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AUGUST 5th , 2008 |
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IN THIS ISSUE: 1) ALGONQUINS, WITH SUPPORTERS, CONTINUE TO PROTECT THEIR LANDS 2) ARDOCH ALGONQUIN FIRST NATION ASSOCIATION
INVITATION*
Early on the morning of 21 July, five CPTers joined a group of Ardoch Algonquin First Nation (AAFN) members and local non-indigenous people (who refer to themselves as settlers) at the Robertsville site where they have been resisting efforts by Frontenac Ventures Corporation to explore for uranium since last year. The gathering was brief, lasting only about forty-five minutes, but the message was clear: NO MINING ON FIRST NATIONS TERRITORIES WITHOUT CONSENT. (...) During the witness, Ardoch community leader Bob Lovelace shared a traditional story, "The Great Bow" to the circle of approximately twenty-five people, about a young man's vision, his journey to fulfill it, and the people he meets along the way. Lovelace noted that one key theme of the story was accepting the limits of the help offered by those who walk beside us for a time and then have to go their own way. Another was the importance of being true to our dreams, to the best of our abilities. On 28 May, the Ontario Court of Appeals ruled that the sentence imposed on Lovelace and leaders of the Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug community (known as the KI Six) for peacefully protecting their territories, was overly harsh. In its reasons for an acquittal released earlier this month, the Court stated that this "situation that cries out for dedicated negotiation among Ontario, the AAFN and Frontenac with a view to reconciliation of the competing interests". The decision declared that before the Crown allows private companies access to land claimed by First Nations, it must ensure that the Crown has fulfilled its mandate to consult these Nations and exhausted every effort to resolve the matter. The Court also acknowledged that both the Ardoch and KI communities had fulfilled their duty in requesting direct negotiations-a request ignored by the provincial government, which allied itself with Frontenac. The court decision represents another reaffirmation of First Nations' sovereignty and asserts that the nineteenth-century Mining Act is inherently problematic and in need of change. First Nations communities are waiting to see if Ontario will finally be faithful to its mandate to consult. Since spring of 2007, the Ardoch along with neighboring Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation and local supporters have resisted the destruction of their traditional lands by uranium mining. The Shabot Obaadjiwan community is currently engaged in consultation proceedings with Ontario and Frontenac Ventures, hoping to eliminate or reduce mining on their lands. To see photos of the story circle and a subsequent action at the Robertsville site on July 23, go to http://cpt.org/gallery/album254. The Aboriginal Justice Team participating in the week's actions included Carolyn Hudson, John Hudson, Rebecca Johnson, Renee Borsberry, and Joel Klassen. 2) ARDOCH ALGONQUIN FIRST
NATION ASSOCIATION MESSAGE* In our continuing efforts to exercise our right to peaceful public dissent and our right to traditional practices on our lands at Robertsville, we invite all community members to 2 gatherings: - Wednesday, August 6, at the Robertsville gate, from
10 am to 11 am. - Friday, August 8 at the Robertsville gate, we will be holding a "healing circle" for everyone who has been affected by the uranium exploration project. The Circle will form at 10:45am and last until noon. Bring a chair, and water for drinking. Consider passing this message on to anyone who is either not receiving email or who would want to join our gathering at this time. Respectfully mireille and paula 3) ONTARIO LAUNCHES MINING
ACT CONSULTATIONS NEWS: McGuinty Government Aims To Ensure Balanced, Respectful Legislation The Ontario government is holding a series of public and stakeholder meetings about modernizing the Mining Act. Facilitated public and stakeholder sessions will be held in Timmins (August 11), Sudbury (August 13), Thunder Bay (August 18), Kingston (August 28) and Toronto (September 8). These sessions are the first step in a consultation approach that will also include focused discussions with the minerals industry, municipalities and other stakeholders, First Nations and Métis leaders, as well as input from First Nations communities across Ontario. On August 11, a discussion paper will be posted for comment on the Environmental Registry and the ministry's web site. This process will help ensure that the proposed legislation promotes fair, balanced and sustainable development that benefits all Ontarians. It supports Premier Dalton McGuinty's July 14 announcement that Ontario is going to modernize the way mining companies stake and explore their claims to be more respectful of Aboriginal communities and private land holders. 4) URANIUM TALKS NOT ON THE TABLE; AVOIDING THE TOPIC A MISTAKE, CRITIC SAYS ONTARIO AIMS TO REVISE MINING ACT Jessey Bird, The Ottawa Citizen The Ontario government is launching a series of public consultations next week to discuss modernizing the Ontario Mining Act, but one topic that won't be up for discussion is the recent calls for a provincial ban on uranium mining, the minister responsible says. Aboriginal groups as well as some non-native Eastern Ontarians have been at odds with mining companies, which can legally stake mining claims on private land if the owners don't possess the mineral rights. "My first reaction is that it is a really good thing that this is happening," said Marilyn Crawford of the upcoming public meetings. Ms. Crawford is on the board of Mining Watch Canada and is also a member of the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium. "But I think they are making a big mistake by not including uranium in the discussions." For the full story please see: 5) REMINDER:
Meet Bob Lovelace, former Ardoch Algonquin First Nation chief and Queen's University lecturer, who was sentenced to six months in jail for saying 'no' to uranium mining on indigenous lands. Lovelace made this stand in defense of the Earth and Creation, which indiginous peoples regard as sacred. Popular support for this cause contributed to the decision by 22 Ontario municipalities to vote against uranium mining and a promise by theOntario government to revise antiquated legislation which currently give smining companies 'free entry' to contested indigenous lands and private property. At stake is indigenous sovereignty, protection of the boreal forests from contamination by toxic mine tailings, and the right of indigenous communities to say no development which affects them. Mr. Lovelace will share his reflections on the events of the last year, the meaning that the land has for indigenous peoples, and the challenges that attend to the current age of mass industrial development and destruction of the land. Sponsored and promoted by GSU Social Justice Committee (U of T), Toronto MiningSupport Group/Students Against Climate Change, Sam Gindin Chair (Ryerson University), University of Toronto Students Union. 6) URANIUM
COVERAGE IN "RURAL DELIVERY" MAGAZINE "When my article "Uranium Mining? No Thanks!" appeared in the July 24th issue of Uranium News, the name of the magazine where it was published was accidentally omitted. "Rural Delivery" is published out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, and has a significant circulation in Atlantic Canada and beyond. As I mentioned in my article, the magazine itself has been a player in our local struggle here as well as in Atlantic Canada. In early 2007, Dirk Van Loon, Rural Delivery's editor, put Gloria Morrison and me in touch with Nova Scotian activist Donna Smyth, and Smyth's article linking the two struggles appeared in the magazine that April. Since then, RD has also published updates on the uranium situation in the Maritimes, the latest being short pieces from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the same July-August issue where my article appeared. Their website www.countrymagazines.ca is well worth checking out. 7) POWER DOWN TO REMEMBER
THE BLACKOUT Do you remember the great blackout of August 14th, 2003?
In the midst of the crisis, Ontarians watched the stars, held blackout
parties to empty their freezers, and helped those in need. As a province,
Ontario rediscovered the importance of conservation. The OEN is an affiliate network of the Canadian Environmental
Network . 8) VIOLATION AGAINST CAMECO/POWER RESOURCES - WYOMING Wyoming's Land Quality Division recently announced another
notice of violation against Cameco/Power Resources- this time for drill
holes and monitoring wells. Pictures are available at: http://deq.state.wy.us/out/downloads/Photos%204314-08.pdf 9) BEYOND NUCLEAR BULLETIN,
July 31, 2008 U.S. State Department Acknowledges Spread of Nuclear Power Increases Risk of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation Worldwide Background: A U. S. State Department report, "Proliferation Implications of the Global Expansion of Civil Nuclear Power," has concluded that the expansion of nuclear energy is inevitable but poses proliferation risks. A key concern expressed in the report is that the two principal ways of making nuclear fuel - the enrichment of uranium and the reprocessing of spent fuel into plutonium - can too easily be used to make weapons-grade material for nuclear bombs. However, among other recommendations, the panel suggests the United States - in partnership with countries that already have the capacity to make fuel, the "supplier nations" - volunteer to "provide reliable, economical supplies of fuel to nations undertaking new or additional nuclear energy plants" with tough safeguards to prevent them developing their own capacities. Our View: By promoting an atomic supplier nations' global expansion agenda, the State Department will likely increase the current danger of nuclear weapons proliferation. The committee's self-titled "Attractive Offer" for non-nuclear weapons states to acquire reactors, nuclear fuel supplies and services in exchange for "written agreements" not to undertake uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing for weapons programs reinforces the existing "haves and have-nots' agenda that already angers countries like Iran. Furthermore, civilian nuclear development in the Middle East (including Egypt, Israel, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Bahrain and Yemen) will most certainly load up the region with nuclear weapons materials and accelerate a future arms race. A more obvious, safer and simpler solution is to recognize that nuclear energy expansion is not "inevitable" as the report suggests, but eminently avoidable. International energy solutions should focus instead on helping countries to develop sustainable and renewable energy. 10) WINDS OF CHANGE Denmark-based Vestas Wind Systems AG - the world's biggest
wind turbine maker -- reported earlier this month that electricity generation
from wind has been growing at The gale-force popularity of a limitless, clean and inexpensive form of energy is hardly surprising in a world of forehead-slapping oil prices and stricter emission standards. 'Europe's Al Gore' has already revolutionized the energy grid in Germany. Now, Hermann Scheer is challenging Canada to do the same The Globe And Mail - Saturday, August 2, 2008 - Page:
F7 - Section: Science These are inarguably booming times for renewable energy across Canada. The Canadian Wind Energy Association is forecasting that 2008 will be a record year for new wind-power installations nationwide. And in just the first five months of the year, the Ontario government approved contracts for new solar-power plants totalling more than 22 megawatts - nearly 90 per cent of what it approved in all of 2007 - under its pacesetting Standard Offer Program. Yet it's still nowhere near enough and nowhere close to fast enough for Hermann Scheer, probably the most influential renewable-energy lawmaker on the planet. Mr. Scheer, whose most famous piece of legislation catapulted Germany to the front ranks of the green-power business in less than a decade, has called on Canada to make a wholesale switch to 100-per-cent renewables. For full story, please see: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080802.TURNER02 12) Note, Re: NUCLEAR FUEL TEST FAILURE SHOULD TRIGGER SUSPENSION OF WEAPON-GRADE PLUTONIUM FUEL USE, GROUPS SAY Many of you have heard nuclear proponents brag about how they can "recycle" used nuclear fuel to get more energy out of it. They are talking about re-using the plutonium that is created when nuclear fuel is irradiated. The plutonium can be recovered by "reprocessing" the irradiated fuel, and then it can be blended with uranium to produce a "mixed oxide" fuel called "MOX". Recent MOX trials in the US using plutonium from dismantled nuclear warheads have failed -- that is what this press release is about. So do not believe the rosy picture that is painted about "recycling" of nuclear fuel -- it is a very risky process in more ways than one. Gordon Edwards.
Hazardous fuel behavior another setback for troubled energy department program, has implications for other reactors WASHINGTON (August 4, 2008) -- Citing the recent failure of an experimental plutonium fuel assembly test at a South Carolina nuclear plant, two watchdog groups today called on the Department of Energy (DOE) to suspend a risky, multi billion dollar program that would use 37 tons of surplus nuclear weapons plutonium for U.S. nuclear reactor fuel. Friends of the Earth (FOE) and the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) discovered that the test, scheduled to run for four-and-a-half years to demonstrate the safety of mixed-oxide (or MOX) fuel in Duke Energy's Catawba nuclear reactor, had to be aborted after only three years. The fuel assemblies, produced by the French state-owned
company AREVA, grew abnormally long in the reactor. This excessive growth
is a safety hazard, the groups said, because it can deform and damage
the "The failure of the plutonium fuel experiment is another major setback for the MOX program, and will further increase the already considerable cost overruns, delays and risks," said Tom Clements, FOE's Southeastern Nuclear Campaign coordinator, who is based in Columbia, South Carolina. "Congress needs to pull the plug before even more taxpayer money is wasted." "DOE should not cut corners in safety testing," said UCS Senior Staff Scientist Edwin Lyman. "To go forward with MOX now, AREVA would have to redesign the MOX fuel, and Duke would have to repeat the entire experiment, delaying the testing program by at least eight years. DOE should instead dispose of the plutonium directly by mixing it with radioactive waste and encasing it in glass, which would be safer and cheaper than continuing the MOX program." Lyman further noted that the French facility where AREVA produced the MOX fuel from U.S. weapons plutonium is now closed, potentially leaving the DOE without a test fuel supplier. The abnormal fuel assembly growth that terminated the MOX experiment has broader safety implications. The NRC has allowed dozens of AREVA uranium fuel assemblies with the same flaw to remain in other U.S. reactors, including Three Mile Island-1 in Pennsylvania, Davis-Besse in Ohio, Oconee in South Carolina, and Crystal River in Florida. AREVA told the NRC in April that it has not as yet determined the cause of the problem, although it may be related to an experimental alloy known as "M5" AREVA uses in the "guide tubes" where the control rods that shut down the reactor are inserted. Whatever the cause, the problem indicates that the NRC's licensing process for new fuels is inadequate, the groups said. For a brief UCS-FOE backgrounder on the MOX test, go to www.ucsusa.org/MOX. For Duke's June 10, 2008 report to the NRC, go to the NRC's ADAMS digital library. Search for "ML081650181" at www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. For an April 2008 AREVA presentation that discusses the abnormal fuel assembly growth problem, go to NRC's ADAMS digital library and search for "ML081300390". ### Friends of the Earth (www.foe.org ) is the U.S. voice of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 70 countries. Since 1969, Friends of the Earth has been at the forefront of high-profile efforts to create a more healthy, just world. 13) NUCLEAR
ABOLITION BY U.K. ALONE WOULD STILL HERALD NEW ERA Since the dawn of the nuclear age, all countries have been officially committed to eliminating these weapons. Today, some of the most influential politicians and officials of the nuclear era are talking seriously about actually doing it. In January 2007, former U.S. secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schultz, along with former defence secretary Bill Perry and former senator Sam Nunn wrote in the Wall Street Journal calling for the world to move toward the elimination of nuclear weapons. To read this article in its entirety, please
click on: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/opinion/story.html?id= * CCAMU DISCLAIMER
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