Regarding the ABC story on the Burnie City Council, this is the first time i have seen Bob Eastment make such dire apocalyptic claims about the logging industries need for a pulp mill: “If we do not have a pulp mill then we would certainly be faced with the closure of the forest industry in Tasmania”.
I have heard Scott Mclean, Julian Amos and Terry Edwards make similar claims.
And of course some financial analysts have also suggested that the pulp mill is imperative for Gunns as the company simply cant afford the write off of the mill.
Fearmongering or an admission that Gunns has bet the company on the pulp mill?
The Examiner’s Rachel Williams said it here: HERE
Fearmongering or checkmate?
Either way, why should unwilling Tasmanians be dragged into the mess that the private logging company and Tasmania’s dysfunctional dinosaur logging industry created all by itself?
The fact is Tasmanians shouldnt.
Read about why: HERE
But I digress. This wasn’t Robert Eastment’s only unsupportable public claim for the day after he declared Friday morning on Tim Cox’s ABC Show show that “they are building pulp mill’s in the middle of cities in Europe”.
Oh really Robert?
And where would those mills be?
The Stendal mill perhaps?
The Stendal Mill built in 2005 is located in a sparsely populated area (not a city) around 15-20km from the town of Stendal (population 38,000) which is some 125 km west of Berlin and around 170 km east of Hanover.
Owned by Mercer International the Stendal Mill is one of the most recent kraft mill built in Europe and received loan guarantees valued at Euro 200 million so that it became attractive for Mercer to site the mill in an area of Germany that had high unemployment.
The Stendal Mill is only half Gunns proposed size, and has the following words on its website: “smells are ‘unavoidable’ and ‘unpleasantly noticed’ in surrounding municipalities”.
And you can guarantee a statement like this made by the company responsible is probably an understatement.
And quite an admission from very hardy folk who lived without complaint for 60 years under the watchful eye of the Stasi and then suffered 10 years of high unemployment after reunification when the local sugar beet mill was closed!
The Stendal mill developed odours problems after about 18 months and they have had to set up odour panels in the local towns.
The Stendal Mill was avoided by Tasmania’s parliamentarians on their pulp mill fact finding trips to Europe.
I’m really looking forward to hearing Mr Easthment tell us about that big city kraft mill in Europe that dont smell.
Maybe Robert was actually talking about the Mill in Sweden that caused Julian Green to nearly collapse with severe asthma when he arrived and got out of the bus?
Warwick Raverty said of this incident…..“When we got out of the minibus in the car park, Julian Green very quickly became distressed – he couldn’t breathe,” Mr Raverty said. “I found the odour intensely objectionable and within a matter of minutes, Julian Green was gasping and saying ‘For God’s sake, get me out of here”.
Julian Green was RPDC Pulp Mill assessment panel chair at the time and wrote to Gunns about the RPDC’s concerns re odour.
The letter from Mr Green stated that the Tamar Valley was a particularly sensitive area.
…….“Gunns’ proposal to site the mill in the Tamar Estuary, where air is frequently stagnant and covered by a thermal inversion layer, and within the Tamar Valley air shed – itself subject to widespread concerns over levels of aerial pollutants from other sources – means that the commission must be proactive and take particular interest in this aspect of the proposal,” the letter said.
The letter finished with this backhander: “I reiterate that the commission has not had even a vestige of an indication from Gunns, or its consultants that this potential problem – that has been a major source of community nuisance and concern in the two other kraft mills in Australia – firstly exists, or secondly and more importantly, about how it is to be addressed,” it said.
The clear inference of Robert Eastment’s claim about Kraft Mills in European cities being that Kraft mills just like Gunns exist in large populated areas in Eurpoe without harming public and environmental health. Oh yeah Robert. Where?
Jenny Webber on Andrew Wilkie…
Wilkie’s support for $20 million forest industry handout, will continue Tasmanian forest destruction
“Andrew Wilkie’s statement that he supports handing $20 million to loggers to continue logging of old growth and high conservation value forests, directly contradicts his election promises about protecting Tasmania’s forests,” Said Jenny Weber
“Wilkie’s meeting today with Julia Gillard needs to do more for the forests than advocate for financial support for continued forest destruction. The Labor and Liberal federal election policy promise of $20 million for logger’s falls short of full reform and adequate protection of forests,” Jenny Weber said
“The Tasmanian logging industry is clearly unsustainable both environmentally and economically, to hand over further subsidies will do nothing to resolve the current crisis. It will instead lock in the continued destruction of forests like the World Heritage valued Weld Valley,” said Ms Weber
“The industry needs major reforms not further public donations to keep the status quo. Mr Wilkie needs to honour his election promises and work to protect Tasmania’s forests, not hand money over to continue the destruction,” Said Ms Weber.
Jenny Weber
Huon Valley Environment Centre
Andrew Wilkie Policy Link
http://www.andrewwilkie.org/content/index.php/site/issues/P6/
