Lara – hydro dollars have gone, forestry dollars have gone – what about mining?
The threat of mining in Tasmania looms large.
Scott Gordon and other Tarkine activists need to take a good look at the water in the Pieman River, the southern boundary of the Tarkine. It is a tragedy that most environmentalists seem to be blind to.
The Pieman River is fast becoming the next Queen/King River in Tasmania.
Acid Mine drainage is dissolving toxic heavy metals and arsenic from Savage River Mine, Rosebery Mine and Renison Tin and many other disused mine sites in the catchment area for the Pieman River. No warnings to fishermen are provided about metal content in fish along the banks of the Pieman downstream of the Stitt and Ring River confluences etc etc. unlike warnings given for people catching and eating fish from the Derwent Estuary as a result of historical heavy metal contamination from the Zinc works. Locals in Tullah say there are no fish any longer in Lake Rosebery. Many creeks draining from catchments where there is mine waste and old adits will contribute to acid mine drainage and toxic metals for centuries to come.
Self Regulation by mining companies to monitor for acid mine drainage and metal pollution is an absolute failure and the EPA and Mineral Resources Tasmania are totally underfunded to tackle the problems looming fast ahead.
More money needs to be demanded from Mining companies to pay the real costs to prevent pollution before a Mt Lyell or Goldamere style Agreement is foisted upon Tasmanians to to protect huge mining giants.
Currently the EPA have no idea how much damage is being done to this river system as they are not conducting any effective monitoring programs. If they did know, they wouldn’t tell us anyway.
Already we’ve seen the deaths of many dolphins in the Pieman River last year. Penny Sale from Parks said Parks would do their utmost to find out what happened to the dolphins but then failed to conduct proper autopsies. She certainly won’t be providing the Tasmanian media with any comprehensive results because there aren’t any. Another case of not finding what you don’t want to know!
Environmentalists need to wake up – before you know it we could have fracking in coal in the Fingal Valley. Mining is going to be the biggest future threat to the Tasmanian environment. This issue is just not going to stay out of sight (on the west coast) and out of the minds of the people on the eastern side of the state.
Premier Giddings has recently stated that mining is a very important industry for Tasmania’s future and for jobs – interesting that she prioritised mining!
Yes Lara, the hydro coffers are dry, forestry is dead in the water – look out here comes the final big one – MINING.
Get ready………….
