Group items tagged

Beyond ecological imperialism Climate change isn't just a battle between rich and poor - it shows how an obsession with economic growth is a dead end o guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 December 2009 12.30 GMT So the Copenhagen summit did not deliver any hope of substantive change, or even any indication that the world's leaders are sufficiently aware of the vastness and urgency of the problem. But is that such a surprise? Nothing in the much-hyped runup to the summit suggested that the organisers and participants had genuine ambitions to change course and stop or reverse a process of clearly unsustainable growth. Part of the problem is that the issue of climate change is increasingly portrayed as that of competing interests between countries. Thus, the summit has been interpreted variously as a fight between the "two largest culprits" - the US and China - or between a small group of developed countries and a small group of newly emerging countries (the group of four - China, India, Brazil and South Africa), or at best between rich and poor countries. The historical legacy of past growth in the rich countries that has a current adverse impact is certainly keenly felt in the developing world. It is not just the past: current per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world are still many multiples of that in any developing country, including China. So the attempts by northern commentators to lay blame on some countries for derailing the result by pointing to this discrepancy are seen in most developing countries as further evidence of an essentially colonial outlook. But describing this as a fight between countries misses the essential point: that the issue is really linked to an economic system - capitalism - that is crucially dependent upon rapid growth as its driving force, even if this "growth" does not deliver better lives for the people. So there is no questioning of the supposition that rich countries with declining populations mu

Beyond ecological imperialism Climate change isn't just a battle between rich and poor - it shows how an obsession with economic growth is a dead end o guardian.co.uk, Monday 21 December 2009 12.30 GMT So the Copenhagen summit did not deliver any hope of substantive change, or even any indication that the world's leaders are sufficiently aware of the vastness and urgency of the problem. But is that such a surprise? Nothing in the much-hyped runup to the summit suggested that the organisers and participants had genuine ambitions to change course and stop or reverse a process of clearly unsustainable growth. Part of the problem is that the issue of climate change is increasingly portrayed as that of competing interests between countries. Thus, the summit has been interpreted variously as a fight between the "two largest culprits" - the US and China - or between a small group of developed countries and a small group of newly emerging countries (the group of four - China, India, Brazil and South Africa), or at best between rich and poor countries. The historical legacy of past growth in the rich countries that has a current adverse impact is certainly keenly felt in the developing world. It is not just the past: current per capita greenhouse gas emissions in the developed world are still many multiples of that in any developing country, including China. So the attempts by northern commentators to lay blame on some countries for derailing the result by pointing to this discrepancy are seen in most developing countries as further evidence of an essentially colonial outlook. But describing this as a fight between countries misses the essential point: that the issue is really linked to an economic system - capitalism - that is crucially dependent upon rapid growth as its driving force, even if this "growth" does not deliver better lives for the people. So there is no questioning of the supposition that rich countries with declining populations mu

"Bellona presents an analysis of the draft law "On Management of Radioactive Waste," currently under consideration in the Russian legislature. This position reflects the opinion shared equally by Bellona and experts from most ecological non-governmental organisations operating in Russia. Aleksandr Nikitin, 01/07-2010 - Translated by Maria Kaminskaya Foreword The draft Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On Management of Radioactive Waste" (hereinafter, the Bill) has been under preparation by Russian legislators for over ten years. At present, the bill is going through its second reading at the lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma. According to the requirements set forth by the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, which Russia signed in Vienna in 1999 and ratified in 2005, countries that employ nuclear energy must have a regulatory and legal framework in place to ensure safe management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and radioactive waste. The proposed legislation will govern all legal relations arising in the field of management of SNF and radioactive waste. As an instrument to regulate such relations, the Bill is without doubt a necessity. Precisely how such relations will be regulated by the Bill in its current form, however, is a different matter. For the reader's convenience, the following analysis has been divided into three distinct parts detailing the potential ecological, social, and economical issues raised by the Bill. This analysis represents the opinion shared equally by Bellona and the majority of experts working with ecological non-governmental organisations in Russia. The ecological impact 1. The fundamental ecological problem that arises with the passing of the Bill is that it will legalise the existing practice of injecting liquid radioactive waste (LRW) inside geological formations for disposal."

"Work could begin this summer to start building a cover over closed portions of private company US Ecology's waste disposal trenches at Hanford. The Washington State Department of Ecology plans a public meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesdayto provide information about the plan and hear comments. It will be at the state office at 3100 Port of Benton Blvd., Richland. US Ecology and its predecessors have been disposing of commercial waste since 1965 on 100 acres of land leased to the state of Washington and subleased to US Ecology. During those 45 years, environmental regulations have changed significantly, said Larry Goldstein, contract manager for closure of the commercial low-level radioactive waste disposal site."

An Idaho company has accused Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions Inc. of cutthroat tactics, using two front groups to derail its bid to clean up a Missouri radioactive waste site. American Ecology Corp. filed a complaint Thursday with the Idaho elections office against Harold Skamser, a veteran lobbyist working for the week-old nonprofit group Citizens for a Clean Idaho. The group is headed by former Utah developer Stephen Loosli, whose new Idaho company, okosphare, is paying Skamser and "fronting for EnergySolutions," American Ecology says in its complaint. EnergySolutions and the Idahoans deny any ties with one another. But American Ecology President Steve Romano said his company's two-year effort to win approval for slightly radioactive waste has had community and political support until now.

Energy Northwest must pay an $80,000 fine to the state for waste management violations after a penalty against the Richland-based power supplier was recently upheld. The state Pollution Control Hearings Board upheld the 2007 complaint, filed by the state Department of Ecology after waste management violations were found at the Columbia Generating Center nuclear power plant outside Richland. But the board reduced the amount of the penalties from $120,000 to $80,000. Jane Hedges, Department of Ecology Nuclear Waste Program manager, said the violations were discovered during six weeks of inspections between July and August 2007. According to an administrative order issued to Energy Northwest in early October 2007, the Department of Ecology's findings included the discovery of two 55-gallon drums partially full of unknown liquids and 17 partially full plastic bags containing soil contaminated by petroleum products. Also found were a 10-gallon drum partially full of "dark sludge," and 12 five-gallon pails full of liquid waste, some of which was labeled paint.

Energy Northwest must pay an $80,000 fine to the state for waste management violations after a penalty against the Richland-based power supplier was recently upheld. The state Pollution Control Hearings Board upheld the 2007 complaint, filed by the state Department of Ecology after waste management violations were found at the Columbia Generating Center nuclear power plant outside Richland. But the board reduced the amount of the penalties from $120,000 to $80,000. Jane Hedges, Department of Ecology Nuclear Waste Program manager, said the violations were discovered during six weeks of inspections between July and August 2007. According to an administrative order issued to Energy Northwest in early October 2007, the Department of Ecology's findings included the discovery of two 55-gallon drums partially full of unknown liquids and 17 partially full plastic bags containing soil contaminated by petroleum products. Also found were a 10-gallon drum partially full of "dark sludge," and 12 five-gallon pails full of liquid waste, some of which was labeled paint.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will hold a public meeting July 28 in Bruneau, Idaho, to brief members of the public on a proposal by Westinghouse Electric Co. to dispose of low-activity radioactive materials at the U.S. Ecology Disposal Facility in Grand View, Idaho. The meeting will take place from 6 - 8:30 p.m. in the Auditorium of Rimrock Jr. Sr. High School, 39678 State Highway 78, in Bruneau. Westinghouse is currently decommissioning its Hematite nuclear fuel fabrication facility in Jefferson County, Mo. Westinghouse has requested a license amendment and authorization from the NRC to dispose of some low-activity radioactive waste - including small amounts of "special nuclear material" (enriched uranium and plutonium) - at the U.S. Ecology facility. Westinghouse has also asked the NRC to exempt U.S. Ecology from the agency's licensing requirements for radioactive byproduct material and special nuclear material.

Legend has it that cockroaches would be the last survivors of a nuclear holocaust, but according to a study in Biology Letters, their invertebrate brethren would not be so lucky. The researchers went back to Chernobyl, where a nuclear reactor exploded in 1986, causing the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history and many deaths and illnesses. Because little is known about the ecological effects of low-level radiation on animals, they surveyed more than 700 forest sites and 17 transects that spanned four orders of magnitude of background radiation levels, looking for bumblebees, butterflies, grasshoppers, dragonflies and spider webs. They found the animal abundance dropped with increasing radiation, even after controlling for factors like soil type and habitat quality. The ecological effects of the Chernobyl disaster are greater than most have previously assumed, they conclude.

Cara Campbell of Fort Lauderdale, chairwoman of the Ecology Party of Florida, said today her group is intervening in an attempt to halt approval and construction of two nuclear reactors in the state. The party has filed as a co-intervener on the issue of two proposed nuclear rectors in rural Levy County, on the west coast of Florida. Here's Campbell's statement: The Ecology Party of Florida is unwavering in its advocacy of the precautionary principle and nuclear power is proven unsafe. We believe energy conservation as well as other alternative energy options would preclude building these dangerous new reactors.

Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko has approved the programme of a gradual dismantle of the Chernobyl atomic power plant. According to the plan it will take over 50 years to make the Chernobyl an ecologically safe place, clean of radioactive contamination. Starting from January 1 next year, Ukraine will begin pulling the plant down, a process divided into four phases. Ukraine plans to spend 4.075 billon grivna (over $US 620 million) of its budget and about $US 48 million of international financing just for the startup of the project, which involves certain urgent technical and ecological measures.

About 30 members of St. Petersburg's ecological organizations protested on Thursday the transportation of nuclear waste from other countries to Russia. "No to the Import of Nuclear Waste!" read the slogan held by a group of ecologists in front of Avtovo metro station - the area of the city through which trains transporting nuclear waste from Europe usually pass. "We are protesting nuclear transportation through St. Petersburg," said Rashid Alimov, co-chairman of the ECOperestroika ecological organization at a press conference on Thursday. "We also declare the start of a public campaign against the construction of a terminal for receiving radioactive waste cargo in the port of Ust-Luga," he said. The protest was prompted by the arrival of the ship MV Schouwenbank loaded with 1,250 tons of depleted uranium hexafluoride from Germany to St. Petersburg on Thursday. It was the biggest transfer of German radioactive waste to Russia in history, ECOperestroika said.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that the state of Washington does have authority over certain radioactive waste mixed with hazardous chemicals at Hanford. It upheld a 2005 summary judgment ruling in Eastern Washington federal District Court that the state had authority to require DOE to dig up and process waste temporarily buried at Hanford after 1970 until the nation has a national repository opened in New Mexico. At issue is mixed transuranic waste, typically trash such as protective clothing and laboratory debris contaminated with plutonium and also hazardous chemicals such as solvents or heavy metals. It's left from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. "The federal court has upheld the state's authority to protect its people and its resources from the extremely dangerous wastes that were buried decades ago at Hanford," Jay Manning, director of the Washington state Department of Ecology, said in a statement. The case was filed after Ecology issued an order in 2003 requiring DOE to remove and process enough waste to fill about 75,000 55-gallon drums. The waste is buried in drums and boxes.

"A new draft study shows importing radioactive waste for disposal at Hanford would significantly increase pollution in ground water beneath the nuclear reservation, according to the Washington State Department of Ecology. The state long has opposed the Department of Energy sending radioactive waste to Hanford for disposal. But the draft Hanford Tank Closure and Waste Management Environmental Impact Statement that's open for public comment puts some numbers to that assertion. "We're cleaning up Hanford of some of the constituents we care most about and then recontaminating it with off-site waste to above the acceptable level from a cancer risk standpoint or a safe drinking water standpoint," said Suzanne Dahl, tank waste treatment section manager for the Department of Ecology. Under some scenarios that appear likely, the amount of certain long-lived radioactive isotopes that would be imported and buried at Hanford would account for as much as 90 percent of the releases of that isotope to the environment, according to the state. Some of the worst contamination could occur 1,000 or more years from now."

"City-based economist and social activist Sulabha Brahme has slammed the state government's proposal to start mega power plants in the Konkan region. Brahme said the proposal to start nuclear and thermal projects to generate 30,000 megawatts (MW) of power would damage the ecology of the Konkan irreparably.Brahme was delivering a lecture on 'Jaitapur nuclear power plant and its impact' organised by the Pune branch of the Marathi Vidnyan Parishad (MVP) in the city on Tuesday."

"The Department of Energy and its regulators have agreed to new legally binding environmental cleanup deadlines for radioactive waste that has been temporarily buried at central Hanford since 1970. The proposed new package of deadlines would allow more time for some work but also add new deadlines DOE must meet. They include the first-ever deadlines for when some of the waste must be shipped to a national repository in New Mexico and a final cleanup deadline for some of the most difficult-to-handle solid waste, which Hanford now lacks the capabilities to prepare for disposal. "We've come up with a change package that satisfies the interest of DOE, Ecology and the public," said Deborah Singleton, project manager for the Washington State Department of Ecology. The state and the Environmental Protection Agency are Hanford regulators. "

Increased toxins likely as energy companies seek oil, gas, uranium When the Colorado River emerged as an important piece of his coverage, Lustgarten started working with The San Diego Union-Tribune's David Hasemyer, who has written about uranium mining's impact on the waterway for more than a decade. Together, they looked at the potential environmental and water-use consequences of increased mining and drilling in the river's watershed. The Colorado River has endured drought, large-scale climate changes, pollution, ecological damage from dams and battles by seven states to draw more water. Now the life vein of the Southwest faces another threat: Energy companies are sucking up the Colorado's water to support increased development of oil, natural gas and uranium deposits along the river's basin. The mining and drilling will likely send more toxins into the waterway, which provides drinking water for one out of 12 Americans and nourishes 15 percent of the nation's crops along its journey from Wyoming and Colorado to Mexico.

The last containers of 6,700 tons of Kuwaiti sand at the Port of Longview contaminated with low levels of depleted uranium have been loaded onto trains bound for Idaho, said Chad Hyslop, spokesman for the disposal company American Ecology.

Unlike most fish stories, this isn't about the one that got away. No fish were getting away Thursday. Department of Energy contractors began a project that will eliminate the entire fish population - tens of thousands of fish - in three ponds near the former K-25 uranium-enrichment plant. It's part of an overall plan to restore and "ecologically enhance" the ponds that were historically contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls and other pollutants.

After 136 years, the Ontario government is planning on revising its 136 year old mining law to reflect modern circumstances (including prohibiting exploration on private land in Southern Ontario). Drafted in the 1873 when the exploitation of natural resources was seen as the key to economic success, mining was treated as an activity that superseded anything else. Based on a "free entry" system, a mining company could explore and stake land anywhere in the province, including personal property, aboriginal lands, and some zones of ecological sensitivity. And in Canada (and Ontario), mining was and still is serious business. The largest private sector employer of Aboriginal people, mining provides Ontario with a trade surplus of about $3.3 billion annually. However, pressure has been mounting to modernize the Mining Act and reached a fever pitch with the jailing of Aboriginal protestors trying to block mining activities from occurring on traditional land.

"In late January, Dmitry Dmitriyenko, governor of Russia's Far Northern region of Murmansk, on the Kola Peninsula, met with representatives of the region's public organisations, ethnic and cultural groups, and members of the Public Chamber. Altogether, Dmitriyenko heard some 20 people - but not an environmentalist among them. Below is an opinion piece by Alexei Pavlov, Director of Bellona's St. Petersburg offices. Alexey Pavlov, 16/02-2010 - Translated by Maria Kaminskaya For those who have observed the situation, however, the meeting hardly came as a surprise. As soon as Dmitriyenko took the reins in March 2009, replacing Yury Yevdokimov at the post of Governor of Murmansk Region, environmentalists found themselves struggling to get the new governor's attention. Dmitriyenko's predecessor used to meet with environmentalists regularly and would listen to their opinions even if they were contrary to his own. Dmitriyenko, by contrast, never responded to the meeting request extended last year by Severnaya Koalitsiya (Northern Coalition), a group uniting five environmental non-for-profit organisations: Bellona-Murmansk, a WWF branch operating in the Barents region, Murmansk's Priroda i Molodyozh (Nature and Youth), the Kola Centre for the Protection of Wildlife, and the Kola Ecological Centre Gaea. Last May, a couple of months after the governor took office, the coalition asked for a meeting to discuss the Kola Peninsula's most pressing environmental problems, but never received an answer. "

The epic fight over carbon emissions is barely the tip of how we survive. Mother Earth demands that fossil/nukes be transcended. This green-powered leap defines our technological, economic and ecological survival. But climate chaos and financial ruin do not stand alone. Green gadgetry aside, we don't get to 2030 unless we confront: The power of the corporations; Social justice and ballot-based democracy; Ending waste and war; Growing food that's truly organic; Empowering women while harmonizing population growth.

The epic fight over carbon emissions is barely the tip of how we survive. Mother Earth demands that fossil/nukes be transcended. This green-powered leap defines our technological, economic and ecological survival. But climate chaos and financial ruin do not stand alone. Green gadgetry aside, we don't get to 2030 unless we confront: The power of the corporations; Social justice and ballot-based democracy; Ending waste and war; Growing food that's truly organic; Empowering women while harmonizing population growth.