Browsing: <a href="/tag/tas">Tasmania</a> <i class="grey">•</i> <a href="/tag/biodiversity-epbc-act">Biodiversity/EPBC Act</a>

Plans by Gunns for a new pulp mill in the Tamar Valley should undergo independent review as part of efforts to resolve 'a reservoir of cynicism and bitterness', according to an interim report by former ACTU secretary Bill Kelty, released today.

Concluding a process lasting more than six years that involved three successive EPBC Act referrals and four environment ministers, Gunns Ltd has won final approval for its planned pulp mill at Bell Bay.

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Environment and forestry groups have today signed a landmark 'statement of principles' that would halt logging in Tasmania's high conservation value forests and leave the door open for construction of a pulp mill in the state.

The native forest logging industry has 'lost the public debate' and timber's place in a carbon trading regime will be a 'game breaker' for the sector, Gunns CEO Greg L'Estrange has told a forest industry conference in Melbourne.

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The Tasmanian Greens will use their balance of power role to push for gross feed-in tariffs to support renewable energy, while a Liberal minority government would ban plastic bags, scrutinise planning provisions for sea-level rise and introduce a legally-backed sustainability framework.

Five years after seeking millions of dollars in damages from Greens Leader Bob Brown and 19 others, Tasmanian timber company Gunns has announced it will pay $155,000 to settle with the four remaining defendants.

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