Hey y'all and welcome to the blog...yesterday was the latest Anti-Fracking Demo held here in Mt Gambier, and one of the speakers described how having a Drain cut through (near?-sorry) their property broke the sealing layer between Aquifers leading to contamination that destroyed the nearby Wetlands reliant on that water source...apologies that I don't have specific details but someone was talking to me and I didn't take notes...
But First, Just Because It's Hilarious: my dog does 3 things of total hilarity, 1) licks his chops then gets one or both lips caught up on his fangs, giving the impression that he's grinning inanely, and 2) sits back on his haunches almost like a kangaroo, eg, when in the back of the car with his seatbelt on...(it's the law don't ya' know-Ed)...or leaning against a wall, etc, and 3) the traditional 'walking-poo' thing that dogs do...(yay-Ed)...
Just finished cleaning up the backyard after him the other day with me shovel an' me wee l'il trowel, and headed back along the main path headed to the Doggy-doo compost bin, when there in the middle of the path was a poo that hadn't been there 45 seconds ago...(don't look at me-Ed)...I'm not, it was the dog...and then I realised that I'd already stepped in the first one, and I've looked up to curse the day he was spawned of hell-hounds, and there he is leaning, semi-reclined against the wire fence, with a huge lop-sided grin.
Perhaps I need to get out more...(oh you're hilarious-Ed)...but I swear I could hear him saying "is that what you're looking for?...here, let me help"...and with it a sense of real civic pride that he'd managed to contribute to the clean-up effort...(so a bit of a metaphor for this blog then really?-Ed)...well I hadn't thought of it like that, but now that you mention it...
Bad Fracking News For Mr K: the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority have challenged, nay refuted, South Australian Labor Minister Tom Koutsantonis's extraordinary repeated statements that there's never been an Aquifer contaminated by Fracking anywhere in the world...(never?-Ed)...never...(but what about places like Wyoming in the United States of America where it's clearly documented to have happened?-Ed)...well indeed...
The NSW EPA have just fined SANTOS $1500...(a bizarrely tiny amount, but that's another story-Ed)...indeed, but the fine was for 'Contaminating the Aquifer' at a drill site in NSW...as with several Court cases in the Eastern states that prove that Wind Turbines lower adjacent land values, here is an irrefutable case of Fracking related contamination, as recognised by authorities that otherwise support it...(support it?-Ed)...well, for that drilling to have happened in the first instance, the EPA must have given the relevant approvals, so they supported it in the configuration that led to a spill and contamination...(fair enough-Ed)...
Mr Koutsantonis has recently tried to draw back from that 'nowhere ever' comment by 1) ignoring he ever said it and 2) changing to 'no contamination in SA'...he is a liar, a moral-less liar and he constantly contradicts himself, makes crap up, etc, he just doesn't care...and on the very few occasions he is questioned about his statements he just denies it or ignores it and goes off on a tangent and says something different.
Only weeks ago he was banging on about how there's a 'domestic supply crisis' re energy production and particularly with gas and that this was a justification for Fracking in the South East...(this 'crisis' is a common justification that Mining companies, developers, government, etc, trot out whilst deliberately ignoring the fact that the vast majority of our national gas production goes straight onto ships at ports like Gladstone, etc, and off overseas-Ed)...absolutely.
(And it looks like the Reef Authority approval to dump 3million cubic metres of sludge dredged from the Gladstone Harbour into the Great Barrier Reef may be a ludicrous decision that goes un-realised due to the 30% drop in the price of Thermal Coal, from $120 per tonne to only $80, meaning that the infrastructure investment may not be forthcoming-Ed)...yes, but unfortunately it looks like a couple of the companies involved are still pursuing their 'New Port Terminal' dreams...and that means dredging...(damn-Ed)...
But I love Liberal Environment Minister Greg Hunt's comments that the regulations put in place re that dredging will result in a "150%" improvement in the quality of the water throughout the system, from the rivers, through the harbour and where the sludge is dumped...(sorry, the water will be 50% better than it is now?-Ed)...yep...(even after all the dredging and dumping?-Ed)...yeah...(he's stone cold trippin'-Ed)...yep...but we digress...
We also don't have a 'Domestic Energy Reserve Policy' that guarantees that our National Energy Requirements are protected against the greed of Mining companies and foreign interests...this massive export business also means that we are paying effectively global prices for our own gas...it is just another example of the Third World Economic Structures that our politicians, Liberal and Labor, have sold us into with lunatic Free Market ideologies and Free Trade deals with countries that continue to subsidise their own industries and make us as a nation completely vulnerable...(lunacy-Ed)...indeed.
For example, now with the 'Free Trade' agreement with South Korea the threshold of investigation for involvement of the Foreign Investment Review Board has risen from the current $244million to a staggering $1.1billion...(but didn't the Liberals promise at the September 2013 Election to reduce that threshold to $15m?-Ed)...yep...(and the first thing they do is raise it to over $1b re South Korea-Ed)...yep...
Mr Koutantonis has repeatedly stated that this 'crisis' is also a justification for cutting back on Environmental restrictions to promote more investment and development in Mining...the phrase he has used is 'we need to cut the Green Tape'...(and he also said 'the Red Tape'-Ed)...exactly, he wants virtually all restrictions removed so that Mining has no impairments...(but on Friday he was on the ABC/BBC stating that Fracking is just fine because we have such strict and thorough Environmental Controls that if there's a problem, the Fracking won't continue-Ed)...exactly...
And once you get past the obvious 'due to the Aquifers and chemicals involved, when there's a problem it's too late' issues, his/Labor's repeated statements of support for mining regardless of the cost to agriculture whilst constantly bleating about "co-existence", coupled with the statements about not charging royalties for 5 years to 'stimulate investment', and the appointment of the completely unqualified Labor hack Mia Handshin to the head of the SA EPA, and Labor's well defined contempt for Regional South Australia, it all looks fairly grim for the Regions...(yay-Ed)...and chuck onto that pile the 'Red and Green Tape' statements.
Only weeks ago he was rabidly attacking said Controls and regulation, etc, as being an unacceptable impediment to economic growth and development, and clearly stating that they must all go, particularly the Environmental Regulations..."cut the Green Tape"...then when it suits him he's quoting those exact regulations as being robust and comprehensive protections that make the incredibly fraught Fracking process safe and appropriate...one story for one discussion, and the complete opposite for another...he is such a casual liar so used to deceit and misrepresentation that it flows from him like a spring...a babbling brook of boundless self-contradiction tumbling downhill to a gathering pool of indifference.
(Didn't he have 30+ speeding fines?-Ed)...yes, an absolute statement about who he is and how he conducts himself...speed limits and speeding fines and the rules that govern us mere mortals are beneath Mr Koutsantonis...(and the truth is an inconvenient irrelevance-Ed)...ah, politics...did I mention that fascinating report (ABC/BBC?) that stated that most politicians are definitively psychopathic in their behaviours...(fascinating-Ed)...
Anyhoos, enough about Mr Koutsantonis, he wasn't at the Fracking Demo, nor did I see any Labor representatives, eg, state Labor candidate for Mt Gambier Jim Maher or anyone from Mt Gambier City Council, but I believe that there were a couple of other regional Councillors there...sorry I don't know most of these people...and I must admit there were over a hundred people there so I may have missed a face or two in the crowd...(so you're not omnipresent then?-Ed)...no...
Current Member Independent Don Pegler stated his opposition to Fracking, and Liberal candidate Troy Bell re-iterated the Liberal position re an Inquiry before approving Fracking, etc, and there were a couple of other speakers...again, sorry, but I had some-one talking to me on an un-related but important topic, and I don't need convincing about what an unmitigated disaster Fracking would be/is for the South East.
I am more than happy to embrace the possibility of error...(that's the mildest admission ever-Ed)...in that the local opposition to Fracking is clearly not fooled by the lies spewing from Tom Koutsantonis and his brethren, and are well motivated and organised...it remains to be seen that any promises forged in the cauldron of an election battle will ever see the light of day...(except of course those promises made by Labor, and even they are changing every day-Ed)...quite...
Tomorrow: An Horsey Race
An 'b-grade' horsey race that for some reason requires a Public Holiday...(ridiculous-Ed)...quite...why can't it be run on the weekend?...I'm sensing a post of whinging about bloody Adelaide again...join us won't you...
I am Nick Fletcher and this is my blog...cheers and laters...
No comments:
Post a Comment