SUMMARY
Gunns, Ltd. the world's largest wood chip company, is destroying the old growth rain forests of Tasmania and grinding them up into paper pulp. These aren't the garden variety rain forest trees that clutter the Amazon rain forest, but rather 85 meter tall Eucalyptus "regnans" (the "king of the gum tree") - in the same vertical range as California redwoods. The Eucalyptus of Tasmania's Styx Valley of the Giants are magnificent specimens that live for over 450 years. Nevertheless, somewhere between
75% and 85% of Tasmanian original old-growth forests have been clear cut in order to make woodchips for shipment to Asian markets. There, Nippon, Oji, and Daio Paper convert them to junk mailers, disposable plates, copy paper and toilet paper (only one of these items is a necessity, but they all fall under the category of "crap").
Gunn's Ltd exports something over 5.5 million tons a year, with half of it derived from Tasmania's old growth forests. For decades, access to these public resources has been enabled by the Australian parliament (see right columns). Although Tasmania's ancient forest in have been recommended for protection by the United Nations' World Heritage Committee, Australian and Tasmanian politicians prefer they become pulp.
Gunns’ demand for sawlogs and veneer-logs hacks new roads into previously untouched valleys such as the Styx Valley of the Giants, the Great Western Tiers, the Tarkine and the North-East Highlands. It enables the deforestation of steep slopes, especially in the Styx Valley and North-East Highlands. So called 'cable logging’ is a method of clearing slopes that would otherwise be too steep to log. Guess what happens when you clear a mountain
slope? Or visit scenic Easter
Island.
When the old growth is gone, Gunns "manages" the land by converting it to tree farms, with nice straight rows of the latest arborial designs all lined up neatly, ready for harvest. To accomplish this, Gunns firebombs the landscape with napalm (Dow Chemical still has millions of gallons left over from Vietnam, where it was so effective in sustainable jungle management). In the process, out-of-control napalm burns started by Forestry Tasmania and Gunns have incinerated areas of national parks, World Heritage sites and private land. Under the legal protection of special exemptions from national and state laws granted by the government’s Regional Forest Agreement, Gunns has routinely ordered the destruction of pristine areas identified for permanent protection by the United Nations World Heritage Bureau. Under current Tasmanian law, the company is not required to file environmental impact statements.
The scenario is similar to those being played out everywhere on the planet. In a nutshell, a large corporation is plundering resources that rightfully belong to the commonwealth, ie. the citizens and taxpayers. To add insult to injury, the state (in this case Tasmania) diverts taxpayer dollars to makes Gunns job easier with subsidies both revealed and secret.
In other words, not only is the value of public resources diverted to Gunns management, board of directors and shareholders, but taxpayers are helping to pay the costs. The arguments made by Gunns set of paid liars are the same as those made by the U.S. coal companies who rip the tops off mountains, polluters who destroy entire towns and leave them uninhabited or the American heroes who moved the Cherokees off their ancient lands so we could make it more profitable.
For a more eloquent editorial on the topic, read this piece by Scott Millwood in the
New Matilda.
More on Gunns Activities in the center and right columns.
PULP MILL
As of 2008, the new focus of the Gunn plundering saga is the company's proposed Tamar Valley multi-billion dollar pulp mill, which is meeting extreme resistance from environmentalist and just plain folks. The $2.2 billion project to create a bleached eucalyptus pulp mill will dump 16 million gallons of effluent per day into the sensitive marine system of Bass Strait and chew through 1.5 million tons of native forest per year. In the context of Gunn's environmental track record (see next column), concerns about the proposed mill’s effluent discharge, potential impact on the marine environment and human health do not seem out of place. Although the pulp mill was approved by the Federal Environment Minister, many groups remain
skeptical. It's like when BP tells us they can drill in the Arctic with no environmental
impact. Ooops.
The pulp mill will consume 2.6 to 4 billion gallons of fresh water each year. How this will affect overall water availability in Tasmania is unclear in the context of expected reduction of water supply due to climate change. Note, however, that Gunns's happy claims regarding water usage and other environmental impact have resulted in a formal complaint to the ACCC alleging that Gunns violated section 52 of the Trade Practices
Act. Reading Gunn's environmental
statement, one wonders if it wasn't written by Mary Poppins.
Although Gunns says otherwise, the pulp mill is also highly likely to emit unpleasant air farts to waft over nearby homes, businesses, farms and wineries. Why do we say this? Because these projects never perform according to the claims of the perpetrators. The Australian Medical Association (Tasmanian branch) says the pulp mill 'could cause an increase in the already existing morbidity and mortality from atmospheric pollutants'.
And of course, the pulp mill eats enormous amounts of wood, doesn't it? Where will that wood come from. Gunns says there will be no increase in logging. CatMap says there is no reason to believe anything they say.
Read a deeper discussion of the pulp mill
issue.
