Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull today gave Gunns the go-ahead for its controversial pulp mill in Tasmania, but with new conditions that would allow maximum effluent concentrations for dioxins and other substances to be altered.
Turnbull granted Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act approval for the mill, after adding another 24 conditions to the 24 originally proposed in a draft set issued in August.
"The conditions placed on the development at state and federal levels represent the most stringent in the world," Gunns Executive Chairman John Gay said in an ASX statement. "While there are a number of modern mills with similar advanced technology, there is none that operates under the level of regulation now established for the Bell Bay mill."
However, the decision was slammed by Greens leader Senator Bob Brown
The new requirements include an obligation on Gunns to prepare and submit for ministerial approval an environmental impact management plan (EIMP). This must be developed in consultation with an independent group of scientists appointed by the minister.
The maximum limits for effluent in today's set of conditions are the same as those proposed in the draft set, apart from a weaker limit for chlorate. But the final set of conditions specifies that these limits "may be revised in the final EIMP if agreed by the independent expert group and approved by the minister as a result of further studies".
The final conditions also differ from the draft in specifying trigger levels for dioxins and other effluent contaminants which must initiate responsive action by the company.
The trigger level for dioxins and furans is 2.0pg TEQ/L, compared to the maximum limit of 3.4pg TEQ/L. The trigger level for chlorate is 1.9mg/Ltd (the same as the maximum limit in the draft conditions), while the new maximum limit for chlorate is 3.7mg/L.
Other new conditions include a daily effluent discharge limit of 64 megalitres and a statement that if effluent limits are not being met then the minister can order the mill to cease operating until a tertiary treatment system is installed.
The final set of conditions are based on advice from Chief Scientist Dr Jim Peacock. The minister will appoint an independent site supervisor to monitor Gunns' compliance.
'Always confident'
Gunns’ John Gay said the company "was always confident" it had designed a world’s best practice pulp mill.
"It was satisfying to hear the confidence of the chief scientist that the mill operating in compliance with the stringent conditions applied would most likely have an environmentally neutral impact."
"Despite the misinformation, dishonesty and indeed threats from the project’s opponents, Mr Turnbull has upheld due process and approved the project," he said.
However, Greens Senator Bob Brown said Turnbull and Peacock were "cheating" in describing the mill as a "world's best practice" operation, describing the company as running a "forest abattoir".
Brown said the mill and associated logging to feed it would result in an extra 10 million tonnes a year of greenhouse gas emissions.
Giving the go-ahead to the project "without the minister determining the impact on the marine ecosystem of Bass Strait would be breaking the nation's law," he added. "This is not permitted in the EPBC Act."
