TOPIC 'Renewable Energy' on Jan 26, 2009 (CET)
Tasmania Should Search For A Renewable Energy Answer To Providing Jobs
Construction of a pulp mill is at the heart of an environmental controversy in Tasmania. The global financial crisis is affecting nearly every one and every country. Yet thought and care must be given to selecting the right answers to move the world forward. Dropping environmental issues is not going to help the overall world cause.
People in Australia need jobs, just as people in other countries do. Making the right decision for the environment today affects tomorrow’s outcome as well. In Tasmania, a company known as Gunns is planning to construct a pulp mill. While this construction process would create jobs, it would also allow 64 million liters of waste matter to be discharged into the Bass Strait . . . every day. The company has planned a pipeline to take the waste offshore 3 km but how is that going to affect the marine environment? This is precisely the type of behavior that environmentalists are trying to prevent.
Whales are known to swim in Bass Strait and a scallop farm is located nearby. Tasmania advocates its reputation for a pristine environment to the world. How would tourism be affected by this gross neglect of the surrounding environment? Other industries would be affected as well. For example, the beer, wine, honey, and fishing industries could be put in jeopardy.
Besides those issues, the matter of destroying native forests for woodchips is called into question. Newly elected Environment Minister Peter Garrett was in support of halting the export of woodchips from those forests with a limited supply. Now, Mr. Garrett seems caught in the middle. His hands are tied from some legal documentation that was signed into effect by a former administration. An environmental impact study has been ordered for the area to determine what the consequences would be for the marine life in Bass Strait. The environmental study is expected to take two years to complete.
The Gunns Company plans to go ahead with construction of the pulp mill as soon as it secures the necessary financial backing. A spokesperson indicated the company is willing to take the risk of possibly receiving a negative conclusion from the study.
Sherry Irvin
on behalf of the
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