Tamar Valley Inappropriate Location for Pulp Mill – but plantations announcement welcomed

Tasmania’s peak environment body has welcomed Gunns Ltd’s announcement that they will end the sourcing of any native forest timber for the proposed pulp mill, but have made it clear that the range of other major environmental problems associated with the proposed mill continues to make the Tamar Valley an inappropriate and unacceptable location for a pulp mill in Tasmania.

“World markets are turning their back on native forests timbers, and these market forces have pushed Gunns to dump the native forests timber supply to their proposed mill – which is welcomed. Gunns needs to also end their ongoing large-scale logging & wood-chipping of Tasmania’s native forests. Tasmanians want their native forests protected,” said Dr Phill Pullinger, Director of Environment Tasmania,

“However, there are also still a number of major social and environmental problems associated with the proposed mill that are unresolved, and the Tamar Valley is a completely inappropriate location for a pulp mill in Tasmania,” he continued,

The ongoing core problems associated with the proposed mill include;

The mill is proposed to use a toxic chlorine bleaching process and pump millions of litres of effluent into a sensitive marine environment in Bass Strait – this will cause substantial impacts on sensitive marine life, migratory endangered species and the fishing industry

The Tamar Valley location is inappropriate due to the air inversion layer and unique air pollution & health problems that will result from a mill in the Tamar Valley

The Tamar Valley is one of Tasmania’s most stunning locations for wine, agriculture and tourism and the fugitive emissions and rotten egg gas smell from the mill will negatively impact on local residents and a range of major local employers such as tourism businesses and wineries

The axing of a proper assessment process and the legal immunity given to the mill by the un-democratic Section 11 of the PMAA has completely disenfranchised the local community which remains fiercely antagonistic to the proposed mill. Forging ahead with a Tamar Valley mill that wasn’t properly assessed and that didn’t give the local community a fair go will result in years of division and conflict
Environment Tasmania is the peak body for Tasmanian environment & conservation NGOs, currently representing over 20 Tasmanian environment groups with collective representation of over 6000 Tasmanians.
Dr Phill Pullinger, Environment Tasmania