Earth News
Occupy Melbourne policing report
The Occupy Melbourne Legal Support Team has written a report titled 'Occupy Policing: A Report into the Effects and Legality of the Eviction of Occupy Melbourne from City Square on 21 October 2011'.
The report documents protesters' experiences of policing and complements eye-witness accounts with an account of the relevant laws. Key findings including:
- The policing of protesters had harmful and lasting psychological, physical and political effects on individual protestors as well as the right to political expression;
- The various justifications relied upon by Melbourne City Council and Victoria Police to authorise their actions raise serious and as yet unresolved questions of law. There appears to be a lack of legal basis for the actions to forcibly remove Occupy Melbourne protesters from City Square on the 21 October 2011;
- There was extensive use of force by police in arresting and policing protestors, including the use of choke-holds and 'snatch squads'; and
- The police arguably acted outside of their legitimate powers and internal guidelines in detaining approximately 100 people pursuant to 'breach of the peace' powers. The place, conditions and length of detention varied, and protester statements attest to their disorientating and distressing effects.
The report's recommendations reiterate previous calls for an independent inquiry into the forcible removal of Occupy Melbourne. Tamar Hopkins, Convenor of the National Police Accountability Network and Principal Solicitor at the Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre, said: "The continuing failure of Victoria’s systems of accountability to prevent, investigate, and punish police officers who abuse their powers as well as hold their commanding officers to account leaves all Victorians vulnerable to human rights abuses."
The report is posted at www.occupypolicing.org
German scientific report slams Lynas
Lynas Corporation's Malaysian plant for refining rare earths ore concentrate mined in Western Australia has several deficiencies according to a study by scientists from the German Oeko-Institute.
The report finds that the environment is affected by acidic substances as well as from dust particles, which are emitted into the air in substantially larger concentrations than would be the case in state-of-the-art plants in Europe. The storage of radioactive and toxic wastes on site does not prevent leachate from leaving the facility and entering groundwater. Lynas Corporation lacks a credible plan for the long-term disposal of wastes.
The Oeko-Institute report, 'Description and critical environmental evaluation of the REE refining plant LAMP near Kuantan/Malaysia', is posted at www.oeko.de/oekodoc/1628/2013-001-en.pdf
More information on the Lynas plant: www.savemalaysia.org
Lock the Gate Alliance − a Call to Country
The Lock the Gate Alliance (LTGA) has launched a Call to Country to demand real action to restrict inappropriate coal and gas mining. LTGA mapping shows that 437 million hectares of Australia is covered by coal and gas licences or applications − more than half of Australia. The LTGA is asking Australians to visit federal MPs in the lead-up to the September election.
The Alliance is calling on the federal government to:
1. Put in place an urgent moratorium on coal seam gas and other unconventional gas mining.
2. Create no-go zones to protect productive agricultural land, national tourism icons and all residential dwellings from coal and gas mining.
3. Strengthen federal environment laws to exclude coal and gas mining from important water sources, cultural heritage sites and sensitive environment areas.
4. Put in place national standards on coal and gas pollution and enforce compliance.
5. Stop using taxpayers' money to provide handouts to big coal and gas corporations and make the miners pay their fair share in taxes.
6. Reject current development proposals for coal ports, mega-mines, dams and unconventional gas wells in significant areas.
7. Conduct research into greenhouse gas emissions from mining and make sure they are properly accounted and fully paid for.
8. Hold a Royal Commission to investigate the management of coal and gas resources by all Australian governments.
www.lockthegate.org.au/calltocountry
Falling renewable energy costs
Renewable energy has entered into a new virtuous cycle of falling costs, increasing deployment, and accelerated technological progress, a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has found. The cost of solar energy, for example, has dropped below the cost of diesel generation worldwide for communities living away from the electricity grid.
'Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2012: An Overview', launched during the IRENA annual assembly and at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, is the most current, comprehensive analysis of the costs and performance of renewable power generation today. It can be found on www.irena.org.
Its analysis of 8000 medium- to large-scale renewable power generation projects reveals that renewables are fast becoming the most competitive option for new electricity grid supply and swift grid extension, and are already the default economic solution for off-grid power supply.
Formally established in 2011, IRENA is mandated by 159 countries and the European Union to promote the sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, and to serve as the global hub for renewable energy cooperation and information exchange.
Koongarra permanently protected from uranium mining
Legislation passed through the federal Parliament on March 15, completing the incorporation of Koongarra into the Kakadu National Park of the Northern Territory. Uranium mining companies, most recently Areva, have wanted to dig up Koongarra but the government has agreed to follow the wishes of Senior Djok Aboriginal Traditional Owner Jeffrey Lee.
Fukushima anniversary protests and vigils
Actions and vigils were held in an estimated 270 locations throughout Japan, and hundreds of other locations worldwide, to mark the second anniversary of the March 11, 2011 Fukushima disaster. On March 10, an estimated 40,000 protesters demonstrated around Tokyo, including in front of the Prime Minister's official residence, ministry offices and Hibiya Park.
Perhaps the largest protests were held in Taiwan. A March 9 protest in Taipei was attended by around 100,000 people, and tens of thousands participated in protests in other major cities. Taiwan is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, the same tectonically active region as Japan. Taiwan's three existing nuclear power plants are situated near to the coast on active fault lines. A partly-constructed fourth reactor is the subject of intense opposition. A referendum on the fourth reactor is expected to be held later this year, and opinion polls currently indicate majority opposition.
Australian NGOs hosted a speaking tour by Mr Hasegawa Kenichi, a dairy farmer from Iitate Village, which was entirely evacuated following the nuclear disaster, and Akira Kawasaki from the Tokyo-based NGO Peace Boat. A video featuring Mr Hasegawa is posted at vimeo.com/37987872
The fukushima2013.com website links to actions that were held in many other countries including the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, New Zealand, India, Canada, the USA, and Mongolia.
Fukushima updates
Hundreds of survivors of the Fukushima nuclear crisis in Japan have filed a class action lawsuit seeking restitution of the region contaminated by radioactive materials. Lawyers for about 800 plaintiffs have filed the case with the Fukushima District Court.
How to clean a reactor site subject to multiple explosions, fires and meltdowns? "It's like going to war with bamboo sticks," said Takuya Hattori, a 36-year veteran of TEPCO's Fukushima nuclear plant. Keiro Kitagami, a former lawmaker who headed a government task force overseeing R&D for the project, said: "This kind of job has never been done ... The technology, the wherewithal, has never been developed. Basically, we are groping in the dark."
Eighty percent of those who have evacuated from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures are unlikely to return to their home-towns, a survey has found. Of the 118 evacuees surveyed by the Mainichi Shimbun recently, 58% said they are considering settling down elsewhere and 22% have already done so.
Japan fell from 22nd to 53rd place in the Reporters Without Borders' most recent ranking of media freedom. This was attributed to a single factor − the lack of access to information related to the Fukushima nuclear disaster. Many reporters have met with restricted access, lack of transparency and even lawsuits.
Around 3,000 people work at the Fukushima Daiichi plant every day. Clean-up workers employed by the many subcontractors complain of the discomfort of long days spent in stifling protective masks, the stress of the job, and the relatively low pay.
The health ministry has revealed that at least 63 Fukushima Daiichi workers were exposed to radiation levels higher than those registered in their personal records between November 2011 and October 2012. The number will grow as the ministry continues to investigate records of workers exposed to radiation between March and October 2011, when radiation levels were higher. By the end of 2012, 146 TEPCO workers and 21 contract workers had exceeded the limit of 100 millisieverts over five years, TEPCO said.
A probe by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry found violations − such as inadequate education and protection from radiation exposure, a lack of medical checks and unpaid salaries and hazard pay − at nearly half of the clean-up operations in Fukushima Prefecture. About half of the 242 contractors have been reprimanded for violations.
A Fukushima worker has told the ABC that he was ordered in to tackle the meltdowns wearing insufficient protection gear. The team leader told workers to ignore warnings from their radiation monitors, saying they must be broken. Last July, a subcontracting company admitted that an executive told 14 workers to cover their radiation dosimeters in an effort to give false readings.
A record concentration of radioactive cesium − 5,100 times the government's food safety standard − was detected in a fish caught near the Fukushima plant, TEPCO said on February 28.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, central and local governments carried out about 230,000 tests of food and drink between April 2012 and January 2013. About 2,000, or 0.9 percent, had radioactive caesium levels exceeding government standards. Marine products, wild meat and mushrooms accounted for 80% of the contaminated items.