Friends of the Earth Kuranda organized a forum on 26th May 2014. The Forum focused on the Kuranda town water, which is supplied from the Barron River.

The forum was attended by the Mareeba Shire Mayor Tom Gilmore, Deputy Mayor Jenny Jensen and a senior council staff member, plus a wide cross-section of people from the local area.

As environmentalists in Far North Queensland gear up for a campaign to stop this very special part of the world being assaulted by the coal seam gas (CSG) industry, here are two items of good cheer.

Media Release – 15th May 2014

What is the current state of the water in the Barron river catchment and our drinking water? How does the water quality change with rainfall and drier times? What sort of tests are done for what sort of chemicals and pollutants?

Explosions at the Fukushima Reactor Building 3 on 31 Dec 2013 are causing concern. Is that the reactor in the process of uncontrolled meltdown? The implications of this would be serious as 89 tons of nuclear fuel are contained in this building, which could then be released into the atmosphere.

Even before the recent explosion, the west coast of North and South America was being affected by a significant increases of radiation. Iodine supplementation is being recommended by doctors to prevent thyroid cancer from the increased radiation levels. Experts are now warning that ‘the days of eating Pacific Ocean fish are over’.

The new Queensland Government’s recent overturning of Queensland’s 23-year ban on Uranium mining needs to be reconsidered for many reasons – not least the recurring accidents at nuclear power plants over decades-from Chernobyl to Fukishima – plus the unresolved issue of where to dump the toxic nuclear waste.