The Tasmanian Greens today released in Parliament, a leaked email provided to the Greens, which reveals that Gunns Ltd were advised that the Pulp Mill Bell Bay site was not fully assessed to the Resource, Planning and Development Commission (RPDC) standards.
Greens Forests spokesperson Kim Booth MP said that neither the State nor Federal approvals processes subjected the proposed pulp mill to rigorous and independent assessment of key areas including site, noise, coastal waters, and air pollution, once the project was pulled from the RPDC.
Mr Booth also said that people needed to understand that the state permit system for the pulp mill does not involve independent assessment prior the granting of permits.
“The PMAA is a farce as it enables an independent body, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), to have submitted to it, data from Gunns to secure a permit, yet holds no provision whatsoever to allow the EPA to deny the permit should he data fail to meet guidelines,” Mr Booth said.
“Gunns pulled the project from the RPDC, and the PMAA was run through the Parliament that deliberately required the assessment work that was not done, remains unassessed, and therefore, given the paper trail, it is obviously a fair assumption that the site has not been rigorously and independently assessed.”
“These critical unassessed areas have not been covered by either the Federal or the State processes, and it would be irresponsible for this project to be allowed to proceed.”
“This new exposure of the level of deliberate misinformation by the company seriously calls into question the validity of the site, and other areas that have not been subjected to rigorous independent assessment.”
“It is a statement of fact that there are critical unassessed areas, this is not a matter of party policy.”
“We need clear acknowledgement from both Labor and Liberal parties that critical areas remain unassessed.”
“The public deserve that acknowledgement at least, and the Greens’ Motion this afternoon will provide the Parliament with that opportunity,” Mr Booth said.
Download: Copy of the leaked email, raising concerns over the inadequate assessment of the Bell Bay site (1pg):
Mar16_Leaked_Site_Email_K_Booth_ATTACH.pdf
LABOR AND LIBERALS IN DENIAL OVER PULP MILL UNASSESSED AREAS
Kim Booth MP
Greens Forestry spokesperson
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
The Tasmanian Greens today described as deeply concerning Labor and Liberal’s refusal to even acknowledge the fact that the gaps in both the federal and state pulp mill assessment areas have left key critical areas of concern unassessed, by their combined vote to defeat a Greens’ motion.
Greens Forestry spokesperson and Member for Bass Kim Booth MP said that the motion provided an opportunity for the 10 House of Assembly Labor and Liberal members who have been elected to the House since the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 was passed, to become informed on these matters before they were required to vote on Greens’ moves to repeal that Act.
Mr Booth also laughed off as mischievous and spurious claims by the Liberals that the Greens had ever inferred that the motion would not be debated today, and pointed to his media statement of yesterday in which it is made quite clear that the motion on unassessed areas would be debated today.
“It is a clear matter of public record and is also a statement of fact that there are critical unassessed areas related to Gunns’ pulp mill proposal,” Mr Booth said.
“By voting against a straight-forward motion of fact, both the Labor and Liberal parties have demonstrated that they have made a deliberate choice to keep their heads buried in the sand.”
“There are 10 non-Greens’ Members of the House of Assembly who were not in the Parliament at the time that the Pulp Mill Assessment Act 2007 was rammed through, and the Greens specifically intended to provide an opportunity for these Members to become informed of these significant omissions, before we placed any expectation on them to repeal an Act.”
“This is clearly a responsible step that we were hopeful other Members would utilise in a mature way. We certainly have no intention now, or into the future, to jump to the Liberal Party’s bizarre assumptions as to how we should prosecute an argument or campaign.”
“Given that my media statement released yesterday when I tabled the motion highlighting unassessed areas of the pulp mill proposal it was stated that I intend to pursue the matter in today’s Private Member’s Time, just exposes what a desperate distraction attempt it was by Mr Gutwein to infer otherwise!”
“The Greens will continue to raise pulp mill related matters in the House to ensure that when we do provide the Parliament with the opportunity to vote on our Repeal Bill, they will not be able to use the excuse of not being appropriately informed on this very important matter.”
“We will also ensure that the community can see where and how both the Labor and Liberal parties are lining up, and clearly today’s vote to attempt to deny factual information on the unassessed areas sends a large, loud warning message to the public,” Mr Booth said.
DOWNLOAD: Yesterday’s media release following the tabling of Mr Booth’s pulp mill unassessed areas motion, which states that the Greens were going to bring it on for debate today: Mar15_Critical_Area_Unassessed_by_State_or_Federal_Processes_K_Booth_MR.pdf
Text of motion defeated by Labor and Liberal parties today:
That the House notes that the following areas of risk from the proposed Gunns’ pulp mill for Longreach have not been properly assessed via an independent process:
1. The bio accumulation of persistent organic pollutants in the state’s coastal waters and marine areas, and potential contamination of fish stocks which has been raised as a concern by those in the Tasmanian fishing industry;
2. The distribution and long term effects of fine particle pollution on residents in the Tamar Valley;
3. Noise and odour impacts;
4. The long term effects on catchment hydrology, water yields and availability;
5. The effect on the social and economic viability of rural and regional communities;
6. The infrastructure damage to roads and bridges by log and chemical truck traffic;
7. Disaster management;
8. Site selection, particularly in context of impacts upon local amenity and other businesses in the Tamar valley; and
9. The social and economic costs of the project to the state and in particular the Tamar valley.
UPDATE, Thursday:
… In Parliament, Mr Booth asked Premier Lara Giddings if she would order a thorough assessment of the pulp mill site given the site had not been properly assessed in 2006.
Ms Giddings said that she had not seen the document so she could not comment on its contents.
“What I would say, once again, is please do not go around scaremongering about the pulp mill,” she said. “I believe that part of the reason we have such a division in the community now is that we had a lot of scaremongering back in 2005-6 about this pulp mill.”
Angus Livingston in The Examiner, HERE
First published: 2011-03-16 02:49 PM
Gunns support deal revealed
SUE NEALES | March 17, 2011 12.01am
POWER lines, pipes and a wharf will be built by the State Government for Gunns’ proposed Tamar Valley pulp mill.
Resources Minister Bryan Green confirmed yesterday essential infrastructure would be supplied by the Government to the boundary of Gunns’ mill site, north of Launceston.
Mr Green argued the support would be at arm’s length from the Government because it would be provided at “commercial rates” by state-owned businesses.
In an exclusive interview with the Mercury, Mr Green vowed there would be no “special deals”.
“The provision of infrastructure to the pulp mill, if it passes all the necessary approval hurdles, will be done in accordance with the laws of the land,” he said.
Infrastructure would be provided by state businesses such as Aurora, TasPorts and Ben Lomond Water.
With no State Government budget to be directly spent on the projects, there would be no need for legislation approving the expenditure.
The Greens yesterday said they had “no problems” with the Government funding mill infrastructure, provided there were no “sweetheart deals”.
Mr Green said the Government was sticking by its pledge not to offer further direct financial help to the pulp mill.
Read the full Sue Neales story HERE
PULP MILL SUPPORT WARNING REITERATED
Any GBE Talks Must be on Full Commercial Basis or Would be Considered as a Subsidy
Kim Booth MP
Greens Forestry spokesperson
The Tasmanian Greens today responded to the statement by the Forestry Minister, Bryan Green, that Government Business Enterprises, such as Aurora and Ben Lomond Water, would be negotiating commercial contacts with Gunns Ltd on the presumption that they manage to proceed with constructing the controversial Tamar Valley pulp mill, by reiterating that any commercial contract talks must be on a full commercial basis.
Greens Forestry spokesperson Kim Booth MP said the Greens have always been clear that they oppose the Gunns’ pulp mill and that additional taxpayer-funded support should not be provided, but recognise that these commercial arrangements flagged by the Minister are standard processes applied to private developments.
“The Greens absolutely oppose the construction of the Longreach pulp mill, and I have been very clear with regard to any additional support specifically for the mill by Labor as being unacceptable,” Mr Booth said.
“Were Labor to provide public funding or underwriting of loans, or the provision of mill-specific infrastructure or legislative support then that would be totally unacceptable.”
“Our understanding of Bryan Green’s statements regarding the possible provision of certain facilities via GBE’s only at full commercial rates, in itself does not constitute abuse of public resources. Nor does it equate as a sweetheart deal for a special mate.”
“Were a Minister however to direct any GBE or government agency to provide special ‘sweetheart’ deals for Gunns or dress up the pipeline as a public project for example, and therefore use the acquisition powers to seize private land, then that would not be acceptable to the Greens.”
“We will be watching closely to hold Minister Green to his statement that these contract negotiations are on a full commercial basis only, and our recognition that standard commercial processes may commence should not be interpreted as any form of acceptance by the Greens that the actual mill should or will get built,” Mr Booth said.
