Australia approves $2.5 bn pulp mill in Tasmania
Paper Recycling | 2011-03-10 07:39:30 | By Paul Ploumis
The federal government has approved the operation and construction of a proposed $2.5-billion pulp mill at the Bell Bay in Tasmania
SIDNEY (Scrap Monster): The federal government has approved the operation and construction of a proposed $2.5-billion pulp mill at the Bell Bay in Tasmania. The pulp mill, which will be run by timber company Gunns (ASX:GNS), will be required to follow tougher environmental rules.
Environment Minister Tony Burke told reporters in Canberra today he has “approved the remaining modules that are required for the environmental approval process for the pulp mill.’’
Mr Burke said there were crucial standards and modules focusing on the discharge of wastes from the pulp mill that have to be addressed by Gunns.
These separate 'modules' will focus on the discharge of wastes from the pulp mills: dealing with effluent trigger levels, land clearing, and marine monitoring and response strategies that will be used if there will be emergency conditions in the mill.
'It will now be a condition of the project as a whole that the discharge can only occur through what's known as elemental chlorine free light technology,' Mr Burke explained. 'This is a much tougher environmental condition.
Mr. Burke cited that some of the demand of the environment groups that were included in the requirements to be followed by Gunns include the none use of native forestry in the mills and the discharge pipeline will be built under sand dunes leading to the sea, instead of building it above ground.
He also noted that if there would be changes in the terms, it would be for the better of the environment and not of the back-tracking sort.
'There will now be a condition ... that any variation will only be considered if it involves an equivalent or better environmental outcome,' he said.
Gunns managing director Greg L’Estrange said in a separate interview that they are willing to cooperate to meet these environmental conditions.
Shares of the publicly listed Australian firm moved up as much as 13 percent after trading resumed this afternoon, before ending the day up 4 cents, or 6.7 percent, to 63.5 cents per share.