A view across to the mill site from Inspection Head at Beauty Point. Many people who live here can hear the existing wood chip mills at night.
Gunns Ltd does not mention the noise in the brochure but John Gay promised that the mill would not be as noisy as the existing wood chip mills.
Proposal to RPDC dated 9/5/05: 'Processing of logs into woodchips will be mostly undertaken at the current Tamar woodchip export facility which will need to be upgraded to handle increased volumes.'
The Longreach woodchip mills:
To anyone living near the two Longreach wood chip mills (they can be heard 8kms away on a quiet night), the mills are very noisy producing a low frequency noise that can make windows vibrate and is very hard to insulate against. The speed of sound alters with air temperature and this effect results in the sound being bent by the inversion layer - this means the sound can be quite clearly quite a few kms away but cannot be heard just around the corner. Sound also travels over water much further in calm conditions as the water reflects the sound.
The NTDG study group found that most of the noise was produced by the chip mills.
Pulp mill taskforce report on mills in EU: 'Industry considers current standards are too tough (especially night time noise) but the European Union hopes to enforce tougher night time standards soon which will be difficult for many mills to achieve. The main source of noises are from fans, steam venting and the woodyard. Pneumatic transport of chips can also be a major noise source.'
Comment: So in the EU, the noise produced by pulp mills is obviously an issue.
RPDC project scope: 'Details of hours of operation in relation to on-site and off-site facilities must be provided.' AND ' The potential for sound emissions to affect human health, including auditory and non-auditory impacts, should be reviewed and evaluated.'
Comment: So, sound is also an issue the RPDC will be looking at. It has been shown that the wood chips produced will increase from 2.5 million tonnes to as much as 4 million tonnes at full capacity (and Gunns Ltd has refused to rule out exports as well). It follows that there will be noise for much longer periods than at present unless the upgrade makes the woodchip mills quieter. In Germany, it is prohibited to build a pulp mill near a residential area because of the noise.
IIS: confirms that the wood chip mills will run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There will also be a continuous shuttle operation from the mill to the wharehouse. A ship will dock and load every 8 days on average and chip exports will continue as well (but the total number of ships will be no more than if Gunns continued to export all the chips). The ships will load continuously for about 24 hours each. There will be a new chipper built but it will be inside a concrete enclosure to reduce noise. As the new chipper will only process plantation wood, 80% of the wood chipping to start with will be done by the old chipper. Some sound-proofing will be done to the old chipper. IIS: According to the IIS the chippers will have the following output and use:Chipper Output per day Output per year Type of wood North 6000 tonnes 2.1m.tonnes Native forest South 6000 tonnes 2.1m.tonnes Plantation New chipper 5000 tonnes 1.75m.tonnes Plantation
Noise during the construction phase has not been addressed by Gunns Ltd in their promotional material or in their proposal to the RPDC. In the project scope the RPDC ask Gunns about construction hours but according to a recent briefing. the work on the site will be 24 hours a day, seven days a week for two years and will include blasting (that will be daytime). The residents (who cannot even use power tools before 8am) are entitled to think that this is a huge imposition.
IIS: The admits that the initial construction activity (clearing, haulage, blasting, crushing, pile driving) will be very intrusive to local residents. But it says the residents are conditioned to noise having already been putting up with the power station and wood chip mills! The blasting will be between 9am and 1pm.Comment: There is no mention in the IIS as far as the author can ascertain about the effect of lighting during the construction phase. This is rather likely to be very intrusive to the local residents. Whilst mentioning all sorts of mitigation measures to reduce the sound, it avoids the most obvious solution and that is to close down the work at night.
Further to the above - this website has been contacted by a resident of Rowella who said that at the time of Gunns' sampling the background noise was already being investigated by the dept. of environment as it was intrusive and of nuisance - so it cannot possibly represent an acceptable background level. The resident also pointed out that, contrary to Hampshire, the source of the noise is elevated and not muffled by trees. Anecdotal evidence points points to the valley amplifying the noise as well as the inversion layer. This is a rural area and people sleep with windows and curtains open. Will Gunns pay for blackout curtains for the locals?VERDICT: Very little doubt about it - much more noise, especially during construction.
