15 August, 2013
O’Farrell must retain the ban on burning forests for electricity
People across the state staged protests today against the NSW government’s proposal to change regulations to allow native forest biomass to be burned to generate electricity.
The government announced last month that it wanted to amend the Protection of the Environment Operations (General) Regulation 2009 to allow “invasive native scrub and logging debris from approved forestry operations on state forest or private land … [to] be burnt to generate electricity”. [1]
Environment groups across the state are concerned the change will lead to wholesale destruction of native forests and woodlands to feed the electricity generators. Protests are being held from noon today in Sydney, Bega and Bellingen.
Nature Conservation Council of NSW Chief Executive Officer Pepe Clarke said:“The government is giving the logging industry the green light to use almost any tree not suitable for saw logging. That means most trees logged on public land in NSW could be eligible to be burnt in furnaces for electricity. With the current downturn in international demand for native forest wood the logging industry is counting on electricity generation, or ‘dead koala power’ as its lifeline. We are not just talking about feeding forest floor litter into the furnaces. If this plan goes ahead, any tree that is not good enough for the saw mills could be cut and burned for energy.”
Australian Forests and Climate Alliance spokesperson Lorraine Bower said native forestry biomass was not a legitimate source of renewable energy. “Greenhouse gas emissions from burning native forest for electricity generation can be much greater than the equivalent-sized coal-fired power station,” Ms Bower said. “Claims that the proposal is consistent with the government’s plans to increase renewable energy generation are misleading. This deeply flawed plan is being proposed in an attempt to prop up the collapsing export woodchip market. Lifting the ban on burning forest biomass for electricity will put our forests and native wildlife at unacceptable risk - we cannot let this happen.”
South East Region Conservation Alliance spokesperson Harriett Swift said the logging industry saw the burning of forests for electricity as an alternative to the woodchip exports market, which had collapsed. “It is tantamount to a declaration of war on the koala in the south east of the state,” Ms Swift said. “The proposed change to the regulation will allow the burning of some tree species not currently used by woodchippers because they are too hard or too red, and these include important koala feed tree species such as red gum and woollybutt.”
Bellingen Environment Centre spokesperson Catherine Jones described the proposed changes as “frightening”. “Biomass burners are not fussy – they will gobble up everything,” Ms Jones said. “These changes will lead to the ‘bio-massacre’ of large tracts of forest, and threaten about hundreds of eucalypts species. Harvesting for paper production targets about 20 species, which is bad enough, but harvesting for biomass burning will target up to 250 species. This is very bad news for our koalas and wildlife, water catchments and precious world-class eucalypts forests.”
[1] http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/epamedia/EPAMedia13071101.htm
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