TASMANIA'S PULP MILL    

Modern Kraft Pulp Mill approved for Tasmania's Bell Bay Industrial Site

A modern pulp mill at Tasmania's Bell Bay  industrial site on the Tamar has been approved. This exciting project will  add significant value to wood chips currently destined for export .

The Parliament of Tasmania approved the permit conditions on 30 August 2007 . The then Federal Minister for the Environment Malcolm Turnbull signed off on Commonwealth environmental values on4 October 2007.

The Pulp mill development is set to add $6.7 billion to Tasmania's economy, creating and securing jobs. The  down stream processing a natural renewable resource in accordance with the conditions imposed by the State and Federal regulators will result in a win-win situation for Tasmania, Gunns Limited shareholders and the planet.

With so much discussion and media coverage of the modern elemental chlorine free kraft pulp mill approved for the Tamar Valley, this site is intended to provide facts and details behind the headlines and an in depth  look at some of the claims being made about the pulp mill that continue to be reported in the media.

As the pulp mill has been approved by both the Federal Government and the State Parliament it is not intended that the site convince the reader to be pro-mill or anti - mill but to provide a balance of information and resources to allow the reader to either make up their own minds or to provide a pathway to find out more about the mill to be able to make an informed opinion on what this approval means to them.

This site provides the detail behind the 30 second news grab and allows for follow up.

Check out these issues

Only pulp wood from plantations and regrowth native forest will be used, this briefing paper  on Dodgy Maths compares current rate of harvest to claims be opponents.

• The Tasmanian Government has released full details of a Sovereign risk agreement, see Hot topics
• Check the latest media correction in the Media watch section

• All wood supply must be in accordance with Australia's sustainable forest management  check the latest series of reports

Latest news

The ABC is reporting that the investment group, JP Morgan, is talking up the economics of Gunns' proposed northern Tasmanian pulp mill.

The finance group has predicted the pulp mill will add $2 to Gunns' share price.

Yet, despite the approval of the pulp mill under the laws of the Australian and State Governments, despite detailed assessments on the social, economic and environmental impacts of the pulp mill, opponents of the pulp mill continue to campaigning against the approved mill.

The Australian Financial Review has reported that an internet based activist group with strong links to the chemical, mining and banking industry is attempting to over turn the decision of the democratically elected State Parliament by lobbying shareholders and financial institutions against the pulp mill.

Opponents to the mill are using information supplied by Naomi Edwards to claim that “Mill competitiveness falls while government subsidies rise”. Edwards has previously raised these issues on the ABC. The World Today report was flawed and forced the ABC to make a correction. (See Media watch).

Pulp mill opponents ‘TAP’ have published a paper on subsidies written by Andrew Bent that claims the government will subsidise the pulp mill with a fanciful claim of $11 billion of taxpayer funds. No wonder Andrew was sentenced for burglary in 1810 and transported as a convict.  The ‘author” of this major economic argument is anonymous and uses a fictitious name selected from the annals of Tasmanian print journalism!  A new briefing paper looks at these allegations of subsidies.

It has been reported that the opposition include alleged impacts on threatened species. But all the evidence points to the fact that the neither pulp mill nor ongoing harvesting of regrowth native forest will have any significant impact on threatened species. A new hot topic looks at reported population of the iconic wedge-tailed eagle that since National Forest Policy Statement Eagle numbers have dramatically increased.