Ishita Ayan Dutt / Kolkata February 13, 2009, 1:00 IST

Delhi-based Bhushan Steel has initiated discussions with the $2.4 billion diversified Japanese trading company, Sumitomo Corporation, for investing in Bhushan’s proposed steel plant in West Bengal. Neeraj Singal, managing director, Bhushan Steel, confirmed the development and said, the partnership had not been firmed up as yet, but discussions were on.

Bhushan had initially planned a 2-million tonne integrated steel plant with a captive power plant in Bengal, but if the deal with Sumitomo materialises then the size of the project would be tripled.

The investment in the project was originally estimated to be 8,800 crore, which also included a 0.5-million tonne cold-rolled and galvanising plant for automobile grade steel.

The move could well begin big-time investment in Bengal, which received a major jolt after Tata Motors pulled out of Singur.

Singal said, Sumitomo is a technical partner in Bhushan Steel’s Orissa project. Singal explained that Sumitomo wanted to invest in the Orissa project but that was not possible. Bhushan was willing to partner with Sumitomo in the Bengal project. Bhushan is setting up a 4-million tonne plant in Orissa, part of its 12-million tonne capacity expansion in eastern India.

Sources close to the development indicated that the land requirement for the 2-million tonne plant in West Bengal was 2,500 acres and if scaled up to 6-million tonne, it would require an additional 1,000 acres. The project would come up in the Bardhaman district.

“Public hearing for the project is currently going on and the feedback from the people is favourable,” said sources. The rehabilitation package will be submitted shortly, which includes land-for-land and housing for the land-losers. Industry sources said, “It was surprising that Sumitomo was planning to invest in a project in the middle of the economic meltdown.”

http://business-standard.com/india/news/sumitomo-to-invest-in-bhushans-bengal-plant/10/30/348950/

HC suspends stay order on mining

BS Reporter / Chennai/ Dharwad February 13, 2009, 0:46 IST

The division bench of the Karnataka High Court circuit bench has suspended the stay order granted by the court on granting lease for mining in forest area.

The division bench comprising chief justice P D Dinakaran and justice N K Patil passed orders on February 9 suspending the stay granted on September 8, 2008, by a division bench comprising of justices Manjula Chellur and Keshav Narayan.

The single judge bench headed by justice Shailendra Kumar on September 8 last had directed the state government to follow proper procedure while granting lease for mining in forest area. He observed that obtaining clearance from the forest department while granting permission for mining was mandatory, and had quashed a notification granting lease on the ground that procedure had not been followed.

The counsel for the state government had submitted to the court that the government was willing to comply with the directions given by the single judge before granting the mining lease in forest area. Some mining operators aggrieved by justice Shailendra Kumar’s order had appealed to the division bench against the order stating that they already had the lease in their favour which could not be quashed.

The division bench comprising justices Manjula Chellur and Keshav Narayan had passed an interim order granting a stay on single judge’s order. Further, after hearing both sides chief justice P D Dinakaran and justice N K Patil on February 9 suspended the ex-parte interim stay.

They have said the appellants have obtained the lease without following procedure mandated. The lease was granted to the appellants without obtaining the clearance from the forest department which according to the single judge is mandatory.

http://business-standard.com/india/news/hc-suspends-stay-ordermining/10/30/348901/

Orissa advocates Khandadhar mine lands for POSCO

According to Mr Pradip Kumar Amat steel and mines minister of Orissa, the Orissa government has urged the Centre to provide 2500 hectares of land in Khandadhar mine area to Posco India LTD for prospective license. Khandadhar mine has a total mine area of 8365 hectares.

Mr Amat said that the Union government's approval to provide prospective license to POSCO India had not yet come. He said that as many as 148 companies including POSCO had applied for mining lease in Khandadhar.

He said that the Forest Diversion Proposal for land acquisition for the proposed project had already been approved by the Supreme Court and it was awaiting the environmental clearance of the Union government.

Mr Amat said that the acquisition of non forest land for the project was going on, adding that the company had already spent INR 176 crore so far. He added that as per the agreement the plant was to be commissioned in 2016.

http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/02/13/ODI0MDU%3D/Orissa_advocates_Khandadhar_mine_lands_for_POSCO.html

Govt stumbles on pet mining project

- Department lacks expertise, resources SUDHIR KUMAR MISHRA

Mining exploration: Not an easy task

Ranchi, Feb. 12: The mines and geology department had taken upon itself the task of exploring the actual quantum of mineral reserves available in the state with much elan. But ironically, the venture has bared several shortcomings of the department itself.

For example, it has brought to the fore that the department does not have the expertise or the resources to carry out the prospective mining operations.

A critical look at the minutes of the Eighth Jharkhand State Geological Programme Board suggest that the survey maps prepared by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) for iron ore, lime stone, graphite, bauxite and magnetite was not available with the department. It was decided to send a team of officials to Calcutta to fetch the survey reports from the publication division of GSI. The mines directorate even did not have the ground water map and water user map prepared by the Central Ground Water Board. Again, a decision was taken to request the Central Ground Water Board to provide the maps.

On October 31, 2008, the mines directorate came out with an extensive plan to carry out mineral explorations on its own. It constituted several teams for the smooth execution of the projects and ordered that the officials ought to achieve the target on time. They were provided vehicles and other “necessary amenities” and were expected to submit their progress reports every month.

Records say that fresh explorations for iron ore reserves at three places in the Singhbhum circle began on November 14, last year. The operation is supposed to be completed by the end of this March. Explorations for bauxite reserves in Ranchi and Santhal Pargana, too, began around the same time.

But the irony is that though new surveys are being done, parameters adopted are identical to the ones adopted by the GSI over four decades.

Again, though millions of rupees are being spent on this project, the people at the helm of affairs do not have time to take active interest in it. They are busy meeting the revenue realisation targets after Governor Syed Sibtey Razi cracked the whip on all departments.

Mines and geology department secretary S.K. Satpathy admitted that his department did not have the competence to carry out prospective mining operations and the GSI was the only reliable agency.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090213/jsp/jharkhand/story_10527374.jsp

RINL unions to demonstrate for captive iron ore mines

BL reported that the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited is incurring a heavy loss due to non allotment of captive iron ore mines by the Union Government, especially during the current economic recession and the long pending demand should be immediately met.

Mr Ch Narasinga Rao the district secretary of the party that said at a press meet here the steel plant was spending an additional INR 5,000 per tonne of iron ore in steel manufacture, in comparison with the other steel plants public and private.

He said that “It is a very heavy burden on the plant and it may push the plant into the red again, as in the late nineties, if the Union Government does not attend to the problem of captive mines.”

Mr Rao said that it was regrettable that private steel plants such as Brahmani Steels and POSCO were being given captive iron ore mines but the just demand of the Visakhapatnam steel plant for mines is being ignored. He said that the RINL was expanding its capacity and the future of the project depended on captive mines.

http://steelguru.com/news/index/2009/02/13/ODIyODI%3D/RINL_unions_to_demonstrate_for_captive_iron_ore_mines.html

Health services in shambles in POSCO hit villages

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Report by Ashis Senapati, Kujang: There seems to be no end to the sufferings of the Posco project effected villages of Dhinkia, Gadakujang and Nuagaon gram panchayats falling under Kujang block of Jagatsinghpur district. The health services in these areas are effected as the health officials stopped to enter the villages for the last two years following the blockage of all entry points to these villages by the villagers to prevent the entry of the government officials.

The health services are in shambles in these seaside gram panchayats. The villagers are protesting against the decision of the government to acquire 4,004 acres of land in this areas for the South Korean steel company Posco o build a steel plant with an investment of Rs 51,000 crores.

Commenting on the anti-Posco movement, Sishir Mohapatra, secretary, Posco Pratirodhaka Sangram Samiti (PPSS) said, "Police filed false cases against more than five hundred anti-POSCO villagers allegedly for attacking government officials, forcefully locking the village post office, assaulting pro-Posco villagers and blocking the roads by erecting wooden gates and committing other crimes due to which many anti-Posco villagers are not coming out of these villages - the bastion of anti-land acquisition movement".

The nearby community health center at Kujang is located near the police station of Kujang. And, the villagers are reluctant to visit the government hospital. Some villagers go to the port town Paradeep through sea route. But, it is not possible for many villagers to reach Paradeep through sea route. Last month, police arrested three anti-land acquisition villagers in Paradeep and Kujang when they slyly came out from the villages.

The innocent villagers are being harrased by the police for putting resistence against the land acquisition. A large number of innocent villagers were arrested. Abhaya Sahoo, president, PPSS was suffering from spinal cord problem for which he had gone to Hydrabad. But on his return to Dhinkia, he was arrested by the police near Kujang four months back, Mohapatra said.

"We recently sought the help of some doctors

of West Bengal to provide medical helps to the anti-land acquisition villagers. A team of four doctors of Mazdoor Kranti Parisada visited Dhinkia and other villages and treated several villagers. They also provided medicines free of costs to these villagers. The doctors spent three days and treated a large numbers of villagers", said Manaroma Khatua, an anti-land acquisition leader of Dhinkia.

Due to the road block by the anti-land acquisition villagers, health officials are also feared to enter the bastion of anti-Posco movement, said Gadadhar Das a villager of Kujang. "We cut the roads and blocked all the entry points to prevent government officials to enter our villagers to acquire our lands. But we never prevented any health officials to enter our villagers. Some government officials with an ulterior motive are not allowing health officials to enter our villages due to which several villagers are not getting any treatments from the doctors", said Prakash Jena a villager of Dhinkia.

When contacted, Dr Narayan Sahoo, Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO), Jagatsinghpur told this journalist, "All the health workers like ASHA , Anganabadi workers and health officials of Kujang and Earasama are providing health services to the villagers of Dhinkia and its nearby areas. We have never faced any impediments from the villagers to visit their villagers to treat them ".

The villagers of the Posco effected areas have already suffered a lot due to the state repression against the anti-land acquisition movement. It is high time that the state administration take a proper care of these poor villagers. And, the political process should be intensified to resolve the long pending demands of these innocent villagers.

http://www.orissadiary.com/Shownews.asp?id=10759

Tata or Jindal? Govt to finalise within a fortnight for CTL

12 Feb 2009, 1403 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: The government may in about two weeks decide whether the Tatas or Jindals will get the $ 6-8 bn pilot project to convert coal into

liquid petrol.

"The process to finalise the allocation of coal-to-liquid (CTL) project may be completed within a fortnight," Minister of State for Coal Santosh Bagrodia told PTI yesterday.

The Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), which was entrusted with the job of short-listing applicants for the project, has given its recommendations and the government is looking into it to take a final call, Bagrodia added.

The IMG, after scrutinising applications from 22 firms has recommended Strategic Energy Technology Systems Ltd, a joint venture of Tata group with Sasol of South Africa, and Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, for the CTL project.

According to a senior Coal Ministry official, the Tata-Sasol JV may have a cutting edge over rival JSPL due to its operational expertise in the field.

Despite crude prices lowering to around USD 40 a barrel from the USD-147 peak in July 2008, India is pushing for the CTL project to cut its dependence on imported oil. The CTL project will produce 80,000 barrels crude oil per day (about four million tonnes a year) by liquefying coal reserves.

Among major firms, which were eyeing the project, but have been rejected, include RIL, Anil Ambani Group's Reliance Infra, SAIL, GAIL, IndianOil, GMR Infra and Vedanta.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Policy/Tata_or_Jindal_Govt_to_finalise_within_a_fortnight_for_CTL/articleshow/4117423.cms

Reliance Power bags third ultra mega power project

Feb 12th, 2009 | By Sindh Today | Category: India

New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) The government Thursday handed over the letter of intent for the Tilaiya ultra mega power project (UMPP) to Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), being set up at an investment of over Rs.120 billion (Rs.12,000 crore/$2.4 billion).

This is the third UMPP awarded to group company Reliance Power, with the other two being at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

“Recognising the fact that economies of scale leading to cheaper power could be secured through large size power projects and for introducing the efficient super critical technology in a big way, a unique initiative had been launched for the development of UMPPs under tariff-based international competitive bidding route,” the government said in a statement.

“Development of 4,000 MW power project through a tariff-based bidding process is the first of its kind in the world,” it added.

Reliance Power was awarded the Tilaiya project in Jharkhand late last month.

“We have been awarded the Tilaiya project. We bid the lowest per unit cost of Rs.1.77. We will generate 4,000 MW,” a senior official of Reliance Power told IANS after a high-powered committee named his company the winner.

Besides Reliance, four other companies had bid for the project. These included the state-run power utility NTPC, Jindal Power, Lanco Infratech and Sterlite Energy. They were among the 11 that had met the pre-bid criteria, officials said.

With the Tilaiya project also in its kitty, Reliance Power has a portfolio to generate over 30,000 MW of power in the country. The group is now developing as many as 14 medium- and large-sized power projects, company officials said.

Of these, projects in western India will account for 12,220 MW, north for 9,080 MW, east for 4,000 MW, northeast for 2,900 MW and the south for 4,000 MW.

The group’s 7,480-MW project to be located at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, not far from the national capital, is expected to be the world’s largest gas-fired power project at a single location, officials said.

http://www.sindhtoday.net/south-asia/62751.htm

Spotted: 118 illegal mines

Pits close to Grand Trunk Road set off alarm bells OUR CORRESPONDENT

An abandoned pit in Dhanbad from where coal is extracted illegally. Picture by Gautam Dey

Dhanbad, Feb. 12: The figure is startling.

Officials in Dhanbad have spotted as many as 118 abandoned mine pits that are being used to extract coal illegally.

Of these, 70 have been found in the area under Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) while 23 in the mining belt of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL). The remaining 25 have been temporarily plugged.

The BCCL and ECL authorities pulled up their socks and carried out this extensive survey following a rap from the Dhanbad deputy commissioner Ajay Kumar. At the last fortnightly meeting, Kumar told coal officials that they would be held responsible if extraction of coal from abandoned pits led to some accident such as a cave-in or land subsidence in their areas.

During the survey, coal officials found that pits had been hollowed for yards and some were even dangerously close to Grand Trunk Road, where a cave-in occurred last year, and Grand Chord Railway in Dhanbad. They prepared a detailed report of these illegal mining points and submitted it to Kumar yesterday. On his advice, 25 pits have been filled with ash and mud. The areas have been barricaded and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel deployed.

After receiving the report, Kumar said necessary steps were being taken to end illegal mining of coal. Senior district officials, however, sounded sceptical. They said a powerful nexus between politicians and mafia bosses supervised the operations. A section of the police is also hand in glove with the smugglers. It is not easy to stem the rot, they said.

Meanwhile, a CISF team raided a railway siding near Bansjora on Wednesday and seized a truck carrying illegal coal worth Rs 30 lakh.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090213/jsp/jharkhand/story_10526432.jsp

Colomb villagers oppose renewal of three mining leases

13 Feb 2009, 0426 hrs IST, TNN

MARGAO: The proposed renewal of three mining leases at Colomb, Rivona in Sanguem taluka has led to locals rising in protest. At the environmental

public hearing held at Rivona recently, villagers vehemently raised objections and feared that any increase in mining activities in the village will lead to disastrous consequences on the environment and subsequently on their health.

The three mining leases are spread over an area of 178 hectares and lie in designated forest land, sources said. Significantly, 1,510 ha of the total 1,929 ha of land comprising the Colomb village are under mining leases. Environmentalists fear that if all the mining leases granted during the erstwhile Portuguese rule are activated, many villages in Sanguem, such as Sulcorna and Curpem, will be completely wiped out. Besides, severely destroying the forest cover in the western ghats, water bodies will also be exterminated, they fear. In Sanguem taluka alone, over 20,000 ha of land are under mining leases.

Pointing out that the mines were granted leases in 1953 during the Portuguese regime, villagers at the public hearing said that the government should have modified the leases taking into account the human habitation of the villages since Goa's liberation. "The mines have never been in operation since the grant of concession by the Portuguese government, as such the question of renewal of the mining leases does not arise," Rama Velip, president of Gawda, Kunbi, Velip communities stressed. Dr Avdhut Prabhudesai from Colomb, raised a preliminary objection on that score at the outset of the hearing and made a strong pitch for outright cancellation of the mining leases.

"There are already 2,000 trucks plying in the village today. The opening of more mines will lead to a considerable increase in dust and noise pollution. Besides, the impact of the dust pollution on the Kushawati river, which is located within 400 m of the mines, will be disastrous. Agriculture which has been the backbone of the village economy will be greatly affected thus threatening the sole sources of livelihood of many," Prabhudesai said.

Villagers also raised concern over the imminent destruction of heritage and infrastructural facilities in the village if the mining leases are renewed. "A Ganesh temple belonging to the 5th century, a 6th century Shiva temple, an archaeological structure called dhupi', a temple of Goddess Shantadurga, the only Catholic church and crematorium, the only government sports ground, besides a number of residential houses are located within the proposed mining areas," Prabhudesai said.

Additional collector Prasann Acharya presided over the hearing for which officials of the Goa Pollution Control Board were also present. The objections received will be forwarded to the appropriate authority for necessary action, he said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/Colomb_villagers_oppose_renewal_of_three_mining_leases/articleshow/4120110.cms

Mining – International

State firms may get privileges in mining law

Alfian , THE JAKARTA POST , JAKARTA | Fri, 02/13/2009 11:00 AM | Business

Following the enactment of the new mining law, the government is drafting a regulation which will give special treatment for state enterprises.

“We will regulate the status of the state enterprises in the government regulation. We will surely protect them,” Bambang Setiawan, director general for minerals, coal, and geothermal energy, told reporters on Thursday.

Bambang, who was a speaker in a seminar themed ‘Mining Law and the Future of the State Enterprises’, did not give details on what kind of preferential treatment would be provided for state enterprises.

He only said that this would be stipulated in one of four implementing regulations related to the mining law.

Bambang’s statement on preferential treatment for state companies was in response to queries from Tato Miraza, director for development at state mining company PT Antam, who was also the speaker in the seminar.

According to Tato, several articles in the law would create difficulties for Antam.

He pointed as an example articles number 52 and 53, which limit mining exploration areas to between 5,000 and 100,000 hectares and cap the maximum production area at 25,000 hectares.

Tato said these articles would create legal uncertainties for Antam’s mining sites whose sizes were beyond the stipulated ranges.

“We suggest the government to give privileges for state enterprises to have larger working areas than what have been stipulated in the regulation,” Tato said.

The government has repeatedly said that the new mining law would not change the existing contracts. But, the holders of contracts with mining sites bigger than the stipulated sizes are required to submit working plans for their entire working areas.

Bambang said this regulation would also apply to state owned mining companies.

Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Purnomo Yusgiantoro in an earlier interview said that the right of mining companies’ to work existing areas might be given either to central government or to regional government if the companies failed to submit comprehensive working plans as required.

It’s not yet clear whether in these cases similar penalties will apply to state owned companies.
During the Thursday seminar, Tato was also questioning two other articles about the requirements for mining companies to sell some products to the domestic market and to build smelters within five years.

Tato said Antam exported all of its ferronickel, which is its main product, because there were no local industries to absorb the metal.

“We hope that the domestic obligation requirement will only apply when the domestic market is available,” Tato said.

With regard to smelter requirements, Tato said Antam actually supported this regulation. However, he said that it would be difficult to finish building such smelters in five years as requested by the law.

According to him, Antam should be given at least seven to ten years to build smelters.

He added that Antam and other state-owned mining companies might face difficulties to build smelters within five years as financial institutions were not enthusiastic to provide loan for such projects.

“We expect the government to encourage domestic banks to finance smelter projects,” Tato said.

The long-debated mining law was passed by the House of Representatives in December last year.

Now the government is formulating the four proposed implementing regulations to put the law into effect.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/02/13/state-firms-may-get-privileges-mining-law.html

Educate yourself on dangers of uranium mining

Wednesday, February 11, 2009 10:47 AM EST

Uranium has never been mined safely anywhere in the world, in the past nor in the present, and it won't be minded safely here in Virginia.

People have suffered from uranium mining in thousands of ways.

Air, water, soil, plants, animals, homes, things you touch and eat, your hair and everything else around each person and for hundreds of miles around a mine, gets polluted by radioactive uranium, radon or other poisonous by-products of mining.

Once uranium and radon have been released and extracted from the ground, you can be sure it will find its way into your food, clothing, water, homes and, of course, your cells and DNA.

You may experience sicknesses of all kinds, including cancer.

Please protect your family and yourself by educating yourself about uranium mining and what it really is.

Don't take the word of politicians, mining company technicians and scientists paid by the mining companies, or, for that matter anyone else, nor mine either.

You won't get rich or even get a job. Specially trained people will be imported to do jobs you think you will get.

The economy in our area will not get richer.

You will see people sicker, home and land values go down the drain forever, and your family will suffer for the rest of the generations.

DNA changes do not show up immediately, but will be in your children, grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren and so on.

Also your water and soil and homes will never get cleaned up because radioactive materials don't disappear.

Once our area is polluted, it will stay polluted for hundreds of years.

The mines in Australia, quoted often as examples of safe mining are some of the worst polluters of all, causing great harm to thousands of people and thousands of acres of land.

Don't take my word for it, but look it up for yourself. Look up "dangers of uranium mining" and find out what "curse" would be brought upon us if we allow uranium mining in our state anywhere.

It is worse than terrorism, the turn-down in our economy and anything else you can think of.

If you neglect to get involved to fight for your home, family, health and anything dear to you, then you are allowing people who have no interest in you or our community to open a Pandora's box that will spew out poisons that will eat up everything you and we are and have.

We can't be complacent. I went through World War II. No one thought it was really going to get to us, and so we did nothing. We then were swallowed up in the horrors of war and our lives were changed forever.

This is worse; we will never recover from the pollution that uranium mining will bring! So don't allow it to happen right under our noses.

Educate yourself first, then educate your grown children, then get involved educating neighbors and friends and join organizations that are fighting uranium mining.

If you look up "dangers of uranium mining" and follow some of the links given you there, look at some of the movies, you will see how bad uranium mining would be for our area, and you can join organizations that can fight for you.

Look up Danville VA-SCC against uranium mining.

Just think what the flooding of 1996, which covered many towns in this area including Coles Hill where the mines would have been, would have done to all our water sources and wells, land, trees, gardens, homes, animals.

Don't think pollution couldn't happen here.

I pray and hope this letter will inspire some people to educate themselves on this important subject which will affect their lives in the near future if nothing is done to stop uranium mining.

Irene Buss

Gretna

http://www.wpcva.com/articles/2009/02/12/chatham/opinion/opinion01.txt

Coal mining industry given bad reputation, actually restores land

February 12, 2009 by Opinions

Column by Joe White

Bjorn Westergard’s column in the Feb. 3 Kernel is typical of the lack of education and downright misrepresentation by many well-intentioned people. I will attempt to clarify several of his misstatements.

The first statement that “no mainstream voices are calling for the end of mineral extraction entirely,” proves he has not read the Stream Saver legislation (HB 104) closely or he does not fully understand the actual language of the bill. HB 104 doesn’t address mountaintop removal. It addresses coal mining in general — both surface and underground mining in both ends of the state. Why focus only on coal if you are truly interested in impacts on streams? The stream impacts of coal valley fills are no different from highway construction, real estate development, commercial development, other mineral extraction or certain aspects of farming.

Coal slurry is full of “concentrated toxins?” This is absolutely a falsehood. See the 2005 Black Water Task Force Final Report. There were several environmental leaders on the Task Force: Tom FitzGerald, Kentucky Resources Council; Dr. Lindell Ormsbee, Kentucky Water Resources Research Institute and Environmental Quality Commission; and Judy Petersen, Kentucky Waterways Alliance. The report states that the health effects are expected to be no higher than those from typical exposure to soils in Kentucky because of the similarity between the metals in slurry samples and ambient soil and sediment levels. The report also states that any accumulation in tissues of aquatic organisms, including fish, due to this spill would likely be no different from uptake from stream sediments. This report can be found at the Department for Natural Resources Web site.

There is a widespread misconception of the mining industry’s reclamation standards in today’s society. The coal mining industry today is in the business of protecting the environment. This is done by repairing mined lands to a beneficial state. Both federal and state regulations for protecting the environment are some of the world’s strongest implemented laws. Surface operations act in accordance with more than three dozen federal and state environmental laws that are put in effect to protect the land, air and water of the surrounding areas. The federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 states that mountaintops may be reclaimed as flat land. Land is frequently more beneficial and functional after mining reclamation. Did you know it’s the landowners who want the level land? Mine reclamation sites are returned to either original contour or left flat for the employment of more productive areas. With the use of these lands, many counties in Kentucky can and are being developed into areas that can help facilitate growth and commerce, growing Kentucky into a better quality state.

Overall, one should not simply regurgitate emotional statements made by anti-coal mining activists. Coal companies are held accountable to save the environment. I challenge you to educate yourself by listening to both sides of this issue as well as researching the many laws regarding mining and the environment.

http://kykernel.com/2009/02/12/coal-mining-industry-given-bad-reputation-actually-restores-land/

Patriot Coal Fined $6.5M for Damage to West Virginia Streams

CHARLESTON, West Virginia, February 12, 2009 (ENS) - One of the largest coal mining companies in the United States has agreed to pay a $6.5 million civil penalty to settle violations of the Clean Water Act, federal and West Virginia agencies have announced. The consent decree signed by Patriot Coal includes the third largest penalty ever paid in a federal Clean Water Act case for discharge permit violations.

In a joint complaint filed with the consent decree, the United States and the State of West Virginia alleged that Patriot Coal violated its Clean Water Act permits more than 1,400 times - representing over 22,000 days of violations between January 2003 and December 2007 at its mining complexes in West Virginia.

During this time, Patriot and its subsidiaries allegedly discharged excess amounts of metals, sediment, and other pollutants into dozens of rivers and streams in West Virginia.

Excess discharges of these pollutants can significantly harm water quality and aquatic life in West Virginia's streams, said William Wisniewski, acting Regional Administrator for the U.S. EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.

"This settlement continues to set the bar high for the coal industry and Clean Water Act enforcement in general. Today's settlement reiterates EPA's commitment to maintaining clean and healthy waterways," said Wisniewski.

A West Virginia stream polluted by coal mine drainage, not a Patriot or Magnum property. (Photo courtesy iLoveMountains.org)

In addition, Patriot has agreed to extensive measures designed to ensure Clean Water Act compliance at its mines in West Virginia. The settlement includes what Wisniewski calls "innovative and heightened operating standards" which should serve as a model for the coal mining industry in Central Appalachia.

As part of the settlement, Patriot Coal has agreed to implement extensive measures to prevent future violations and to perform environmental projects, at a total estimated cost of $6 million.

Patriot will develop and implement a company-wide compliance-focused environmental management system including creating a database to track information relevant to compliance efforts; conduct regular internal and third-party environmental compliance audits; implement a system of tiered response actions for any possible future violations; and conduct annual training for all employees and contractors with environmental responsibilities.

The company also will perform five stream restoration projects in local watersheds and perform assessments of mining impacts on aquatic life.

"Consistent with our corporate mission to be a good steward of the environment and our philosophy of maintaining a constructive dialogue with federal and state regulatory authorities, we entered into good faith negotiations which resulted in this settlement," said Patriot Chief Executive Officer Richard Whiting.

"We believe the consent decree is a fair and reasonable resolution of issues relating to former Magnum properties acquired by Patriot in 2008, and serves the interests of both the public and our stockholders," he said. Patriot completed the acquisition of Magnum in July 2008.

The consent decree, lodged in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, is subject to a 30-day public comment period and approval by the federal court.

With corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Patriot owns and operates 16 mining complexes in West Virginia and Kentucky.

"This settlement represents a very important step in making sure that the coal mining industry is in compliance with the Clean Water Act," said John Cruden, acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "It will benefit the citizens of West Virginia and helps make sure that the Mountain State's streams and rivers are not damaged."

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2009/2009-02-12-091.asp

Lake Victoria Mining Company, Inc.-Kalemela Emerging Gold Project Update, Tanzania

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA, Feb 12, 2009 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) ----Lake Victoria Mining Company, Inc. (OTCBB: LVCA: undefined, undefined, undefined%) is pleased to provide an update of exploration activities at its Kalemela Gold Project in northern Tanzania. This emerging gold exploration project lies northeast of the Company's Geita Gold Project and 140 kilometers northeast of the town of Mwanza. The Kalemela Gold Project is assumed to be the western extension of the Kilimafedha Gold Mines, colonial mining district.

At the Kalemela Gold Project, Lake Victoria Mining Company controls 262 square kilometers held within three exploration licenses; a detailed 2,226 line kilometer ground magnetic survey was recently completed within this property. The survey was contracted to Geo Can Resources and conducted with a continuous reading, GPS controlled GEM System magnetometer model number GSM-19W. Preliminary data processing indicates at least five new structural intersections are present below shallow clay and soil cover. These previously unknown intersections consist of prominent northwest trending structures that are crosscut by smaller northeast trending fault and fracture zones. These features lie within Precambrian greenstone rocks and are the primary focus of our exploration.

To further define these new targets identified by the magnetic survey, soil geochemical samples are being collected on 200 meter spaced north-south lines; individual targeted areas are spaced at 50 meters. A total of 1069 samples have been sent into the lab and assay results are pending. To date, anomalous gold results have identified a two by two kilometer structurally complex area in the eastern part of the project; samples are still being collected in the western locations over the recently identified structural intersections. Once the soil sample results are evaluated, shallow trenches may be excavated and an electrical induced polarization (I.P.) planned with the objective to define possible drill targets.

Dr. Roger Newell, President of Lake Victoria Mining Company, is currently in Tanzania overseeing the field exploration and data processing to define drill targets at the Kalemela gold project. This is happening concurrent with an aggressive 6000 meter Reverse Circulation (RC: 5.85, 0, 0%) drilling program on its Geita property, about 80 kilometers west of Mwanza. Lake Victoria's Geita Gold Project is bordered by AngloGold Ashanti's Geita gold mine which has ore reserves reckoned at 8.5Moz and mineral resources at 14.7Moz. The Geita mining district is one of the oldest and most productive in East Africa, and the Company is actively drilling strategically defined targets within the northeast quarter of its 43.77 square kilometer property. The results will be provided as they become available.

About the Company

Lake Victoria Mining Company, Inc. is working to create another gold mine in the world famous Lake Victoria Greenstone Belt, Tanzania, East Africa. Tanzania produced 1.75 million troy ounces of gold during 2007 and is the 3rd largest gold producer in Africa behind South Africa and Ghana. Lake Victoria Mining Company, Inc. currently holds an ownership and option interest in the Geita, Kalemela, Igusule and Bahi-Hombolo projects along with Geo Can Resources Company Limited (Tanzania), a subsidiary of Kilimanjaro Mining Company Inc. of Nevada. Kilimanjaro Mining Company's website is www.kilimanjarominingcompany.com.

Disclaimer

This news release may contain forward looking statements, relating to the Company's operations or the environment in which it operates, which are based on Lake Victoria Mining Company, Inc.'s operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict, and/or beyond Lake Victoria Mining Company, Inc.'s control. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Consequently, readers should not place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Lake Victoria Mining Company, Inc. disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/lake-victoria-mining-company-kalemela-emerging-gold-project-update-tanzania-1402019000/

Tough Times for Stillwater Mining Company

updated 9:55 p.m. PT, Thurs., Feb. 12, 2009

Platinum and palladium prices continue to fall on the stock market and Stillwater Mine Company officials aren't ruling out another round of possible layoffs.

BILLINGS - Platinum and palladium prices continue to fall on the stock market and Stillwater Mine Company officials aren't ruling out another round of possible layoffs. Stillwater Mine's CEO Frank McAllister says this is the worst he's ever seen the natural resource industry. He says prices continue to stay significantly lower than last year and the struggles in the automobile industry continue to hurt the mine. McAllister says the company's returns are not promising. However, the company is trying to keep business afloat and during tough economic times anything is possible. "We're going to have more adjustment; we know we're going to have more adjustments, does that mean more layoffs? I don't think massive layoffs at this point in time are in the plans. Our plans are to operate right, our plans are to operate efficiently, our plans are top operate cost effectively," said McAllister. Last fall, mine officials laid off more than 400 miners from the East Boulder Mine. A few hundred were re-hired by the company a few weeks later.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29169784/

Other News – India

The Largest Wave of Suicides in History

By P. SAINATH

The number of farmers who have committed suicide in India between 1997 and 2007 now stands at a staggering 182,936. Close to two-thirds of these suicides have occurred in five states (India has 28 states and seven union territories). The Big 5 – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh– account for just about a third of the country’s population but two-thirds of farmers’ suicides. The rate at which farmers are killing themselves in these states is far higher than suicide rates among non-farmers. Farm suicides have also been rising in some other states of the country.

It is significant that the count of farmers taking their lives is rising even as the numbers of farmers diminishes, that is, on a shrinking farmer base. As many as 8 million people quit farming between the two censuses of 1991 and 2001. The rate of people leaving farming has only risen since then, but we’ll only have the updated figure of farmers in the census of 2011.

These suicide data are official and tend to be huge underestimates, but they’re bad enough. Suicide data in India are collated by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a wing of the Ministry of Home Affairs, government of India. The NCRB itself seems to do little harm to the data. But the states where these are gathered leave out thousands from the definition of “farmer” and, thus, massage the numbers downward. For instance, women farmers are not normally accepted as farmers (by custom, land is almost never in their names). They do the bulk of work in agriculture – but are just “farmers’ wives.” This classification enables governments to exclude countless women farmer suicides. They will be recorded as suicide deaths – but not as “farmers’ suicides.” Likewise, many other groups, too, have been excluded from that list.

The spate of farm suicides – the largest sustained wave of such deaths recorded in history – accompanies India’s embrace of the brave new world of neoliberalism. Many reports on that process and how it has affected agriculture have been featured right here, on the Counterpunch site. The rate of farmers’ suicides has worsened particularly after 2001, by which time India was well down the WTO garden path in agriculture. The number of farmers’ suicides in the five years – 1997-2001 – was 78,737 (or 15,747 a year on average). The same figure for the five years 2002-06 was 87,567 (or 17,513 a year on average). That is, in the next five years after 2001, one farmer took his or her life every 30 minutes on average. The 2007 figures (detailed below) place that year, too, in the higher trend.

What do the farm suicides have in common? Those who have taken their lives were deep in debt – peasant households in debt doubled in the first decade of the neoliberal “economic reforms,” from 26 per cent of farm households to 48.6 per cent. We know that from National Sample Survey data. But in the worst states, the percentage of such households is far higher. For instance, 82 per cent of all farm households in Andhra Pradesh were in debt by 2001-02. Those who killed themselves were overwhelmingly cash crop farmers – growers of cotton, coffee, sugarcane, groundnut, pepper, vanilla. (Suicides are fewer among food crop farmers – that is, growers of rice, wheat, maize, pulses.) The brave new world philosophy mandated countless millions of Third World farmers forced to move from food crop cultivation to cash crop (the mantra of “export-led growth”). For millions of subsistence farmers in India, this meant much higher cultivation costs, far greater loans, much higher debt, and being locked into the volatility of global commodity prices. That’s a sector dominated by a handful of multinational corporations. The extent to which the switch to cash crops impacts on the farmer can be seen in this: it used to cost Rs.8,000 ?($165 today) roughly to grow an acre of paddy in Kerala. When many switched to vanilla, the cost per acre was (in 2003-04) almost Rs.150,000 ($3,000) an acre. (The dollar equals about 50 rupees.)

With giant seed companies displacing cheap hybrids and far cheaper and hardier traditional varieties with their own products, a cotton farmer in Monsanto’s net would be paying far more for seed than he or she ever dreamed they would. Local varieties and hybrids were squeezed out with enthusiastic state support. In 1991, you could buy a kilogram of local seed for as little as Rs.7 or Rs.9 in today’s worst affected region of Vidarbha. By 2003, you would pay Rs.350 -- ($7) -- for a bag with 450 grams of hybrid seed. By 2004, Monsanto’s partners in India were marketing a bag of 450 grams of Bt cotton seed for between Rs.1,650 and Rs.1,800 ($33 to $36). This price was brought down dramatically overnight due to strong governmental intervention in Andhra Pradesh, where the government changed after the 2004 elections. The price fell to around Rs.900 ($18) – still many times higher than 1991 or even 2003.

Meanwhile, inequality was the great man-eater among?the “Emerging Tiger” nations of the developing world. The predatory commercialization of the countryside devastated all other aspects of life for peasant farmer and landless workers. Health costs, for instance, skyrocketed. Many thousands of youngsters dropped out of both school and college to work on their parents’ farms (including many on scholarships). The average monthly per capita expenditure of the Indian farm household was just Rs.503 (ten dollars) by early this decade. Of that, 60 per cent roughly was spent on food and another 18 per cent on fuel, clothing and footwear.

Farmers, spending so much on food? To begin with, millions of small and marginal Indian farmers are net purchasers of food grain. They cannot produce enough to feed their families and have to work on the fields of others and elsewhere to meet the gap. Having to buy some of the grain they need on the market, they are profoundly affected by hikes in food prices, as has happened since 1991, and particularly sharply earlier this year. Hunger among those who produce food is a very real thing. Add to this the fact that the “per capita net availability” of food grain has fallen dramatically among Indians since the “reforms” began: from 510 grams per Indian in 1991, to 422 grams by 2005. (That’s not a drop of 88 grams. It’s a fall of 88 multiplied by 365 and then by one billion Indians.) As prof. Utsa Patnaik, India’s top economist on agriculture, has been constantly pointing out, the average poor family has about 100 kg less today than it did just ten years ago – while the elite eat like it’s going out of style. For many, the shift from food crop to cash crop makes it worse. At the end of the day, you can still eat your paddy. It’s tough, digesting cotton. Meanwhile, even the food crop sector is coming steadily under corporate price-rigging control. Speculation in the futures markets pushed up grain prices across the globe earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the neoliberal model that pushed growth through one kind of consumption also meant re-directing huge amounts of money away from rural credit to fuel the lifestyles of the aspiring elites of the cities (and countryside, too). Thousands of rural bank branches shut down during the 15 years from 1993-2007.

Even as incomes of the farmers crashed, so did the price they got for their cash crops, thanks to obscene subsidies to corporate and rich farmers in the West, from the U.S. and EU. Their battle over cotton subsidies alone (worth billions of dollars) destroyed cotton farmers not merely in India but in African nations such as Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, and Chad. Meanwhile, all along, India kept reducing investment in agriculture (standard neoliberal procedure). Life was being made more and more impossible for small farmers.

As costs rose, credit dried up. Debt went out of control. Subsidies destroyed their prices. Starving agriculture of investment (worth billions of dollars each year) smashed the countryside. India even cut most of the few, pathetic life supports she had for her farmers. The mess was complete. From the late-’90s, the suicides began to occur at what then seemed a brisk rate.

In fact, India’s agrarian crisis can be summed up in five words (call it Ag Crisis 101): the drive toward corporate farming. The route (in five words): predatory commercialization of the countryside. The result: The biggest displacement in our history.

Corporations do not as yet have direct control of Indian farming land and do not carry out day-to-day operations directly. But they have sewn up every other sector, inputs, outlets, marketing, prices, and are heading for control of water as well (which states in India are busy privatizing in one guise or another).

The largest number of farm suicides is in the state of Maharashtra, home to the Mumbai Stock Exchange and with its capital Mumbai being home to 21 of India’s 51 dollar billionaires and over a fourth of the country’s 100,000 dollar millionaires. Mumbai shot to global attention when terrorists massacred 180 people in the city in a grisly strike in November. In the state of which Mumbai is capital, there have been 40,666 farmers’ suicides since 1995, with very little media attention.

Farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra crossed the 4,000-mark again in 2007, for the third time in four years, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. As many as 4,238 farmers took their lives in the state that year, the latest for which data are available,?accounting?for a fourth of all the 16,632 farmers’ suicides in the country. That national total represents a slight fall from the 17,060 farm suicides of 2006. But the broad trends of the past decade seem unshaken. Farm suicides in the country since 1997 now total 182,936.

To repeat, the five worst affected states?– Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh?– account for two-thirds of all farmers’ suicides in India. Together, they saw 11,026 in 2007. Of these, Maharashtra alone accounted for?over 38 per cent. Of the Big 5, Andhra Pradesh saw a decline of 810 suicides against its 2006 total. Karnataka saw a rise of 415 over the same period. Madhya Pradesh (1,375) posted a decline of 112. But Chattisgarh’s 1,593 farm suicides mean an increase of 110 over 2006. Specific factors in these states nourish the problem. These are zones of highly diversified, commercialized agriculture where cash crops dominate. Water stress has been a common feature, and gets worse with the use of technologies such as Bt seed that demand huge amounts of water. High external inputs and input costs are also common, as also the use of chemicals and pesticides. Mindless deregulation dug a lot of graves, lit a lot of pyres.

Maharashtra registered a fall of 215 farm suicides in 2007. However, no other state even touches the 3,000 mark. And AP (with 1,797) and Karnataka (2,135) – the next two worst hit states – together do not cross Maharashtra’s 4,000-plus mark. A one-year dip of 221 occurred in 2005 too, in Maharashtra, only to be followed by an all-time high of 4,453 suicides in 2006. The state’s trend shows no turnaround and remains dismal.

Maharashtra’s 2007 figure of 4,238 follows one and a half years of farm “relief packages” worth around Rs.5,000 crore ($1 billion) and a prime ministerial visit in mid-2006 to the distressed Vidharbha region. The state has also seen a plethora of official reports, studies and commissions of inquiry over 2005-07, aimed at tackling the problem. However, the 12,617 farm suicides in the same years is its worst ever total for any three-year period since the state began recording such data in 1995. Indeed, farm suicides in Maharashtra since that year have crossed the 40,000 mark. The structural causes of that crisis seem untouched.

Nationally, farmers’ suicides between 2002-07 were worse than for the years 1997-2001. NCRB data for the whole country now exists from 1997-2007. In the five years till 2001, there were 15,747 farmers’ suicides a year on average. For the six years from 2002, that average is 17,366 farmers’ suicides each year. The increase is distressingly higher in the main crisis states.

P. Sainath is the rural affairs editor of The Hindu and is the author of Everybody Loves a Good Drought. A regular contributor to CounterPunch, he can be reached at psainath@vsnl.com.

http://www.counterpunch.org/sainath02122009.html

Sunita Narain: Lectures don't make lessons

What's the rich world doing on energy conservation besides giving lectures?

Sunita Narain / New Delhi February 13, 2009, 0:35 IST

The rich world continues to give lectures on energy conservation. But what is it doing itself?

There was a jamboree in town recently, a gathering of the powerful and famous, to discuss the international agreement on climate change that the world must carve out in Copenhagen this December. But what happened was rather discomforting: We Indians were publicly lectured, castigated and rapped on our knuckles for being bad boys and girls by one and all. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told us that developing countries must make more efforts to address climate change and get on board with the industrialised world for solutions. “You have to do more”, he said, because the climate crisis is a common and shared responsibility and “countries should not argue on who has to contribute more or less to tackle global warming.” So, in one stroke, the key issue of differentiated responsibilities and the fact that the industrialised world was not cutting its emissions were swept aside. Instead, we were told, sternly, President Barack Obama had assured the secretary general he would do his best. What this meant in real terms — the US carbon dioxide emissions have increased by over 20 per cent in the last 15 years — was another matter, of course. We pupils should not question.

Finnish President Tarja Halonen also chipped in: “India must do more”. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) head Achim Steiner went further and asked for a voluntary cap on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. US Senator John Kerry, on a long-distance link, repeated the old Bush line that climate-renegade US would take action only if China and India took on binding commitments.

The Indian side was stunningly silent. Our external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, who inaugurated this bash-India do, was sidelined as he repeated the, by now, much-abused position: “We did not create the problem and we are not required to solve it”. His argument that climate change should not add to a greater burden, by imposing conditionalities on countries like India, was scoffed at. Instead, leaders of the western world got a great opportunity to inform the Indian public of the inadequacy of the government’s position.

In this round of the climate-change public-relations game, the Indian government lost badly. Worse, it has lost an opportunity to tell the industrialised world how it wants the entire world to deal with this global catastrophe, which is already beginning to hurt us. We are victims of climate change and the world must not be allowed to forget this.

What should India have made clear?

One, the industrialised world must get its act together to cut its emissions, and not just talk big. Our foreign minister should have shown the door to the European leaders, who glibly said that they would cut their GHG emissions by 30 per cent by 2020, if other countries joined them. He should have asked each industrialised nation to explain — to convince us — how they would actually cut their emissions domestically, given a pathetic track-record. The hosts of the next conference of parties, the Danes, should have been told, without mincing words, their emissions are increasing and that is not good for the world.

All these nations should have been hauled up for saying they would ‘help’ reduce emissions in the developing world, taking the cheaper route of buying into ways to ‘offset’ theirs. Because it is in all our interest, we should have pushed the industrialised world to reinvent and transform its energy system, drastically, starting now.

Two, we should have said, at the conference and so to the world media, that India was serious about climate change, and was quite aware of the need to cut emissions. The country is already doing a lot, on its own and at considerable cost and pain.

For instance, the government should have boasted it had agreed — and perhaps it is the only government to do so — to fund public transport buses, not private cars, as part of its financial stimulus plan; a move that will transform mobility patterns and reduce emissions in the years to come. It should have explained that the ministry of urban development, managing this programme, had already announced that the purchase of buses would require cities to undertake internal reform, including compulsory waiver of taxes on public transport, and increased taxes on private cars. Here was a car-restraint strategy that even the richest nations have not attempted. We should have challenged the world to learn and to emulate.

This is not to say that we are doing enough or cannot do more. The fact remains that our constraint is the making of the rich world. We need funds to be able to move faster, to make investments today, not tomorrow. We can, would like to, build solar-powered facilities that would substitute coal-powered electricity production in future. But we know this energy source is still expensive. We know this because, even as the rich world gives big lectures on good behaviour, it has done little to change its energy systems towards renewables.

It is time India made this clear: We are not the climate-renegades. Till date, all we have got are lectures, but no lessons. That is not good enough. Not for us. Not for the world.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sunita-narain-lectures-dont-make-lessons/00/45/348878/

Climate change will force fish to find cold water: Study

Feb 12, 2009 05:04 PM

Comments on this story (13)

Alison Auld
THE CANADIAN PRESS

Climate change will cause a major redistribution of fish and other marine species around the world as they leave their native habitats in search of cooler waters, a new study suggests.

The migration is expected to see certain cod stocks off the eastern United States cut by 50 per cent over several decades, with some moving into Canadian waters.

The paper paints a distressing picture of oceans that are dramatically reshaped as hundreds of commercially harvested fish species migrate toward the cooler polar regions while others are simply wiped out.

Daniel Pauly, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia, said that could mean exotic species like the Mexican jumbo squid become mainstays in Canadian waters, while other native stocks head north.

"We will be invaded by some species that were before in Mexico and California," Pauly, who co-wrote the report, said from a conference in Bath, England.

"You have this major reorganization and in the polar areas you have a wholesale extinction of the specialized fauna that is linked to the ice."

The findings, slated for publication on Friday in the journal Fish and Fisheries, use new computer models to predict the distribution of over 1,000 fish stocks and invertebrates as temperatures rise.

Researchers used predictions endorsed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that are related to temperature increase, salinity and ocean current patterns to project where fish will be over the next several decades.

Lead author William Cheung said they discovered that on average, fish will likely travel more than 40 kilometres per decade as they seek better habitats.

That means the U.S. cod population could drop by half by 2050, but it wasn't clear how much of that stock would end up in Canadian waters.

Northern countries like Norway, Iceland and Russia could be the big beneficiaries of the phenomenon as species like cod and herring migrate to their waters.

But Cheung – a former researcher at the University of British Columbia who is now at the University of East Anglia in England – warns that poorer countries in the tropics that rely heavily on the fishery will be hard hit if their primary species head north to escape warming waters.

"If you're a fisherman in the tropics, you will suffer most because there will be a major reduction in the catch potential," he said from Chicago where he is presenting the paper on Friday.

"The impacts will be particularly strong on those tropical, developing countries."

Fish adapt to changing environments up to a certain point and then will migrate in search of a more hospitable habitat. They are particularly sensitive to temperature.

Cheung said there are already examples of the global redistribution of fish stocks brought on by climate change.

The giant Mexican squid has been found off Oregon and fishermen in the area have reported having to travel north to find catches of certain species of cod and stable fish.

Species in the northern and southern polar regions are facing the greatest threat because they have nowhere to go as water temperatures increase, Pauly said.

For example, krill feeds on algae that grows on ice, but it will see its food source disappear if waters warm to a certain point. Striped rock cod in the Antarctic and a type of lobster in the Southern Ocean are at particular risk of extinction.

"Animals can adapt by going to a different place or by going deeper but if they cannot adapt anymore we go into extinction phase," he said.

"If we don't solve the problem of greenhouse gas emissions then there will be another phase of widespread extinction, but for species that are tied to the ice that phase has already begun."

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/586713

Aboriginal leader calls for Government action

The World Today - Friday, 13 February , 2009 12:45:00

Reporter: Linda Mottram

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma says there are some things the Government should do immediately.

They include reinstating race discrimination laws in the Northern Territory which had been suspended for the intervention.

He also wants the Government to make the promised statement of support for the UN Declaration on Indigenous rights and act on recommendations from years' old reports into Aboriginal deaths in custody and the forced removal of children.

Radio Australia's Linda Mottram has been speaking to Mr Calma in Canberra about the meaning of the apology.

TOM CALMA: For many I've spoken to, the apology, even though it was welcomed, also had a negative impact in that it made them relive the past and so that had an adverse impact. But for others it was a cathartic situation that allowed them to start their journey of healing in a meaningful way and it was a recognition by Government.

And also I think there's a big expectation that in that recognition there will greater I guess consideration of the recommendations of the 'Bringing Them Home' report now, and so that we might see some more attention paid to that report by governments.

LINDA MOTTRAM: So is it one of your expectations that the current Australian Government should make that a priority, addressing the recommendations of that report?

TOM CALMA: I think they do and it's important that at least in the recognition of the recommendations, they identify what they will support and what they won't support so we can put it to rest. But it's like a lot of the report said, that government receives or they in fact initiate, they sit around. We saw the royal commission into the Aboriginal deaths in custody. The majority of those recommendations haven't been addressed.

We've seen the Government through the NT intervention you mentioned, conduct a review. They organised for a team of people, very eminent people to undertake the review, an independent review. They reported back to Government. The Government still hasn't made a formal response to the recommendations of that report other than to say that by the Spring sitting of this year, which is August-September, they will make sure that the legislation complies with Australia's domestic and international human rights obligations, including the Racial Discrimination Act.

So I think there's still a long way to go and there's still the big question of why, why we need to wait until, you know, September to reinstate one of our most fundamental human right protections and that's the Racial Discrimination Act.

We have to remember that human rights aren't just human rights for Aboriginal and Islander people. They're human rights for all Australians.

LINDA MOTTRAM: One of the outstanding issues for the Rudd Government is the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, yes exactly. Now the previous Australian government voted against it. What should the Rudd Government do? It is being considered a response, isn't it?

TOM CALMA: It is being considered and it's important that our listeners recognise that 141 or 143 countries around the world voted in favour of the declaration and Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States voted against it and 11 countries abstained.

What we've seen already is that the Canadian Parliament has voted to support the declaration. We've seen President Obama indicate that he recognises the Indigenous peoples of America; he recognises the treaties and he'll put them into full force. He's creating opportunities within his Government and within the Parliament to have dedicated positions for Indigenous peoples, you know. Massive change in attitude, you know, and a very positive change.

New Zealand already have dedicated members of Parliament. You know Australia and the Australian Government now needs to declare their support to the United Nations for the declaration. It's important I think for the Australian Government, particularly post-apology to get out and again elevate the status amongst the Indigenous peoples of the world amongst the United Nations.

BRENDAN TREMBATH: Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma, speaking to Linda Mottram.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2490758.htm

News & Views !!

Feb 19, 2009

13/02/09

Mining – India

Sumitomo to invest in Bhushan's Bengal plant