The next big battle for Australia’s south east forests is to stop NSW’s Eden chipmill from burning woodchip logs to make electricity. Exchange rates are pricing their woodchips out of international woodchip markets, so plans are now afoot to create a “forest furnace”. It hopes to burn so-called “waste” for power and call it “renewable”. …
David Pollard, VicForests CEO, was the Commissioner of State Revenue, from 1997 until 2002. Any wonder that he was very defensive when questioned on radio in early December about the loss he’d made for Victorian’s. The information coming out of the logging coupes was that contractors are being directed to smash up good quality salvaged …
Forestry NSW is looking at how to counteract the effects of ‘red oxide’ in wood, just in case it’s ever injected into woodchip trees. Apparently it renders wood useless for chipping and paper-making. Who would do such a silly thing?
Bob Brown has personally poured humungus amounts of his money into legally challenging Forestry Tasmania’s plan to clearfell the Wielangta (pron. why-lang-ta) forests in Tassie, with its many endangered species. The initial judge ruled in his favour to halt logging. Forestry Tasmania then appealed. On November 30th, the Federal Court of Appeal agreed that logging …
Mr Brumby has dusted down the old Industry Transition Taskforce to go about chatting with the logging industry about how to protect 41,000ha (as promised last State election) while not reducing the net log resource or losing any jobs in East Gippsland. Hmmm. (they don’t want to talk to environmentalists by the way) The force …
John Brumby bowed to pressure from big agribusiness bully, Monsanto, in late November and overturned bans on GM food crops in Victoria. He did not consult caucus. New South Wales also lifted its bans on the same day. Brumby refused to release Victorian Chief Scientist Sir Gustav Nossal’s report on the impact of lifting the …
Mallacoota’s proposed breakwater/boat ramp has been in dispute for several years. The East Gippsland Shire has been the proponent for this very contentious monstrosity. The Bastion Point Inquiry was suddenly adjourned by the Shire, claiming it was landed with new information by the DSE. DSE hasn’t been terribly happy about the whole show right from …
Remarkably, Australia’s native forests store more carbon pollution than any other forests on Earth. If we protect them, we can immediately reduce emissions and store the pollution from nine coal-fired power stations every year.There now is a once in a generation opportunity to protect our native forests–a crucial lifeline for our climate.Here is a short …
On top of the $1 billion of subsidies the Tasmanian logging industry has already received over the past twenty years, Gunns was promised another $100 million by the ALP a week before the election. As Crikey reported, the industry could be running a T-Model Ford factory and still make a fortune from taxpayers money. Martin …
It’s not just those on the green side of the fence who are outraged about plans to whack in massive firebreaks through forests across the landscape. Even many fire experts are a little upset by the lack of thought and evidence that they will be effective. In many cases they could just be providing wind …
