Rachel Williams Examiner
AIR quality trigger levels set for Gunns’ pulp mill are already being breached. The State Environment Protection Authority yesterday released the first environmental performance report, required by the State Government approval permit for the $2.2 billion project. The report showed that there were a number of exceedences of ambient total reduced sulphur odours recorded at the Rowella monitoring station. Read more here

Related: Loretta Johnston ALMOST 60 per cent of Tasmanians rated Forestry Tasmania as a good corporate citizen, according to a recent EMRS survey. Mr Gordon said the survey of 600 people undertaken in March showed public awareness of forestry issues had improved. “The message appears to be getting through that Forestry Tasmania does not use 1080 poison and no longer converts native forest to plantation,” he said. He said part of the reason for this was the popularity of the Going Bush television series. Read more here
Extract:

However, the EPA may need to reassess Gunns’ permit trigger levels in light of the data.

Mr Jones said it was important that the trigger levels – now at two parts per billion, or equivalent to one drop of water in an Olympic sized swimming pool – were conservative.

“The permit requires that if this investigation level is exceeded on four consecutive readings beyond the boundary of the pulp mill site, and the TRS could reasonably be expected to have come from the mill, then the pulp mill operator must investigate the reason and report to the EPA,” Mr Jones said.

“The purpose of the trigger level is to detect potential odour problems before they develop into significant events, so the trigger is set at a conservatively low level.”

The proposed pulp mill is required to have a comprehensive system to collect and destroy TRS compounds, Mr Jones said.

Meanwhile, the report gave an update of how Gunns was progressing with its water pipe line to feed the mill.

Twelve out of more than 30 landholders have signed agreements for the pipeline to traverse their properties while six have provided in-principle agreements.

Gunns project manager Les Baker said discussions were continuing with the remaining landholders.