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MARCH
16th , 2009 |
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In
this issue:
1) PICKERING AND DARLINGTON NUCLEAR PLANTS - deadline to apply - Thurs. Mar 19 Pickering City Council, in their March 23, 2009 Council meeting, is going to deal with the issue of the Pickering and Darlington nuclear plants, in particular the issue of refurbishment. Pat McNeil from Ontario Power Generation is scheduled to give a presentation. Anyone from the public who wishes to speak as a delegation must apply by e-mail before noon on Thursday, March 19. Some of
us are applying to speak. I encourage anyone who wants to do so to apply
to Linda Roberts at lroberts@cityofpickering.com by the Mar 19th deadline.
Anyone who wants to come along for moral support is welcome as well. Reply to this email and direct your query to Linda Harvey if you are interested in carpooling. 2) COMMUNITY MEETING - MARCH 29, 2 - 5 P.M. - EVERYONE WELCOME - Come out and share your ideas and concerns in regard to uranium exploration. See the next items for details of the March 8th meeting and join us as we move forward.
3)
NOTES FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETING TO STOP THE URANIUM MINE Purpose
of the Meeting: Agenda: Introduction:
More than 50 people from nearby and as far away as Kingston, Questions:
The following requests for more information were made: Donna Dillman,
with assistance from the group, provided a nutshell history - How do
we access more information? Concerned
Citizens against Uranium Mining provides a history on their site: Ardoch Alonquin
have a site focused on their opposition to the mine: These remaining
questions were not answered and may provide subjects for Politics
and strategy: Needs The following needs were identified by the group: - Understanding (history, issues, our strengths) - Action (on mine, on alternative energy, democratic reform, strategic) - Positive Vision (of our community's views, alternative energy.) - Ease in relationship with each other as we work together - Be globally visible in our resistance - Growth in our movement (municipalities etc.) - Energy ("let's be dancing at the revolution") Action Ideas
(* = ask uraniumnews@mail.ccamu.ca for contact information) CONFIRMED
date for Next Meeting: 4) THE NUCLEAR MYTH, by Donna Dillman, as told to Radio Station Lake 88.1 and broadcast on their "On Focus" Program on March 16th, 2009. I've come to believe that extracting uranium is not actually about nuclear generation at all, tho it is possible that Premier McGuinty believes that it is. Nuclear energy is not as hyped - it is not green, not clean, not safe and certainly not affordable. A grade 8-student researching the information that is readily available would come to the same conclusion. Nuclear
energy is not clean. It is not green. Not when you consider the entire
cycle from exploration to fuel rod disposal. From the airplanes used in
the exploration stage; to the machines and equipment used in the drilling
and processing; to the fuel used in transport; All along the line, huge amounts of dirty fossil fuels are used. It takes 14 years of operation for nuclear power plants to break even on carbon costs and THAT is with high-grade uranium. When we must move to lower grades, which is what is available locally, and, in the big picture, that move is imminent; it is expected to be a negative return. Uranium, like oil, is not sustainable. It's not safe, besides the fact that there are numerous studies pointing to increased cancers, birth defects and mortality rates, nuclear facilities can't be properly insured because no insurance company can afford the risk; think Chernobyl & Three Mike Island. Around the world and here at home, there are lesser accidents, leaks and exposures happening almost weekly these days and the next big one could happen anytime, anywhere. As well, and despite claims to the contrary, Canada's uranium does find its way into depleted uranium weapons and has been doing so since we knowingly supplied the uranium for the Hiroshima and Nigasaki bombs back in the 40's. (Over 85% of the uranium that we currently extract is exported, 76% of that to the US where we lose all control over what it is used for.) Hiroshima aside, ask any Iraqi citizen, today, how safe that is, or look at pictures of the birth deformities in that country and increasingly to the off-spring of returning soldiers and their spouses. And it is certainly not affordable - not on many counts, including financially. Just to continue with current percentages of nuclear generation, huge subsidies are necessitated, - $42 billion is currently budgeted in Ontario Every month on our Ontario hydro bills, we are faced with the "debt retirement charge" relating to the nuclear fiasco of the 80's and 90's. No plant has ever come in on-time or on-budget. The March 2001 Economist Magazine reported, and I quote, "Nuclear energy, once claimed to be too cheap to meter, is now to costly to matter." I've only touched the tip of the iceberg. It is clear that clean, green, safe and cheap is pure propaganda. And it is not about medical isotopes, either. Cyclotron, which creates radioactive fluoride to detect tumours can be used in the place of uranium. In fact, it is my assertion that many more cancers result from various aspects of the uranium cycle than will ever be 'caught and cured' using it for medical isotopes. I believe Australia uses cyclotrons and I read recently that at least one Alberta hospital is using them as well. It is my belief that the nuclear generation story is being propagated to give the moral high ground to extraction, so that uranium remains available for use in weapons and bombs. I'd like to think that I am wrong, but I've stopped being shocked by such possibilities. It saddens me, however, to think that that is the world my grandchildren are growing into. "No degree of prosperity could justify the accumulation of large amounts of highly toxic substances which nobody knows how to make safe and which remain an incalculable danger to the whole of creation for historical or even geological ages. To do such a thing is a transgression against life itself, a transgression infinitely more serious than any crime perpetrated by man. The idea that a civilization could sustain itself on such a transgression is an ethical, spiritual, and metaphysical monstrosity. It means conducting the economical affairs of man as if people did not matter at all." - E. F. Schumacher, 1973, "Small is Beautiful
6)
THE GREEN REVOLUTION: WHY IT CAN'T WAIT In fact, such a catastrophe is INEVITABLE if we don't close the nukes and switch to a green economy. And, no country with nuclear power can afford to threaten with nuclear weapons. We have nullified any long-term strategic advantage such weapons ever offered, by building so many "targets." Article
at: 7) SERPENT RIVER CHIEF AWAITS MINISTER RESPONSE to pre-consultation on uranium Press release March 16th, 2009 - Cutler, Ontario Chief Isadore Day, Wiindawtegowinini, continues to await the Minister of Northern Development and Mines' response to a pre-consultation commitment on the issue of uranium mining in the traditional and treaty territory of Serpent River First Nation. Ongoing discussions have occurred between Serpent River First Nation and the ministry on this matter for well over a year and the Chief now wants the ministry to know that it's time to move on its duty to consult. Chief Day says "Our position is that consultation must be accommodated by ensuring that all meaningful preparations are made between governments. That means Northern Development and Serpent River First Nation." He goes on to say, "The Crown must be honourable in its responsibility here and not expect that we will accept any engagement or monies from industry as the solution. It is clear that uranium is a serious issue and we demand that governments and all their responsible authorities and lead agencies act according to their respective mandates." Uranium
mining approvals are governed under two jurisdictions in Ontario and Canada.
Serpent River First Nation currently has a number of active licensed uranium
mine tailing management areas in its traditional territory that will remain
toxic-radioactive fields for The Serpent
River First Nation is concerned that as the Ontario Mining Act changes
move forward that Canada and Ontario are acting in a silo mentality on
the matters that affect First Nation lands, interests and concerns. The
Chief points out - "Uranium does not discriminate against race, region,
or responsible jurisdiction - this mineral and The Chief and Council of Serpent River First Nation want to remind the public that the First Nation holds a default opposition on any development in its territory and is specific to the issue of uranium mineral exploration and production. One of the
more critical positions that the Chief raises as the Lake Huron Treaty
Commissioner is that Treaty First Nations are collective and we share
our overlapping territories. This means that consultation must recognize
our First Nations as having constitutionally protected rights and that
we must be in agreement as to how this type of Chief Day justifies this position by saying "Our watershed territory drains into the Lake Huron basin and uranium mining has the potential of affecting a number of communities in the Treaty Territory. I cannot or will not be the sole decision maker in this process; I rely on my fellow leaders to help make any decisions on this matter - that's the spirit and intent of our Treaty." Serpent River First Nation is a signatory of the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850. Constitutionally protected Aboriginal and treaty rights are entrenched in the relationship between Anishnabek people and the Crown. This relationship is the legal foundation for a Nation-to-Nation dialogue that is continually being raised by First Nations across Canada on issues of resource development in all natural resource-based sectors. Chief Day says that "governments in many jurisdictions across this country are now getting the message spelled out in recent court rulings, that the duty to consult is the floor and not the ceiling. It's time to get serious about meaningful and timely response to this legal duty. Governments, both Crown and First Nations alike must protect and promote the integrity of Canada's Constitution." The Chief says that they are not against development but that any development or economic activity must not have negative impacts as seen in historical uranium mining in the territory between the 1950's through to the nineties when the last uranium mine closed in Elliot Lake, Ontario. Serpent River First Nation is clear in its call to Ontario "It is imperative that Ontario respond now because in the eyes of many, it's irresponsible of the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines to drag its feet on this matter any longer." says Chief Isadore Day. 8)
B.C. GOVERNMENT MOVES TO BAN URANIUM AND THORIUM EXPLORATION VICTORIA, B.C. - The B.C. government has issued a retroactive cabinet order to ban permits for uranium and thorium exploration and development in the province. The ban has already set off a multi-million dollar lawsuit against the provincial government. The order dates back to April 2008, around the same time Boss Power Corp. (TSXV:BPU) applied for permits to drill at its Blizzard uranium property in the mountains east of Kelowna. Article
at: 9)
URANIUM DEBATE RAGES ALONG QUEBEC'S NORTH SHORE
as locals oppose mines Accessible on land only by snowmobile, the wilderness area hundreds of kilometres north of Quebec City provides a winter getaway for many residents of the Quebec port town of Sept-Iles, about 20 kilometres away. But these days there is another group that treasures the rugged back-country terrain. A British Columbia-based prospecting company has cast an eye on a rocky bluff that overlooks the lake, where it says lies a vast deposit of increasingly valuable low-grade uranium. Article at: http://www.canadaeast.com/search/article/596237
10) NUNAVUT IMPACT REVIEW BOARD RECOMMENDATION The Nunavut
Impact Review Board is recommending that AREVA Resources Canada Inc.'s
"Kiggavik" uranium mine project proposal be the subject of a
public review pursuant to Section 12.4.4 (b) of the Nunavut Land Claims
Agreement (NLCA). 11) WELLS TO BE TESTED FOR ARSENIC, URANIUM Milford Daily News by Michael Morton Mar 06, 2009 A federal agency plans to send letters to private well owners in central and eastern Massachusetts in coming weeks asking them to help determine the prevalence of two naturally occurring but potentially harmful chemicals. State health officials said longterm consumption of the more dangerous chemical, arsenic, can cause skin irritation and skin cancer, as well as liver and bladder cancer. The other, uranium, can cause kidney disease, they said. Article
at: http://www.milforddailynews.com:80/news/x978988021/
12)
PRENTICE CONFIRMS CUTS PLANNED TO ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEWS OTTAWA -- The Conservative government plans dramatic cuts to the number of projects that require federal environmental assessments, triggering accusations that Ottawa is abandoning its environmental duties under the banner of economic stimulus. A leaked government document outlining the proposed changes to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act indicates Environment Minister Jim Prentice has asked for a bill "overhauling" the legislation as soon as possible. Under the new system, the government should "expect to capture 200-300 projects per year," the document states. That would represent a more than 95 per cent drop from the roughly 6,000 federal environmental assessments that currently take place each year. Article
at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090314. 13)
"FLOOD AT STAVA DAM" VIDEO The NG webpage
for the video is: The video
can be viewed at: The piece
can be can be downloaded, through a internet serach for "torrent"
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