Environs Kimberley
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Fracking in the Kimberley? - Take action now!
In an astounding decision, Western Australia’s independent environment watchdog, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has refused to even assess one of the largest, modern fracking proposal in the State’s history in the Kimberley.
The proposal by Buru Energy is to inject 31 million litres of water and 80,000 litres of chemicals and proppants at extreme pressure to fracture rocks to release gas. Some of the chemicals are toxic, one a biocide BE-9 was even banned in Canada in 2000 because of its toxicity and persistency.
Fracking banned
We know from experience in the US that there are pollution risks with fracking and the Department of Health, Water Corporation and Department of Water have all said that fracking should be banned in Public Drinking Water Source Areas because of the risks of pollution.
Cities like Fort Collins in Colorado, regions like Cantabria in Spain and countries like France have banned fracking as have many other jurisdictions around the world including Victoria in Australia. This is because of the risks to groundwater and public health yet WA’s environment watchdog has refused to even assess this fracking proposal despite EK’s submission to the EPA.
Take action – write an appeal, it doesn’t have to be long
The government needs to act and the Environment Minister Albert Jacob has the power to direct the EPA to assess this fracking proposal. We have until Tuesday, January 28 to appeal the EPA’s decision not to assess this proposal and make sure the Minister gets the message that we are concerned about fracking.
You can read here about the reasons why the EPA chose not to assess the plan.
Here’s how to write an appeal:
1. Ask the Minister for the Environment to remit the proposal to the EPA with a direction that the proposal be formally assessed.
2. Do some research from the links in this email or use some of the tips below for what to include in the appeal.
3. Email your signed appeal to: admin@appealsconvenor.wa.gov.au , addressed to the Minister for Environment, Hon. Albert Jacob.
4. Call the appeal convenor to pay $10 appeal fee for the Environmental Impact Assessment of Buru’s fracking program in the Kimberley – (08) 6467 5190
What grounds to include in your appeal
1. Shale gas extraction has the potential for serious environmental impacts, which is demonstrated by science from around the world – you may want to provide examples
2. The EPA has not adequately considered the values of the environment – the importance of Roebuck Plains and its connection to the Ramsar listed Roebuck Bay and the extent of the likely impacts of pollution if anything goes wrong i.e. once polluted and aquifer can never be cleaned up
3. The lack of information on the groundwater and surface water of these areas
4. It is inappropriate for the proposed works to be approved to proceed while a parliamentary inquiry into unconventional gas is being undertaken
5. The high level of community concern which must be addressed and the complete lack of community consultation on this proposal – have a listen to a forum on ABC Kimberley this week about fracking.
In an astounding decision, Western Australia’s independent environment watchdog, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has refused to even assess one of the largest, modern fracking proposal in the State’s history in the Kimberley.
The proposal by Buru Energy is to inject 31 million litres of water and 80,000 litres of chemicals and proppants at extreme pressure to fracture rocks to release gas. Some of the chemicals are toxic, one a biocide BE-9 was even banned in Canada in 2000 because of its toxicity and persistency.
Fracking banned
We know from experience in the US that there are pollution risks with fracking and the Department of Health, Water Corporation and Department of Water have all said that fracking should be banned in Public Drinking Water Source Areas because of the risks of pollution.
Cities like Fort Collins in Colorado, regions like Cantabria in Spain and countries like France have banned fracking as have many other jurisdictions around the world including Victoria in Australia. This is because of the risks to groundwater and public health yet WA’s environment watchdog has refused to even assess this fracking proposal despite EK’s submission to the EPA.
Take action – write an appeal, it doesn’t have to be long
The government needs to act and the Environment Minister Albert Jacob has the power to direct the EPA to assess this fracking proposal. We have until Tuesday, January 28 to appeal the EPA’s decision not to assess this proposal and make sure the Minister gets the message that we are concerned about fracking.
You can read here about the reasons why the EPA chose not to assess the plan.
Here’s how to write an appeal:
1. Ask the Minister for the Environment to remit the proposal to the EPA with a direction that the proposal be formally assessed.
2. Do some research from the links in this email or use some of the tips below for what to include in the appeal.
3. Email your signed appeal to: admin@appealsconvenor.wa.gov.au , addressed to the Minister for Environment, Hon. Albert Jacob.
4. Call the appeal convenor to pay $10 appeal fee for the Environmental Impact Assessment of Buru’s fracking program in the Kimberley – (08) 6467 5190
What grounds to include in your appeal
1. Shale gas extraction has the potential for serious environmental impacts, which is demonstrated by science from around the world – you may want to provide examples
2. The EPA has not adequately considered the values of the environment – the importance of Roebuck Plains and its connection to the Ramsar listed Roebuck Bay and the extent of the likely impacts of pollution if anything goes wrong i.e. once polluted and aquifer can never be cleaned up
3. The lack of information on the groundwater and surface water of these areas
4. It is inappropriate for the proposed works to be approved to proceed while a parliamentary inquiry into unconventional gas is being undertaken
5. The high level of community concern which must be addressed and the complete lack of community consultation on this proposal – have a listen to a forum on ABC Kimberley this week about fracking.
Photo Damian Kelly
Posts
Just waiting for Proctors advert in the Broome Advertiser :
ReplyDelete"We don't support the Indigenous recognition referendum "
ABC
Monarchists warn of 'almost certain' violence if Indigenous recognition referendum goes ahead
Monarchists have warned of "almost certain violence" if there is a referendum to recognise Aboriginal people in the constitution.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has described the constitutional change as an "important national crusade" and has promised to put forward a draft amendment by September.
But the Australian Monarchist League says there is a real prospect of violence by those who are "hostile" to white settlement.
"The appalling desecration of Captain Cook's cottage in Melbourne by anti-Australia Day vandals will cause many people to resile from the very thought of a referendum and the now almost certain violence that will accompany it," the group's national chairman Philip Benwell said.
Police were called to the cottage on Friday after it had been graffitied with the words: "26th Jan Australia's Shame!!!".
Mr Benwell says the 2012 Australia Day riot in Canberra, which resulted in then-prime minister Julia Gillard and Mr Abbott having to be rescued from a group of angry protesters, adds to his concern about having a national debate.
"This is a matter of concern to us, that anyone who may express doubts about the proposals may face the sort of vandalism or violence that has accompanied anti-Australia Day protests," he said.
.
Mr Benwell says the Australian Monarchist League is not opposed to reconciliation, but it will not support any change that would be "detrimental" to the constitution.
"Certainly the white settlement was not without its problems, but had the British not colonised this country and brought with them the concept of law and order, Australia would not be the great and united nation it is today," he said.
The former Labor government promised to hold a referendum to recognise Aboriginal people in the constitution but decided to delay a vote, citing the need to build more public support for the change.
Beware the stuck up whinging Poms and their stuck up whinging supporters.
DeleteThe 3 d's :
dickheads dunces and drongos
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Next place to wreck - Canning Basin
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Australian Traveller
Australia’s hottest travel destinations in 2014
1. The Kimberley
She’s rugged, wild and isolated in Australia’s far north-west corner; and the Kimberley is also, without doubt, the country’s number one hot spot – taking the title of ‘Ultimate Dream Destination’ for the past two years. Plenty of the region’s accommodation is getting rave reviews, such as El Questro and Kimberley Coastal Camp, though we’d like to see local secret, Mornington Wilderness Camp, gain more attention. If you haven’t seen the Kimberley yet, now is the time… quick, before someone decides to asphalt the Gibb River Road.
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..............and frack it up completely !
Mr McKenzie told The Australian yesterday that he supported fracking, which he described as "advanced technology", but he would not take part in any discussions at Yawuru board level about Buru Energy due to a conflict of interest.
DeleteHe said opponents of fracking had "lost touch with reality" and many were "jumping on board" only after the campaign to stop Woodside Petroleum building a $40 billion gas plant at James Price Point ended last year (2013).
"Traditional owners are being misled by these people," he said.
..
Maybe there are more people "jumping on board" the pro fracking train because their last land grab at JPP failed.
Next land grab the Canning Basin.
The only thing that makes a whinging Pom happy (or any other racist colonist) is a land grab - stealing someone elses country.
They know of no other way to make money and never did.
How would all those inbred royal europeans finance all those wars against their cousins if they didn't steal other peoples country?
Their greed will be the end of us all.
Nelson Mandela :
ReplyDelete"“there can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children...”
'nuff said.
The police the courts and all were in on this.
DeleteKids who ran away were taken back by the police and all their complaints ignored.
This is the scum we are as a so called "society".
Boys 'rented out' for abuse at Salvation Army boys' home at Bexley in Sydney's south
Children at a Salvation Army boys' home in Sydney were "rented out" to strangers who sexually abused them, the royal commission into child sexual abuse has heard.
The Bexley Boys Home in Sydney's south is one of four homes being examined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Until now, former residents of two homes in Queensland have given evidence about being beaten and sexually abused.
Today the inquiry turned its focus to the Bexley home, and a police investigation launched in the 1990s after several men came forward.
Detective Inspector Rick Cunningham investigated the allegations of abuse at the home.
A man named FV told police that in 1974 the Superintendent of the Bexley home, Captain Lawrence Wilson, introduced him to a woman in Salvation Army uniform who was accompanied by a man.
FV said they took him back to their home and sexually abused him.
More on this:
Salvation Army major 'punched 4yo boys in the face'
Boys 'punched and locked in cages' at Salvos homes
Royal commission to hear of abuse at Salvation Army homes
Inspector Cunningham told the commission that when the boy reported the incident it was ignored.
"Captain Wilson said, 'These are good people I send you to' and caned him about 18 times," he told the hearing.
Lawyers representing the Salvation Army asked Inspector Cunningham if he was aware of a paedophile network operating through the home.
"Information from various former residents [was] that they went to homes on weekends, that there were visitors to the Bexley home," he replied.
And make no mistake about it we in the Kimberley are no different.
The Broome Shire being an example of the scum we are as a so called "society'
Why are pre teenage kids committing suicide?
"A YMCA childcare centre in Sydney has still not complied with national childcare regulations, a year after the jailing of former staff member Jonathan Lord for sexually abusing boys.
ReplyDeleteThe royal commission into child sexual abuse briefly reconvened its inquiry into the YMCA this morning to hear the new evidence.
An email from the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities (DEC) sent to the YMCA just over a month ago states it is satisfied the Christian organisation has not complied with the national laws."
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Concern over apparent increase in youth suicide in Western Australia's remote north
There is concern about an apparent increase in the rate of children self-harming and committing suicide in the state's north.
Earlier this month, a 12-year-old boy took his own life in the town of Halls Creek.
It followed the suicide of a 12-year-old in the remote community of Kalumburu last year.
The Youth Affairs Council of WA chief executive, Craig Comrie, said there was not enough data available to say for sure if more children are self-harming.
But he said it appeared to be on the increase.
"We have heard stories and anecdotal evidence from people in the Kimberley that the young people that are experiencing mental health problems and suicide are becoming young in age, but I do believe it has been quite low for some time," he said.
Mr Comrie said suicides were generally not reported for fear of inciting copycat crimes, but he said maybe that needed to change.
"I think it would absolutely be a help if there was a greater focus on sharing information about what is occurring so that we can look at where the investment needs to be made, and where young people are struggling the most."
Statistics show a third of children who take their own lives are Aboriginal.
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A ceremony has been held in Broome to honour one of the town's great contributors, the late Lord Alistair McAlpine.
About 100 Broome residents attended the memorial last night, hosted by the Catholic Church at the Broome Civic Centre.