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Licence could fetch up to $2 million: The Goondiwindi-based auctioneer organising the sale of a cattleman’s Moonie River licence on 27 April predicted it could fetch up to $2 million. In return, the new owner will be entitled to take up to 2200 megalitres, although the river’s performance suggests the annual average will be about 1100Ml.

Comparable licence for Macintyre worth $4 million: Auctioneer Clayton Smith said a 2200Ml licence on the Macintyre Brook, also in the border rivers system, was worth $4 million. Water Minister Henry Palaszczuk said the state had more than 7500 tradeable water allocations, with an estimated total value of more than $1.5 billion.

The Courier Mail, 28/4/2006, p. 22

Source: Erisk Net  

40,000 Chinese villagers are short of drinking water following a pollution spill in the southern province of Guandong. … more

Greenpeace claims a victory over seafood suppliers Gorton’s, Sealord and parent company Nissui, who have withdrawn their active support for Japanese whaling. Read more … 

Investec diving into renewables: One significant biofuels investor is the Australian office of Investec Bank, which is building a renewable energy investment business to add to its private equity, real estate and corporate advisory operations.

US ethanol deal: This month Investec added ethanol to its portfolio with a $US100 million ($A134 million) deal to gain access to 160 million gallons of ethanol production in the US, using special-purpose company Global Ethanol Holdings. GEH has taken a 60 per cent stake in lowa-based co-operative Midwest Grain Producers, which has an operational plant producing 100 million gallons (378 million litres) of ethanol with a 60-million-gallon plant under production in nearby Michigan.

Two more in the pipeline: Investec’s executive chairman in Australia, Geoff Levy, says the group has two other ethanol deals close to completion, one of which is in the US.

The Age, 24/4/2006, p. 2

Listed producers Australian Ethanol and Australian Renewable Fuels have seen their share prices jump 160 per cent and 18 per cent respectively since last March, read more …

According to president of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute, Helen Caldicott, each typical 1000-megawatt reactor makes 200 kilograms of plutonium a year, reported The Age (17 April 2006, p.11).

A little goes a long way – the wrong way: Less than one-millionth of a gram is carcinogenic. Handled like iron by the body, it causes liver, lung and bone cancer and leukaemia.

Congential deformities in testicles: It has a predilection for the testicle, where inevitably it will cause genetic abnormalities.

Radiological life of 240,000 years: With a radiological life of 240,000 years, released in the ecosphere, it will affect biological systems forever. Because only five kilograms of plutonium is critical mass, countries importing our uranium to fuel their nuclear reactors could, theoretically, manufacture plutonium for many nuclear bombs each year.

And, makes nuclear weapons: The under-resourced International Atomic Energy Agency admits that it is physically impossible to prevent a determined country, whether signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or not, from using imported uranium or its byproduct, plutonium, to make nuclear weapons.

The Age, 17/4/2006, p. 11

Source: Erisk Net