Posted by feww on January 27, 2010
Nuclear Waste? YES PLEASE!
How many mad town councilors does it take to risk contaminating a region with nuke waste?
Small Spanish town of Asco in the northeastern Catalonia region, needed only a handful—seven.
Despite strong opposition from the regional government and repeated street protests by the town residents, Asco town council voted by seven votes to two to bid for a nuclear waste dump in the region.
The dump would reportedly cost about a $1 billion to erect and creates 300 jobs for less than five years.
Apparently, those stats were good enough for the the town mayor, Rafael Vidal.
“We have the opportunity to build an Asco…which will spur controversy but doubtless bring important revenues to the local economy,” Mayor said in comments broadcast on a TV channel, Reuters reported.
The president of the Catalan regional government, Jose Montilla, has already declared his objections to building a nuclear dump in Catalonia, though the region has 3 of Spain’s eight nuclear power plants.
“Catalan power stations produce 40 percent of all of Spain’s power. We’ve done our bit,” he said.
“Spent nuclear fuel in Spain is currently stored on site in power stations, but the government predicts they will begin to fill up in 2013. The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has urged Spain to begin work on a purpose-built site.” Reuters reported.
Spain’s socialist govt under its Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero has promised to freeze building nuclear power plants, but will allow the existing outlets to operate for at least 10 more years.
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Posted in Democracy in Spain, energy, Jose Luis Zapatero, nuclear power, Spain | Tagged: Asco, Catalonia, fascism, nuclear waste, Span govt, spanish govt | Leave a Comment »
Posted by feww on May 28, 2008
Truckers and fishermen across Europe protest rising oil prices
Truckers and fishermen across Europe held protests against rising world oil prices on Wednesday, demanding government action to prevent the price hikes. Protests were held across Britain, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Netherlands and Spain.
Trucks are driven along a section of the A40 highway during a demonstration, in London on May 27, 2008. REUTERS/Alessia Pierdomenico. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!
In Britain a convoy of truckers converged on London on Tuesday, closing a busy main road and causing traffic backlogs. Similar protests took place in Wales, were Welsh hauliers threatened to blockade ports and refineries. Refinery blockades in 2000 caused shortages in many areas. The drivers demanded a rebate because they said fuel bills had risen by 50 percent in one year. Britain has the highest fuel taxes in the European Union.
In Bulgaria hundreds of truckers launched protests in the capital Sofia, the Black Sea port city of Varna and the Danube port city of Russe on Wednesday, demanding lower taxes on fuels and calling for price ceilings on fuels.
In France the fishermen continued their ongoing protest against high diesel prices on Wednesday with truckers and farmers adding their voice demanding action from the government. Fishermen demanded to buy diesel at discounted rate at half the market prices, which have increased by 30 percent in 2008. They staged similar protests last year asking government to cushion the effects of surging marine fuel prices that have eroded their profit margins. Farmers blocked access to an oil depot operated by Total near the city of Toulouse and demanded the government exempt them from a special petrol tax called TIPP.
French truckers group OTRE also threatened to take action across France if the government failed to respond to their demands by Thursday evening.
In Italy fishermen in the Adriatic will strike commencing Friday.
In Netherlands truckers are planning a national day of action for Thursday to protest against rising diesel prices.
In Spain the Fishermen’s Confederation is arranging a protest in Madrid for Friday and the main truckers’ association has called a strike for June 8 concerning high fuel prices. Farmers in Catalonia are expected to announce protests.
(Original report by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit, Reuters. Copyright Thomson Reuters). Partially edited by FEWW
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Posted in Climate Change, energy, environment, Global Warming, health, politics, Travel | Tagged: Black Sea, Britain, Bulgaria, Catalonia, Danube, Europe, farmers, fishermen, France, Fuel protest, Italy, London, madrid, Netherlands, OTRE, rebate, Russe, Sofia, Spain, Total, Toulouse, Truckers, Varna, wales | 4 Comments »
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