Clarence River Flooding January-February 2013

By now almost everyone in Australia will have seen at least two recent photographs of towns and villages nestled along the NSW North Coast's Clarence River and its tributaries - it has been hard to miss those January and February flood images on the nightly television news and in the online media.

This is yet another perspective captured at 4.30pm on Sunday 24 February.





Click on graphs to enlarge

Real time data for other NSW rivers can be found here.

Did the Japanese whaling fleet pollute Antarctic waters?

 

http://youtu.be/8Iu8JbTQ8-c

 

Sea Shepherd 17 February 2013:

 

In the early hours of the 17th of February, while the SSS Sam Simon was tailing the South Korean owned Sun Laurel, fuel bunker ship to the Japanese whaling fleet, the Sam Simon crew noticed the smell of diesel fumes coming from the wake of the Sun Laurel, over one mile ahead.

Captain Luis Pinho radioed the Sun Laurel at 3:00 am AEDT, approximately 15 minutes after the Sun Laurelentered Australian Antarctic Territory, informing them that they smelled diesel fumes, could see fuel slicks in the wake of the Sun Laurel, had collected water samples, and would be reporting the Sun Laurel to the authorities.

On the 17th of February at approximately 4:00 pm AEDT the Sam Simon recorded an audio transmission between the Captain and Bosun of the Sun Laurel - the Japanese whaling fleet's refuelling vessel. In this recording, the Captain of the Sun Laurel refers to the oil spill that the Sam Simon had documented and collected samples of hours earlier. The Sun Laurel Captain informed his Bosun to take care covering refuelling hoses, and that if oil dropped into the water there would be a “big problem”, as the Sam Simon had caught the Sun Laurel leaking fuel into the wake behind them earlier that morning.

Sea Shepherd Australia believes this transmission is further proof of an oil spill by the Sun Laurel in Antarctica's pristine waters, and has reported the incident to Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

 

Greens Split From Labor: what took them so long is a question not only just being asked by a cartoonist dog

Crikey.com.au

Resolve firming against coal seam gas mining on the NSW Northern Rivers

The Northern Star 17 February 2013:

 

Since 1975, Jennie Dell has been a constant presence in the Northern Rivers media firmament.

This week she retires from the Northern Rivers Echo, the paper she was founding editor of in 1991, to devote more time to her family and gain the freedom to express herself politically.

"One of the reasons I am retiring is to join the Knitting Nannas Against Gas, to take part in demonstrations and to be free to express my very strong views against coal seam gas mining," Jennie said.

"I was at Terania Creek (protests in 1979) and at Mount Nardi saving the Nightcap National Park forests and I see the real necessity for a huge demonstration of people power to move the CSG issue into the courts and into the parliament."