Has Rio Tinto bitten off more than it can chew?

An interesting timeline involving two mining multinationals, Rio Tinto and Anglo American, which are currently attempting to pressure the Australian Federal Government into watering down its proposed carbon price mechanism.............

Rio Tinto on joint venture plan to mine in a national park in Alaska, 2007 to 2010:

Rio Tinto has a 19.6 per cent equity holding in Northern Dynasty Minerals which owns a 50 per cent share in the Pebble Joint Venture (Rio Tinto share in Pebble: 9.8 percent). Northern Dynasty Minerals is advancing the Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum deposit in south western Alaska, which includes an ore body amenable to block caving.

The Pebble project is located about 200 miles south west of Anchorage in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska on land designated for mineral exploration and development.

World’s largest undeveloped copper resource….World’s largest gold resource in a porphyry deposit

New York Times reporting on Republican Sarah Palin, 21 October 2008:

Ms. Palin has remained officially neutral, saying that the state will evaluate the project when it receives a formal permit application. But she has embraced resource extraction in ways that are likely to help Pebble. On the presidential campaign trail in coal country this month, she led supporters in chants of “Mine, baby, mine!”

Anglo American’s Pebble Mine Investor Advisory October 2009:

According to mining engineer Jim Kuipers, the Pebble Project, if fully developed, “is likely to involve one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in the history of mining.” Based on current ore projections, the Pebble Project will be the largest copper and gold mine in North America, with an estimated footprint covering 30 square miles of the Bristol Bay watershed…… The Pebble project is opposed by a politically powerful coalition of diverse interests who have the support of a large segment of the Alaskan electorate. The majority of Bristol Bay area residents view large-scale mineral development as an unacceptable risk to the fishery and subsistence. A 2009 survey found that 71% of Bristol Bay residents oppose the Pebble Mine. The Alaska Inter-Tribal Council, a consortium of 231 federally-recognized tribes in Alaska, and many tribal governments of the region, have passed resolutions against the project.

Nunamta Aulukestai et al v. State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Excerpts from Plaintiffs Declarations and Plaintiffs Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law (139 pages) 2009 -2010

Anchorage Daily News 13 July 2010:

A state judge has declined to dismiss a court case alleging that state regulators violated the Alaska Constitution when they issued exploration and land-use permits to companies drilling at the Pebble copper and gold prospect in Southwest Alaska…....Superior Court Judge Eric Aarseth on Friday dismissed one of the claims in the lawsuit but allowed the others to proceed to trial. He also ruled that the trial will address only the permits at Pebble rather than the validity of the state's permitting system for mineral exploration, in general.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, media release 7 February 2011:

In 2010, nine federally-recognized Bristol Bay tribes petitioned EPA to use its authority under the Clean Water Act to protect Bristol Bay. Their concerns focused on the potential Pebble Mine project. Two other tribes asked EPA to wait for mining projects to submit permit applications before taking action. ……Bristol Bay is an important source of wild Pacific salmon for commercial, recreational, and subsistence users. It produces hundreds of millions of dollars in annual fisheries revenues. The area may be the last major watershed in North America that produces historic numbers of wild salmon. Most of the Bristol Bay watershed is wildlife refuge or park where large development is restricted. EPA’s efforts will focus on those areas that are not protected.

Veteran U.S. actor Robert Redford as a Trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council, email March 2011:

You should care about Rio Tinto. This British and Australian-based mining giant has a shocking and well-documented record of toxic contamination that spans the globe: from Indonesia to Bolivia to Utah. Now, as one of the major backers of the proposed Pebble Mine, it is threatening to destroy one of our greatest natural treasures: the Bristol Bay wilderness of Alaska. Rio Tinto wants us to believe it has changed its polluting ways. Its chief executive claims they want to have a “net positive effect” on the environment. Talk is cheap. Help us put their words to the test........ We shouldn’t trust any company -- much less a company with Rio Tinto’s dismal record -- to take a catastrophic risk with one of our last and greatest wild places.

The Failed Estate does Bolt over

Had to laugh at this response from Mr. Demore of The Failed Estate to the Channel 10 announcement that Andrew Bolt will get his own Sunday morning show. I'm predictng that Ten is shaping up for a monumental ratings disaster after the first few weeks.

'It is sobering looking through court lists'

A visit to a local court is not something most people have on the 'List of things to do' that's sitting under a magnet on the door of their fridge, but as pointed out in the editorial of today's Daily Examiner that's where a lot of action is really happening.

Most people travel past court houses and are totally ignorant of them. Others go by and remark about their appearance, especially those constructed in the 1800s; their design and workmanship provide evidence that the character of buildings really meant something and they were not just functional constructions of the type built in more recent times.

Again, most people have never been inside a local court and examined what they look like - there are some real charmers.

However, apart from their appearances it's the workings of a local court that most people have little or no idea about.

Readers of local papers, like the Daily Examiner, are provided with reports on court proceedings such as who did what and the penalty the court imposed. Naturally enough, local papers cannot report on every matter heard in local courts. It's usually only the big matters that are of substantial public interest that get a guernsey.  

The Examiner does a good job with the resources it has - reports are factual and objective, but space restrictions limit how much can be reported.

Today's Examiner highlights the types of matters that are occupying a good deal of court time. Apprehended violence orders (AVOs) and drink/driving top the list.
 

Click on image to enlarge to full article

Health implications local government should consider when planning new or expanded road systems

It has often caused me to smile wryly when I read of councils on the NSW North Coast targeting smokers lighting up and at taxi stands and bus stops, given the noticeable amount of air pollution produced by traffic along highways, main roads and other heavy traffic areas within the region.

So it was interesting to find that air pollution from nearby roads is thought to carry the risk of adverse impacts on pregnant women and the babies they carry - possibly due to the chemical toxins in traffic pollutants or because of disturbed sleep due to traffic noise.

The study quoted below was conducted in south-east Queensland where residents have similar housing and lifestyles to people living on the North Coast.

Increased traffic exposure and negative birth outcomes: a prospective cohort in Australia [Adrian G Barnett, Kathryn Plonka, W. Kim Seow, Lee-Ann Wilson, Craig Hanse,2010]

Background

Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy has been shown to increase the risk of negative birth outcomes such as pre-term birth and low birth weight [1–4]. Although the increased risks are relatively small [5–7], the public health implications are large because exposure to some level of air pollution is ubiquitous in urban areas, and pre-term and low weight babies: stay in hospital longer after birth, have an increased risk of death, and are more likely to develop disabilities [8–10]. Many of the estimated associations between air pollution and birth outcomes have relied on the temporal variation in pollution, but pollution also varies spatially [11]. Pollution levels in a city are generally higher in areas with lots of traffic and industrial areas. Temporal studies also rely on a fixed network of pollution monitors, and these monitors can often be far from subjects' homes. Ignoring the spatial variability in pollution therefore introduces a measurement error that may lead to regression dilution [12]. A study in Brisbane showed a clear strengthening of the association between increased pollution and small fetus size when reducing this measurement error by using pollution monitors closer to women's homes [6]. Studies in Spain have attempted to reduce measurement error by restricting analysis to those women who spent more time at home (where their pollution exposure was estimated), and found stronger associations between pollution exposure and fetal growth and birth weight [7,13]. Another reason for taking a spatial approach in this study was the public interest created by our previous study showing restricted fetal development due to increased air pollution exposure in Brisbane, Australia [6]. A common concern was the distance between the home and a busy road at which health effects occurred. This distance also has implications for council authorities looking to build or expand roads. By examining traffic exposure around the home we aimed to find the distance at which the majority of the negative impacts on birth outcomes occurred. Although levels of air pollution in South East Queensland are low compared with industrial cities, the population's exposure is relatively high due to an outdoor lifestyle and buildings that are highly permeable [14]. Many homes in Queensland are built to capture breezes in order to give relief from high summer temperatures. But this design also increases their exposure to traffic pollution. People living near major roads, and particularly major road junctions where the traffic often stops, will experience the highest levels of exposure…..

Conclusions Pregnant women should reduce their exposure to traffic. A reduction in traffic emissions, whether through improved vehicle technology or increased public transport use, would have immediate health benefits by giving children a better start to life.

Deutsche Bank Group on global greenhouse gas emissions

According to Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors in 2010:

We are seeking to raise public awareness of climate change. As investors, we know the importance of measurement so that we can track progress. Our approach is to start by understanding the quantity, or concentrations, of long-lived greenhouse gases which are building up in the world's atmosphere and are leading to global warming. We have turned to key scientific sources to calculate the current atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and to monitor how quickly these concentrations are increasing..... On June 18th as the counter started, long-lived GHGs in the atmosphere were estimated to be 3.64 trillion metric tons, growing at 2 billion metric tons per month, or 467 ppm, of which CO2 was 385 ppm.

Please download Flash Player.

Get your own Carbon Counter widget here.

Thank you to ClarenceGirl for drawing my attention to the counter.

A matter of emphasis or ignoring all but the dog whistle?

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has released the Fraud against the Commonwealth 2008–09 Annual report to Government and the mainstream media is busy reporting on its contents.

The Daily Telegraph by virtue of its claim on 4 April 2011 that it had gained exclusive access to the institute's landmark report (despite the fact that the AIC had published the same on its official website) stands out in reporting this matter.

This newspaper makes much of fraud by welfare recipients and really only briefly addresses fraud by crooked public servants. News Limited journalists appearing more interested in theft of office products such as printer toner and photocopying paper, rather than other forms of public service fraud which are more dangerous to Australian citizens. Indeed this newspaper goes so far as to lump the $600 million total in fraud against the Commonwealth into the welfare and other government payments category, almost inviting readers to erroneously suppose social security fraud actually reached this amount in the reporting period. When it comes to financial fraud, the fact that in excess of $2,970,000 was recovered from public service employees perpetrating entitlement and financial fraud is virtually ignored, along with the fact that losses totalled over and above recovered amounts totalled $2.8 million and that many of those employees found defrauding the Commonwealth were not sacked.

What is made apparent in this AIC report (and not rated as worth a mention by journalists) is that internal fraud by public service employees:

a) is under-reported because the department/agency involved frequently decides to redefine fraudulent activity as procedural incidents which are not included in information supplied to the Commonwealth and there is little in the way of internal incident compilations which would assist in identifying fraud over time or the financial cost of this fraud;
b) much of the identified fraud involves improperly accessing personal information about others;
c) at least 3,171 public service employees were suspected of fraud in 2008-09; and
d) of these suspects 1,842 were classified as improperly accessing information and 203 were involved in corruption (including abuse of power, accepting bribes/kickbacks and collusion/conspiracy).

Given these facts, one might have hoped for a more comprehensive media analysis on the subject of fraud against the Commonwealth.

Excerpts from the AIC report:

# Overall in 2008–09, internal fraud was found to be a more significant risk to Australian Government agencies, with 48 agencies (32%) experiencing internal fraud and 45 agencies (30%) experiencing external fraud. In terms of the number of fraud incidents, however, considerably more incidents related to external fraud (n=797,327) than internal fraud (n=3,371). Yet while external fraud affected more agencies generally, the fraud types that resulted in the most incidents tended to be specific to only a small number of agencies. Of the two external fraud types that produced the largest number of incidents—‘fraud relating to social security’ and ‘fraud relating to visas and citizenship’—these were reported by only two agencies each. While total incident numbers were substantially lower, this pattern was also true for internal fraud, where the most frequent incident type—‘obtaining or using personal information without authorisation’—affected just seven agencies.

# fraud involving obtaining or using personal information without authorisation accounted for 44 percent of all internal fraud reports (n=1,481 out of 3,371 reported incidents).

# Internal fraud involving ‘accessing information via a computer without authorisation’ was reported by 17 agencies.

Click on image to enlarge

# In the 2008–09 financial year, Centrelink conducted nearly 3.9 million entitlement reviews that resulted in 641,504 payments being cancelled or reduced and generating customer debts totalling $536.2m (Centrelink 2009).

At last! The Alstonville bypass delivered to the people of the NSW North Coast

Hard working Federal MP for Page Janelle Saffin's media release on 4 April 2011 announced the federally funded NSW North Coast bypass at Alstonville is finally operative - well done to community groups, local governments and politicians involved :

Community prepares for Bypass celebrations

Page MP Janelle Saffin has announced that community celebrations to mark the end of work on the Alstonville Bypass will be held on Saturday 7 May.

“This is something the people of Alstonville community have waited decades for, so they are certainly ready to celebrate, and I look forward to joining the party.

“In particular I want to mention the role played by Bob Wilson and members of the Alstonville Bypass committee who lobbied so hard for so long for this bypass.

“Bob has played a key role in community consultations on the bypass and also chairs the organising committee for the community celebrations on May 7.

“It is very rewarding for me to see this project through to completion - from my 2007 election commitment of $90 million for the Alstonville Bypass, to delivering the funding, to the start of works and now celebrating the end of the project.

“The celebrations will be held at the Kay’s Lane end of the bypass, and many community organisations are coming together for this mini-festival.

“On the day, people will also have the opportunity to take a bus tour of the completed bypass route - a sneak preview before the road is officially opened to traffic shortly afterwards.”

4 April, 2011 Media contact: Lee Duncan 0448 158 150

Be honest. Would you vote for this man?

NSW Labor Oppositon Leader John Robertson MP
- no hair, no loyalty, no nous.

These are some of the comments concerning the Member for Blacktown:

"Come on - this destroyer of the Labor Party would not have even known where Blacktown was if he was not dumped into it a few weeks ago. I was one of the many who deserted Labor and voted Lib.... all because of the likes of Robertson and Roosendaal. Now Sussex St has shown us what they really think of us by oozing this grub into the leadership, it will probably be decades before they get my vote again." {'Glenn' online comment in Blacktown Advocate online 31st March 2011}

“John Robertson is very much part of the Labor Party’s problematic past." {Former NSW Premier Morris Iemma in Blacktown Advocate 29th March 2011}

"Let me tell you, if the Labor Party stocks ever get so low as to require your services in its parliamentary leadership, it will itself have no future" {Paul Keating in a 2008 letter to John Robertson according to SBS World News 28th March 2011}

"if the Government goes down the lethal tally of men and women who lose their seats will be to your account" {Paul Keating in a 2008 letter to John Robertson according to Laurie Oakes on Weekend Today program 27th March 2011}

"John Robertson makes the village idiot look like an intellectual." {Gordon Thomas of Hurstville in The Sydney Morning Herald online 2nd April 2011}

no_filter_Yamba: Robbo as next (or next to next) NSW Premier? Has anyone with a shaved head ever led a government in Australia? #auspol {Twitter 3rd April 2011}

Memo to Australian politicians re climate change: There is only one place in the Universe where we humans can live.....

.....so stop aiding and abetting polluting industries to destroy it.

The Earth is where we make our stand - Carl Sagan

David Penberthy stands reality on its head in an effort to avoid a rap over the knuckles from the Press Council

This was David Penberthy on 1 April 2011 in Penberthy: Waking up from the Green dream:

Screen snapshot

To the enduring disgust of the Labor Party, the Greens chose to direct preferences to the One Nation founder ahead of the ALP, and she may now creep into the Upper House courtesy of their support.

This is David Penberthy on 4 April 2011 in Sorry Greens, we’re not apologising:

Screen snapshot

The Greens are taking The Punch to the Press Council over my column of last Friday accusing them of pushing Pauline Hanson ahead of the ALP by refusing a preference swap with Labor at last weekend’s NSW election.

The story has definitely changed - from preference being officially identified by The Greens to no preferences being identified. This journalist obviously thinks that readers are fools with little short-term and no long-term memory.

The Punch should be ashamed of allowing this cowardly wriggle to be published online. Definitely not Australia’s best conversation by any definition of that term.