1. Knowing you, that 0.0003 seconds is mathematically accurate lol.
2. possibly off topic - but SUREly all that spraying of the Tasmanian forest and forestry regrowth projects has something to do with the Tassie Devils problems. (?)
I mean last time I was down there - or time b4 - I saw an old interview on TV of some bloke who was sprayed by one the forestry's planes - and since died of a horrible cancer (aren't they all).
Surely the Forestry (with of course the Premier's full backing) are bordering on envoironmental vandalism there?
Yep, the 0.0003 seconds is about right for the current rate of discharge.
Warning: rant follows.
As for the forests, let's just say I'm not at all keen on the things they are allowed to get up to. And I would lump Labor, Liberal
and the Greens as all guilty of either starting, encouraging or allowing this outright disaster of an industry to operate.
Actually, forestry not dams is the primary reason I'm not keen on the Greens and conservationists in general. If you look at their big campaign successes, like the Franklin and Wesley Vale, then they have pretty much all ended up with the same outcome. An increase in logging either because it was actually an idea proposed by conservationists (during the Franklin era) or because of the loss of other industry (eg Wesley Vale).
Bottom line is there wouldn't be anywhere near as much logging in Tas as there is right now if the Comalco-TEMCO-ANM-EZ-APPM-HEC that dominated the state's economy for decaces had carried on their collective way. Two more flooded rivers and a couple of localised pollution hotspots on the NW coast would have been the ONLY consequences. Less than 1% of the state's land mass affected.
Instead we got this forestry farce that's the equivalent of turning gold into lead. Basically, what they do is rip out all the eucalypt trees (only the trunk) and then push EVERYTHING else into a great big pile. That's all the other tree species, all the branches, roots and so on. In short, most of what's there ends up in the pile. And these massive piles have to be seen to be believed.
Then they wait for some nice still days in Autumn, get the flame thrower out and set the whole lot on fire. The amount of smoke that produces is incredible. I just can't ever accept that it's a worthwhile use of resources and it's pollution on a scale that nobody else would ever contemplate.
The zinc works spent $100 million to stop a bit of pollution, Comalco spent $$$ millions too, TEMCO built wet lands, ANM and the NW mills put in all kinds of scrubbers and so on. Hydro's done lots of landscaping, planting trees, stuff to help the aquatic environment downstream of the dams etc. All admit to having made a bit of a mess in the past and have done what's practical to fix things up.
But not forestry. They just keep on making as much mess as they like turning the wilderness into plantation monocultures that are good for nothing but another crop of trees. You can't even go for a decent walk in one. And the damn things only have the species of tree they want and don't grow without chemicals due to the lack of biodiversity. Hence the spraying.
Forestry is also the only industry I know of that
intentionally trashes high value resources and aims for the lowest grade. Smelters, power staions, mills of every kind always the aim is to extract as much product from the resource as possible and hundreds of millions of $ are invested to do it. Not with forestry though, if it's high grade then they smash it up to downgrade it so they can chip it...
Smurf's solution? Build the Bell Bay pulp mill for sure. And cease forever the export of unprocessed woodchips, logs or anything else that hasn't been valued added within the state. That will both rein in the out of control forestry industry (to the point that it can rely largely on plantations) and actually create some useful wealth from the mill in the process. Trouble is, the damn greens are too blinkered fighting the mill and fail to realise that if successful then it's look out forests here comes another scale up.
As for the Devils, let's just say the disease was first noted in the NE and that forestry is really the only activity that happens there unless you count a few farms, a century old hydro scheme and some disused mines. Nothing proven but if it's chemicals then the source would be either forestry or farming rather than heavy industry.
One criticism of forestry that I don't agree with though is about effects on rainfall. It might stack up as an argument in the eastern parts of the state but it doesn't stack up on the West Coast given the westerly wind direction. Nor is it likely to have caused a drought across most of the country. That argument is just a convenient one that isn't scientifically based IMO and I'll back forestry on that one dispite my overall dislike of the industry.
As for me, someone's getting me a few tonnes of firewood from one of the piles before it gets incinerated. I figure it's better for me to burn it for heat thus saving some other resource (ie electricity) since the wood is going to get burnt anyway. 4 tonnes should turn up in the driveway about Easter time in return for some $.