Pulp Mill update
Oct. 6th, 2007 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithGovt gives green light to pulp mill
Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced Gunns' pulp mill project for northern Tasmania will go ahead.
Announcing the decision in Sydney this morning, Mr Turnbull says an extra 24 conditions will be imposed on the mill to be built by Gunns Limited at a cost of $1.7 billion.
Some interesting reactions further down.
"In this day and age we should have a closed loop, plantation-based pulp mill, away from an urban environment and a crop-growing area," (Greens leader Senator Brown) said.
"We've always said, the technology is available for an environmentally-friendly pulp mill. This is an environmental ogre."
Gunns chief says mill conditions unfair
The head of timber company Gunns, John Gay, says the Federal Government's conditions placed on the Tasmanian pulp mill are unfair compared with other mills around the world.
"I think that it's unfair that us as a company have to do this," he said.
Polictical fallout could be interesting. There's a Federal election coming up soon. It hasn't been called yet but the politicians have been campaigning for weeks.
Mill decision could save Coalition in Tas: Lennon
Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon says the Federal Government has improved its electoral chances as a result of its decision to approve the Gunns pulp mill.
However, Greens Leader Bob Brown has labelled the behaviour of the Government and the Opposition as shameful and that the approval will boost the Greens' chances in the Upper House come the election.
Ferguson worried mill decision might cost him Bass
"The Federal Liberal member for the northern Tasmanian seat of Bass, Michael Ferguson, says the Commonwealth approval of the Gunns pulp mill could cost him his marginal seat."
Another player in the field:
ANZ yet to confirm Gunns financial backing
The ANZ Bank is yet to make a decision on whether to finance the Gunns pulp mill
Gunns has been an ANZ client since 1995 and the bank is a potential financier of the $1.7 billion project.
Mill opponents considering legal options
The Wilderness Society will be back in court later this month challenging the legality of the Commonwealth's assessment process.
Sean Cadman from the Wilderness Society says they've asked the Minister for a statement of reasons and are looking at all legal possibilities.
The group Investors for the Future of Tasmania has also indicated it's seeking legal advice.
Greens senator Bob Brown has written to the scientists who provided advice to Mr Turnbull inviting them to visit Tasmania's forests and challenging them to a public debate.
The final word come from Mill decision could save Coalition in Tas: Lennon
Meanwhile, Mr Lennon has guaranteed that no old growth forest will be used to feed the pulp mill.
We believe that too.
Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull has announced Gunns' pulp mill project for northern Tasmania will go ahead.
Announcing the decision in Sydney this morning, Mr Turnbull says an extra 24 conditions will be imposed on the mill to be built by Gunns Limited at a cost of $1.7 billion.
Some interesting reactions further down.
"In this day and age we should have a closed loop, plantation-based pulp mill, away from an urban environment and a crop-growing area," (Greens leader Senator Brown) said.
"We've always said, the technology is available for an environmentally-friendly pulp mill. This is an environmental ogre."
Gunns chief says mill conditions unfair
The head of timber company Gunns, John Gay, says the Federal Government's conditions placed on the Tasmanian pulp mill are unfair compared with other mills around the world.
"I think that it's unfair that us as a company have to do this," he said.
Polictical fallout could be interesting. There's a Federal election coming up soon. It hasn't been called yet but the politicians have been campaigning for weeks.
Mill decision could save Coalition in Tas: Lennon
Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon says the Federal Government has improved its electoral chances as a result of its decision to approve the Gunns pulp mill.
However, Greens Leader Bob Brown has labelled the behaviour of the Government and the Opposition as shameful and that the approval will boost the Greens' chances in the Upper House come the election.
Ferguson worried mill decision might cost him Bass
"The Federal Liberal member for the northern Tasmanian seat of Bass, Michael Ferguson, says the Commonwealth approval of the Gunns pulp mill could cost him his marginal seat."
Another player in the field:
ANZ yet to confirm Gunns financial backing
The ANZ Bank is yet to make a decision on whether to finance the Gunns pulp mill
Gunns has been an ANZ client since 1995 and the bank is a potential financier of the $1.7 billion project.
Mill opponents considering legal options
The Wilderness Society will be back in court later this month challenging the legality of the Commonwealth's assessment process.
Sean Cadman from the Wilderness Society says they've asked the Minister for a statement of reasons and are looking at all legal possibilities.
The group Investors for the Future of Tasmania has also indicated it's seeking legal advice.
Greens senator Bob Brown has written to the scientists who provided advice to Mr Turnbull inviting them to visit Tasmania's forests and challenging them to a public debate.
The final word come from Mill decision could save Coalition in Tas: Lennon
Meanwhile, Mr Lennon has guaranteed that no old growth forest will be used to feed the pulp mill.
We believe that too.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-06 01:27 am (UTC)Which political party (parties) do you think will actually benefit from this action? Sounds like they are all claiming that their prospects will be improved by this.
Certainly there must be some polling and analysis on this to indicate who is on solid ground and who is blowing smoke.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-06 02:31 am (UTC)At state level, I'll be surprised if there's not a backlash against Labor. There's a lot of people a tad upset about them being obviously in the pocket of a big company. There won't be a state election for a while & voters seems to have short memories, but even at the last election the Greens were looking to benefit at Labor's expense, until a last minute bit of underhandness (allegedly). The situation has only got worse since then.
Federal politics though, I don't know.
Locally, I think Ferguson is right and he's on the way out. He wasn't looking that good beforehand. OTOH, judging by this week's mailout, he's trying to focus on the other big issue, hospital funding. Election campaigning is interesting when you live in a marginal electorate.
Nationally, I don't think it will make much difference. Maybe if they'd come back with 'No', it might have had an impart.
There's a lot of comparisons with the Franklin Dam, which lead to Labor easily taking government. A closer comparison though, is with Wesley Vale: big company wanting to build a pulp mill on the edge of Bass Strait. Except the politics was the opposite: Liberal had government in the state, to the Labor's federal government. The result of that, the Libs were replaced by a Labor-Green accord & Federal Labor were returned at the next election. Which is probably how it'll play out, with the impact at state level (althoug I can't see a Liberal-Green accord happening).
no subject
Date: 2007-10-06 03:24 pm (UTC)Seems like if the anti-mill forces can stall long enough until the Howard government is out, perhaps this decision can be reversed or at least delayed at that level.
You are right to note the tendency for mass amnesia over time. Look at how well Hillary is doing these days. She's polling better than Obama as an agent of change.
Cripes! That took some doing and Hillary has done it.
Like you say, in a marginal seat, it doesn't take much to tip the balance. And the one thing you don't want is to tick off both sides by changing positions. Fuzzying it up never hurts however. Especially if the polls tell you to make a move.
Again, Hillary comes to mind.
Regarding eco-tourism, perhaps there's enough recovery in the Japanese economy to pull in some folks from there again. That's a huge amount of Hawaiian tourism these days. I suppose that's true in Tasmania as well.
The main thing I know Tasmania for is being the home of Bill Mollison and the Permaculture movement. I suppose that could be further flogged for tourist dollars as well. It would also fit into helping to raise the defenses against activities such as those against the mill.
Just my very, very limited view of things from afar.