WHY THE TAMAR VALLEY IS THE WORST PLACE FOR A PULP MILL
1. THE SMELL
All kraft pulp mills smell and it tends to get worse as the mill gets older. This pulpmill will be the third largest
in the World. Most of the smell comes from
leaking seals and joints around the factory at ground level and so cannot be controlled, as claimed by Gunns, by
the tertiary burner on the stack. The
smelly gasses are heavier than air. The Tamar valley has a trapped layer of air called an inversion layer, a common
feature of valleys surrounded by mountains. This inversion layer is well documented and has led to Launceston
already having poor air quality. The prevailing winds will blow the smell up to Launceston.
This is photo of the mill site (the existing chip mills can be seen) clearly showing the inversion layer that affects the Tamar valley.
This photo shows how close the mill site is the residential and farming area of Rowella/Kayena where there are vineyards, organic orchards, farms and tourist ventures, all of which would be at risk if the area became smelly.
This is a photo taken when there was a bushfire at Longreach, the mill's proposed site. Note the smoke blows up the valley to cover Launceston.
This is a satellite picture of Launceston showing the city surrounded by smog on an otherwise clear day.
This is the map issued by the RPDC showing the area that the odour is likely to affect - about 150,000 people.
The question has to be asked - What kind of people would subject their fellow citizens to this potential misery?
2. MARINE DEGRADATION
The mill will discharge huge amounts of effluent about off-shore a just a few kms from the mouth of the Tamar, a 50km long estuary that has 3 metre tides right up to Launceston. Experience with previous pulp mills suggest that the effluent will degrade 100 square kms of ocean.
No fewer than three surveys have been done on these waters, two by the CSIRO and one by Flinders University, and they all show the same thing - this is the worst possible place to discharge effluent. The area only flushes 1% a day. The discharge point is about half-way along Bass Strait, which is a shallow sea which, because of its East/West orientation, has very little tide-flushing action. The water in the middle of the strait basically moves up and down with the tides with very little sideways action.
The main current in the area is generated by the 50 km long Tamar Estuary filling and emptying. It follows that much of the effluent will be drawn up the river and degrade the environment. The CSIRO's Hertzfield Report says that Tasmanian permits will be broken on a daily basic.
The Federal Government are only assessing possible effects to Commonwealth waters. The effluent pipeline was made shorter so that these waters would not be so badly effected - to the detriment of Tasmanian waters which the State Government seem to have decided do not matter.
The Tasmanian fishing industry is at stake here with exports going all over Asia. Any contamination with dioxins will reflect on the whole industry not just on Tasmania's North coast. The industry earns hundreds of millions of dollars for Tasmania. The Tamar estuary contains fish farms and other enterprises that rely on pristine ocean waters. It is also a marine reserve and a very popular recreational fishing area.
So, it has to asked - What kind of Government would allow one vibrant industry to be put at risk to favour another and what kind of Government would make an effluent pipe shorter to get it past Commonwealth permits but, in the process, making the pollution much worse for Tasmania?
