The recent explosion at Apache Energy's Varanus Island plant off WA has made for a sudden realisation of just how dependent on gas supplies the state is. The Australian reports that the WA Premier is seeking clarity on energy supply, as the local press complains about interruptions to business activities and the mining industry wonders how its energy needs will be met.

THE West Australian government wants further clarity from industry and business on its energy demands. Twenty mining and energy sector executives met in Perth yesterday to discuss strategies to deal with the 30 per cent cut to the state's energy supply resulting from a fire at Apache Energy's Varanus Island facility on Tuesday. Apache has indicated it may be months before a limited supply could be returned.

WA Premier Alan Carpenter today said there needed to be more clarity on the demand for energy, particularly gas. “From industry and business we need to know how much demand there is going to be and how much opportunity there is to switch from gas to other fuels,” Mr Carpenter told reporters. “On the supply side, the oil companies know that they can source additional diesel, for example, but they want to know what the demand is going to be, over what period of time, so they cam make forward bookings of tankers.'”

The premier said some companies could not switch to other fuels because they used gas as part of their basic process, such as for burners, kilns and some laundry facilities. “So what we need is the information that will allow us to determine whether or not we can switch, free up some gas fired electricity, so that gas can be made available to people who need gas for their process,” he said.

I hesitate to bring this subject up, as the last time I did I had a bizarre encounter with a deranged Objectivist, but Grist points to an L.A. Times series on Navajos and uranium. In summary "Its depressing".

The Los Angeles Times today concluded a four-part series (with photos) on uranium mining on 27,000 square miles of Navajo lands in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah.

It's a depressing, but interesting, read.

Part one (nine pages) gives the background: The huge boom in uranium mining fizzled post-Cold War; when mines and processors shut down, they left piles and pits of radioactivity, seldom labeled with warning signs. Many houses were built with radioactive materials. The cancer death rate on the reservation doubled from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. Most of the Navajos were unaware of the problem; most of the government and industry figures that were aware willfully ignored it.

Part two (seven pages) digs deeper into the effect radioactivity had on the area's water -- and the children and animals who drank from it. The cases of animals born without eyes or with three legs, or children who developed corneal ulcers and liver disease, stymied medical professionals for years.

Part three (six pages) explains how a federal decontamination plan finally got underway -- then was derailed by bureaucratic delays, misunderstandings, and disputes that kept the site from Superfund designation.

Part four (four pages) has the unbelievable headline "Mining firms again eyeing Navajo land." The tribe vows a "knockdown, drag-out legal battle," according to a tribal attorney.