A Worm in the Apple

Tasmanian power prices have continually increased over the past few years. Despite having hydro power, a power source that is supposed to be eco-friendly and renewable, Tasmanians pay higher tariffs than most mainland states and territories. We are told that falling water levels are the reason, due to receding rainfall. No doubt Hydro is right; climate change is affecting rainfall all over the globe. In some cases we are getting too much, as Queenslanders will testify. In other cases we receive too little and people living in the Tasmanian Midlands will agree that the change is already here.

Whatever the reasons for Tasmania’s increased power bills, hydro-power is not sustainable because large areas of land are needed to store the head water and that land is clad with bio-diverse forest. The trade off is a loss of carbon sink and bee habitat and that affects many other areas of the ecology and the economy.

Figures available on the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) website show average prices across the Eastern States for December 2009 and again in January 2010 vary considerably. The NSW average price is 22.16c, QLD 29.3c, SA 20.35c with Victoria at 21.0c. Tasmania rates at 33.87 cents and is the highest rate of all states. WA comes in as the lowest at just 16.54 cents per unit Energy Operators (Electricity Retail Corporation) (Charges) By-laws 2006 currently that rate is still around 16 cents per unit due to prices held down by the WA Government over recent years.

It would appear Tasmania is ideally placed to take advantage of many new forms of energy production, currently racing ahead elsewhere on the globe. Huge profits are being realised by investors and that means plenty of investment capital is available.

Greenchip Review published an article: China: Fastest-Growing Energy Market in the World by Nick Hodge on January 5^th. In that article he tells how America and China are vying for world leadership in solar and wind energy. Massive base-load power projects are underway using completely renewable methods. Europe too is planning massive projects in solar and wind energy.

Here in Tasmania we are using coal and hydro. Bob Gordon of Forestry Tasmania has identified a new way of making sustainable energy. He plans to supply logs from Tasmania’s forests for biomass power plants, yet to be built. To be fair to Mr Gordon he did say forest waste, but then FT said that about woodchips and that turned out to be a furphy.

In other columns in TT I have read about China’s growth having a huge impact on climate change, about growth in Chinese auto use creating massive emissions. This article would appear to show that China is moving along a more responsible path.

See that article here:

http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/china-clean-energy-stocks/616

Another article in The New York Times Who’s Sleeping Now by Thomas L Friedman says “Yes, climate change is a concern for Beijing, but more immediately China’s leaders know that their country is in the midst of the biggest migration of people from the countryside to urban centers in the history of mankind. This is creating a surge in energy demand, which China is determined to meet with cleaner, homegrown sources so that its future economy will be less vulnerable to supply shocks and so it doesn’t pollute itself to death”. That article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/opinion/10friedman.html

Any arguments about wind and solar power generation being more expensive are put to rest in the above article. China currently has a price of 16c per unit for solar power, down from 59c just a few months ago. This is due to China’s commitment to invest in what they call the Energy Technology (ET) revolution. It is time Tasmania stopped living in the past, finding more useless ways of destroying Tasmania’s forests and took a leaf from the books of China and the rest of the world. We have a constant wind supply from the roaring 40s, abundant sunlight and we are surrounded by ocean wave power opportunities. There is no longer an economic reason to continue unsustainable practices.

There is however a pressing economic reason to change.

David Leigh

An Australian farmer is on hunger strike and, having lost 40 kilos, is close to death. He has been fighting Australian plutocracy for years in a plight to clear some of his own land for increased food production. He has spent big money on a legal fight, which has caused his farming business to suffer. His family and friends have loaned him over a million dollars to continue the fight and yet he has made no headway. With his back to the wall he has chosen this direction in order to publicize his cause.

Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, refused to talk with farmer, Peter Spencer, this week. Apparently he had more pressing issues. On the same TV news item Rudd was seen playing at cricket commentary and launching a children's book he has written. Since that news article, Rudd’s spin doctors have moved in as they did for poor Godwin Gretch, the man who dared to expose a Rudd indiscretion. They are now painting Peter ion a bad light, in order to discredit him.

Kevin Rudd is taking a strong stance on deforestation, citing this practice as globally and environmentally irresponsible. He has given millions of dollars to Indonesia in an effort to stop deforestation there and yet allows the same practice to continue, unabated, in Tasmania and on a massive scale.

The plight of a farmer, engaged in the vital task of producing food, is overlooked and the law weighs heavily on the shoulders of Peter Spencer as he contemplates his fate.

Indonesia accepts the deforestation handouts willingly, as it does the money given to prevent illegal immigrants from entering Australian waters.  Little however, is done by Indonesia to halt either practice.

The Australian hypocrisy continues, under a blanket cover of clean and green. The very trade mark that Tasmania created through excellent farming procedures and an abundance of good soil and water are being bastardized for greed. Woodchips for paper and power, it seems, are more important than food.

A controversial debate is running wild in Tasmania over alleged fox sightings. The State Government has set up a Fox Eradication programme to annihilate the supposed threat to Tasmanian wildlife.

The culling is done by placing meat baits, laced with 1080 poison, below the ground.

Ironically, 1080 poison is also the preferred method used by Forestry Tasmania, to cull herbivores, in protection of plantation seedlings. Forestry’s action angers wildlife experts and the public alike for the unnecessary suffering and destruction of native species it causes.

The question being asked by many Tasmanians is, if the Fox Eradication Programme is designed to protect wildlife why does Forestry Tasmania use the same poison to kill the same wildlife.

Animals suffer a slow and painful death with 1080, which can take up to 80 hours, according to wildlife experts. It appears to be somewhat of an oxymoron for the government to be eradicating foxes to protect wildlife and eradicating wildlife to protect trees.

Baiting is currently taking place in and around Derby, a North-east town and residents concerns that children and domestic pets will die as a result are being ignored. They also claim no foxes exist in the area because domestic chickens and native hens abound with no deaths resulting. Road kill in the area, the highest in Australia and as a direct result of log trucks running 24/7, is also not targeted by foxes. There are also no dead foxes on the road, which  shows that foxes do not exist in Tasmania.

Spokesman for the Fox Eradication Programme, Stephen Barrow, claims over 2,000 sightings of foxes have taken place over the last year and fox scats have been found in the centre of Derby. Despite this, no evidence has been produced and no local resident has spotted the elusive animal.

Most believe the programme is cunningly designed to allow forestry continued use of 1080, against the wishes of the public.

The Fox Eradication Programme employs 56 people in Tasmania and has an annual budget of $3.13 million as opposed to the Australian Federal Government’s $2.53 million, on the mainland, where it is known that foxes exist. Tasmania’s fox programme is deemed overkill, literally, for a threat most Tasmanians believe is false.

When asked if any foxes had been eradicated, by the programme, Mr Barrow said, “Four have been found. One was road kill, one was been shot by somebody on the west coast and all the corpses were in a museum in Hobart”. He did not admit to actually catching or destroying any foxes under the programme.

Many Tasmanian residents question whether fox corpses and scats have been brought in from the mainland to give credence to the programme.

Report by Ecobard.

Ecobard

A gentle mist rises from the 5-acre dam, creating one of many tiny clouds that cling to the forested hills of North East Tasmania. The heavy frost dresses the long grass along the banks of the river, like a bride and the still morning air gives no hint of impending danger.

For Bill, a helicopter pilot, it is business as usual on a perfect autumn day. No wind, means safety when spraying plantation trees. He knows only too well that a sudden gust can mean the difference between life and death at low altitudes.

The chopper moves between coupes; altitude 200 feet, hugging the contours and heading for the next job. It crosses private land, a paddock and a dam, before lifting slightly to clear an area of native trees on a ridge.

Apart from the beating of the aircraft’s rotors, the only other sound to break the motionless air is the roar of engine brakes from an overloaded log truck.

The trees provide shelter for another presence that morning. Two barrels of a 12-guage shotgun trace the pilot’s head, before moving down the fuselage to the tail rotor. A gentle squeeze of either trigger will see the metal and acrylic machine spinning hopelessly out of control, before crashing into the forest.

This event is typical in most parts of Tasmania, as the reality of forestry chemical invasion literally hits home. Over spray finds its way into rainwater tanks from roofs. Cancer rates, the highest in the western world, are just part of the problems facing country people in this world-renowned clean green environment.

John, a third generation farmer is angry that his calls for a cessation to aerial spraying are ignored. His dairy cows are suffering the same symptoms he and his family have suffered continuously over the last few years. Itching eyes, nose and constant cold or flue-like symptoms. His joints ache so much he finds it hard to get out of bed to milk each morning.

He is also concerned that the milk is contaminated but too afraid of the financial consequences to complain. It would mean bankruptcy and loosing the farm, the only life he has known.

Gunns Timber Ltd, have a mandate to depopulate the North East by 2020 and turn the fertile volcanic soil into one massive blue gum plantation. John’s demise will only serve to aid Gunns’ mission, by providing more land for trees.

Fighting the giant corporation in court is not an option for a simple farmer, especially as the Department of Primary Industries now controls environmental issues. The Environment Department was axed, due to budgetary constraints.

Previous complaints have fallen on deaf ears, favouring forestry operations and leaving farmers, like John, out in the cold.

Environmental protestors are angrily rallying against the pulp mill or logging in the Upper Florentine. Researchers and doctors have raised concerns about poisoning of water catchments, from chemical spraying. Farmers are usually blamed, by forestry and government, for the pollution in rural areas.

The diatribe has now reached the ears of senior police. They have been warned of impending civil unrest, due to their continued support of the polluting logging industry.

A feeling of hopelessness rides on the shoulders of the populus as they plan in secret against the corporate giant.

Gunns’ Competitor, Great Southern, has gone into receivership causing mixed feelings amongst the people. Will this mean an end to wood chipping of Tasmania’s native forests or will this give Gunns a stronger hold on the island state?

The helicopter moves out of range and the gun is lowered. This time at least, the pilot survives.