Excellent letter in yesterdays Townsville Bulletin from Rebecca Smith responding to the Minerals Council of Australias platitudes & gross errors on Monday. MISINFORMATION LEAK (20 Nov 2013 - Townsville Bulletin) AS executive director uranium for the Minerals Council of Australia, Daniel Zavattiero (TB, Uranium: safety first 18/11) would say uranium is safe, wouldnt he? And that theres been no leaks from Ranger mine, ever? Mr Zavattiero is either ignorantly misinformed, wilfully misinformed, or deliberately misinforming readers. In 2003, the Office of the Supervising Scientist told a Senate Estimates Committee that, every day for the past 30 years, between 100,000 and 150,000 litres of highly radioactive water has been leaking from the Ranger uranium mines tailings ponds. They dont know where it is leaking from or where is it going, because under their conditions of contract, they are not allowed to find out! The leaking contaminated water is 5400 times more radioactive than background levels, and it is still leaking today. This was again confirmed by the Supervising Scientist at an Additional Estimates meeting in 2011. So why the misinformation, Mr Zavattiero? Is it because we have a uranium deposit 50km from our doorstep and your mates want to make a buck off it? Are you telling us there have never been any incidents at Ranger, when, in 2004, the ABC reported that radioactive water was accidentally connected to the Supervising Scientist Office and local Traditional Owners water supply and drunk by unsuspecting locals and workers? Mr Zavattiero writes as though the Supervising Scientist is there to ensure safety. The position lends a veneer to public safety and placates the majority of Australians who thought uranium mining and World Heritage do not go together. The Senate Estimates Committee accused the Supervising Scientist of being complicit in underenforcement of regulatory breaches. The Committee found the Supervising Scientists monitoring lacks vigour and independence, and the results of monitoring are insufficient to assess intermittent and cumulative impacts. The Committee also found that the government relies on self-regulation of the industry - and look where that has got Tepco at Fukushima! One has to ask why the Minerals Councils uranium spokesman is peddling mistruths to the people of Townsville when we have a uranium mine its members want to develop sitting at our back door. REBECCA SMITH, Kirwan.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 07:06:05 +0000
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