From 2022: #NSW Police Use #AntProtest Laws to Monitor Tour Groups

by Paul Gregoire & Ugur Nedim,13 Oct 2022

Excerpt: "#SilencingDissent

"Back in 2014, then NSW premier Mike Baird told a NSW mining industry dinner that his government was going to 'crackdown' on those who choose to break the law when they protest. And he singled out '#protesters who unlawfully enter #mining sites.'

"A little over a year later, the Coalition government followed through with the premier’s promise when it passed a series of harsh #AntiProtestLaws, under the Inclosed Lands, Crimes and Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Interference) Bill 2016.

"The legislation created the new offence of aggravated unlawful entry on inclosed lands. Section 4B of the #InclosedLand Protection Act 1901 provides that interfering, or attempts to interfere, with the conduct of a business on enclosed land can land a #protester with a fine of up to $5,500.

"Under the provisions of the bill, police were provided with additional powers to stop, search, detain, and seize the property of protesters, as well as being given the power to shutdown a peaceful protest if it is #ObstructingTraffic.

"And the bill also inserted a definition of #mine into section 201 of the #CrimesAct 1900, so that the offence of interfering with a mine includes #coal seam #gas exploration and extraction sites. This offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment.

"The #WilpinjongThree

"Bev Smiles, Bruce Hughes and Stephanie Luce are the first people to be up on protesting charges since the laws were changed. In April last year, the three were arrested for protesting outside the #Wilpinjong #CoalMine in #Wollar.

"The three are up on charges of rendering a road belonging to a mine useless and hindering the working equipment belonging to a mine. These are both offences that carry the penalty of seven years imprisonment.

"When the trio appeared at Mudgee Local Court on February 9, the presiding magistrate rejected police claims that the Wollar-Ulan Road, where the defendants were arrested, actually belonged to the mining company.

" 'They have pleaded not guilty, and are awaiting a judgment on the case,' Mr Phillips explained. 'The outcome of that case will be important.” If the three have 'the book thrown at them' then it’s likely to discourage the protesting of coal mines in NSW."

Read more:
https://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com.au/blog/nsw-police-use-anti-protest-laws-to-monitor-tour-groups/

#AustraliaPol #AusPol #CriminalizingProtest #NoMining #CoalMines #UraniumMines #Australia #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #LandBack

#SodiumIonBatteries offer an alternative to tricky #lithium

Oct 26th 2023

Excerpt: "Fortunately, lithium is not the only game in town. As we report this week, a clutch of firms are making batteries based on sodium, lithium’s elemental cousin. Since sodium’s chemical properties are very similar to those of lithium, it too makes for good batteries. And sodium, which is found in the salt in #seawater, is thousands of times more abundant on Earth than lithium and cheaper to get at. Most of the companies using sodium to make batteries today are also Chinese. But pursuing the technology in the West might be a surer route to energy security than relying heavily on lithium.

"Besides its abundance, sodium has other advantages. The best lithium batteries use #cobalt and #nickel in their electrodes. Nickel, like lithium, is in short supply. #Mining it on land is #EnvironmentallyDestructive. Proposals to grab it from the #seabed instead have caused rows. A good deal of the world’s cobalt, meanwhile, is extracted from small mines in the #DemocraticRepublicOfCongo, where #ChildLabour is common and working conditions are dire. Sodium batteries, by contrast, can use #electrodes built from #iron and #manganese [and wood #lignin], which are plentiful and uncontroversial. Since the chemical components are cheap, a scaled-up industry should be able to produce batteries that cost less than their lithium counterparts.

"Sodium is not a perfect replacement for lithium. It is heavier, meaning sodium batteries will weigh more than lithium ones of an equivalent capacity. That is likely to rule them out in some cases where lightness is paramount. But for other applications, such as #GridStorage or #HomeBatteries, weight is irrelevant. Several Chinese carmakers are even beginning to put sodium batteries in #ElectricVehicles."

Read more:
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/10/26/sodium-batteries-offer-an-alternative-to-tricky-lithium

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/7x6JX

#SolarPunkSunday #EnergyStorage #SodiumIon #NewTechnology #GiantLeap #Reuse #WasteReuse #NoLithiumMining #NoMining

#MIT develops new way to recover critical metals from #EWaste

A multi-step process could produce 1.2 kilograms per day, but its viability depends on expanding #recycling efforts.

Elizabeth A. Thomson, November 24, 2025

"MIT researchers have developed a new, efficient way to recycle #gallium, #indium, and potentially other critical metals key to modern electronics from e-waste like discarded computer screens. The process could also be applied to waste streams from companies that create products containing these metals.

" 'Once optimized, our process could recover 1.2 kilograms of these metals per day,' says Antoine Allanore, a professor of metallurgy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering. He notes, however, that this can only happen if a great deal of e-waste is recycled, and currently there are no large-scale efforts to that end. The recycling rate for gallium and indium from e-waste is currently close to 0 percent.

"The work is important because gallium and indium are listed as critical metals by the United States and the European Union. That’s because they are only produced as byproducts from the #mining of other metals like zinc and aluminum, and those mining operations, in turn, are dominated by only a few countries, including China.

"For many reasons, it doesn’t make economic sense to open new zinc and aluminum mines solely for these byproducts, says Allanore. 'Can we instead recycle and recover these two critical metals from e-waste?'

"He and colleagues have developed a multi-step process to do just that. These steps range from first physically removing #LED chips and other sources of the metals from the e-waste, to exposing them to high temperatures to liberate chemical components. Many of these steps are familiar to industry."

https://mrl.mit.edu/article/mit-develops-new-way-to-recover-critical-metals-from-e-waste

#SolarPunkSunday #NoMining #EWasteRecycling #MetalsExtraction #Electronics

Mike Wirth, CEO of company responsible for more greenhouse gases than any other independently owned entity, thinks Australia should adopt US policies to attract #FossilFuel dollars https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/18/australia-should-adopt-us-policies-to-attract-fossil-fuel-dollars-says-chief-of-carbon-major-chevron

Because people like this care not for our lives, the lives of all living things & the future of the planet, but only for short lived gains & greed.

#RenewableEnergy #NoCoal #NoMining #NoDeforestation

https://www.regenwald.org/news/14100/sumatra-neue-goldfirma-im-wald-der-tiger

Erst gestoppt – jetzt wieder in Gefahr:
Das Goldunternehmen EMM will offenbar zurück in den Wald der Tiger im Leuser-Ökosystem, Sumatra.

🌳 Regenwald
🐅 Sumatra-Tiger
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Rechte der Indigenen

So viel steht auf dem Spiel.

✍️ Petition unterschreiben:
https://www.regenwald.org/petitionen/1276/keine-goldmine-im-wald-der-tiger-auf-sumatra

#Leuser #SumatraTiger #NoMining #IndigeneRechte #Regenwald

#Trump’s #BigBeautifulBill Will Destroy America’s #Climate Progress

The president’s signature piece of legislation is torching #GreenEnergy initiatives that were helping red states. #Republicans don’t care

by Thor Benson, June 29, 2025

"The United States is not where it should be when it comes to the transition to renewable energy. Ask any climate scientist or reputable energy expert, and they’ll tell you we’re significantly behind schedule if we’re hoping to avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which Joe Biden’s administration got passed in 2022, was meant to help speed up that transition and get the country on the right track. Now, it’s under attack.
President Donald Trump’s administration has been working to undo any policies that would help the world avoid a climate catastrophe, and it is now trying to use the so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill' to repeal most of the climate-focused initiatives contained in the IRA. Trump’s signature legislation is caught up in the Senate after the House passed it last month, so it’s not entirely clear what the final draft will contain, but experts agree that these #climate provisions are clearly on the chopping block.

"The latest version of the bill would be particularly catastrophic for #wind and #solar. Republicans not only want to significantly cut #TaxCredits for these #CleanEnergy projects, they wants impose new taxes on them for the first time. Wind and solar projects completed after 2027, for instance, will be taxed unless they can prove no #ChineseComponents were used.

" 'They’re proposing an outright massacre with punishing new taxes on these industries that happen to be the cheapest and easiest ways to get new energy on the grid,' Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) wrote in a statement Saturday. 'If this becomes law, it will be a shocking act of economic self-sabotage.' "

Read more:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-big-beautiful-bill-destroy-us-climate-progress-1235374622/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/7yYZu

#ClimateChange #USPol #RenewablesNow #BigUglyBill #DrillBabyDrill #NoMining

Ireland shuts last coal plant, becomes 15th coal-free country in Europe https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/06/20/ireland-coal-free-ends-coal-power-generation-moneypoint/

#NoMoreFossilFuels #NoCoal #NoMining #ClimateAction #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #AlternativeEnergy #RenewableEnergy

#NavajoNation is 'Back Peddling' by Allowing #Uranium Transport through #Dine' Communities and More Dumping on #Utes

By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, Feb. 8, 2025

TUBA CITY -- "#LeonaMorgan, Dine' co-founder of #HaulNo!, said the Navajo Nation is now "back peddling" by allowing radioactive uranium waste to be transported through Dine' communities. This radioactive transport from the #GrandCanyon means even more deadly waste for another Native community -- the #WhiteMesaUte community in #Utah.

"Now, with little or no information along the haul route, the Navajo government expects the Dine' Chapters on the route to each have an emergency preparedness plan. Leona asked if the Dine' communities are aware of this and whether the Navajo Chapters are certified to deal with radioactive emergencies.

"'Who are their First Responders?' Ultimately, Dine' will have to confront the Navajo President and the Navajo Department of Justice, she said.
'We were not included in that agreement,' Leona said of the agreement between the Navajo Nation and #Energy Fuels.

"'There was no free, prior and informed consent,' Leona said, quoting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [#UNDRIP]. 'The people in the communities were not consulted.'

"'How can they start transporting on February 12th, when there aren't even any checkpoints? We don't even have an #AirMonitoring system,' Leona said of the lack of preparation for radioactive
transport on the Navajo Nation.
Energy Fuels plans to pass through Navajo communities with six to ten trucks of radioactive waste,
beginning on Feb. 12, 2025.

"Leona urged communities to organize, and pointed out that Navajo Chapters can have their own checkpoints. With the new push for '#DrillBabyDrill,' by the U.S. President, the Navajo Nation faces an uncertain future, she said. The U.S. is investing money into the development of #CriticalEarthMinerals and investing in Energy Fuels mill at White Mesa Ute.

"'We need to push our government to do what we want -- not what the federal government wants.'

"'It's going to get worse because they think nuclear is clean energy,' Leona said of the push for alternative energy.

"The Navajo Nation's agreement with Energy Fuels means more dangerous radioactive dumping in the #WhiteMesaUte community. In the agreement, Energy Fuels states it will transport 10,000 tons of uranium-bearing cleanup materials from abandoned #UraniumMines within the Navajo Nation.

"Leona was recently voted by the Navajo Nation Council to serve on the Diné #UraniumRemediation Advisory Commission, in an advisory position to the Navajo President and Council.

"Speaking in #TubaCity on Saturday, Leona said Haul No! began in 2016 when it became known that the Pinyon Plain uranium mine would begin mining in the Grand Canyon. Now, there is the new battle as the Navajo Nation government has approved uranium transport through Navajo communities to the White Mesa Ute community.

"Energy Fuels #PinyonPlain Mine, and the mill in southern Utah, threaten Native communities throughout the region."

Read more:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02/tuba-city-community-forum-and-walk-shut.html
#BuuNygren #IndigenousAction #IndigenousResistance #NuclearColonialism #ReaderSupportedNews #Dine #RestInPowerKleeBenally #NoUraniumTransport #DefendTheSacred #ProtectTheSacred #UraniumMine #NoNukes #NuclearFreeWorld #NoNuclear #NoWar #NuclearWaste #NoMoreMining
#NoMoreTransportationOfUranium
#NoNuclearWeapons
#NoNuclearPowerPlants #NoMining #NoUraniumMining #UteNation #NoUraniumMining #Navajo #Havasupai #GrandCanyon #NuclearWeapons #InformedConsent
#EnvironmentalRacism #WaterIsLife

Shut Down #PinyonPlain #UraniumMine in #GrandCanyon: #AwarenessWalk

February 22, 2025

"Join residents who will be impacted by #EnergyFuels #uranium transport for a COMMUNITY WALK and gathering on February 22, 2025 in #TubaCityArizona. The event is organized and hosted by local Tuba City group #BiddyRoots with support from friends and family, #DinéCARE, #HaulNo!, #AntiUraniumMapping Project, and others. This walk is to provide information and discuss #UraniumTransport across #NavajoNation. We will walk together from the Junction of US-160 & Main Street to the Chapter House."

Follow our Facebook event page for UPDATES:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1127868852048943

More information is also available here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/eetso-ei-dooda-no-to-uranium-awareness-walk-tuba-city-aztickets-1233002546809?aff=oddtdtcreator

Contact: [email protected]

Masks required. Masks will be provided.

https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2025/02/tuba-city-community-forum-and-walk-shut.html
#IndigenousAction #IndigenousResistance #NuclearColonialism #ReaderSupportedNews #Dine #RestInPowerKleeBenally #NoUraniumTransport #DefendTheSacred #ProtectTheSacred #UraniumMine #NoNukes #NuclearFreeWorld #NoNuclear #NoWar #NuclearWaste #NoMoreMining
#NoMoreTransportationOfUranium
#NoNuclearWeapons
#NoNuclearPowerPlants #NoMining #NoUraniumMining #UteNation #Navajo #Havasupai #GrandCanyon #NuclearWeapons #InformedConsent #NuclearColonialism
#EnvironmentalRacism #WaterIsLife