Pulp mill will be disaster

Our forests

The pulp mill will initially be 80% based on native forest.¹ It will destroy forests in the Great Western Tiers, North-East Highlands and Ben Lomond. Gunns’ woodchip exports will continue from the Hampshire and Triabunna woodchip mills.¹ The combined appetites of these mills plus the pulp mill will double the current rate of woodchipping in Tasmania.¹

Our ocean and beaches

Experts—including the Tasmanian Government’s own consultant, Sweco Pic—have said that Gunns failed to carry out adequate baseline studies and modelling of the effluents.² Oceanographers have warned that the effluent will frequently blow back to shore and into the Tamar Estuary.³

Our marine life and fisheries

The 64,000 tonnes of effluent that the pulp mill will discharge into Bass Strait every day contain small quantities of dioxins and furans—some of the deadliest substances known to science.⁴ These build up over time in the food chain, contaminating fish, shellfish, seals and other marine life. This could damage our export fishing industry, which relies on a clean reputation.

Our wildlife

Scientists have warned that planned logging in Tasmania’s north-east threatens animals and birds with local extinction.⁵ These include the Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagle, the spotted-tail quoll and the giant freshwater crayfish.

Our water

The pulp mill will consume 26 to 40 billion litres of fresh water each year.¹ This is almost as much as the combined use of all water users in Northern Tasmania.⁶  Research shows that plantations can reduce stream flow by over 50%.⁷ Meanwhile, north-east Tasmania can expect a forecast reduction in rainfall of 8% over 30 years due to climate change.⁸ 

The air of the Tamar Valley

The pulp mill will stink. ‘Fugitive emissions’ of odour from hundreds of sources within the mill’s complex will drift to homes, businesses, farms and wineries in the vicinity of the mill.⁹ The Australian Medical Association (Tasmanian branch) says the pulp mill ‘could cause an increase in the already existing morbidity and mortality from atmospheric pollutants’.¹⁰

Our climate

Each year the pulp mill will use four million tonnes of wood for pulping and 500,000 tonnes for burning to generate power.¹ Logging of native forests to supply the mill over 25 years will produce greenhouse gases equivalent to the CO2 released by all the cars, trucks and buses in Tasmania over 80 years.¹¹

Our economy

Independent economists have warned that the pulp mill could cost Tasmania’s economy $3.3 billion and hundreds of lost jobs in the tourism, fishing and agricultural industries. The mill has already cost taxpayers millions of dollars. If it proceeds, it could cost the taxpayer an additional $800 million.¹²

53% of voters in Bass oppose the pulp mill while only 35% support it. 70% of Bass voters support a chlorine-free, 100% plantation-based pulp mill at Hampshire.¹³

Read about the pulp mill rally at Low Head, Tasmania, on 7 October.

REFERENCES

1. Gunns Ltd, Bell Bay Pulp Mill, Draft Integrated Impact Statement
2. Assessment of the Gunns Limited Bell Bay Pulp Mill against the Environmental Emission Limit Guidelines, Sweco Pic, June 2007; Miotti Consulting Peer Review of Sweco Pic Report
3. Dr Stuart Godfrey http://www.cleantamar.com.au/pulp_mill_press_release.html
4. Gunns’ referral under the EPBC Act, April 2007
5. University of Melbourne and Forestry Tasmania 2003; Bekessy transcripts, Wielangta court case 2006
6. Annual Reports, Esk Water and Cradle Coast Water
7. Trading water for carbon with biological carbon sequestration, Jackson et al. 23 December 2005 Vol 310 Science.
8. Tasmanian Government Draft Climate Change Strategy 2006
9. Dr Warwick Raverty
10. Australian Medical Association Tasmania, position statements, http://www.amatas.com.au/issues/
11. Trees—the Forgotten Solution to Climate Change, The Wilderness Society 2006
12. Business Round Table for Economic Sustainability, www.lec.org.au
13. Newspoll 27–28 August 2007, 400 respondents