Sue Neales Mercury
THE Lennon Government may declare the 35km water pipeline supplying the proposed Gunns pulp mill in the Tamar Valley “critical state infrastructure”. The move would see Tasmanian taxpayers pay for construction of the pipeline – expected to cost more than $50 million – from the Trevallyn Dam to the mill site 36km north of Launceston. The 19km effluent pipe from the pulp mill to the Five Mile Bluff ocean outfall on Bass Strait is also likely to become state infrastructure. Premier Paul Lennon has confirmed he has asked Infrastructure Minister Steve Kons to investigate all “community benefits” that would flow from state ownership of the mill’s water and effluent pipelines. Read more here
The backlash: Mill unrest bigger than the Franklin
