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SW: mine permit suspension
The Olympic Dam mine enjoys a range of exemptions from the South Australian Environmental Protection Act, the Water Resources Act, the Aboriginal Heritage Act and the Freedom of Information Act. A 2003 Senate inquiry into the regulation of uranium mining in Australia reported “a pattern of under-performance and noncompliance”. It identified many gaps in knowledge and found an absence of reliable data on which to measure the extent of contamination or its impact on the environment, and it concluded that changes were necessary “in order to protect the environment and its inhabitants from serious or irreversible damage”. The committee concluded “that short-term considerations have been given greater weight than the potential for permanent damage to the environment”. <ref> Dr Jim Green, [http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/australia/resources/reports/climate-change/nuclear-power-no-solution-to.pdf Nuclear Power: No Solution to Climate Change] Friends of the Earth (Australia), the Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, the Medical Association for the Prevention of War, the Public Health Association of Australia and the Climate Action Network of Australia, September 2005, See page 7.</ref>
==Judge Suspends Navajo Mine Permit==
In early November 2010 a federal judge voided a permit for the expansion of the operating permit for the [[Navajo mine]] located on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico. It was one of two mines at the location that has sought expansion permits. The judge called for a more thorough review of the project’s impact on the environment and on cultural sites.
“This whole area has been utilized for thousands of years by indigenous people,” said Mr. Bartlett, a lawyer at the nonprofit Energy Minerals Law Center in Durango, Colorado. “This is where people have buried kin.”
The decision “sends a very clear signal that it’s time for this agency to do its job,” Mr. Bartlett added.
BHP Billiton owns the mine, which feeds the [[Four Corners Generating Station]], also on Navajo land in New Mexico.<ref>[http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/01/judge-halts-navajo-mine-expansion/?partner=rss&emc=rss "Judge Suspends Navajo Mining Permit"] Mireya Navarro, ''New York Times'', November 1, 2010.</ref>
==Directors==
