Dave Groves
Resident Despite assurances from the owner of the project that this mill will actually increase property values and improve air quality, glowing reports from all the politicians and vested interests, no one is buying in the “Sacrificial Zone”. What was once my paradise, my home and my future has become my shackle, a bludgeon to the back of my head. My financial security, my whole way of life has changed forever.
THE Tamar Valley is a unique and beautiful part of our planet.
A jewel in the north of Tasmania, the valley is divided by a meandering estuary that runs some 70 kilometres from Launceston, flowing past countless vineyards and orchards, farms and friendly country towns to find its way to the mouth at Low Head where its tidal waters flow over some of the best coral formations in the world.
Along both sides of the valley are investments that attract residents and tourists alike.
Fresh produce such as apples, strawberries, cherries and blueberries are grown here, wines and spirits are grown and distilled, wildlife displays are readily accessible, and the valley harbours a multitude of historic sites to enthral the history buffs.
Many boat ramps and pontoons give the public an easy way to enjoy the estuary from another perspective.
Fishing is a popular pastime as are sailing and waterskiing.
At any time of the year, this beautiful valley is a vibrant and happy place to live and work, to create and to achieve.
Now, a dark cloud grows ominously over the valley and those who call this place home.
“Down the river”, “The Valley” and “the Tamar” once described where we live, but now it is colloquially known as “The Sacrificial Zone”.
The reason for the name change is the spectre of what is touted by some as the biggest pulp mill in the world.
It is to be the crowning glory for a company with the dubious reputation as Australia’s biggest woodchipper, on an island, on a planet with now rapidly diminishing cool temperate rainforests that embrace the largest living plants on earth.
In a world increasingly suffering from the effects of climate change, the rampant stripping of land to feed the world’s addiction to paper is akin to emptying the ocean of fish to make fertiliser.
To be built on the eastern shore of the estuary at Long Reach some 8 kilometres from Bell Bay, opposite an Atlantic Salmon farm and rural residents, this pulp mill will chew through around 4 million tonnes of Tasmanian forest annually. The vast majority of this will be native forest, clearfelled in a ruthless and industrial mining process by massive machines.
This process causes siltation, erosion and land degradation, loss of habitat and species destruction.
In an extremely wasteful process, all the trees are removed, whatever is not required for the chippers is dozed into massive piles and while still fresh all manner of rare species is vaporised using diesel gel or napalm launched from helicopters.
The resultant fires are cataclysmic in size and volume.
Thick palls of asthma inducing smoke fill Tasmania’s otherwise clear autumn skies, reducing what is touted as the cleanest air in the world to a fog like murkiness that is clearly visible from space.
Around half a million tonnes of green timber will be fed each year to the furnaces that will drive this massive factory set on a block of land the size of Gibraltar.
This is around the equivalent quantity that would be used by 70,000 domestic wood heaters or heat Launceston each year.
This presents an unwarranted strain on an air shed that is prone to temperature inversions that give rise to some of the worst air quality in the world.
This poor air quality has been confirmed by the government as being directly responsible for (at least 8) deaths each year.
Countless millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent to promote and encourage this private development, this project that is set to irrevocably degrade our fresh air and our quality of life.
Worse is yet to come from this project however.
Hydrogen Sulphide and Methyl Mercaptan, two chemicals that this project will produce, are allowed to be poured into the air unbridled.
Smelling like rotten eggs and boiled cabbage, the stench from this project will fill the valley.
Neither the owner of this project, the government, nor any politician or scientist will refute this fact.
64,000 tonnes daily of once potable water will be mixed with at least one hundred different chemicals and dumped relentlessly into Bass Strait for at least the next 50 years.
What this will do to our ocean no one really knows, but 64,000 tonnes of waste dumped daily into a pristine environment is a significant blow to the ecology of our planet.
This comes at a time when parts of the north of the state have been drought declared and desperate people are seeking Federal Government assistance to ease their plight.
The Great Lake, an iconic destination for tourists and perhaps the best known lake in Tasmania, is nearly 18 metres below full height.
Like a procession of ants marching along a trail to the nest, heavily laden log trucks bursting with their cargo of forest make their way along rapidly degrading roads to the chippers at Long Reach.
Taxpayers’ money is being spent to hold these roads together so these massive vehicles can carry their plunder quickly to the forest abattoir.
Huge trees are split by machines with giant pincers to give the illusion that the trees are just rubbish that needs to be disposed of.
Trucks are often covered in mud, sand and forest debris, and unwittingly spray other road users randomly as these juggernauts hurtle toward their destination.
(Some) capsize on their journey, involving bystanders in their carnage.
This is an industry that is paid by the tonne, so the pressure on operators is intense.
The picture of the “Sacrificial Zone” is almost complete.
Once in my opinion, the most desirable place to live in the world, The Tamar Estuary has become my daily nightmare.
Personal reasons have forced the sale of our property, but this impending disaster has frozen the sale of our home.
Despite assurances from the owner of the project that this mill will actually increase property values and improve air quality, glowing reports from all the politicians and vested interests, no one is buying in the “Sacrificial Zone”.
What was once my paradise, my home and my future has become my shackle, a bludgeon to the back of my head.
My financial security, my whole way of life has changed forever.
I once aspired to be a self funded retiree, to contribute to our community financially, now hoping that I can walk away from this terrorist attack on my life with only minor cuts and slight bruising.
I have learned much from my time living and working in the Sacrificial Zone, met many amazing friends who concur with my sentiments, doctors, pilots, scientists, agriculturalists, artists, project managers and even old barrow boys like me.
We all chose to live in this remarkable state, this awesome valley.
Now, disenfranchised, ignored and repressed, we survive to provide consolation and support to each other through these difficult and frustrating times. We live in hope, but expect that the evil vortex of greed and irrationality will annihilate the beauty and charm of the Tamar Estuary and take with it to the murky depths many good people, their livelihoods and all that is right and true.
