Toll on Outback Life - Hope Hamashige
for National Geographic News
September 26, 2007 - "……………………………many are concerned that the boom is happening too fast-and that local inhabitants and wildlife will pay the price. …………………Darren Injie, from the Yinhawangka group of the Pilbara, is one who feels the companies, given the amount of money being made, fall far short in their negotiations with Aboriginal groups.
'The employment I don't see as a benefit,' Injie said, noting the concession is small considering what the Aborigines have lost.
'Those minerals are ours,' he said. ;The waters are ours.'

Other local natives, like Martu Idja Banyjima elder Slim Parker, point out that Aboriginal culture is deeply connected to the land and water and that the mining companies show little understanding of this in spite of the ongoing negotiations.

For example, a nearby mine has plans to triple the amount of water it will discharge into Weeli Wolli spring, a spot of spiritual importance for the Martu Idja Banyjima.
'We don't know the minerals that are in the water,' he said. 'Also, with the water running all the time, we don't know if it is going to drown the trees.' The native titleholders are working in large part to protect the spare waterways that run through the Pilbara.

Environmentalists, too, are wondering whether the rapid expansion will have unforeseen impact on the precious resource.'Water ecology issues are starting to become visible,' Mudd, the civil engineering professor, said.
There is a drawdown effect on aquifers around mines, which can force nearby vegetation to wither, he pointed out.

……………………………… some environmentalists are worried that it will become increasingly difficult to maintain the environment as mines expand and proposed mines come online.
That, combined with prolonged drought across Australia, have some saying more study is needed before proceeding with all the proposed projects.

'We are industrializing a natural landscape in ways that are unprecedented'said Tim Nicol, a spokesman for the Conservation Council of Western Australia......................................"

Murray-Darling water for nuclear plants - The Guardian 7 March, 2007 Peter Mac-"The supply of water for nuclear plant cooling systems appears to have been one of the prime motives for the government?s proposed takeover of the Murray-Darling river system. Pressurised water reactors require huge amounts of water, and operation of inland nuclear power plants would only be feasible in the eastern states if water was drawn from the Murray-Darling river system, which flows through the most heavily populated, and industrially most developed, Australian states. Commonwealth control of both the nuclear plants and the river system would facilitate this happening.

The Howard Government is currently attempting to distract attention away from evidence of its close association with Australian Nuclear Energy Pty Ltd (ANE). This company is promoting the establishment of a nuclear power industry, including an international nuclear waste dump, in Australia. The company is headed by Ron Walker, chairman of Fairfax Media, and by Robert Champion de Crespigny and Hugh Morgan, both former mining bosses.Howard himself, Treasurer Peter Costello and Industry Minister Ian Mcfarlane appear to have made vigorous attempts to facilitate the company?s ambitions................

.there have been many cases of radioactive water leaking from the nuclear plants and flowing back into rivers and streams. Not only would the nuclear plants deprive Murray-Darling river communities and farms of adequate supplies of water, but they could also render the water unsafe for human use because of radioactivity.