Within hours of its publication on Thursday (Examiner, Letters to the Editor, 30th December), I submitted the following reply to Alderman Ivan Dean’s new-found expertise in pulp mill technology electronically to the Ex.
Alas, it appears that the Ex only wants its readers to hear one side of the any argument involving any of its major advertisers.
Thank Heavens for Lindsay Tuffin and Tasmanian Times. Long may they both prosper!
‘I am sure that many Tamar Valley residents will be greatly reassured by Alderman Dean’s advice (Examiner, Letters to the Editor, 30th Dec) that six of his fellow aldermen rejected the legitimacy of my public warning about fugitive odour from a kraft pulp mill at Long Reach: What Dr Raverty said, HERE: Why the Tamar Valley is the worst pulp mill site …
I am even more certain that the same residents would be far more reassured if Gunns’ proposal was not protected by the iniquitous Section 11 of the Pulp Mill Assessment Act.
I challenge Alderman Dean and his six colleagues to provide some sort of meaningful financial guarantee to residents and businesses in the Valley in the event that he is wrong about odour from the mill.
What Alderman Dean neglects to mention in his letter is that Gunns did not publish their plans for a fully welded foul gas line until the day after I issued my warning. He will search in vain for any information about this feature in Gunn’s 2006 draft IIS. So instead of suggesting my letter is ‘alarmingly mischievous’, he should be thanking me and many others who have kept pressure on Gunns (at their own expense, unlike the amply salaried Alderman Dean and his colleagues) to remedy the many deficiencies in this ill-conceived and poorly managed proposal.
Dr Warwick Raverty
I remind Alderman Dean that it was I who campaigned for over a year against Gunns’ intention to install the risky ‘Integrated Chlorine Dioxide Process’, until even Sweco Pic were forced to admit that it was not Accepted Modern Technology. No, Alderman Dean and other politicians supporting this abomination have been conspicuous by their gullibility in heeding the many demonstrably false utterances of the proponent over the past 5 years and derelict in their duty to the majority of their electors.
While the fully welded foul gas line is a step in the right direction, there remain many unanswered questions concerning the control of odour in this mill and other matters that Gunns refused to provide to the RPDC over a period of 2 years of questioning.
Needless to say, none of these details were examined by the unprecedented ‘fast-track’ approval process that your Parliament inflicted on its own electors.
Alderman Dean can rest assured that I remain unconvinced by Gunns’ latest announcements that the mill will be odour-free and he can expect further robust debate in the Council chamber in the New Year informed by me and other technical experts who remain resolute in their conviction that the quality of life of the many should not be sacrificed to the greed and collusion of a privileged few.’
• No fugitive mill odours: Ivan Dean writes to the Ex:
Dr Raverty’s assessment of the mill gas containment system outlined in his letter is at best ill-informed and at worst alarmingly mischievous
The letter, transcribed:
Mill gases
Examiner 30 December 2010
On Wednesday, December 1, Warwick Raverty released an open letter to residents and businesses in the Tamar Valley warning of the potential for odour escape from the proposed Long Reach pulp mill.
The letter claims that fugitive gases will escape from the mill and will cause anger, frustration and illness in every community located close to the mill.
The claims are made on the basis of Dr Raverty’s belief that the rubber, plastic and ceramic seals used to join sections of the many kilometers of pipes in and around the mill will deteriorate and allow the escape of odorous gases.
Dr Raverty’s assessment of the mill gas containment system as outlined in his letter is at best ill informed and at worst alarmingly mischievous.
At the Launceston City Council meeting on December 13, a motion to note the widely distributed letter was lost.
I said during the debate that to note the letter was to give its contents some legitimacy.
Four aldermen supported the motion, seven opposed the motion and one member was absent.
My fellow aldermen clearly rejected the legitimacy of the contents of Dr Raverty’s letter.
If Dr Raverty lays claim to being a pulp mill odour expert then surely he should be current in his research knowledge.
For the record, all joints in the gas containment pipeline will be welded to prevent the possibility of fugitive gas escapes, as envisaged by Dr Raverty.
– IVAN DEAN, Windermere MLC
• Earlier on Tasmanian Times:
Forestry: Why we hoarded $22m to be spent on clearfell options, beekeepers. Fugitive odours …
Urgent need to address shortcomings in the forests agreement. The Examiner poll, HERE
