Matthew Denholm Australian
MALCOLM Turnbull is expected to announce approval next week for the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania, but is considering new conditions that could cast doubt on the project’s future. The federal Environment Minister has received a report from Chief Scientist Jim Peacock and a panel of experts, which is understood to recommend more conditions before the Tamar Valley mill be allowed to proceed. The report is understood to have concluded that the Gunns modelling on the dispersal and long-term effects of the 64,000tonnes of effluent to be released daily into Bass Strait is inadequate. It is also understood that Dr Peacock’s report has backed calls for far more detailed modelling to demonstrate that the effluent will not wash back to shore, contaminate fish or result in the bioaccumulation of dioxins in marine creatures or sea sediments. A key decision for Mr Turnbull would be whether to insist this further hydrodynamic modelling be done satisfactorily before construction of the mill begins. The Tasmanian Government has also demanded further modelling, but ruled the mill could begin construction in the meantime.
