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Please help at this critical crunch time - thanks.

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RFA - No way!

The 20 year deal that allowed an exemption from federal enviro laws was to expire in East Gippsland on 3^rd Feb (Friday just gone). It was secretly extended for another 12 months (in readiness for a roll-over for another 20 years?). The ‘Sweet RFA’ has seen appalling forest annihilation.

More than 20,000 hectares of old growth and other intact old forests have been logged in RFA regions in Eastern Victoria, including the Central Highlands and East Gippsland, since the RFAs were signed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. More details here

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Heyfield mill

VicForests has told the largest native forest sawmill in Australia that it can’t supply the promised logs. The mill took VicForests to court over the breach of contract but lost. The Heyfield mill is now demanding $40M from taxpayers for new equipment and for the government to find more logs someone must have hiding under the stairs.

To feed the Heyfield mill 150,000m3 of logs for just one year of its log contract, it would take 5,000 laden log trucks, nose to tail stretching 95kms! To feed it’s brother mill Australian Paper (Reflex) it’d need 200km of trucks nose to tail. After 50 years of overlogging, they shouldn't be surprised there's a problem.

It’s a sorry story – read about the mill owners media strategy and other details here.

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Collapse one collapse all

This recent article about how industries collapse after the ecosystems collapse is timely and relevant.
" ...collapses have the greatest impact on us when they affect resources our industries depend on, leaving ecosystems in tatters and sometimes ruining local economies. ... From the infamous 1980s collapse of the Canadian cod industry to the apparent imminent collapse of the Heyfield sawmill in southern Victoria, we can see a recurring pattern."
Read the article from The Conversation here

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Why the secrecy?

Remember the storm that knocked out the Eden export woodchip mills loading jetty last winter? Remember the jubilation? And then some unknown funding came through (our taxes) to rebuild it for them? Under FOI - this was the info provided! The corruption and collusion is endless.

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VicForests employs a biodiversity PR man from the US

VicForests has employed a Biodiversity Conservation Research Manager. Tim McBride has worked in America's logging industry for more than 22 years. It's claimed he has a focus on forest ecology and wildlife conservation - especially frogs and toads. We could make a quip about him protecting toads, but we won’t.

He's already spouting their rhetoric;
“VicForests is committed to ensuring sustainability. They aim for long-term environmental, economic and industry-wide sustainability"

"I hope to help change some perceptions other organisations have of VicForests ... I spent a lot of time researching amphibians ... and what their preferred habitat looks like ... I also hope to gain a deeper understanding of Australian eco-systems and learn more about Victoria’s native species,” he said.

His job is to manage VicForests' Research and Development. Sounds like he'll be doubling as a PR man as well.

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EPA gets $45 million

Good news: Daniel Andrews has given the EPA an injection of $45.5 million over two years. It has historically been a toothless tiger since it began in 1971, but let’s see if it can start doing its job properly now.

The five year reform program is the result of an inquiry into the EPA and over the next two years the reforms include:

• $6.5 million to hold polluters to account, by funding more investigators, environmental protection officers and legal staff
• $4.8 million to pilot a new network of local government environment protection officers to address local noise, odour and dust issues that impact liveability
• $4.8 million to build an expanded, specialist environmental public health team
• $2.4 million to develop a database of legacy contamination risks
• a major overhaul of Victoria’s 46 year old legislative framework for environment protection, strengthening the independence of the environmental regulator
• better access to essential information and data for Victorian businesses and communities, including more online support services.

http://delwp.vic.gov.au/…/assets/p…/0004/368482/Overview.pdf

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This is a shocker!