Kim Booth
“The Herzfeld report is dreadful news for communities and businesses along our the northern coastline as it graphically demonstrates that toxic effluent from the Pulp Mill will hug that coastline throughout the year,” said Mr Booth.
HERZFELD PREDICTS POLLUTION ALONG NORTHERN COASTLINE
Northern Tasmania Betrayed by Labor’s Fast-Track Approval Process
Kim Booth MP
Greens Shadow Pulp Mill Spokesperson
Saturday, 31 January 2009
www.tas.greens.org.au
The Tasmanian Greens today warned that the recently released Herzfeld report spells disaster for communities along the northern Tasmanian coastline, and called on the Bartlett Labor Government to explain how they will protect northern Tasmanians from the proposed Pulp Mill’s toxic effluent after Herzfeld revealed that it will wash along the northern coastline contaminating beaches, marine ecosystems and fishing grounds.
[see attached map, Figure 2.4, Herzfeld Report, Modelling of potential spread of the pulp mill effluent from the outfall in Bass Strait predicted for 2015, p9.]
Greens Shadow Pulp Mill spokesperson Kim Booth MP said the report reveals the betrayal of northern Tasmanian communities by the Labor Government, whose fast-track approval process did not even analyse the now-confirmed probability that 64,000 tonnes of daily effluent from Gunns’ proposed Pulp Mill would contaminate the northern Tasmanian coastline.
“The Herzfeld report is dreadful news for communities and businesses along our the northern coastline as it graphically demonstrates that toxic effluent from the Pulp Mill will hug that coastline throughout the year,” said Mr Booth.
“It is a chilling postscript for a Labor Government that betrayed Tasmanians when it rammed through a fast-track assessment of Gunns’ Pulp Mill that completely failed to analyse the impact of toxic effluent streams from that Pulp Mill flowing onto the northern Tasmanian coastline.”
“This is very bad news for Greens Beach, George Town, Low Head, Lulworth, Weymouth, Tam O’ Shanter, Bridport and is particularly disappointing for fishermen and beach users.”
“The Herzfeld report clearly confirms the Greens’ long-held fear that northern Tasmanian coastal communities, businesses and environments will be poisoned by the Pulp Mill’s toxic effluent stream.”
“During winter the pollution modelling moves up in a direct line towards Flinders Island and its rich fishing grounds, which has terrible ramifications for the crayfishing, abalone, scallop and scale-fish industries that work those grounds.”
“The report is also damning of Gunns’ sloppy science, finding a number of key weaknesses in Gunns’ material including inappropriate use of models, insufficient calibration, and insufficient run lengths – the litany of errors in Gunns’ so-called science continues.”
“Premier Bartlett needs to explain how the Labor Government is going to carry out its Duty of Care and assess the risk to northern Tasmania from the 64,000 tonnes of effluent that Herzfeld clearly shows will flow along the northern Tasmanians coastline year-round.”
“Labor might have rammed through the fast-track assessment of this project, but this report reveals that we are now on a slow-motion collision course between Pulp Mill pollution and the northern Tasmanian coastline and its communities.”
“The data-driven David Bartlett must acknowledge the data contained within this report and act to protect northern Tasmanians from a Pulp Mill that Dr Herzfeld says will breach its state permit requirements ‘on an almost daily basis’,” said Mr Booth.
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Attached: Figure 2.4, Herzfeld Report, p9, Modelling of potential spread of the pulp mill effluent from the outfall in Bass Strait predicted for 2015.
When current speeds are low, the effluent released from the outfall pools at the
surface. This results in high concentrations within the plume. As current
speeds increase, the effluent is not simply mixed back to low concentrations,
but rather transported many kilometres from the outfall by the currents as a
coherent pool of high concentration [Executive Summary, Herzfeld Report, p2]
Key weaknesses with Gunns’ modelling:
1. Inappropriate use of 2-dimensional models,
2. Omission of low frequency sea level as a forcing mechanism,
3. Lack of stratification,
4. Insufficient run lengths of the model,
5. Insufficient vertical resolution in 3-dimensional models,
6. Use of large horizontal diffusion coefficients,
7. Insufficient calibration.
[Introduction, Herzfeld Report, p3]
