Category: Archive

Russia has uranium from dismantled weapons

admin /22 September, 2007

The Democrats supported the terms of reference put forward to examine Australia’s deal with Russia, Democrats Senator Lynn Allison told the Federal Senate on 17 September 2007. But she said she did not think that the parliamentary oversight which Senator Payne had suggested will be provided through the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties was adequate.

She pointed out that among other problems with the legislation, the Russians have 700 tonnes of high grade uranium removed from the nuclear weapons they dismantled during the 1990s.

Pulp mill to use ancient aquifer

admin /22 September, 2007

The allocation of water to the Penola pulp mill had given a lot of concern to stakeholders, especially other users of the water resource in the surrounding region, said Independent MHA Kris Hanna in the South Australia House of Assembly on 11 September 2007. Therefore, Government would have the ability to reduce water allocation, to the mill, but not increase it

Slowly replenished aquifer: "Clause 8deals with the water allocation to the mill itself," Hanna said, "and recommendations 6 through to 10 of the select committee deal with this clause…The amount allocated to the mill is substantial, although it will not make the mill the biggest user of water in the South-East. It is important to note that;

• "the allocation of water to the mill was granted under the usual water allocation process. So, it was all duly done and above board, and that is under the current regime";

• "water allocation to the mill is that it is from the lower aquifer, not the aquifer closest to the forestry plantation and the surface. Under the first aquifer there is the lower underground aquifer, which is fed very slowly by water travelling underground, generally from the Victorian region toward the coast. Because it has a very slow recharge, and it is water that has probably been around for hundreds of thousands of years, the water allocation policy for the aquifer has always been extremely cautious. Although the mill proponents have secured just about all the water they could from the immediately surrounding area in respect of the underground aquifer, it has been within the cautious limits set by longstanding water policy".

Solar plane breaks world record

admin /21 September, 2007

‘Photo courtesy QinetiQ ‘	The solar plane in flight

September 11, 2007—A new ultralight aircraft has reportedly demolished the previous world record for longest unmanned flight, the plane’s manufacturers announced yesterday.

The Zephyr High Altitude Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) stayed aloft for 54 hours during a recent test flight at New Mexico’s White Sands Missile Range, says London-based defense firm QinetiQ.

SA subsidises solar photovoltaics

admin /16 September, 2007

South Australia’s Minister for Energy P.F. Conlon outlined provisions of amendments to Part 3 of the Electricity Supply Industry Act in South Australia’s House of Assembly on 12 September 2007.

 

Domestic users able to feed electricity to network: "The Division will make it a condition of an existing or future licence authorising the operation of a distribution network, other than an excluded network, that the holder of the licence will allow a domestic customer to feed electricity into the network through the use of a qualifying generator," the Minister said. "A domestic customer who qualifies under this scheme will be credited with $0.44 per kWh. It will then be a condition of the licence of the electricity entity that sells electricity as a retailer to the domestic customer (including a licence on the commencement of this measure) that the credit will be reflected in the charges payable by the domestic customer for the supply of electricity."

Murray River officially runs dry

admin /16 September, 2007

The river bed of the River Murray was running dry just across the border in Victoria and water had been kept upstream of South Australia as part of the Murray-Darling Basin Commission’s management plan to ensure flow across the border in coming months, reported The Advertiser (10/9/2007, p. 8). River impassable to larger craft: "Within Continue Reading →

The 100-Mile Diet

admin /16 September, 2007

The Struggles and Successes of Eating Local Foods

By Susan Cosier

I’ll use any excuse to go to the farmers’ market, so when I heard about the 100-mile diet —eating food produced within 100 miles of my home—I had to try it. I wondered if it would be possible to subsist on food grown and raised in and around New York City. So on a warm, autumn day last September, I got my canvas bags out of the closet and headed to the Union Square Farmers’ Market in Manhattan. I felt like I was wandering through a gigantic garden. Folding tables under tents along the walkway were heaped with bushy lettuce heads, lavender eggplant and gnarled sweet potatoes. Bunches of radishes, beets and carrots showed off their spindly roots. Tomatoes of all different colors were spread out in squares like a quilt. With just a few exceptions, all of it came from within 200 miles of New York City—close enough to count.

© Susan Cosier

Before that day, I hadn’t been much of a local food connoisseur. What intrigued me were the diet’s environmental benefits: buying locally means less fossil fuel burned to transport food, which means less pollution and greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. But buying exclusively local takes a lot of effort, and it can be hard to determine the origins of many foods. Plus, the diet can be expensive and choices are limited to seasonal offerings.