Until recently, Gunns Limited’s proposed pulp mill site on the Tamar River was a closely guarded no-go zone. Along its fenceline, signs warned off would-be trespassers. However, Gunns, which is seeking a social licence to build the mill, recently allowed protesters to make their way on to the site and to take photographs. The ploy stymied the protesters’ attempt to get publicity for being arrested. This week, Gunns pulp mill project officer Chris Davey gave the Sunday Tasmanian’s NICK CLARK a guided tour.
THE first thing to decide about the proposed pulp mill site identified by Gunns Limited is what to call it.
In the cut and thrust of the fierce political debate about the pulp mill, the name has been a key to perceptions about the mill.
Gunns refers to the “Bell Bay pulp mill”, in a bid to emphasise that the site is zoned industrial and is close — 4km as the crow flies — to an existing industrial subdivision at Bell Bay which contains aluminium producer Rio Tinto Alcan and manganese producer TEMCO.
Opponents have referred to the site being at Long Reach, a section of the Tamar River.
