Seven years and counting…

It was early 2005 when Bob Gordon sat in the dining room where I lived in Kayena, an idyllic locale just a stone’s throw from the still proposed pulp mill site at Longreach.

An affable man, Bob was there to discuss the newly announced “world’s best practice, greenest pulp mill”.

I had a list of questions and when they were answered, I knew that this proposal was to be a disaster for Tasmania’s long term future.

From that revealing conversation, nothing over the last closing seven years has lifted my spirits.

I’ve spent somewhere between $5 and $10k over the years as well as committed countless hours to research from across the globe in an attempt to gain an insight into the mystery project laid on the table.

From the Nordic countries, to South America, B.C. and through Europe, the answers were all the same.

I’ve submitted work to the now vanquished RPDC and watched Gunns change things on the run.

From TCF to ECF and now to the sexy “ECF lite”, that “Chlorine” remains.

Surely if it were so clean we could drink it rather than dump it into Bass Strait?

From Piper’s River, to Currie’s Dam, to now propose a water supply from the Tailrace with a convenient backup supply from the 26Gl Meander Dam.

We have the contentious P.M.A.A. and the Air Quality Act 2004, which specifically exempts Gunn’s proposal from disgusting air emissions so the community would suffer should this behemoth ever rise from the mire.

This proposal as we all know, has goal posts that remain in constant shuffle, fully supported by three tiers over governance which is another part of this mystery.

Hospitals, mental health, police and education are areas of community ignored by government and opposition, while roads and infrastructure and indeed legislation are flush for this private apocalyptic adventure.

No one on the planet has come forward with any money to take this proposal through to completion, yet our expert leaders, who have taken our state resources to the brink of collapse, still think and confirm to us that this pulp mill proposal is the saviour of Tasmania.

Our community has done its homework, despite our politicians best efforts to convince us otherwise that this proposal is a sure winner.

We have gathered in numbers never seen before, we have marched and been ridiculed, we have done more than we should have ever needed to if we had true representation had been available.

I knew at the end of 2005, that this project was only ever about money and the environment was never going to be considered from a Federal, State or Local Government level.

And so this proposal remains at the whims of yet another in the long queue of mysterious yet unannounced joint venture partners.

When Gunns announced this scheme, shares were trading at around $4.60 and Gunns was the golden goose, but it seems that a commitment to lay all their eggs in the pulp mill basket when the face of forestry was in deep and deniable change, has seen this once proud Tasmanian company dwindle to a small business.

Their only way out of this mess seems to been clinging on to the hope that a JVP will drag them back to life, but could that JVP be a sure bet trifecta of government?

After all, government has been and remains the only supporters of this giant chemical forest digester.

As the show rolls on, so will this extraordinary tale.