- Association de Protection de l'Environnement des Hautes-Laurentides (Dossier Uranium)
- Bedford Mining Alert (Ontario)
- British Columbia Land Owner's Rights Group
- Bureau d'audiences publiques sur l'environnement (Quebec)
- Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
- Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency
- Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium - CCAMU (Eastern Ontario)
- Ecojustice Canada
- kNOw-Uranium.ORG - Working Together to Keep the Ottawa River Watershed Uranium Free
- MiningWatch Canada
- No Uranium Mine Near Sharbot Lake
- Nuclear Information Resource Centre
- Ottawa Coalition Against Mining Uranium (OCAMU)
- Ottawa Riverkeeper/Sentinelle Outaouais
- The Equity (Shawville Weekly News)
- The LowDown to Hull and Back News (Wakefield Weekly News)
- The Pembina Institute
- Uranium Free British Columbia
- Western Mining Action Network
- Wise Uranium Project
- Yellowhead Ecological Association (British Columbia)
Showing posts with label uranium. Show all posts
Showing posts with label uranium. Show all posts
August 03, 2008
Great Canadian anti-uranium mining links
July 05, 2008
Here we GOOOOOOOOO. Uranium to reach Ontario- o - o - OH!
Canada gets Saddam's uranium
BRIAN MURPHY
Associated Press
July 5, 2008 at 2:21 PM EDT
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
The removal of 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.
What's now left is the final and complicated push to clean up the remaining radioactive debris at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 12 miles south of Baghdad — using teams that include Iraqi experts recently trained in the Chernobyl fallout zone in Ukraine.
While yellowcake alone is not considered potent enough for a so-called “dirty bomb” — a conventional explosive that disperses radioactive material — it could stir widespread panic if incorporated in a blast. Yellowcake also can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.
The Iraqi government sold the yellowcake to a Canadian uranium producer, Cameco Corp., in a transaction the official described as worth “tens of millions of dollars.” A Cameco spokesman, Lyle Krahn, declined to discuss the price, but said the yellowcake will be processed at facilities in Ontario for use in energy-producing reactors.
“We are pleased ... that we have taken (the yellowcake) from a volatile region into a stable area to produce clean electricity,” he said.
The deal culminated more than a year of intense diplomatic and military initiatives — kept hushed in fear of ambushes or attacks once the convoys were under way: first carrying 3,500 barrels by road to Baghdad, then on 37 military flights to the Indian Ocean atoll of Diego Garcia and finally aboard a U.S.-flagged ship for a 13,500-kilometre trip to Montreal.
And, in a symbolic way, the mission linked the current attempts to stabilize Iraq with some of the high-profile claims about Saddam's weapons capabilities in the buildup to the 2003 invasion.
Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the African nation of Niger — and an article by a former U.S. ambassador refuting the claims — led to a wide-ranging probe into Washington leaks that reached high into the Bush administration.
Tuwaitha and an adjacent research facility were well known for decades as the centre-piece of Saddam's nuclear efforts.
Israeli warplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later, UN inspectors documented and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had been stored in aging drums and containers since before the 1991 Gulf War. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the official said.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have guarded the massive site — surrounded by huge sand berms — following a wave of looting after Saddam's fall that included villagers toting away yellowcake storage barrels for use as drinking water cisterns.
Yellowcake is obtained by using various solutions to leach out uranium from raw ore and can have a corn meal-like colour and consistency. It poses no severe risk if stored and sealed properly. But exposure carries well-documented health concerns associated with heavy metals such as damage to internal organs, experts say.
Moving the yellowcake faced numerous hurdles.
Diplomats and military leaders first weighed the idea of shipping the yellowcake overland to Kuwait's port on the Persian Gulf. Such a route, however, would pass through Iraq's Shiite heartland and within easy range of extremist factions, including some that Washington claims are aided by Iran. The ship also would need to clear the narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, where U.S. and Iranian ships often come in close contact.
Kuwaiti authorities, too, were reluctant to open their borders to the shipment despite top-level lobbying from Washington.
An alternative plan took shape: shipping out the yellowcake on cargo planes. (oh, that's ludicrous! Really, REALLY dangerous. But Ontario MUST be made into the butthole of the world, no matter how dangerous THAT is .. )
But the yellowcake still needed a final destination. Iraqi government officials sought buyers on the commercial market, where uranium prices spiked at about $120 per pound last year. It's currently selling for about half that. The Cameco deal was reached earlier this year, the official said.
At that point, U.S.-led crews began removing the yellowcake from the Saddam-era containers — some leaking or weakened by corrosion — and reloading the material into about 3,500 secure barrels.
In April, truck convoys started moving the yellowcake from Tuwaitha to Baghdad's international airport, the official said. Then, for two weeks in May, it was ferried in 37 flights to Diego Garcia, a speck of British territory in the Indian Ocean where the U.S. military maintains a base.
On June 3, a U.S. ship left the island for Montreal, said the official, who declined to give further details about the operation.
The yellowcake wasn't the only dangerous item removed from Tuwaitha.
Earlier this year, the military withdrew four devices for controlled radiation exposure from the former nuclear complex. The lead-enclosed irradiation units, used to decontaminate food and other items, contain elements of high radioactivity that could potentially be used in a weapon, according to the official. Their Ottawa-based manufacturer, MDS Nordion, took them back for free, the official said.
The yellowcake was the last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts, but years of final cleanup is ahead for Tuwaitha and other smaller sites.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency plans to offer technical expertise.
Last month, a team of Iraqi nuclear experts completed training in the Ukrainian ghost town of Pripyat, which once housed the Chernobyl workers before the deadly meltdown in 1986, said an IAEA official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decontamination plan has not yet been publicly announced.
But the job ahead is enormous, complicated by digging out radioactive “hot zones” entombed in concrete during Saddam's rule, said the IAEA official. Last year, an IAEA safety expert, Dennis Reisenweaver, predicted the cleanup could take “many years.”
The yellowcake issue also is one of the many troubling footnotes of the war for Washington.
A CIA officer, Valerie Plame, claimed her identity was leaked to journalists to retaliate against her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who wrote that he had found no evidence to support assertions that Iraq tried to buy additional yellowcake from Niger.
A federal investigation led to the conviction of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
See my links on dumping of uranium in Ontario, on my blog lowlevelradiation.blogspot.com
and you may wish to consider the following:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Dera Ghazi KhanThe removal of 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.
What's now left is the final and complicated push to clean up the remaining radioactive debris at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 12 miles south of Baghdad — using teams that include Iraqi experts recently trained in the Chernobyl fallout zone in Ukraine.
“Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq,”said a senior U.S. official who outlined the nearly three-month operation to The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
While yellowcake alone is not considered potent enough for a so-called “dirty bomb” — a conventional explosive that disperses radioactive material — it could stir widespread panic if incorporated in a blast. Yellowcake also can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.
The Iraqi government sold the yellowcake to a Canadian uranium producer, Cameco Corp., in a transaction the official described as worth “tens of millions of dollars.” A Cameco spokesman, Lyle Krahn, declined to discuss the price, but said the yellowcake will be processed at facilities in Ontario for use in energy-producing reactors.
“We are pleased ... that we have taken (the yellowcake) from a volatile region into a stable area to produce clean electricity,” he said.
The deal culminated more than a year of intense diplomatic and military initiatives — kept hushed in fear of ambushes or attacks once the convoys were under way: first carrying 3,500 barrels by road to Baghdad, then on 37 military flights to the Indian Ocean atoll of Diego Garcia and finally aboard a U.S.-flagged ship for a 13,500-kilometre trip to Montreal.
And, in a symbolic way, the mission linked the current attempts to stabilize Iraq with some of the high-profile claims about Saddam's weapons capabilities in the buildup to the 2003 invasion.
Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the African nation of Niger — and an article by a former U.S. ambassador refuting the claims — led to a wide-ranging probe into Washington leaks that reached high into the Bush administration.
Tuwaitha and an adjacent research facility were well known for decades as the centre-piece of Saddam's nuclear efforts.
Israeli warplanes bombed a reactor project at the site in 1981. Later, UN inspectors documented and safeguarded the yellowcake, which had been stored in aging drums and containers since before the 1991 Gulf War. There was no evidence of any yellowcake dating from after 1991, the official said.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have guarded the massive site — surrounded by huge sand berms — following a wave of looting after Saddam's fall that included villagers toting away yellowcake storage barrels for use as drinking water cisterns.
Yellowcake is obtained by using various solutions to leach out uranium from raw ore and can have a corn meal-like colour and consistency. It poses no severe risk if stored and sealed properly. But exposure carries well-documented health concerns associated with heavy metals such as damage to internal organs, experts say.
“The big problem comes with any inhalation of any of the yellowcake dust,”said Doug Brugge, a professor of public health issues at the Tufts University School of Medicine.
Moving the yellowcake faced numerous hurdles.
Diplomats and military leaders first weighed the idea of shipping the yellowcake overland to Kuwait's port on the Persian Gulf. Such a route, however, would pass through Iraq's Shiite heartland and within easy range of extremist factions, including some that Washington claims are aided by Iran. The ship also would need to clear the narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, where U.S. and Iranian ships often come in close contact.
Kuwaiti authorities, too, were reluctant to open their borders to the shipment despite top-level lobbying from Washington.
An alternative plan took shape: shipping out the yellowcake on cargo planes. (oh, that's ludicrous! Really, REALLY dangerous. But Ontario MUST be made into the butthole of the world, no matter how dangerous THAT is .. )
But the yellowcake still needed a final destination. Iraqi government officials sought buyers on the commercial market, where uranium prices spiked at about $120 per pound last year. It's currently selling for about half that. The Cameco deal was reached earlier this year, the official said.
At that point, U.S.-led crews began removing the yellowcake from the Saddam-era containers — some leaking or weakened by corrosion — and reloading the material into about 3,500 secure barrels.
In April, truck convoys started moving the yellowcake from Tuwaitha to Baghdad's international airport, the official said. Then, for two weeks in May, it was ferried in 37 flights to Diego Garcia, a speck of British territory in the Indian Ocean where the U.S. military maintains a base.
On June 3, a U.S. ship left the island for Montreal, said the official, who declined to give further details about the operation.
The yellowcake wasn't the only dangerous item removed from Tuwaitha.
Earlier this year, the military withdrew four devices for controlled radiation exposure from the former nuclear complex. The lead-enclosed irradiation units, used to decontaminate food and other items, contain elements of high radioactivity that could potentially be used in a weapon, according to the official. Their Ottawa-based manufacturer, MDS Nordion, took them back for free, the official said.
The yellowcake was the last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts, but years of final cleanup is ahead for Tuwaitha and other smaller sites.
The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency plans to offer technical expertise.
Last month, a team of Iraqi nuclear experts completed training in the Ukrainian ghost town of Pripyat, which once housed the Chernobyl workers before the deadly meltdown in 1986, said an IAEA official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decontamination plan has not yet been publicly announced.
But the job ahead is enormous, complicated by digging out radioactive “hot zones” entombed in concrete during Saddam's rule, said the IAEA official. Last year, an IAEA safety expert, Dennis Reisenweaver, predicted the cleanup could take “many years.”
The yellowcake issue also is one of the many troubling footnotes of the war for Washington.
A CIA officer, Valerie Plame, claimed her identity was leaked to journalists to retaliate against her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, who wrote that he had found no evidence to support assertions that Iraq tried to buy additional yellowcake from Niger.
A federal investigation led to the conviction of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
See my links on dumping of uranium in Ontario, on my blog lowlevelradiation.blogspot.com
and you may wish to consider the following:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Beginning in 1972 the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission began geological surveys to find mineable deposits of uranium. Uranium deposits were found in several locations in Pakistan. The Atomic Energy Minerals Centre (AEMC) in Lahore was responsible for the exploration and mining operations. The Siwalik Hills, west of Dera Ghazi Khan, was indentified as the most promising location. Even this uranium ore is of relatively low grade, containing only a few kg of uranium per ton [compared to tens of kilograms in high-grade Canadian or Australian ore].
In 1996 Pakistan launched a five-year effort to locate new uranium resources. The $7 million effort included exploratory drilling, reconnaisance and radon track density surveys and mapping in the areas of north and south Nangar Nai, Khara-Murghan Zai and Pitek Sori Gorakh in the Dera Ghanzi Khan region.
The Pakisani uranium extraction plant, located in the same region, was designed by Pakistani chemical, mechanical and electrical engineers from AEMC and other PAEC centers with the assistance from other Pakistani industrial concerns which manufactured certain key components. Construction of the uranium yellow cake plant was completed in short order, and the first yellow cake, which is a concentrated form of uranium, was produced at the plant within 12 months of the start of construction.
Sources and Resources
- "How Pakistan Made Nuclear Fuel" by Munir Ahmad Khan, former chairperson of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission: Islamabad The Nation 7 February 1998, page 7 [Pakistan: Article on How Pakistan Made Nuclear Fuel : FBIS-NES-98-042 : 11 Feb 1998]
- [NB96.36-16] Pakistan: Uranium Institute News Briefing
April 23, 2008
speedlinking, today's article roundup
Prosecutor orders arrest of Colombia President Uribe's cousin
By FRANK BAJAK
BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of one of President Alvaro Uribe's most intimate allies on Tuesday, bringing a scandal linking politicians and right-wing militias deeper into the president's inner circle.
Former Justice Official Accused of Exchanging Favors With Abramoff
By James V. Grimaldi
A federal prosecutor in Maryland has accused a Justice Department official who became the former deputy chief of staff of the criminal division of helping Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff in exchange for a "stream of things of value," according to criminal papers filed yesterday.
High Court to Hear Uranium Case
By Robert Barnes
The Supreme Court said yesterday that it would hear a dispute between USEC of Bethesda and a French supplier of low-enriched uranium in a case the federal government said has implications not only for the energy industry but also for efforts to dismantle some nuclear weapons.
U.S. to Insist That Travel Industry Get Fingerprints
By Spencer S. Hsu and Del Quentin Wilber
The U.S. government today will order commercial airlines and cruise lines to prepare to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the country under a security initiative that the industry has condemned as costly and burdensome.
February 08, 2008
Tonight's feature: Yazd Iran, uranium mine - via CNN
Call me media calloused, but when CNN prints something human about Iran, I am literally shocked. This report took me very much by surprise. A humanesque portrait of an Iranian town put in a CNN news item - must be a mistake.
But at first glance it seemed to be fair. Then I put my thinking cap on and wondered what they were selling.
This is an attempt to put a spotlight on Iran as a nuclear DANGER - this is a poison pill with a chocolate wrapper. Notice you don't see a single Iranian face so you are left with no one to relate to AND you are led to believe that they must be inferior to not want "modernization" AND you are directed to look away from the fear resting in Iranian hearts today - fear of an impending US and the Coalition of the willing attack on the indigenous peoples of Iran/Persia.
THIS IS A SUBTLE PIECE OF PURE PROPAGANDA, A PSYOPS JOB.
Shame CNN! We are not ALL stoopid. Why don't you show us the very frightened women and children in Iran at this hour? Tell us about the unique and spiritual Iranians by letting them speak, don't shove platitudes and political "agendas" in our faces. Why use the word "yellowcake" when you know that it implies WMDs - you are part of the Operation Mockingbird squad that made it that way.
A very tired-of-the-bullshit mother,
Virginia
Yazd: Welcome to the desert
YAZD, Iran (CNN) -- Deep in the desert, the oasis city of Yazd is unlike any other in Iran.
With its historic mosques, minarets and ancient clay buildings Yazd has resisted other Iranian cities' rush for modernity.
Once an important station on the Silk Road, with its historic mosques, minarets and ancient clay buildings, Yazd has resisted other Iranian cities' rush for modernity.
It may possibly be the most beautiful desert city in the world.
The word "Yazd" means "worship" -- apt since Yazd is known in the Islamic Republic as "the City of Muslims."
Most of its half a million population follow the Islamic faith devoutly. Yet for a city renowned for its religious conservatism, Yazd is far more tolerant and open-minded than cities more accustomed to tourists such as Isfahan and Shiraz.
This may be because Yazd is also the birthplace of the Zoroastrian religion.
Very little is known about Zoroastrianism in the West but its influence is far reaching. It is uniquely important in the history of religion because of its formative links to both western and eastern beliefs.
It is considered by many to be the world's first monotheistic religion, pre-dating Islam and almost certainly influencing Judaism.
Before the Islamic conquests (633 - 656), Zoroastrianism was the state religion of the Persian empire.
"This is a very honest city because Zoroastrianism stresses the importance of truth," said one shopkeeper when asked about the legacy of the faith. "And you'll never get ripped off here!"
Yazd is place where centuries-old traditions remain contemporary, especially in the old part of the city. Vital, beautiful and vast, the old town brings to life an Iran immortalized in ancient scriptures and eloquent poems.
Centuries of history have passed through its streets and alleyways. Alexander the Great marched through Yazd on his way to India, and a dozen or so centuries later Marco Polo dropped by for a visit.
Genuinely frozen in time, unlike in Rome or other historic cities, Yazd's old neighborhood is a poor district that has retained much of its character simply because its inhabitants cannot afford to "improve" on ancient building materials and methods.
It is this sense of archaism that makes the city so unique. The streets are narrow and labyrinthine, leading one moment towards sunset and the next towards sunrise.
They take so many turns and there are so many dead-ends, small hidden squares and bazaars that you can spend hours in one part of a neighborhood and not find your way out.
The fragrance of rare spices and tropical fruits waft around every corner, the sound of laughter and argument coupled with the occasional crowing of roosters can be heard without ever seeing anyone.
Walls are adobe and mud brick, taking on a golden hue under the sunlight and blending naturally into the desert landscape. In fact, the color of clay is the color of the whole city.
Don't Miss
Buildings have stained glass windows which not only soften the unforgiving desert sunlight, but also deter flies from entry. Traditional heavy wooden doors grace many of the older homes. Most still have customary "male and female" knockers. These phallic-shaped knockers generate different tones when used, thus calling the correct party to the door -- remnants of a more prudent time.
The portals seem to open into a world of dark corridors and central courtyards with old trees around small reflecting pools. Most houses have curved ceilings and two entrances, one for men and one for women and the more splendid buildings boast the presence of gorgeous wind-catchers on their roofs.
These wind-catchers or "Badgirs" are one of the city's wonders. They're designed to capture the rare desert breeze and then direct it down to the interior of the house. The trapped air is then intensified as it is blown onto interior pools, which in turn cool the air further and allow it to circulate inside via hallways and passageways to various rooms -- almost like an ancient air conditioning system.
Despite (and perhaps because of) the unmerciful adversities of living in a desert, the people of Yazd have managed to create insurmountable beauty. This is not only represented in their architecture; but also in many other products synonymous with Yazd.
The Termeh, for example, is a gorgeous hand-made silk tapestry, woven for centuries and used in everything from bed spreads to Quran covers.
Confectionery also has a long history in Yazd. Sweets are various and divine, melting on the tongue with hidden flavors of rose-water and pistachio and almonds.
Today, Yazd is also known for "yellow cake," which is not a dessert but an element in the uranium mines. "Yazd would be the first place to be bombed if there is a war," said Behzad, a young university student.
However, beyond all this wonderment and beauty one thing stands out above all others; the people of Yazd.
The kindness and hospitality of Yazdis is yet another remarkable and distinctive aspect of the city. Time spent with people of this city leaves a striking impression that lasts longer than any monument, attraction or landmark. E-mail to a friend 
October 08, 2007
A slanted, and highly suspect, letter on UK oil and nuclear energy
Let's get CANDID. The truth is the jerks at the top are making HUGE PROFIT$ by investing in NUCLEAR ENERGY these days - from everything from mining, to investing in nuclear facilities - and this includes goverment "employees" who soon discover what a high rate of return they can get for every dollar invested in uranium and copper mining stocks. So of course they want to paint a picture of doom and gloom when it comes to OIL and GAS exploration.
The truth is this: the guys in the nuclear energy "industry" are deluded and maybe WORST of them all.
Nuclear energy is expaning and the oil companies are buying right into it and making HUGE money off the same. So this man's bafflement at the UK's policy is sorta wrongheaded. His disclaimer of the UK parties being FOR nuclear energy is just plain stoopid. Sellafield's been around a LONG time, folks ...
Too BAD about the UK farms, but what did the bulk of UK folks expect when they sat on their hands and did NOTHING about Sellafield? Hmmm?
Believe me the World Rulers have a PLAN and it is nuclear energy regardless of the risks to them and their children. I think they think they'll just get right lucky and not be incinerated themselves, never remembering that LOW LEVEL RADIATION is just as deadly.
Letter from an employee in the British oil industry:
Dear Mr Kunstler,
As someone who works in the UK oil industry, I thought you might be interested in a view of how prepared the UK is for possible (!) future oil shortages.I have just finished a stint as an engineer [company name removed to protect identity of writer] on the Forties pipeline terminal. Prior to that position I had spent some 30 years working in various parts of the oil and nuclear sectors as a chemical/process engineer.
As someone who works in the UK oil industry, I thought you might be interested in a view of how prepared the UK is for possible (!) future oil shortages.I have just finished a stint as an engineer [company name removed to protect identity of writer] on the Forties pipeline terminal. Prior to that position I had spent some 30 years working in various parts of the oil and nuclear sectors as a chemical/process engineer.
The career outlined above has enabled me to gain an acute insight of how the UK oil industry is preparing for the (dim) future. Essentially the oil industry is abandoning the UK. BP has either sold-off or closed all its UK refineries ( the last one to go was their Grangemouth refinery) and now only retains the Forties & Sullom Voe interests. Shell is planning to swap over to Middle-east crude around 2011 at its single remaining UK refinery and is busy selling off most of its European refineries. Any questions as to whether any Middle-east crude will be available to the UK in 2011 are studiously ignored in Shell. The general attitude is one of, 'Since we will need the oil, it will be available'. All of the above points to the oil companies foreseeing a pretty bleak future for their UK and European refining operations.
Within BP, the message from senior management is that their Forties terminal will still be in operation 20 years from now. What they fail to mention, even to their own employees is just how little oil and gas will be coming out of the North sea then. This is quite weird given that North Sea production dropped another 10% last year, despite Buzzard crude coming ashore. The value of that oil will certainly sustain the future of the terminal, they just might not be able to send the petrol tankers out too far. Quite cute really.
With much of the thinking inside the UK oil industry often delusional, outside of it we pretty much in La-La land. Both the government and the media are obsessed with global warming. Barely an evening passes without a news item relating to icebergs melting, heat stroke in Polar bears or the sad absence of lichen for reindeer etc. Inside the oil industry it is well known that the UK government is regularly briefed by the oil companies. Evidently the government have made the decision to use global warming as a way of encouraging thrift in oil usage - with absolutely no effect.
What is never mentioned in the media is the crashing of North Sea oil production. A recent documentary about oil exploration in the Arctic managed to completely overlook why such desperate measures might be required. When the oil industry is (occasionally) discussed, it is invariably on the basis that oil now only forms 10 to 15% of the UK economy, given that the City of London has become so important. ( I know that will make you laugh)
In terms of politics, the Labour party evidently regard discussions about oil depletion as near treason, whilst the Tory party is still proud of the way they defeated the miners. Neither party is exactly in the right frame of mind to restart the nuclear industry or open up new coal mines.
Perhaps the worst aspect of the UK shitstorm in preparation, is the way the Labour party is allowing and even encouraging supermarkets to destroy farming in the UK. (Farmers generally hate the Labour party as being a bunch of clueless idiots - quite perceptive really). Agricultural production has dropped disastrously in recent years, with thousands of farmers being forced into bankruptcy by the monopolies enjoyed by the likes of Tesco (big and nasty) and Sainsbury (smaller and nasty). At least the USA still has a huge amount of good land available. In the UK, we are packed in like sardines in terms of population density, which spells disaster when the oil gets short.
Regards,
(Anonymous)
(Anonymous)
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