Biomass burning
Forests have come out well in this Energy Future scheme (called the Carbon Tax) thanks to the public and a deal done by the Greens to exclude burning forests for power to be termed ‘renewable energy’. Several of these plans for forest furnaces now won’t be able to claim Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). This will tip the scale to make burning forests for electricity economically unviable. However there’s still the possibility that the SEFE woodchip mill at Eden will push ahead with plans to produce small fuel pellets from woodchips to export to Asia and Europe to burn for power. They are also looking at other ways to avoid scrutiny and go ahead with burning only ‘plantation waste’. Yeah right.
The Gillard Government’s Carbon pricing scheme is far from perfect but it’s a damned good start considering the opposition from Abbott and the fossil fuel industries. Plus there’s $2 billion for climate and environmental projects.
Forestry Tasmania says it’s still going ahead with plans to build a biomass burner despite the ruling. This could be bluster and dummy spitting, or it could be another outrageous forest-annihilating, tax-payer funded insanity to keep the chest thumping, logging brotherhood alive and welfare dependent in Tasmania.