Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Archives for August 2005

Uranium Mining, but Not Croc Hunting

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The NT government has conceded the Federal government has ultimate power of approval over new uranium mines – making the NT ban on new mines ineffective. And according to today’s Financial Review, this concession could result in new uranium exports of $12 billion with strong demand for uranium coming from China, Europe and Russia.

While crocodile hunting may never be worth very much relative to uranium mining, it is interesting that the NT government has a plan for limited and regulated safari hunting of crocodiles, but in this instance can’t get federal government approval. Federal government approval is apparently needed in order to be able to export “the products of the safari hunts”, see
http://www.nt.gov.au/ocm/media_releases/2005/07%20July/20050713_ScrymgourCrocSafaris.pdf .

UPDATE 4PM
Uranium miners are confused at
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1431171.htm and
Queensland stand by opposition to uranium mining at
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1431258.htm

Belief in the Truth of a Theory

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I wrote these two laws down on a scrap of paper years ago. I still have the scrap of paper but not the original reference.

Harris’s First Law:
Belief in the truth of a theory is inversely proportional to the precision of the science.

Harris’s Second Law:
The creativity of a scientist is directly proportional to how much he knows, and inversely proportional to how much he believes.

Litigation Over Canberra Fires, And

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The Coronial Inquiry into the 2003 Canberra bushfires ended with an application for disqualification of Coroner Doogan. A decision from the Supreme Court of the ACT is expected some time soon.

Last month, perhaps in frustration with the ACT Government’s perceived interference with the Coronial inquiry, sixty-two victims of the January 2003 bushfires brought a class action against the ACT, NSW and Commonwealth Goverments for damages, accusing the governments of negligence.

A summary of this action, written by the ACT government solicitor, can be found here, Download file .

Today I was sent information about a new website for volunteer fire fighters,
http://www.volunteerfirefighters.org.au/ .

There are several other websites, borne of frustration with government’s approach to controlled burning and hazard reduction including,
http://www.bushfires.net/ .

I am keen to collect links to bushfire sites. I know there is a site maintained by retired WA foresters, but can’t find a link to it through google or on my computer.

UPDATE 4TH AUGUST
This WA bushfire site just brought to my attention: http://www.bushfirefront.com.au/

To Dredge, or Not to Dredge

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ABC Online is running two stories on dredging.

One is about dredging at the mouth of the Murray, see http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1428180.htm

In this story, Brenton Erdmann from South Australia’s Water Department is quoted stating that dredging has made a big difference, “We’ve been dredging continuously for 24 hours, seven days a week for coming up to three years now so we’re really starting to see the benefits of that.”

I am not sure from the piece what the benefits are.

Interestingly, when Charles Sturt arrived at Lake Alexandrina (bottom of the Murray) in 1830 what we now consider the Murray’s mouth was back then a maze of impassable sandbars.

The other story is about Melbourne’s Port Phillip Bay and how a flotilla plans to blockade the entry of a dredging ship on the basis dredging will destroy marine life in the area, see http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200508/s1427699.htm.

So it’s good to dredge the mouth of the Murray, but bad to dredge Port Phillip Bay?

Lomborg Debates Pope

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“…when people are starving, lacking clean drinking water, getting poisoned from indoor air pollution, and dying from easily curable communicable diseases, they let the environment get ravaged, too. Your solution is to deal with the environment first. But shouldn’t we, morally and practically, help them gain wealth first, so they can take care of the environment too?” says Bjorn Lomborg author of The Skeptical Environmentalist to Carl Pope from the Sierra Club.

Read the complete text in the latest issue of Foreign Policy it begins

Is the world getting greener? Or are we selling it short for a fistful of greenbacks? Apparently, even committed environmentalists can disagree. When Carl Pope looks out his door, he sees the polar ice caps melting, ecosystems on life support, and clean water disappearing. But Bjorn Lomborg believes humanity’s backyard has never looked better. Who’s got it right?

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3084